A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 
AND GREATER BRITAIN 



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A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 
AND GREATER BRITAIN 



BY 



ARTHUR LYON CROSS, Ph.D. 

PROFESSOR OF EUROPEAN HISTORY IN THE 
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN 



Neto gork 

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

1917 

All rights reserved 



7 



WOODRIDGB 






Copyright, 1914, 
By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. 



Set up and electrotyped. Published August, 1914. Reprinted 
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PREFACE 

The aim of this book is to trace in a single volume the develop- 
ment of the English people from the earliest times to the present. 
The work has extended to a length which the author neither designed 
nor desired ; but the demands of a vast and complicated subject 
proved imperative. Even so, it has been found necessary to exclude 
no end of details, not only picturesque but important. On the other 
hand, every effort has been made to treat as fully as may be what 
has been selected for mention. Especial stress has been laid on those 
features which should be interesting to Americans, not necessarily — 
to borrow Sir John Robert Seeley's distinction — because they are 
entertaining, but because they touch fundamental American interests ; 
for example, the origin and development of the English Common 
Law, the causes of the American Revolution, and the growth of 
British Imperialism. Recognizing that history is an inclusive ' record 
of the thought and action of men in organization,' or, in other words, 
'of the development of men as social beings,' the author has striven 
to present the various sides of activity, political, social, industrial, 
religious, and intellectual, which, in their collective capacity, the 
English people have manifested through the course of their long and 
wonderful past. Mindful of the significance of those historical forces 
which are as potent as they are baffling to measure and appraise, he 
has, nevertheless, sought to understand and delineate the men who 
have done so much to fashion their country's destiny. Since England 
has been the dominating theme, the title which has been chosen may 
seem not only overambitious but misleading as well ; however, an 
attempt has been made constantly to make evident the relation of the 
Welsh, the Irish, the Scots, the Indians, and the Colonials, as well as 
the continental Europeans to the development of England into Great 
Britain, the United Kingdom, and the British Empire or Greater 
Britain. 

A work of this character is of necessity built upon the labors of 
others ; as quaint old Robert Burton said centuries ago, it lights its 
candle from their torches. While specific acknowledgments are 
precluded, the general works made use of will be found in the lists 
for "Additional Reading," and the other sources of information will 
be apparent to scholars familiar with the subject. However, the 
author wishes to take this occasion to thank Messrs. Longmans, 
Green and Company for their courtesy in permitting him to adapt 

v 



vi PREFACE 

for his purposes the maps on modern England and India from Gardi- 
ner's Atlas. For the others, he is under obligations to the Macmillans. 
Those in black and white, from 2 to 7 inclusive, were prepared by 
Professors Coman and Kendall for their stimulating little History of 
England ; moreover, their chapter on the " Physical Characteristics 
of the British Isles," in the same book, suggested the plan of the 
introductory chapter of the present volume. Professor Edward 
Channing has furnished valuable advice at various stages of the 
undertaking ; Professor E. R. Turner carefully read the manuscript 
and has contributed generously from his extensive knowledge ; while 
Mrs. R. M. Wenley, who kindly read all the proof, was of immense 
assistance. Much help was rendered in various ways by Professors 
J. S. Reeves and J. S. P. Tatlock, by Dr. J. F. Scott, Dr. P. V. B. 
Jones, and Mr. J. R. Hayden. While they have done much to lighten 
the author's labors and have often kept him from stumbling, they 
should be absolved from all responsibility for any of his shortcomings. 



ARTHUR LYON CROSS. 



University of Michigan, 
July, 1914. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 

CHAPTER I 

PAGE 

The British Isles : Their Physical Features and Resources . . 1 

CHAPTER II 
The Earliest Inhabitants of Britain 11 

CHAPTER III 
The Coming of the Anglo-Saxons. The "Heptarchy" and 

Struggle for Supremacy 25 

CHAPTER IV 
The Ascendancy of the West Saxons. The Danish Invasions. The 

Growth and Decline and Fall of the Anglo-Saxon Monarchy 40 

CHAPTER V 
The State of Society at the Close of the Anglo-Saxon Period . 62 

CHAPTER VI 

The Anglo-Norman Kings (1066-1154). The Strengthening of the 
Central Power by William and his Sons. The Interval of 
Anarchy in the Reign of his Grandson Stephen ... 76 

CHAPTER VII 
Henry II (1154-1189). The Restoration of the Royal Power and 

the Rise of the English Common Law 107 

CHAPTER VIII 
Richard I (1189-1199) and the Transition from Absolute toward 
Limited Monarchy. Conditions at the Close of the Twelfth 

Century ; 120 

vii 



PAGE 



viii TABLE OF CONTENTS 

CHAPTER IX 
The Reign of John (1199-1216). The Loss of Normandy, the Quar- 
rel with the Church, the Baronial Revolt and Magna Carta 133 

CHAPTER X 
Henry III (1216-1272). The Struggle of the Barons to Maintain 
the Charter, to Expel Foreign Influence and to Control 
the Administration of Kingdom. Conditions at the Close of 
the Reign 147 

CHAPTER XI 

Edward I and Edward II (1272-1327). The Completion of the 

Foundations of the English Constitutional System . . 166 

CHAPTER XII 
The Reign of Edward III (1327-1377). The Beginning of the 
Hundred Years' War. Chivalry at its Height. The Grow- 
ing Importance of the Commons. The Increase of National 
Sentiment. First Attacks on the Power of Rome . . . 189 

CHAPTER XIII 
Life in England under the First Three Edwards (1272-1377) . 210 

CHAPTER XIV 
Richard II (1377-1399). The End of the Plantagenet Dynasty . 230 

CHAPTER XV 
The House of Lancaster in the Ascendant, and "The Constitu- 
tional Experiment" in Government. Henry IV (1399-1413); 
Henry V (1413-1422) 242 

CHAPTER XVI 
The Fall of the House of Lancaster. Henry VI (1422-1461) . 254 

CHAPTER XVII 
The House of York. Edward IV (1461-1483); Edward V (1483); 

Richard III (1483-1485) 265 

CHAPTER XVIII 
The Beginning of the Tudor Absolutism. Henry VII (1485-1509) 278 



TABLE OF CONTENTS ix 

CHAPTER XIX 

PAGE 

The First Years of Henry VIII (1509-1529) and the Eve of Sepa- 
ration from Rome 294 

CHAPTER XX 
Henry VIII and the Separation from Rome (1529-1547) . . . 314 

CHAPTER XXI 
The Henrician Regime (1509-1547) 338 

CHAPTER XXII 

The Protestant Extremists in Power. Edward VI (1547-1553) . 348 

CHAPTER XXIII 
The English Counter-Reformation. Mary (1553-1558) . . . 358 

CHAPTER XXIV 
The Elizabethan Religious Settlement and the Early Years of 

Elizabeth's Reign (1558-1572) 369 

CHAPTER XXV 

Elizabeth's Ascendancy and Decline (1572-1603) .... 384 

CHAPTER XXVI 
Elizabethan England (1558-1603) 401 

CHAPTER XXVII 
James I and the Beginnings of the Puritan Revolution (1603-1625) 427 

CHAPTER XXVIII 
Charles I and the Precipitation of the Conflict between King 

and People (1625-1640) 450 

CHAPTER XXIX 

From the Opening of the Long Parliament to the Outbreak of 

the Civil War (1640-1642) 474 

CHAPTER XXX 

From the Outbreak of the Civil War to the Execution of 

Charles I (1642-1649) 486 



x TABLE OF CONTENTS 

CHAPTER XXXI 

PAGE 

The Kingless Decade: The Commonwealth and the Protectorate 

(1649-1660) 509 

CHAPTER XXXII 

From the Restoration to the Fall of Clarendon (1660-1667) . 529 

CHAPTER XXXIII 
From the Fall of Clarendon to the Death of Charles II (1667- 

1685) 547 

CHAPTER XXXIV 
James II and the "Glorious Revolution" (1685-1688) . • . 566 

CHAPTER XXXV 
Puritan and Cavalier England 588 

CHAPTER XXXVI 
The Early Years of the New Dynasty and the Opening of the 

Great War. William and Mary (1689-1694) .... 614 

CHAPTER XXXVII 

The Completion of the Revolution of 1688. William Alone (1694— 

1702) • . .634 

CHAPTER XXXVIII 
The End of the Stuart Dynasty. Anne (1702-1714) . . . 650 

CHAPTER XXXIX 
The First Hanoverian, George I (1714-1727) 676 

CHAPTER XL 
The Ascendancy and Fall of Walpole and the Opening of a 
New Era of War. The First Part of the Reign of George II 
(1727-1748) 696 

CHAPTER XLI 

The Duel for Empire. The Closing Years of George IPs Reign 

(1748-1760) 718 



TABLE OF CONTENTS xi 

CHAPTER XLI1 

PAGE 

The Revival of the Royal Ascendancy. The First Years of 

George III (1760-1770) 738 

CHAPTER XLIII 
The American Revolution and the End of the Personal Ascen- 
dancy of George III (1770-1783) 761 

CHAPTER XLIV 

Eighteenth-century England to the Eve of the Industrial 

Revolution 783 

CHAPTER XLV 
The Younger Pitt : The New Toryism and Administrative Reform 

(1784-1793) 808 

CHAPTER XLVI 
The Great War with France to the Peace of Amiens (1793-1802) 831 

CHAPTER XLVII 

The Struggle against Napoleon: From Amiens to Waterloo (1802- 

1815) 849 

CHAPTER XLVIII 
From the Overthrow of Napoleon to the Eve of the Great Re- 
form Bill. The Last Years of George III, and the Reign of 
George IV (1815-1830) 867 

CHAPTER XLIX 
England on the Eve of the Reform Bill 892 

CHAPTER L 
The Epoch of Reform. William IV (1830-1837) . . . .905 

CHAPTER LI 
The Early Years of Victoria's Reign and the Triumph of Free 

Trade (1837-1846) 927 

CHAPTER LII 

The Revolutionary Movements in Europe and the Beginning of 

a New Period of War (1846-1856) 950 



xii TABLE OF CONTENTS 

CHAPTER LIII 

PAGE 

The Palmerstonian Regime and the End of an Epoch (1857-1865) 966 

CHAPTER LIV 

A New Era in Democracy. The Political Rivalry of Gladstone 

and Disraeli (1865-1880) 983 

CHAPTER LV 
The Two Last Decades of Victoria's Reign (1880-1901) . . . 1009 

CHAPTER LVI 
Victorian and PostVictorian England 1039 

CHAPTER LVII 
Sketch of the Reign of Edward VII (1901-1910) and of the Early 

Years of George V (1910-1914) 1071 

APPENDIX 
List of Prime Ministers from Walpole to Asquith .... 1090 



MAPS. 

Modern England and Wales Frontispiece 

FACING PAGE 

Roman Britain 18 

England to Illustrate the Germanic Settlements .... 30 

Possessions of the House of Anjou 108 

Scotland (in the Reign of Edward First) 170 

England to Illustrate the Wars of Roses 260 

Ireland (after 1603) 482 

England to Illustrate the Civil Wars 490 

Scotland (after 1603) 498 

Spain to Illustrate the Peninsular War 854 

India in 1857 968 

Africa in 1910 1034 

The British Empire in 1914 1064 



A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 



CHAPTER I 

THE BRITISH ISLES: THEIR PHYSICAL FEATURES AND 
RESOURCES 

England and the British Empire. — England is the cradle and pres- 
ent center of the British Empire, an empire which covers a quarter 
of the land surface of the earth and includes a population of fully 
425,000,000 souls. This little country of England, with an area of 
about 50,000 square miles, barely larger than the state of New 
York, forms, together with Scotland and Wales, the island known 
as Great Britain. Ireland, lying to the west, is the only other impor- 
tant division of the United Kingdom, although the British Isles which 
compose it number no less than five thousand, with a total area of 
120,000 square miles and a population of about 45,000,000. It will 
be the purpose of this history to trace the course of events by which 
England and the adjacent countries became the United Kingdom, 
and by which the United Kingdom has become the greatest sea power 
ever known, has developed a foreign commerce larger than that of 
any other country of the world, 1 and has fashioned an empire with an 
extent of territory nearly a hundred, and a population almost ten, times 
its own. 

Importance of Physical Characteristics. — In this remarkable 
development, physical geography has to be taken into account. Cli- 
mate, industrial resources, location and structure of mountains, posi- 
tion and character of rivers, situation relative to other countries, and 
the nature of the coast line have all been determining factors in British 
history. 

Climate. — Climate is especially important. Extreme cold is a 
serious obstacle to the production of those things on which man is 
dependent for his existence ; extreme heat, on the other hand, checks 
active exertion by which character is developed and by which man is 
able to make the most of his surroundings. With respect to climate 
Great Britain has been particularly fortunate. The summers are 
long enough to ripen the crops, while the winters are not too long 

1 Though, since 1900, its export trade has fallen below that of the United States. 



2 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

or too severe seriously to interfere with outdoor occupations. Agri- 
cultural pursuits can be carried on in many parts of the country 
throughout the year ; there is rarely snow or ice enough to interrupt 
communications. Domestic animals thrive, though, by a fortunate 
chance, insects which trouble crops do not. The average difference 
between winter and summer temperature in Great Britain is less than 
20° as contrasted with nearly 50 in central Russia on the east and 
Labrador on the west. Southern Ireland, which lies directly opposite 
southern Labrador, has the temperature of Georgia. The evenness 
of climate is to some extent due to the surrounding sea, which tempers 
extremes of heat and cold alike, while the mildness of the winter is 
further due to the circumstance that the prevailing winds are from the 
southwest, bringing to the British shores the warmth of the gulf district 
of America. 1 

Distribution of Rainfall. — The moisture-laden winds from the 
southwest, which temper the climate, bring an abundance of rain which 
makes portions of Ireland, Wales, Scotland, as well as western England, 
unsuited for agriculture. In the case of England, itself, the moun- 
tains grouped and ranged along the western coast modify and dis- 
tribute the rainfall so that the greater part of the soil is well adapted 
for farming. It is this generous distribution of moisture which gives 
to English grass that deep rich green hue which is so striking to the 
inhabitants of dryer climates. Even the extremely wet regions of the 
western midlands are not without their advantages, since a dryer cli- 
mate which makes the threads brittle would be a great obstacle to 
cotton manufacture. 

The Island of Great Britain. — The island of Great Britain re- 
sembles roughly a triangle resting on a short southern base and inclin- 
ing its eastern and western sides toward the northwest. It is bounded 
on the east by the North Sea, or German Ocean, and the straits of 
Dover; on the south by the English Channel; on the west by St. 
George's Channel, the Irish Sea, and the North Channel. 

Northern and Western England. — England proper is separated 
from Scotland by the indentation of the sea known as the Solway 
Firth, by the Cheviot Hills, and the Tweed River. With an area of 
less than one half the British Isles it contains about two thirds of the 
population. There are two distinct divisions within the country itself 
which might be marked by a line from the mouth of the Humber to the 
mouth of the Severn, and thence down to the shores of the English 
Channel. North and west the country consists of mountains and 
moorlands. The Pennine range extends down almost from the Scotch 
border to the midland county of Derby. Tucked into the northern 
corner between the Pennines and the sea is the Cumbrian group. 
The short broad peninsula, now known as Wales, is prevailingly moun- 
tainous, while still further south the heights of Devon and Cornwall 

1 This influence was formerly attributed to the Gulf Stream ; but that stream as 
a distinct body of water breaks up off Newfoundland. 



THE BRITISH ISLES 3 

reach out along that narrow tongue of land which forms the southwest 
projection of England. For centuries, this western country, given over 
mostly to sheep pasture , lay remote and backward in comparison with the 
more favored district south and east of the line of demarcation. The 
tin mines of Cornwall, which date back to a time before the Roman 
occupation, form the only exception. Yet, even in the early centuries, 
the mountains were a benefit to their country. The Pennines formed 
a protecting wedge which served to split the waves of barbarian inva- 
sion and to prevent them from inundating the English plain : thus 
Carlisle on the west and Newcastle on the east became the keys of the 
Scotch border. Furthermore, aside from regulating the distribution 
of moisture, the western mountains have determined the course and 
the nature of the important rivers. By giving them long, gentle 
slopes they have admirably adapted them for commerce and irrigation. 
It is only necessary to compare the rivers of England with the short 
precipitous torrents of Greece or of Wales and northern Scotland, to 
realize the importance of the English mountain system. Nor does the 
Pennine system isolate one part of the country from the other, for three 
canals run through it east and west. England was early united, while 
political dissension and local independence have characterized the 
other countries. The conquest of Wales was much facilitated from the 
fact that, though the country contains many inaccessible fastnesses, it is 
easy of access from England. With the discovery of the use of steam 
in manufacturing the Pennine range was found to contain vast stores 
of mineral wealth. The neighboring region, in consequence, has be- 
come the center of industrial England, and the once solitary stretches 
of mountain side and vast expanse of moorland are now studded with 
smoking, busy cities, and swarm with life. A great plain watered 
with many rivers stretches down east of the Pennine range and circles 
around its base in the form of a hook. Manchester, in Lancashire, 
is the chief seat of the cotton manufacture, and Leeds, in Yorkshire, 
of the woolen. Birmingham and Sheffield are the headquarters for the 
production of iron and steel, while along the banks of the Clyde, 
the Tyne and the Wear, and the Tees are situated shipyards which 
supply not only Great Britain but many other parts of the world. 
The Cumbrian group of mountains, unlike the Pennine range, is of 
little industrial importance. It is, however, noted for the beauty of 
its scenery, containing many famous lakes, among them Lake Winder- 
mere, Derwentwater, and Conistonwater. The native population is 
scanty, and sheep raising is the chief occupation, though the district 
is a center for tourists as well as for summer homes, and the lakes 
furnish a water supply for many of the cities further south. The 
mountains of Cornwall, in the southwest, contain rich deposits of 
lead and tin, especially the latter, which have been worked for cen- 
turies. 

Southeast England. — The structure of southeast England is 
markedly different from that of the north and the west. It is pre- 



4 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

vailingly a plain varied with hills or uplands of limestone and chalk. 
There are four principal groups of upland ranges. The northern- 
most is known as the Oolitic range. 1 Starting with the Cotswold 
Hills on the banks of the Severn, this range runs northeast as far as 
the river Tees. The three other ranges lying further south are mainly 
of chalk formation. The northernmost includes the Chiltern and 
the East Anglian Hills. Next come the North and the South Downs, 
the former lying just south of the Thames; the latter skirting the 
shores of the English Channel. In earlier times this southeastern 
country was the most prosperous and progressive section of England. 
The reasons for the leading position which it enjoyed so long are 
easy to trace. It was the district earliest settled, it contained the 
greatest proportion of Teutonic stock, and its soil was the most fruit- 
ful in the land, thus enabling people to live closer together than in the 
more barren north ; so that they were better able to exchange ideas 
and had more means and leisure for education. Furthermore, they 
were in close communication with the Continent whither the medieval 
Englishman looked for trade, knowledge, fashions, and ideas. The 
industrial revolution of the late eighteenth century brought about a 
momentous change, and, with the exception of London, the center 
of progress and ideas has shifted to the midland country. 

Internal Communication. — In order to understand clearly the 
political and economic history of a people it is necessary to know their 
means of getting about from place to place and of communicating 
with one another. In the early days before the Romans introduced 
their excellent road system, a system to which many of the Euro- 
pean highways of the present day owe their origin, Britain was largely 
a land of tangled forests and impassable marshes. At that time the 
ridgeways and the rivers formed almost the sole means of communica- 
tion. But even with the advent of roads and railways the rivers 
are still of great importance ; they provide irrigation for the soil, 
they are utilized to furnish power for mills and factories, and, together 
with the canals which they supply, they continue to serve as a cheap 
and convenient means of transportation. 

English River Systems. — There are three great systems ; the 
eastern flowing mainly into the North Sea, the southern emptying 
into the English Channel, and the western, which finds its chief outlet 
in the Bristol Channel and the Irish Sea. Taken as a whole, the 
eastern system is the most important. It is commonly divided into 
four groups. Proceeding from north to south, the first is the Nor- 
thumbrian group which lies north of the estuary of the Humber. The 
Tweed forms the eastern part of the boundary between England and 
Scotland. 2 The Tyne has for its chief port Newcastle, a great center 

1 The name is derived from the Greek word for egg and refers to the character 
of the limestone of which it is mainly composed. 

2 It gave its name to a type of woolen cloth which was first manufactured along 
its banks. 



THE BRITISH ISLES 5 

for the distribution of mining products. 1 The second, or Humber 
group, takes its name from the Humber, fed by two rivers, the Ouse 
and the Trent, which with their tributaries bring the products of a 
large and wealthy district to Hull, the leading port of northeastern 
England. The rivers of the third group flow into the Wash, and for 
many reasons are comparatively unimportant. This large arm of 
the sea is bounded by a marsh with no harbors and no suitable sites 
for towns. The neighboring country, never adequately drained till 
modern times, was long the haunt of wild fowl and fish and the men 
who hunted them. The fourth and last division of the eastern group 
derives its name and importance from the Thames, the largest river 
of England and the chief waterway across the south country. It is 
two hundred and fifteen miles long and navigable for nearly half of 
its length. The harbor at its mouth is the finest in the whole king- 
dom, and in spite of the fact that the center of industry has shifted to 
the north, and that Bristol and Liverpool lie nearer to the American 
markets, London is still the leader in imports and second only to 
Liverpool in exports. The rivers of the southern group are relatively 
short and unimportant. On the west, two rivers call for special 
notice. The Severn, rising in the Welsh mountains, sweeps round 
to the east and south in the form of a bow, widening at the end of its 
course into the Bristol Channel. Bristol, its chief port, rose to con- 
sequence in the Tudor period, owing to its favorable situation with 
respect to the New World. It was from there that John Cabot sailed 
on his famous voyage of discovery, and it was there that many of 
the heroic seamen of Elizabeth's day made their homes. Yet, save 
for a small amount of wool manufacturing, the districts lying behind 
are mainly agricultural. Bristol, in consequence, had long ago to 
yield its preeminence as a port to Liverpool on the Mersey, the 
center of a district rich in manufacturing, in mining products, and 
pasture lands. 

The British Isles and the Continent. — There was a time when the 
British Isles formed a part of the neighboring continent of Europe. 
This is evident from the comparative shallowness of the intervening 
waters. The Channel is so shoal between Dover and Calais that it is 
said that if St. Paul's cathedral were sunk at any point, its dome 
would stand out of the water. Another evidence is to be found in the 
similarity of structure between the different parts of the island group 
and those of the adjoining mainland. The rocky promontories of 
Scotland correspond to those of the Scandinavian lands, while the 
plains of southern and eastern England closely resemble those of the 
French and Dutch lands which they face. 

Importance of Insularity. — The watery barrier, which has existed 
since England began to have a history, has been a significant element 

1 Even as early as Shakespeare's day coal was sent to London by sea, whence 
the name "sea coal," and the fame of the city as a coal exporting center long ago 
gave rise to the adage "carrying coals to Newcastle." 



6 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

in shaping her destiny. It has kept her out of reach of her greedy 
and powerful neighbors, thus enabling her to maintain her inde- 
pendence and to develop her ideals, manners, customs, and system of 
government in her own way. Most notably it has left her energies 
free for commercial and colonial expansion. In ancient and medieval 
times, when the population was scanty and means of resistance un- 
organized,. peoples from the Continent forced their way in; but since 
the eleventh century there has been no serious danger from this source. 
Even Napoleon, who reduced nearly all Europe, was unable to make 
his way into Great Britain. At the same time, Great Britain, es- 
pecially England, has not been too remote to feel the influence of 
the great continental movements such as the Crusades, the Revival 
of Learning, the Reformation, and the French Revolution. Most 
of these movements, however, had spent their force when they reached 
her shores, and took there a very individual form, as we shall see. 
On the other hand, England has led in the struggle for constitutional 
liberty, and the supremacy of parliament over sovereign was estab- 
lished long before it was established abroad. 

World Position and World Trade. — A glance at a map of the 
globe will show how centrally the British are situated with respect 
to the two great continents of Europe and America, and will help to 
explain their leadership in commerce. Indeed, one fifth of their 
present exports consist of things produced by other countries and 
distributed by British ships. Wool from Australia is carried to Ger- 
many, France, and the United States, and, in' the same way, French 
silks are conveyed to Australia. Likewise, the raw cotton from 
America, India, and Egypt, on its way to the continent of Europe, 
as well as many oriental products destined for the United States, 
pass through British ports. It was only lately that England came into 
the circle of European powers. During the Middle Ages the bulk 
of the trade was with the Orient. Goods were taken across Asia by 
the overland route to the Mediterranean ; thence they were distributed 
to the different countries of Christendom by the ships of the Italian 
cities, admirably situated for the purpose. The advance of the Turks 
in the fifteenth century, which culminated in the capture of Con- 
stantinople in 1453, blocked the overland trade route to the east and 
made it necessary to discover new routes by sea. A momentous but 
unforeseen consequence was the discovery of the New World and the 
shifting of the seat of trade from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic 
seaboard. Italy had to yield to Spain, Portugal, France, the Dutch, 
and to England. Of these five new powers England ultimately forged 
to the front. One of the reasons was that by virtue of her insular 
position she was able to husband her resources, to hold aloof at will 
from the complications of European wars, and to devote her main 
energies to commercial and colonial expansion. With excellent harbors 
her seaports in time grew up to be important commercial centers 
— Newcastle, Hull, and London on the east ; Bristol, Liverpool, and, 



THE BRITISH ISLES 7 

in more recent times, Glasgow, on the west. A well-indented coast 
line is an indispensable supplement to a favorable geographical posi- 
tion. It was most fortunate for Greece, for instance, that her best 
harbors faced the Orient, the birthplace of the earliest trade and 
civilization ; while the fact that Italy turns her back to Greece explains 
why her western and southern coast came to be wealthy and pros- 
perous instead of the east. Great Britain has been blessed with a 
most accessible coast on three sides. 

England as a Producing Power. — England is not only a distributing 
power, she is a producing and a manufacturing power as well. Here 
too, as has been shown in another connection, physical conditions 
have been most favorable. Her soil is well adapted for sheep raising, 
and sheep furnished not only food, but the material for clothes. With 
the introduction of machinery the country was found to contain vast 
stores of iron and coal. Cotton for manufacture was imported and 
wool was produced at home. The great productiveness of the country 
resulted in an overflow of population ; this led to colonization, and the 
colonies in their turn created new markets. 

Wales. — When the Teutonic tribes pressed into Britain in the 
fifth and sixth centuries, Wales — remote and mountainous — 
furnished a refuge for many of the British peoples who had been 
holding the more fertile eastern lands. Although they were soon 
isolated from kinsmen who inhabited the western coast north and 
south, all attempts to subjugate them failed until their conquest by 
Edward I in the last quarter of the thirteenth century. It was not 
until two hundred years later that the country was finally incorporated 
into the English parliamentary system. The rocky coast, the rugged 
mountainous surface, and the excessive moisture of the climate 
rendered the country unsuitable for agriculture. The barriers to 
communication, and the wilderness of the surroundings, produced a 
people fierce, independent, and disunited, who fought not only against 
England, but among themselves. At the same time, the beauty of 
the scenery tended to foster a romantic imagination and to develop 
a school of bards who sang with rare beauty and exaltation of senti- 
ment. Wales, too, profited by the industrial revolution of the eighteenth 
and nineteenth centuries, and now derives its chief wealth from its 
mineral products : coal, iron, copper, lead, zinc, slate, limestone. 
Cardiff is a busy town, noted for its export of coal and iron and for 
its docks. The coal of the Black Mountains is famous for its smelt- 
ing qualities. Swansea is perhaps the chief center for copper smelting 
in the world, and thither ore is brought for this purpose from many 
countries. The Cambrian range l is noted for its slate quarries. But 
the industrial area is limited, and the stretches of mountain districts, 
while they charm the tourist, reduce the average of population and 
wealth. Scarcely more than half the country is under cultivation, and 

1 Not to be confused with the Cumbrian. 



8 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

its total population is less than 2,000,000, not greatly exceeding that 
of Manchester and its adjoining towns. 

Scotland. — Taken as a whole, Scotland is still less adapted for 
agriculture than Wales, only a fourth of its soil being devoted to that 
purpose. In the olden time when men depended largely upon that 
form of livelihood, the country was indeed badly off. The northern 
Highlands, bounded by a rocky coast and stormy seas, a country of 
rugged mountains and remote, inaccessible glens, sheltered a race 
fierce and turbulent, who eked out a scanty support from hunting, 
fishing, and sheep raising, and by cattle forays in which they plun- 
dered their neighbors, Scot and Englishman alike. Until the clan 
organization was broken up, in the eighteenth century, the Highland 
district, comprising about two thirds of the whole country, was re- 
garded as a forbidding, desolate waste inhabited by savages. For a 
long time, indeed, there was only one road across the Grampian Hills. 
At present the Highlanders live largely off the crowds of tourists and 
sportsmen attracted thither by the wild beauty of the scenery and the 
preserves of fish and game. The district to the south, known as the 
Lowlands, is inhabited by people of quite another type — thrifty, in- 
dustrious, and austere ; touched, nevertheless, by strains of wild en- 
thusiasm and poetic impulse. The southern Lowlands, or " Border," 
consist mainly of hill and moorland adapted for little but sheep raising. 
The country is as rich in historical association and romantic legend 
as it is poor in resources. In course of time manufactures developed 
along the Tweed ; but Scotland's greatest industrial gifts are centered 
further north in the Lowland plain between the Border and the High- 
lands. The Firth of Forth on the east and the Firth of Clyde on the 
west furnish excellent harbors, and a line of communication has been 
carried straight across the island by a canal joining the two bodies 
of water. The neighboring districts are rich in mineral deposits. 
This combination of industrial resources and commercial facilities 
has led to a great development in manufacturing. The Clyde is the 
center of the world's shipbuilding, while Glasgow on its banks is the 
second city in the United Kingdom. Though the poverty and learn- 
ing of the Scot were proverbial as late as Dr. Johnson's day, the 
former soon ceased to be true, at least for this Lowland plain district. 
That Scotland was able to share in the great industrial development 
of England was due to political changes brought about largely by 
commercial necessity. In the time of Edward I, Scotland formed an 
alliance with France, and her interests and her civilization continued 
decidedly French for centuries. When James VI inherited the Eng- 
lish throne in 1603, she was joined with her southern neighbor and 
former enemy under a single king ; and finally, by the parliamentary 
union of 1707, the two countries became really one. 

Ireland. — The position of Ireland and her physical characteristics 
have rendered her peculiarly unfortunate, politically and industrially, 
and have presented to England a problem which she has never been 



THE BRITISH ISLES 9 

able to solve. She first entered the island as a conqueror in the 
twelfth century. Original differences of race early fostered an an- 
tagonism that was sharpened by religious opposition after the Refor- 
mation. England alienated Ireland by neglect and oppression. At 
the same time Ireland's situation made it strategically necessary for 
her conqueror to remain in possession. She was only brought to 
make tardy and grudging concessions after the subject people had 
become so embittered as to make reconciliation well-nigh impossible. 
Ireland's relations to England have done much to make her people 
miserable and turbulent; but much has been due to natural disad- 
vantages. Her hills and mountains, though they encircle the coast, 
are too low to modify perceptibly the abundant rains brought by the 
ocean winds, and contribute rather to drain water into the central 
plain. With an average of over two hundred rainy days in the year, 
much of the soil is too wet for agriculture, and there are places which 
are mere bog and marsh. The abundance of rain, too, interrupts 
agricultural pursuits and renders the climate sultry and enervating. 
Ireland's mineral resources also are scanty ; the coal is of a poor quality 
and, situated mainly in the southeastern county of Kilkenny, is 
separated from the chief deposits of iron which are in Antrim in the 
extreme northeast. The total production of coal and iron is only about 
one per cent of that of England. Commercially, too, the country 
has been unfortunate. England lies in a position to intercept its 
continental trade ; many of its best harbors lie to the west and north, 
where, at least in early times, they did little good, and there is only 
one navigable river. Dublin, the capital, has a population of about 
three hundred thousand, and Belfast, noted for its linen manufactures 
and its shipbuilding, numbers four hundred thousand. But these are 
the only towns with a population of more than one hundred thousand, 
and there are, all told, only six with more than twenty thousand. Con- 
ditions, however, are favorable to pastoral pursuits, and, relative to 
its population, Ireland raises more live stock than any other country 
of Europe. Cork and Waterford are the great ports for shipping 
cattle to Bristol. Ireland's cattle trade, however, has been seriously 
affected by improved methods of transportation which has made 
American competition possible. Since the end of the last century, 
mainly through the efforts of Sir Horace Plunkett and the Agricultural 
Commission, a considerable industry has been developed in supplying 
England with poultry and dairy produce. Emigration began on a 
larger scale after the great potato famine of 1845, so that the population, 
which was then over 8,000,000, is now only half as much. But, what 
with the new industry, as well as cooperative banks and cooperative 
farming, the country has been more prosperous in the last decade 
than ever before, while the decrease of population has been smaller 
than for any ten years since 1841. On the whole, however, the union 
of Ireland with Great Britain, brought about in i8oi,has been attended 
with consequences far different from those which followed the union 
with Scotland in 1707. 



io A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

General Summary. — While Ireland has been to some degree an 
unfortunate exception, the British Isles in general have been greatly 
favored by nature in attaining the preeminent position they now 
occupy. They enjoy the advantages of a mild and even climate, of a 
central geographical position, of a coast line safe and accessible, and 
of mountains stored with minerals and situated so as to regulate the 
rainfall and form rivers adapted to internal communication. 

FOR ADDITIONAL READING 1 

J. R. Green, A Short Geography of the British Isles (1903) : England, pp. 1-107 ; 
Wales, 216-227; Scotland, 245-317; Ireland, 362-375. The remainder of this 
excellent little book is devoted to the various counties of the respective countries. 
The best description for historical purposes ; but the tables of population are out of 
date. G. G. Chisholm, Handbook of Commercial Geography, pp. 216-254. A. C. 
Ramsay, Physical Geologv andGeographv of Great Britain (1894), chs. XXIX, XXX, 
XXXIII-XXXV. H. C. Mackinder,' Britain and the British Seas (1892). The 
most recent work on the physical characteristics of the British Isles. A. Geikie, 
Landscape in History (1905), ch. IV. 

1 The editions are those accessible to the writer, preferably the most recent. 



CHAPTER II 

THE EARLIEST INHABITANTS OF BRITAIN 

Means of Studying Primitive Peoples. — Far away in the dim past 
Britain was inhabited by a race of men now extinct. Since no written 
records tell what they did and how they lived, their times are known 
as the prehistoric. It is beyond our power to reconstruct any account 
of this period ; but certain " auxiliary sciences," as they are called 
in relation to history, throw light on the physical characteristics of 
these ancient men, their condition and customs, and the successive 
stages of their development. Archeology teaches much from a study 
and classification of the relics of tools, weapons, and places of habi- 
tation ; from human remains, anthropology attempts to determine 
what manner of men they were and their race relationships ; the strata 
in which such remains have been found enable the geologist to suggest 
information as to the relative age in which they lived ; while, from such 
vestiges of their language as have survived, philology helps to de- 
termine their degree of culture and the other groups of people with 
whom they may have associated. 

Paleolithic Men of the River Drift. — Ages ago, when Britain was 
still a part of the Continent, the earliest man appeared. Great changes 
of climate took place during his sojourn in the land ; generally it was 
colder than at present, though at times it must have been hotter, at 
least in summer. Not only have remains of reindeer been found, but 
also of lions, hyenas, leopards, and elephants, beasts now existing 
only in the tropics. With them were bison, bears, lynxes, and wild 
cats, animals that the spread of civilization has pushed to the wildest 
parts of our temperate zone ; also mammoths, woolly rhinoceroses, and 
Irish elks that no longer exist in any part of the earth. The race of. 
men who lived among them has also passed away. Few if any human 
remains of this period have been discovered, and none in Britain ; 
but rude, unground weapons of chipped flint, unprovided with handles, 
found in the deposits of ancient rivers, prove that they ranged over 
a wide territory from India oh the east, and northern Africa on the 
south, to Britain on the west. From the form and size of their imple- 
ments and the places where they have been found, scholars conclude 
that they were a small race of nomad hunters, too rude to polish their 
weapons or to build themselves habitations, dwelling chiefly along 
the banks of rivers. They belonged to the most primitive type, the 
earliest stage of civilization, the old stone or paleolithic age. 



12 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

Paleolithic Men of the Caves. — In course of time they gave way 
to a new race still in the old stone age ; for their weapons, though 
they had handles, were still of unpolished stone. While they did not 
understand the art of pottery, had no domestic animals, and knew 
nothing of agriculture, they represented a distinctly higher type than 
their predecessors. Their arrowheads were of flint ; but they formed 
harpoon heads of antlers, they made needles of bone, and fashioned 
themselves clothes of skins sewed with reindeer sinews. They painted 
their faces with red oxide of iron, and wore amulets and necklaces of 
perforated shells, ivory, and teeth. They constructed bird snares, 
and speared fish with their barbed harpoons. They knew how to 
strike fire from flint and boiled water by means of hot stones. Frag- 
ments of bones found in refuse heaps show that they paid no regard 
to their dead. On the other hand, they possessed a rare artistic 
faculty, carving pictures of animals and hunting scenes with great 
accuracy and spirit. Their art, their implements, and their manners 
and customs, particularly their unmindfulness of the dead, are strik- 
ingly like those of the Eskimos. These facts, and traces of an Eskimo 
physical type found among the present inhabitants of western England, 
have led to a conclusion that there is a racial relationship between them 
and the ancient cave men who are in no way akin to their prede- 
cessors or any of their successors. 

The Neolithic Men. — After another long interval, the men of the 
old stone age gave place to the men of the new. Their weapons, still 
of stone, were more skillfully fashioned and were ground and polished 
to give them a smooth surface and a keener cutting edge. An idea 
of the immense stretch of time that separates this era from that of 
the old stone men can be gained from the fact that Britain had be- 
come an island, and that many of the animals of the previous age had 
become extinct. The new race, understanding the rudiments of 
navigation, crossed the watery barrier in canoes, some at least forty 
feet in length. They brought with them domestic animals, horses, 
short-horned cattle, sheep, dogs, goats, and pigs. Mainly a pastoral 
people, it is possible that they cultivated the soil somewhat, raising 
chiefly wheat and flax, and that they spun and wove with the spindle 
and distaff and rude looms. It may be, however, that they still 
clothed themselves with skins and had no vegetable food except fruits, 
berries, and roots. But they knew how to fashion pottery from clay. 
Sinking shafts, they mined flint for their weapons. They did not 
dwell in caves, but constructed dwellings by hollowing out circular 
pits under ground, with an opening at the surface to admit light and 
air. Traces of log huts have also been discovered. These neolithic 
men were loosely organized into tribes. Evidently they often fought 
with one another ; for they had camps or stockades consisting of a space 
surrounded by ramparts of earth or stone placed behind a ditch and 
protected by a palisade of stakes. They buried their dead in long 
elliptical barrows or mounds which they constructed by planting 



THE EARLIEST INHABITANTS OF BRITAIN 13 

stones upright in the ground, by laying others across their tops, and 
covering the chamber thus formed with earth. Numbers of these 
barrows still exist. The men who built them indicated their belief 
in a future life by burying tools and weapons with the departed that 
they might have them for use in the other world. The remains show 
these neolithic people to have been of small stature with so-called dol- 
ichocephalic skulls ; that is, skulls long in proportion to their breadth. 
By means of physical tests, anthropologists have connected them with 
a small, dark race called the Iberians, which in early times inhabited 
the whole length of the northern and southern shore of the Mediter- 
ranean. Both in bodily structure and in the traces of their dialect 
they show a remarkable resemblance to a people still living in the 
Pyrenees — the Basques — whose language is quite different from 
that of their French and Spanish neighbors. But the same type 
more diluted, together with fragments of their speech and some of 
their superstitions, still survives in western England, in Wales, parts 
of Scotland and Ireland. Only one of the animals which we associate 
with their age — the Irish elk — is now extinct. 

The Men of the Bronze Age. — The men of the new stone age were, 
in course of time, overcome by a race who differed from them essen- 
tially in physique, manners and customs, and language. They were 
much larger and stronger of body, and were round-headed or brachy- 
cephalic. The race of these invaders and the place of their origin 
has never been determined with any certainty. It was formerly the 
practice to call them the Celts, and to assert that they formed a branch 
of a great family composed of the Greeks, Romans, Teutons, and 
Slavs in Europe and the Medes, Persians, and Hindus in Asia — a 
family to which the name Aryan or Indo-European was applied. The 
view that there was such a family of peoples united by blood is no 
longer held ; and it has even been doubted whether these round- 
headed men of the bronze age were Celts at all. 1 

Myths and Facts concerning the Celtic Invaders. — Starting, it 
would seem, from the eastern part of the plain of central Europe, the 
new peoples, whom it has been customary to group together as Celts, 
poured westward in successive waves, the first of which must have 
reached Britain fully a thousand years before the Christian era. Old 
legends sung by the Irish bards in later times tell of their descent 
from two of the sons of Noah, Japhet and Ham. While, unfortunately, 
we can place no dependence upon these romantic stories, we are able 
to form some opinion about them and their manner of life from the 
abundant remains they have left : skeletons, burial places, habita- 
tions, tools, weapons, and ornaments. Moreover, since they sur- 
vived into the time of written records, we learn further about them 
from inscriptions and from the accounts of old Greek and Roman 
writers. Britain first became known to the ancients from the tin 

1 Some contend that the Celts first appeared in the iron age. 



i 4 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

produced in the southwest. It has been asserted that the mines pro- 
ducing this metal were first worked by the Phoenicians, who were the 
greatest traders of antiquity ; but it is more likely that the Cassi- 
terides, or tin islands, which they visited lay off the coast of Spain. At 
any rate, the first certain historical notice of the island of Britain comes 
from Pytheas, a Greek mathematician and explorer, sent out by 
the merchants of Marseilles about 330 B.C., in the interests of trade 
development. His work, unhappily, survives only in extracts cited 
by writers who were hostile to him. About two centuries after 
Pytheas, Posidonius, a tutor of Cicero, tells us more. The fullest 
account is furnished by Caesar in his Commentaries. Yet all these 
early historic notices of the Britons are fragmentary at best, and have 
to be pieced out by what we knew of the Gauls. 

Waves of Invasion. — The Celts were fair haired and tall. They 
understood how to mix copper and tin to produce bronze, a material 
so superior to stone that its users have been placed a stage higher in 
the social scale than the stone men. Before they were conquered by 
later comers they had reached a third stage in civilization by learning 
to employ iron in their industries. They burned their dead and de- 
posited their remains in round instead of long barrows. Under the 
common name Celts are included no less than three groups of peoples 
who followed one another from the Continent. The first comers 
were the Goidels or Gaels, who were later pushed north and west, where 
their descendants still survive in Ireland, the Isle of Man, and the west 
highlands of Scotland. Their language is the Erse and Gaelic. The 
Brythons, for whom they made way, are the ancestors of the modern 
Welshmen and of a portion of the inhabitants of the west coast of 
England. Welsh was spoken in Cornwall till the eighteenth century, 
and it is said that the shepherds of Cumberland still count their sheep 
in that language. The rear guard of the Celtic bands was formed 
by a group of tribes known as the Belgae. They bore the brunt of 
the Roman attack and occupied the eastern and southern parts of 
the country till the Germans finally absorbed or destroyed some of 
them and drove the remainder to join their kinsmen in the west. 
While they exercised a comparatively slight influence on their con- 
querors, traces of their institutions have survived and deserve to be 
considered briefly. 

Religion. — Caesar says that the Celts " held much the same beliefs 
as other nations do," and describes their gods, for whom they had 
strange, uncouth names, under the Roman ones, Mercury, Jupiter, 
Apollo, and Minerva. Like most primitive people of the so-called 
Aryan group, they worshiped the forces of nature as gods. They 
created lesser divinities for particular localities, identifying each grove, 
stream, or spring with its appropriate guardian spirit, and peopled the 
land with fairies, dwarfs, and elves. Living in wild and unfriendly 
surroundings, in the midst of dense, gloomy forests and treacherous, 
inaccessible fens, exposed to storm, thunder, and lightning, their 




THE EARLIEST INHABITANTS OF BRITAIN 

attitude was naturally one of wonder mingled with fear. Much of 
their worship was designed to placate the ferocious or malicious 
powers to which they were exposed. They offered human sacrifices, 
and at various seasons of the year, to mark the changes of the sun, 
they held festivals in which fire played a large part. They believed 
in wishing wells and cursing stones. The mistletoe, which still figures 
in our Christmas celebrations, they venerated for its miraculous prop- 
erties. 

Druidism. — The first comers, the Goidels, probably borrowed from 
the older Iberians their priestly system and ceremonialism known 
as Druidism. The Druids were a highly privileged body, who ranked 
with the nobles and were exempt from all public burdens. They 
conducted the sacrifices, practiced magic, foretold the future, acted as 
judges, and were the custodians of learning, human and divine. On 
account of their methods, of their reputed wisdom, and the fact that 
they were close corporations choosing their own successors, they were 
all-powerful. 

Dwellings, Camps, Stone Circles. — The old Celts lived in huts 
constructed of logs or of reeds woven together and plastered with 
mud or clay. These were often placed in marshes or lakes on piles 
or artificial platforms for purposes of defense. In hilly places they 
had camps consisting of circular inclosures protected by ditches and 
by earthen breastworks covered by rows of pickets along the top. 
The most famous of these is Maiden Castle near, the modern Dor- 
chester. But the most striking monuments dating from this early 
age are the great stone circles, 1 very likely used as sepulchers or possi- 
bly, as was formerly believed, for temples. Stonehenge on Salisbury 
Plain, the most celebrated of these, now consists of a confused 
mass of huge boulders ; but in its original form it must have been a 
wonderful evidence of the skill and devotion of the builders. 

Characteristics, Social and Political Organization. — These old 
Celts were a rude, hardy folk, but hospitable and kind in their bois- 
terous way. Their serious occupation was war, and their diversions 
rough games and immoderate eating and drinking. New-born 
children, it is said, were plunged into streams to test their endurance, 
and were offered their first bread on the point of their father's sword 
with the prayer that they might be valorous in battle. A few of 
their customs have come down to us. They shaved their faces or 
plucked the hairs out by the roots. They were fond of elaborate 
headdresses, so elaborate that they had to use rests of wood to keep 
them in shape when they lay down. In the earliest times we find 
them tattooing or painting their bodies, a practice which long sur- 
vived among the northern peoples, the Scots and the Picts. 2 The 
latter, once known as Caledonians, lived in northeastern Scotland, 

1 The date of these stone circles has never been determined. There are indica- 
tions, however, that they are as late as the bronze age. 

2 From the Latin pictiis, painted. 



16 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

and possibly got their later name from the fact of their being the 
last to retain the custom. The Brythons, at least, made themselves 
necklaces from amber and gold, and swords and shields of bronze. 
They sometimes buried weapons and ornaments with the dead to be 
used in the future world. Before Caesar's time they had come, in 
the southeast, to use iron weapons and to construct war chariots of 
wood, which in fighting they manipulated with great adroitness. 
At first their only form of social and political organization was the 
family, consisting of all the descendants, for several generations, from 
a single ancestor. The kindred, among whom the tie of blood was 
very strong, chose their ablest male to lead them in war and to rep- 
resent them in peace. As time went on, these families were united 
into tribes, from which the most capable male member was selected as 
king. Each free tribesman had his own land and slaves, the right of 
bearing arms and of assembling with his fellows under the direction of 
the tribal chief to discuss affairs of common concern. The tribes, as 
such, usually held in bondage groups of the conquered or Iberian race, 
who cultivated the soil in common and yielded a portion of the prod- 
uce to their masters. Their legal system was very primitive. They 
had no police and no courts, as we understand the term. Their judges 
were merely umpires or arbitrators who had no power to compel the 
acceptance of their decrees. In case of injuries or murder they 
awarded fixed sums, varying according to the nature of the offense 
and the rank of those involved. These were paid to the injured 
party, or, in the case of his death, to his relatives. This compensa- 
tion, however, known among the Germans as wergeld, might be re- 
fused ; in which case revenge was sought by the blood feud. In mat- 
ters of debt, if the arbitration was rejected, the aggrieved person 
might seize the goods of his adversary or fast by his door till shame 
forced him to yield. 

Trade and Industry. — In their earliest trading the Celts used 
cattle and bars of iron and tin for standards of value ; but, as early 
as 200 B.C., they seem, in the southeast, to have had gold money fash- 
ioned on Greek models. 1 In the absence of roads they made use of 
rivers and the tops of ridges as trade routes. The Thames and the 
Severn were especially important, and evidence of temples erected 
to Lud, their god of commerce, survive in the names Ludgate Hill in 
London and Lydney on the Severn. Their greatest trade was in tin, 
which they carried from Cornwall overland to the southeast coast, 
thence in ships to the shores of Gaul, whence it was taken overland 
again to the Rhone and floated down in ships to Marseilles. Pytheas 
noticed no towns, but some are reported in the time of Caesar, and 
soon London " was crowded with merchants." By this time their 
agricultural and pastoral industries had greatly developed. Besides 
tin, they came to export cattle, hides, grain, and also slaves and huge 

1 This is all the more notable from the fact that the later Anglo-Saxons never 
had a gold coinage. 



THE EARLIEST INHABITANTS OF BRITAIN 17 

dogs, the latter used by the Gauls in war and by the Romans for hunt- 
ing. Their imports were chiefly manufactured articles of iron and 
bronze, cloth, and salt. But this does not mean that they did not 
manufacture, to some extent, themselves. They were fond of bright 
colors, and we are told that they wore clothes of various hues, getting 
the dyestuff from the bark of trees. They excelled in enamel work, 
and they made many of the gold ornaments which they wore, as well 
as the iron weapons and chariots which they used in war. Such trade 
and manufactures as the Gauls carried on were greatly extended by 
the Roman occupation. 

Caesar in Britain, 55 and 54 B.C. — By the first century before the 
Christian era Rome had come to control all the lands bordering on 
the Mediterranean Sea. Signs of decay, however, were already 
manifest, and party strife was acute. Moreover, Gaul was not only 
independent, but menaced the safety of the mighty but declining Re- 
public. Its conquest was undertaken by Julius Caesar, in 58 B.C., 
and achieved after a series of brilliant campaigns lasting nearly eight 
years. In the course of these military operations he discovered that 
the Gauls were receiving aid from their kinsmen in the neighboring 
island of Britain. Accordingly, he determined to put an end to 
further danger from this source by invading and overcoming the British 
Celts. At least that is the usual explanation, though it has been sug- 
gested that, since he was a party leader, he felt the need of wealth 
and plunder to reward his followers in Rome, and that he was attracted 
to Britain by the hope of developing trade and securing plunder in 
the form of tin, gold, silver, pearls, and slaves. At any rate, after 
gaining from merchants such scanty information as he could, and send- 
ing one of his officers to spy out the land, he set sail, late in August, 
55 B.C. His force consisted of two legions aggregating about 10,000 
foot soldiers ; his cavalry, delayed and roughly handled by adverse 
winds, was unable to get ashore. Owing to the lateness of the sea- 
son and the fear of the autumn gales, Caesar returned to Gaul, after 
a brief survey of the neighboring country and some skirmishes with 
the tribes round about who made a vain effort to resist his landing. 

Second Invasion, 54 B.C. — The ensuing winter was devoted to 
building ships and collecting men and supplies for another campaign. 
By July he was ready with 800 vessels and a force variously estimated 
from 20,000 to 34,000 foot and horse. 1 This time he marched inland 
and forced a passage of the Thames by a ford above London, which 
the British had sought to obstruct by driving sharpened stakes under 
the water and along the opposite bank. The soul and center of the 
resistance was Cassivellaunus or Caswallon, chief of the Catuvellauni, 
whose center was at St. Albans. Partly by his own military skill 
and partly because of the disaffection of the tribes whom Caswallon 

1 Either number is striking enough in view of the fact that William the Con- 
queror had only 700 ships, and that the largest army Edward III ever took to France 
during the Hundred Years' War did not exceed 10,000 men. 



18 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

sought to unite, Caesar reduced him to submission and forced him to 
allow his eastern neighbors to elect a king from their native line which 
he had dispossessed. 

The Romans secure a Foothold in Britain, 43 A.D. — Nearly a 
century elapsed before the Romans again took up the conquest of 
Britain. Caesar's last years were occupied in securing his supremacy 
in the Roman state, while his successor, Octavius, devoted his whole 
energy to building up the Empire on the foundations of the Republic 
overthrown by Julius. Moreover, neither he, nor the Emperors who 
followed for some years to come, were especially anxious to extend the 
Roman boundaries. The possession of Britain was not regarded as a 
military necessity, while the expense and trouble of occupation would, 
it was thought, outweigh any possible addition of revenue. For 
many years Cunobelinus, grandson of Cassivellaunus, and famous as 
the original of Shakespeare's Cymbeline, ruled in southeastern Britain. 
His capital was at Camulodunum, the modern Colchester, in the land 
of the Trinovantes which his kin had again subjugated. On his 
death a pretender appeared, who fled to Rome for assistance. In 
ancient times conquering foes seem to have been most punctilious ■ 
they almost invariably, if the accounts be true, required an invitation 
to undertake an invasion. At any rate, Claudius, who was then 
Emperor, was ready to seize any pretext for intervention in British 
affairs. He was a Gaul by birth and consequently interested in the 
concerns of that part of the world, while, furthermore, he was anxious 
to celebrate the triumph which always followed a Roman conquest ■ so 
he sent his general, Aulus Plautius, in 43 a.d., against the sons of 
Cunobelinus. The Emperor himself even came over in person at the 
final stage of the campaign. Camulodunum was taken, Britain was 
made a province, and Claudius got his triumph. It was the task of 
succeeding generals to extend the Roman sway to the remote regions 
of the west and north. A few incidents during the occupation, which 
lasted for nearly four centuries, stand out as picturesque and important. 
The Suppression of the Druids and the Insurrection of Boudicca — 
Ine Druids were particularly active in opposing the extension of 
Roman influence. Solely from reasons of political necessity, for the 
Romans were usually tolerant of other religions, the then governor, 
buetonius Pauhnus, undertook to suppress them in 61 a.d. On his 

T!r C w\ £ y t0 ° k refuge in the littIe island of Mon a (now Anglesey), 
off the Welsh coast. But there was no escape. The Roman historian 
Tacitus vividly pictures the final scene: "On the shore stood the 
forces of the enemy, a dense array of arms and men, with women 
dashing through the ranks like furies, their dress was funereal, their 
hair disheveled, and they carried torches in their hands. The Druids 
round the host pouring forth dire imprecations, with their hands up- 
lifted toward the heavens, struck terror into the soldiers by the strange- 
ness of the sight, insomuch that, as if their limbs were paralyzed, 
they exposed their bodies to the weapons of the enemies without 




6 Meat 5 4 Longitude 3 from 2 Greenwich 1 East 1 



BORUAY & C0.,LN o fl' S.N.Y. 



THE EARLIEST INHABITANTS OF BRITAIN 19 

attempting to move." Finally recovering from their panic, the 
Roman soldiers " bore down upon them, smote all that opposed them 
to the earth," and destroyed their sacred grove. A garrison was 
established " to overawe the vanquished." Meantime, events were 
happening in the east which forced Suetonius to hurry back toward 
London ; the Roman government had become unbearable. Excessive 
levies and financial extortion on the part of capitalists and taxgatherers 
stirred the righteous wrath of the Britons. The climax came when 
Boadicea, or Boudicca, widow of a chief of the Iceni, a tribe occupying 
the present Norfolk and Suffolk, was brutally treated for trying to 
preserve the heritage of her daughters. Stung by injustice and 
injury, she raised a revolt of her people and those round about who 
were already chafing under grievances. Camulodunum, now a col- 
ony of Roman veterans, was overcome and reduced to ashes, nor was 
Suetonius, who arrived ahead of his troops, able to protect Lundinium 
and Verulamium from a similar fate. Fully 70,000 Romans and their 
supporters are said to have been massacred. As the victorious Britons 
were returning from the destruction of Verulamium, Suetonius at 
length felt strong enough to strike. In a battle somewhere in the 
neighborhood of London he crushed the enemy and slaughtered num- 
bers of a host of 80,000, including women and children who followed 
the army. Boudicca escaped her captors by taking poison. The 
vengeance of Suetonius was ruthless. " He made a desert, and called 
it a peace." Yet, in the long run, the uprising had the effect of soften- 
ing the rigors of the Roman administration. 

Agricola. — Under the governors who followed, inaction alternated 
with military suppression till the advent of Agricola (78-84) who 
knew how to rule as well as conquer. Allowing that our account of 
him comes from his son-in-law Tacitus, his rule unquestionably marks 
the highest point of the Roman supremacy. He aimed to extend the 
Imperial sway to the extremest north and even to Ireland. Convinced, 
however, that conquests were useless, unless existing grievances were 
rooted out, he applied himself with energy to the reform of the adminis- 
tration. He replaced uncertain and heavy burdens by just and equal 
assessments ; he did away with monopolies and abuses, especially in 
connection with the corn supply for troops ; he removed incompetent 
officials ; he fostered education and the use of the Latin language ; he 
encouraged the building of temples, courts of law, and dwelling houses. 
Romanization proceeded apace, and many natives assumed the toga. 
But primitive peoples are prone to imitate the faults rather than the 
virtues of the more civilized, and more luxurious forms of living were 
adopted, which led to a decline in the vigor of the subject race. Agri- 
cola never got to Ireland ; but he pushed steadily north, and he secured 
the lines of the Tyne and Solway and of the Forth and Clyde by a 
series of forts. He even penetrated beyond the Tay and defeated the 
wild Caledonians, in 84 a.d., at the battle of Mons Grampius, the site 
of which has never been identified, though it was somewhere on the 



20 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

threshold of the Highlands. The Emperor Domitian cut short his 
career as conqueror by recalling him. It is said that he was jealous 
of the fame of his general, though he may have felt that he was under- 
taking an impracticable task. Agricola's last achievement was to 
send a fleet to circumnavigate the Island, thus for the first time deter- 
mining its true geographical character. 

Roman Walls. — Under his successors, though his northern line of 
forts was strengthened in 140-141 a.d. by a turf wall made of squared 
sods, no attempt was made to hold the country beyond the Tyne and 
the Solway. Meantime, about 123-124 a.d., under orders of the Em- 
peror Hadrian, a similar turf wall had been put in to reenforce the 
southern line of forts. The remarkable stone wall, usually known as 
Hadrian's wall, was probably not built till the time of Septimius 
Severus, who, though much broken with age and gout, came over, in 
208 a.d., to deal with risings in the north. The wall in its completed 
form, parts of which still remain, was a very elaborate affair, studded 
with watch turrets, gate towers, and stations for garrisons. 

The Last Two Centuries of Roman Occupation. - - During the last 
two centuries of the Roman occupation Britain was in a very unsettled 
state and often proved a thorn in the flesh of the Empire. Under a 
weak ruler there was disorder and confusion ; strong, ambitious gov- 
ernors, on the other hand, sought independence, or aimed to use the 
country as a basis of operations for seizing the Imperial crown. Saxon 
and Frankish pirates began to infest the eastern shore as early as the 
beginning of the third century, and, in the fourth, the northern High- 
landers, now called Picts, reenforced by Scots coming originally from 
Ireland, became a constant menace to the border. To meet the 
pirates a new officer, the Count of the Saxon Shore, was created, but 
the first two counts used their position to set up an independent rule 
instead of protecting the coast. The Roman power was finally re- 
stored, in 296, by Constantius, 1 father of the famous Emperor Con- 
stantine, founder of Constantinople. Meantime, the Empire had been 
entirely reorganized under Diocletian (284-305). It was divided into 
four prefectures; these again were subdivided into dioceses, Britain 
forming one .diocese of the prefecture of Gaul. The civil administra- 
tion of the whole country was in charge of a Vicar or Vice-prefect. 
The diocese of Britain was in its turn subdivided into four provinces, 
each under a presses or consularis. There were three military com- 
manders : the Count of Britain, who seems to have been supreme over 
the Duke of Britain, who commanded in the north, and the Count of 
the Saxon Shore. 

End of the Occupation. — Even thus effectually reorganized, the 
Empire was unable long to withstand the double strain of revolt from 
within and pressure from without. In Britain, one Maximus set him- 
self up as Emperor, in 383, and, within four years, was strong enough 

1 The story that he married a daughter of the King of Colchester — the "Old 
King Cole" of the nursery rhyme — is apparently a myth. 



THE EARLIEST INHABITANTS OF BRITAIN 21 

to march on Rome, although he was defeated in northern Italy on his 
return. In 407 another pretender, Constantine, led the British legions 
into Gaul and, though he was overthrown, his troops were never 
marched back. Meanwhile, the German barbarians overran the 
Empire. In 410 Alaric captured and sacked Rome. Honorius bade 
the Britons henceforth defend themselves. They proved unequal to 
the task, and before the close of the century had to yield the greater 
part of their territory to the German tribes who swarmed across the 
Channel in constantly increasing numbers. 

General Nature and Advantages of the Roman Rule. —The Roman 
occupation of nearly four hundred years left few enduring traces on the 
history and life of Britain. While this may be explained to a large 
extent by the thoroughness of the later Teutonic conquest, it was 
partially due to the fact that few of the Latin stock came to found 
homes. The remoteness, the climate, the gloomy skies, and the tur- 
bulence of the nation repelled colonists. Settlement was confined to 
soldiers, government officials, merchants, and traders. The few who 
took up large estates worked them mainly by natives. In spite of 
occasional outbursts, it was comparatively easy to hold the more 
accessible parts of the country in subjection, because of the enervat- 
ing effects of the Roman civilization and because of the feuds among 
the subject peoples. As a Roman observer said : " Nothing helps 
us better against the strongest of the tribes than the fact that they 
never agree." However, the period of Roman rule was not without 
its advantages. For some time, it furnished a fairly effective protec- 
tion against external foes and held in check the warring tribes within. 
The concerns of the subject peoples were regulated by the Roman 
law, a fusion of principle and practice superior to anything the world 
had yet seen. The application of a uniform legal system made for 
unity. A decree of Caracalla, in 212, conferred the privilege of Roman 
citizenship on all free-born provincials. Although due mainly to a 
desire to increase the Imperial revenue, it also contributed powerfully 
to break down provincial differences in Britain as well as elsewhere. 
While the general administration was kept in Roman hands, the Brit- 
ons were given some training in local self-government by allowing 
them membership in the district councils which were intrusted with 
the building of temples, erecting fortifications, and laying out streets. 
Theaters were constructed, which, in spite of their corrupting influence, 
made for education and culture. Remains of museums, baths, public 
buildings, and private dwellings show how far they had progressed in 
the art of living and in the comforts of civilized life. Aqueducts 
provided many communities with an abundant water supply, and the 
Romans had a very superior system of heating by means of hypo- 
causts, or hollow pipes heated from an arched fire chamber below. 
Commerce and industry throve, protected by peace and wise laws and 
fostered by the building of roads and the growth of cities. A network 
of roads, so skillfully constructed that they have survived to excite 



22 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

our wonder, even in the present day, provided alike for communica- 
tion, the transportation of troops, and for transaction of all kinds of 
government business, as well as for the distribution of wares. The 
route of Watling Street from Dover to Chester can still be traced. 
Most of these roads, although few of them can now be identified by 
name, ran through London, whose commercial importance was fore- 
shadowed thus early. York was the chief military center, with 
Chester second. Gloucester, Colchester, and Lincoln were colonies 
of Roman veterans. Bath had already become famous for its springs. 
Among the chief British industries were pottery making, basket weav- 
ing, and the mining of lead, iron, and copper. In addition, there were 
goldsmiths, silversmiths, iron workers, stone cutters, sculptors, archi- 
tects, and eye doctors who pretended to cure defects of sight with 
lotions. While city life had reached a comparatively high degree of 
development, conditions were still mainly rural. For example, one 
Roman ruler sent eight hundred ships of wheat to feed his garrisons 
in Gaul. In the intervals of farming the owners of estates hunted 
wolves and bears. 

British Christianity. — One most significant result of the Roman 
occupation was the introduction of Christianity. Legend tells that 
St. Paul, and even the disciple Peter, visited the land. One of the 
most beautiful stories is that concerning Joseph of Arimathea, who 
provided the sepulcher for Christ's burial. It was believed that he 
fled to far-off Britain, bringing the holy grail or the cup from which the 
wine at the last supper was drunk, that he founded the famous abbey 
of Glastonbury, marking the site by planting his staff of thorn which 
grew into a tree and blossomed every Christmas morning in honor of 
the sacred day. But while these lovely and inspiring tales enrich our 
literature, they rest on no historical foundation. Christianity was 
gradually introduced by Roman soldiers, merchants, and officials, and 
from the mission stations in Gaul. The Britons are first claimed as 
subjects of Christ by Tertullian and Origen, two church fathers writ- 
ing in 208 and 239, respectively, while the first evidence of any organ- 
ized church is marked by the presence of three British bishops at a 
synod held at Aries in Gaul in 314. Within a century and a half the 
Teutons came and thrust a " wedge of heathendom " between the 
Christians of the Island and the Continent. During the long years 
when they were cut off from the mother Church at Rome they devel- 
oped forms of worship and government distinctly peculiar to them- 
selves in many respects. When they are next heard of, there was a 
British and a Scotch-Irish Church. The former held sullenly aloof 
from the conquerors, the latter spread from Ireland to western Scot- 
land, reached down into England and across the Continent, and be- 
came for a time a powerful rival to the Roman missionaries in convert- 
ing the pagan German peoples. Both branches of the Celtic Church 
were independent of the bishop of Rome. Both differed from the 
Roman usage in their method of computing the date on which Easter 



THE EARLIEST INHABITANTS OF BRITAIN 23 

fell. Both, too, had a peculiar form for the clerical tonsure: while the 
Romans shaved the crown in a circle, the Celts shaved the front of the 
head from ear to ear. In some respects the two Churches differed not 
only from the parent Church, but from each other. The British had 
their own special form of baptism. On the other hand, among the 
Scotch-Irish the supreme governors were the priest abbots of the 
monasteries, while the bishops, subject to their authority, confined 
themselves to ordaining priests, consecrating churches, and doing 
missionary work. 

Evils and Disadvantages of Roman Rule. — While the Roman rule 
brought many advantages to Britain — peace, prosperity, increased 
unity, improved communications, civilized arts, and Christianity — 
it brought burdens and evils as well. For one thing, it introduced 
taxes and exactions, always burdensome, and often destructive and 
crushing. A tribute, or land tax, took from a tenth to a fifth of the 
products of the soil. The natives had to provide for the Roman 
troops, to entertain them at various stages of their constant marches, 
and to furnish labor for keeping up roads and bridges. In addition, 
traders were taxed on their stock ; a twentieth of all inherited prop- 
erty had to be handed over to the State ; a poll tax was imposed on all 
handicraftsmen and laborers ; a percentage was claimed on all goods 
sold at the markets ; and customs duties were levied on all imports and 
exports. Worst of all, these revenues were not collected by responsible 
officials, but were let out to tax farmers who paid a fixed sum and 
squeezed what they could from the unfortunate payers. Money was 
lent at exorbitant rates. Perhaps worse than the financial burdens 
was the system of conscription which took men from their homes, 
usually for life, to form a part of the great military machine. " We 
pay a yearly tribute of our bodies," wrote one Briton in a pathetic 
narrative*. For some time the service required was, as a rule, in far-off 
lands, though, later, the Roman army had to recruit more and more 
from local levies. Then the strange vices which came in with the 
conquerors had a disastrous effect on those who come in closest con- 
tact with them, while those more remote were- excluded from any 
participation in affairs. Both causes operated to kill independence 
and patriotism. In a word, as has been well said, the mass of the 
people unlearned the rude military virtues which had once been theirs, 
and, prevented from assimilating the administrative system of their 
rulers, they were unable to develop such germs of self-governing capac- 
ity as they had originally possessed. With the withdrawal of the 
legions, Roman political institutions, laws, language, and manners 
soon passed away, and then it was too late for the natives to complete 
their own national edifice from the point where they had so long ago 
been stopped in their work. In Britain, as elsewhere, the tendencies 
preparing the way for a successful barbarian invasion had been long 
at work ; heavy taxation, conscription, and exhausted revenues had 
bred discontent ; private ambition and local feeling were stronger than 



24 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

Imperial loyalty ; and the barbarians, enlisted in increasing numbers, 
were favorable to those outside who were knocking at the gates. At 
last the barriers gave way, and the enemy pressed in. 

FOR ADDITIONAL READING 

B. C. A. Windle, Life in Early Britain (1897) ; a good popular account, through the 
period of the Saxon occupation. W. B. Dawkins, Early Man in Britain (1880), 
chs. VI and following; some of the author's views have been superseded. John 
Beddoe, Races in Britain (1885). C. I. Elton, Origins of English History (1890) ; 
chs. IV, V deal with the Celts ; chs. VI, VII, prehistoric times ; ch. XI, the Roman 
period; ch. XII, the Anglo-Saxons to about 597. A valuable work. J. Rhys, 
Celtic Britain (1904) contains valuable information mingled with details chiefly 
useful for the special student. E. Conybeare, Roman Britain (1903) embodies 
results of recent studies in brief and readable form. I. Taylor, The Origin of the 
Aryans (1892) ; ch. I, on the Aryan controversy, discusses the development of 
views on racial origins to the date when the book appeared. For more recent views, 
see Ripley, Races of Europe (1899). H. D. Traill, Social England (new illus. ed., 
6 vols., 1901). A cooperative work containing a mass of information on the non- 
political aspects of the subject, with bibliographies at the ends of chapters; I, ch. I, 
for Celtic and Roman conditions. Sir James Ramsay, The Foundations of England 
(1898), I, chs. I, II, the Celts ; chs. Ill- VIII, the Romans. A detailed narrative with 
copious references to the sources. Charles Oman, England before the Norman Con- 
quest (1910), chs. I-X. This is the first of a series of seven volumes by different 
hands, covering the history of England from the earliest times to the present. The 
volume is especially valuable as presenting the results of the recent work of T. Rice 
Holmes, in Ancient Britain and Casar's Invasions, and of F. I. Haverfield in The 
Romanization of Roman Britain. Thomas Hodgkin, A Political History of England 
(1906), chs. I-V. This is the first of another series, devoting twelve volumes to the 
political history of England. There is a useful annotated list of authorities, pp. 
493-508. C. Gross, Sources and Literature of English History (1900) is a work of 
unique value, containing the only complete bibliography covering the whole period 
from the earliest times to 1485. 



CHAPTER III 

THE COMING OF THE ANGLO-SAXONS. THE "HEPTARCHY," 
AND STRUGGLE FOR SUPREMACY 

The Britons after the Withdrawal of the Romans. — After the with- 
drawal of the Romans, the Britons seem to have resumed their old 
tribal organization, although for purposes of defense they chose a com- 
mon leader (Gwledig), who combined the functions of the old Duke of 
the Britons and Count of the Saxon Shore. For years they fought a 
losing fight. " The barbarians drive us to the sea ; the sea throws us 
back to the barbarians ; we have only choice between the two methods 
of death, whether we should be massacred or drowned," they complain 
in a touching appeal to a Roman general in 446. But, for good or ill, 
the Roman connection with Britain had been forever broken. Before 
a century had gone by, the Island had so far passed beyond the impe- 
rial ken that the strangest stories were circulated about it. Britain, 
wrote the historian Procopius, in the sixth century, " is divided into 
two parts by ' the men of old.' On the eastern side of that wall all 
is fresh and fair ; neither heat nor cold extensive ; fruits, harvests, 
men abound ; a fertile soil is blessed with abundance of water. But on 
the western side things are altogether different, so that no man can 
live there even for half an hour. Numberless vipers and serpents and 
other venomous beasts abound there, and so pestilent is the air that the 
moment a man crosses the wall he dies." According to another story, 
believed by the vulgar, Britain was a home for the spirits of the dead, 
and certain boatmen were exempt from tribute to the king of the 
Franks for rowing them across the Channel. 

The Coming of Jutes, Angles, and Saxons. — Within four years 
from the appeal of 446, if the legendary date can be accepted, a body 
of Jutes, under their mythical leaders Hengist and Horsa, effected a 
landing on the little island of Thanet, off the coast of Kent. Tradi- 
tion asserts that the British ruler Vortigern took them into his service 
as allies against the Picts and Scots, and that after assisting him to repel 
his northern enemies, they revolted against him. Probably Vortigern 
is a myth, though no doubt British leaders called in German auxiliaries. 
At any rate, some time about the middle of the fifth century the Jutes 
established themselves in Kent, and their arrival marks the beginning 
of a series of invasions culminating in the conquest of the Island by a 
body of German peoples whose racial traits, laws, and customs form 
the basis of those which prevail to-day, not only in Great Britain, but 
in every land where the English language is spoken. Two other 

2 5 



26 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

tribes joined the Jutes in the westward movement — the Angles and 
the Saxons. Their original home was in the coast country stretching 
from the eastern shore of the present Denmark to the mouth of the 
Rhine. A wild and dreary country it was, too, " shagged with forests 
or deformed by marshes " and bordered by a stormy ocean. The 
inhabitants, strong in local instincts, all belonged to the same German 
or Teutonic stock. We have no description of the three peoples with 
whom we are most concerned at the time of their migration, and have 
to draw our conclusions mainly from what earlier and later writers 
tell us of the Germans in general. 

Earliest Accounts of the Germans at Home. — Among others, 
Julius Cassar, half a century before the Christian era, set down a few 
fragmentary but invaluable comments, and a hundred and fifty years 
later the historian Tacitus wrote a much ampler account. Among the 
most northern of the German peoples, the Scandinavians, a rich 
mythology has been preserved in their eddas or legends, first reduced 
to writing in far-off Iceland after the lapse of centuries. These throw 
additional light on the religion of the ancient Germans. They were 
pagans, worshiping the forces of nature ; they had their great gods, 
whose names have been preserved in the days of the week. Supreme 
over all was Woden (Wednesday), from whom ancient kings derived 
their descent. The name of his wife has survived in Friday. Thor, 
from whom Thursday takes its name, was the god of storm and agri- 
culture, whose chariot rumbling over the clouds caused the thunder, 
and who produced the thunderbolts by the blows of his mighty 
hammer. Tiu, the god of war, gave his name to Tuesday. Frea, the 
god of love, fruitfulness, and plenty, was the giver of rain and sunshine 
and had a wondrous boar to draw his car, " whose golden bristles 
lighted up the night like day." Besides these great gods, their imag- 
inations created all sorts of strange beings : valkyrs, or swan maidens, 
who rode swiftly through the air, carrying the messages of the gods ; 
norns, who determined the fate of men ; giants, like the mere-fiend 
Grendel ; fire-breathing dragons ; kobalds, mischievous demons of 
mines ; nixies or water-sprites ; tiny prankish elves ; and other spirits 
good and bad. Many of the modern fairy stories are drawn from the 
actual beliefs of our forefathers. These old Germans rarely had 
temples, but worshiped in sacred groves. Sometimes they reverenced 
a particular tree or set up a wooden column. After death the valiant 
warrior was supposed to go to Valhalla, and live forever amidst con- 
stant feasting and fighting, the highest joys they could picture. The 
cowardly and selfish went to the cold and joyless underworld, presided 
over by the goddess Hel. While we hear of priests, they had nothing 
like the organization or influence of the Druids. Worship was very 
rudimentary, and human sacrifices, usually of prisoners, are not un- 
heard of. The Germans who came to Britain soon left their paganism 
for Christianity, but many of their practices have survived. The 
feast of the Resurrection takes it name from Eastre, the goddess of 



THE COMING OF THE ANGLO-SAXONS 27 

dawn and the returning year, and children still follow the pleasant 
custom of hunting colored eggs on that day. Christmas falls within 
their Yuletide when they celebrated the winter solstice, or the time 
when our northern lands are turned farthest from the sun. The burn- 
ing of the Yule log is supposed to have originated in their old bonfire 
in honor of Thor, once a sun god. And from them we learned to 
decorate our Christmas trees. 

The Germans as described by Caesar and Tacitus. Political 
Organization. — The Germans, as described by Caesar, were a rude 
people who spent their whole time in hunting and warfare, clothed in 
skins and living chiefly on milk, cheese, and flesh. In his time, the 
chiefs distributed the land annually to tribes and families, forcing them 
to take a new piece every year so as to promote equality and to dis- 
courage agricultural pursuits. They had no common magistrates in 
time of peace, and, in time of war, followed warriors who volunteered to 
lead them against an enemy. In the time of Tacitus they had ad- 
vanced to a settled form of agriculture, and, although the bulk of the 
land was still owned by the tribes and families, there are traces, at 
least, of individual ownership. Tacitus tells us of a well-defined politi- 
cal organization. First there was the tribe or state. Some were 
governed by kings, but those in the far-off north were governed in 
times of peace by a council of chiefs who prepared measures for the 
assembly consisting of all the free men of the tribe. They usually 
came armed to their meetings, which were mainly to decide questions 
of war and peace. Proposals that pleased them they greeted by 
clashing their spears; their dissent was expressed by inarticulate mur- 
murs. The tribes were divided into districts presided over by chiefs 
elected in the tribal assembly. These districts were settlements 
made by groups of families which had originally sent a hundred warriors 
to the host and an equal number to the judicial assembly. All except 
the more important cases were decided in these district assemblies 
by the people themselves ; for the chief was in no sense a judge, but 
merely a chairman to voice the opinion of the majority. Each dis- 
trict was composed of groups of kindred forming a free village com- 
munity. They had no cities, but dwelt in little groups planted where 
a meadow or a spring offered an inviting spot. Each household had 
its own dwelling place surrounded by a plot of ground which was the 
property of the father of the family. The arable land owned by the 
kindred group was reallotted every year at the meeting of the commu- 
nity. While some of these villages may have been under the control of 
a chief, it is generally supposed that most of them managed their 
own affairs — a primitive example of the modern town meeting. 
They cultivated in common and used only a portion of the soil each 
season, allowing the remainder to rest or lie fallow. Meadows and 
woods were common to all. 

Ranks among the Early Germans. — Society was graded into ranks 
or classes. In many states there was an hereditary nobility claiming 



28 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

descent from the gods. The nobles enjoyed personal distinction, but 
no political privilege, by virtue of their descent. The bulk of the 
inhabitants were freemen, distinguished from the lower orders by their 
long flowing hair, their right to bear arms, their right to attend the 
tribal and district assemblies, and their right to share in the annual 
allotment of their village lands. Below them was a class of half- 
freed slaves or f reedmen ; they cultivated the lands of others and they 
might be called upon for military service. While they could not share 
in giving judgments, they might testify in the courts, and their lives 
were protected by a wergeld. Lowest of all were the bondmen ; some 
bound to the soil which they tilled for their masters, some household 
servants. Their lives were absolutely at the disposal of their masters, 
to whom any one else who injured them was answerable. Each chief 
had a body of select companions or comites, whom he supplied with 
horses and weapons and who fed and drank at his rude but plentiful 
table. In return, they fought by his side in time of war and helped 
him to while away the idle hours of peace. From these companions 
certain grades of Anglo-Saxon nobility descended. 

Personal Characteristics. — Very striking in their appearance were 
these old Germans with their stern blue eyes, their ruddy hair, and 
their huge bodies, capable of great exertions in war and chase, but 
" impatient of toil and labor." In their intervals of war they passed 
their time in hunting, feasting, games, or in " sluggish repose," leaving 
all work to women and servants. Their excesses in eating and drink- 
ing were prodigious ; indeed, they regarded it as no disgrace to prolong 
their orgies for days at a time. Deadly quarrels were frequent. Their 
passion for games of chance was so intense that they would often stake 
their freedom on a single throw of the dice. However, they were 
hospitable to strangers, they had a high veneration for women, and 
their family life was simple and wholesome. Such were the ancient 
Germans and such were the characteristics — personal, social, and polit- 
ical — that the Angles, Jutes, and Saxons transmitted to their new 
island home. 

Causes of Migration. — The impelling cause for their migration 
seems to have been desire for more land, due to their hunting and 
pastoral pursuits, to their wasteful system of agriculture, and their 
general roving instincts. Moreover, they were hard pressed by the 
tribes constantly sweeping upon them from the east. Hemmed in to 
the south, they naturally chose the sea route down the Frisian and 
Flemish coast made familiar to them by over a century of desultory 
plundering raids. The Franks and Alemanni, who lay nearest to 
Britain and were subject to equal pressure, were diverted from any 
such conquest by the opportunities for service in the Roman army, by 
the prospects of rich booty and the sunny, fruitful lands of the south. 

The Jutes and the Saxons. — The Jutes who occupied Kent never 
expanded very far. A dense, gloomy forest — Andred's Weald — 
confronted them on the west ; to the south a wide expanse of fen coun- 



THE COMING OF THE ANGLO-SAXONS 



29 



try, later known as Romney Marsh, stood in their way, and the 
Thames River, with its marshy banks, cut them off from the north. 
The bulk of the lands south of the Thames fell to the lot of the Saxons. 
In 477 a band of South Saxons, under their chief .Ella, landed on the 
coast at Selsey and appropriated to themselves the modern county of 
Sussex. At the fortified town of Anderida, near the present Pevensey, 
they met with a stubborn resistance, and after taking it they " slew 
all that were therein, nor was there henceforth one Briton left." 
They, too, were limited in their conquest by Andred's Weald to the 
north and east. In 495 Cerdic and his son Cynric — again the names 
of the leaders are only traditional — landed on the shores of Southamp- 
ton Water. Their followers, known as the West Saxons, reenforced by 
some Jutes, soon overran what is now the county of Hampshire. 
They met their first notable check at Mount Badon, near the mouth 
of the Severn, about 516. The British leader on this occasion was 
Ambrosius Aurelianus — according to later legend, no less a person 
than the celebrated Arthur about whom so many romantic stories 
center. After a time the West Saxons worked their way up to the 
Thames, but were stopped in their advance down the valley by the 
tribes who had pushed in from the eastern coast. The strip of coast 
between the Thames and the Stour fell to a band of Saxons who were 
able, after dogged fighting, to gain the two cities of London and 
Colchester and to found a kingdom. They came to be known as the 
East Saxons, a name which survives in the modern Essex. The 
Middle Saxons, stretching further inland along the northern bank of 
the Thames, stood between them and their West Saxon kin. The 
latter, turning west after their failure to secure possession of the 
lower Thames valley, gained a decisive victory in 577 at Deorham over 
three British kings of Bath, Gloucester, and Cirencester. This vic- 
tory was of the greatest importance, for it gave them control of the 
Severn River and enabled them to cut off the Welsh massed in Devon 
and Cornwall from those lying north of the Bristol Channel. Ceawlin, 
their leader, at this time, pressed north, " capturing many towns and 
untold booty " ; but a decided defeat some miles south of Chester, 
coupled with a revolt of the mixed population of Saxons and British 
settled in the Severn valley, stopped the growth of the West Saxon 
power for over two hundred years. However, they had had the ad- 
vantage of two great river valleys, of the Roman roads, and a compara- 
tively open country to spread over ; and, in spite of their temporary 
reverse, they held a territory more extended than any other power 
south of the Wash and the Fens. 

The Angles. — By far the greater part of present England was 
occupied by the Angles, who gave their name to the country — Angle- 
land or England — and whose migration was so complete, it is said, 
that their native country was left a desert. Although details are 
lacking, they seem to have become settled in their new homes in the 
sixth century in groupings that can be determined roughly. Lying 



30 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

between the river Stour and the Wash were the East Angles, made up 
of the North Folk and the South Folk. North of the Humber, and 
stretching beyond the borders of present Scotland, were the Northum- 
brians, consisting of two peoples, the Deirans and the Bernicians. 
Along the Trent, running into the heart of the midlands, were the 
Middle English, and still farther west, on the British border, were the 
men of the Mark or Mercians. 

Tribal Grouping at the Close of the Teutonic Invasions. — Leaving 
the minor tribes out of account, we have now noted the settlements of 
the various peoples who came to compose what was formerly called 
the " Heptarchy," or seven kingdoms — though the number varied 
and the name has little significance ; three kingdoms of Angles — 
the Northumbrians, the East Angles, and the Mercians ; three king- 
doms of Saxons, — the East, South, and West Saxons ; and Kent, the 
kingdom of the Jutes. To the north and west were the Celts, mingled 
with remnants of earlier peoples. Northeast Scotland was the country 
of the Picts, while, about the time the Angles were settling themselves 
in the east, a band of Scots came over from Ireland and planted them- 
selves on the northern banks of the Clyde. The Scots and Picts were 
finally united under one king in the ninth century. Stretching down 
the coast from the Clyde to Land's End were a series of British or 
Welsh tribes known, respectively, as the Strathclyde, the North, and 
the West Welsh. Later, the Northumbrians succeeded in cutting 
the Strathclyde peoples from their brethren, the North Welsh. These 
northern Celts united in a loose confederacy, calling themselves the 
Kymry, a name which has lived in the Cumbrian mountains and the 
county of Cumberland. 

Slightness of Roman or Celtic Influences on Anglo-Saxon Britain. — 
The Romans left very slight permanent influences on the country ; 
the Teuton invaders had gone from their homes comparatively un- 
touched by the brilliant if decaying civilization of the great Latin 
race. So the manners and customs and forms of government of the 
English were to a large degree Teutonic, not Roman nor even Celtic. 
The invaders found a British people enjoying some degree of culture, 
advanced in trade, living in cities, and cultivating large estates. But 
they either exterminated them or drove them into the inaccessible 
west. Coming by sea in small numbers and disconnected bands, 
hampered in their progress by dense forests and treacherous marshes, 
they could be better resisted, and so had to fight long and stubbornly 
and to destroy the natives before they could prevail. Moreover, 
coming to found homes, those whom they spared were mostly women 
and slaves. All indications go to show this : the few British words 
that survive are mainly for domestic utensils and everyday things; 
the medieval towns are to be traced from the fortified centers and 
from the rural settlements of the Anglo-Saxons — the tuns, hams, and 
thorpes — and not from the vills and cities of the partly romanized 
Celts. Many of these latter communities were utterly destroyed, and 




Weat 5 4 Longitude 3 from 2 Greenwich 1 East 1 



60NMAY * CO.,£fclofl'e,N.Y. 



THE COMING OF THE ANGLO-SAXONS 3 r 

have only been excavated in recent times, like Calleva (Silchester in 
Hampshire) and Unconium, " the white tun in the valley " the site 
of the modern Wroxeter in Shropshire. The original site's even of 
Deva (Chester), Eboracum (York), and Canterbury (Durovernum) 
were only centuries later repeopled. 

Union into Larger Kingdoms and the Introduction of Christianity 
— Two main features mark the period following that in which the 
invaders were getting settled in their new homes. One is the union 
of the various incoming tribes of Jutes, Angles, and Saxons into larger 
kingdoms ; the other is the introduction of Christianity among the 
heathen Germans. The West Saxons, for instance, were originally 
composed of many smaller groups, the Dorsstas, Somersstas, and 
Wiltsaetas, to mention only a few, and the same may be said of the 
other kingdoms. Also, the temporary war chiefs of the migration 
period were either exalted into, or subordinated to, permanent chiefs 
or kings The formation of larger kingdoms marks an effort on the 
part of the larger and stronger tribes to obtain control over the whole 
Island. This is true of Northumbria in the seventh, of Mercia in the 
eighth, and of Wessex in the ninth century. The progress toward 
unity was helped and hindered in many ways. It was helped from the 
tact that the conquerors all belonged to the same race, and had sub- 
stantially the same religion, language, and social and political organiza- 
tion. I o balance these elements of unity there were serious obstacles ■ 
the piecemeal, slow, and scattered nature of their migration and settle- 
ment ; the lack of communication ; and the love of local independence 
or particularism," characteristic of the German for generations to 
come However much these circumstances may have helped or re- 
tarded, the early combinations were due mainly to two causes ■ the 
subjugation of weaker by the stronger, and the union of neighboring 
tribes for defense and conquest. But Christianity proved to be the 
greatest of all the unifying and civilizing forces. The form which was 
to prevail that of Rome, was introduced in the southeast, while 
Scotch and Irish missionaries worked their way in from the north and 
west. Although the latter were for a time serious rivals to the 
Roman missionaries, they helped prepare the way for the form to 
which they ultimately bowed. 

Augustine converts ^thelbert of Kent. — The first ruler to attain 
a leading position in England was ^thelbert, King of Kent (560-616) 
the tribes north and west were busily engaged in making head against 
a a 5 ,i? n ,5 heir borders > whiIe > protected by Romney Marsh, 
Andred s Weald, and the Thames, ^thelbert was able to develop his 
powers until he was strong enough to go forth and make himself lord 
of all the lands south of the Humber. Lying nearest to the Continent, 
he was the first English king to enter into relation with the peoples 
across the Channel. The most notable result was his marriage with 
^ertha, a Frankish princess. Bertha was a Christian, and though 
/Lthelbert was a heathen, he allowed his wife to bring a bishop to her 



32 



A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 



new Kentish home, and gave her the deserted Roman church of St. 
Martin's as a place of worship. No doubt all this had its influence on 
her husband and his people, but their conversion was actually brought 
about by a mission from Rome. The Pope at this time was Gregory 
the Great (590-604). Already, as a young man, he had seen English 
boys as captives in the slave market at Rome. Attracted by their 
fair faces, blue eyes, and silky, golden hair, he asked whence they came. 
He was told that they came from the country of the Angles. " Right," 
said he, " for they have angelic faces." On asking further the name of 
the province to which they belonged, he was told that it was Deira. 
" Truly," he exclaimed, " they shall be withdrawn from the wrath of 
God 1 and called to the mercy of Christ." From that time, according to 
the legend, so beautiful that one hopes it may be true, he seems to have 
been determined to convert the land of the Anglo-Saxons to the Chris- 
tian faith. So, in 596, he selected a monk, Augustine, and a band of 
followers to perform the work. It is easy to see why he chose the 
country of ^Ethelbert. The King of Kent was the leading ruler in 
southern Britain, he was the best known on the Continent, and the 
husband of a Christian. After a long journey through Gaul, Gregory's 
emissaries crossed the straits of Dover, and, in 597, landed at Ebbs- 
fleet in Thanet, where, over a century before, the heathen Jutes, 
bent on a different kind of a conquest, had first secured a foothold. 
Augustine sent word to the King that they brought him a joyful mes- 
sage. He at length received them, sitting in the open air, fearing if he 
entered a house, they might overcome him by magic spells. The 
monks approached him in a procession, singing a litany and bearing 
a silver cross and a picture of Christ painted on wood. His first reply 
was that, although their promises were fair, their words were new and 
of uncertain import, and he could not forsake the beliefs which he and 
those about him had so long followed. Nevertheless, he allowed the 
holy strangers to come and dwell in his royal city of Canterbury, and, 
on Whitsunday, 597, he consented to be baptized. It is said that 
10,000 of his people followed his example. Though we are told that 
the King exercised no compulsion, this, like other wholesale conversions 
of those days, must have been due to obedience or loyalty rather than 
to conviction. Augustine, after the conversion of iEthelbert and the 
men of Kent, went to Aries, where he was consecrated archbishop. 
He then returned, repaired Christ church, another of the old Roman 
churches, and from this time to the present day the Archbishop of 
Canterbury, with his archiepiscopal seat at Christ church, has been 
the head of the Church of England. 

End of the Kentish Supremacy and the Decline of Christianity. — 
Gregory had planned an elaborate scheme of church government with 
two archbishops, one at London and one at York, each with twelve 
bishops subordinate to him. This scheme, however, came to nothing. 

1 Latin, de ira. 



THE COMING OF THE ANGLO-SAXONS 33 

All that Augustine was able to do was to establish two episcopal sees, 
one at Rochester in Kent and another in London in the land of the 
East Saxons. The Pope had also instructed him to enter into rela- 
tions with the British Christians who had always held sullenly aloof 
from the Anglo-Saxon conquerors. The Archbishop held two con- 
ferences with the British bishops, one on the banks of the Severn, 
where he received them grandly sitting under a spreading oak. They 
not only refused to acknowledge his supremacy and alter their cus- 
toms, but even to join in the work of converting the land. It was to 
no purpose, says tradition, that Augustine, offering to contend with 
them by a sign from heaven, healed a blind man after they had failed. 
Their stubbornness was due partly to the lordly air and high claims 
of the representative from Rome, but there were more weighty rea- 
sons ; they clung to traditions dear to them by centuries of usage, and 
they would have none of a faith adopted by those whom they had such 
cause to hate. Augustine died in 604 and ^thelbert in 616. His 
reign is notable, not only for the spread of his dominion and for the 
introduction of Christianity, but for the first book of laws issued by an 
English king. These laws are merely a record of existing customs, 
somewhat amended by Christianity, and relate chiefly to offenses and 
penalties to be imposed. The death of .Ethelbert marked the end 
of the Kentish supremacy and the temporary decline of Chris- 
tianity. His sons, and the petty kings of Essex, relapsed into heathen- 
dom. Raedwald of the neighboring East Anglians, who had only 
gone so far as to admit Christ among his other gods and had been 
prevented by his wife and counselors from going farther, now threw 
off his allegiance to Kent and for a time became the leading ruler in 
the Island. 

The Rise of Northumbria. — Meantime, the Northumbrians had 
come to the front and developed a power that was destined to be 
predominant for over a century. In 588, ^Ethelric, King of Bernicia, 
succeeded in gaining control of the rival kingdom of Deira. On his 
death the rule of the united kingdoms north of the Humber passed to 
his son iEthelfrith, known as " the devastator," from the extent and 
ruthlessness of his conquests. He first secured his northern border by 
a victory over a combined force of the Picts and Scots near the head- 
waters of the Tyne, and then advanced west against the Welsh, whom 
he overcame in a battle near Chester at a date variously given as 607 
and 613. Legend tells that two thousand monks from Bangor appeared 
to pray for their countrymen, whereupon the Northumbrian King 
ordered an attack upon them, declaring : " If they cry to their God 
against us, they too are our adversaries, though they bear no weapons, 
since they oppose us by their imprecations." Twelve hundred, it is 
said, were slain. Be this as it may, the battle of Chester ranks with 
that of Deorham (Dyrham) in importance; for it had the result of 
cutting off the Strathclyde Welsh from the inhabitants of the country 
we now know as Wales. Thus the solid Celtic western wall had been 



34 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

broken into three parts. ^Ethelfrith did not long survive his triumph ; 
for Raedwald of East Anglia, with whom Edwin, one of the sons of 
the displaced king of Deira, had taken refuge, defeated him and slew 
him at a battle on the river Idle in 617. 

The Supremacy of Edwin (617-633). His Conversion. — Edwin 
thereby became supreme over the united Northumbrian kingdoms. He 
extended his rule to the north, and established a fortification from which 
Edinburgh (Edwin's burh) takes its name. He also made himself the 
leading power in mid-Britain and allied himself with Kent by marrying 
^Ethelburh, daughter of ^thelbert, and sister of the reigning King. 
She was instrumental in bringing about his conversion to Christianity ; 
for he only obtained her hand on condition that she bring with her 
her chaplain Paulinus and enjoy the free exercise of her religion. 
Paulinus urged the King to adopt the Christian faith. He promised 
to do so, after a narrow escape from death, if he should succeed in 
gaining a victory over the West Saxons with whom he was at war. 
When his arms prevailed, he held a meeting of his Witan, or Council, 
to discuss the question. History has preserved the lofty, simple words 
of one of his ealdormen. " So seems the life of man, O King," he 
said, " as a sparrow's flight through the hall when a man is sitting at 
meat in winter tide with the warm fire lighted at the hearth, but the 
chill rainstorm without. The sparrow flies in at one door and tarries 
for a moment in the light and heat of the hearth fire, and then flying 
forth from the other vanishes into the wintry darkness whence it 
came. So tarries for a moment the life of man in our sight ; but what 
is before it we know not. What after it we know not. If this new 
teaching tell us aught certainly of these let us follow it." Coifi, a 
heathen priest, was more material. He declared himself willing to 
reject the old gods because they had never done him any good, and, 
after the question had been decided, he mounted his war horse, hurled 
a spear against a pagan temple, and then assisted to set it afire. This 
was in 627. Edwin not only extended his sway over a considerable 
portion of the Island, but he maintained such peace and order " that a 
woman might walk from sea to sea and no one would do her harm." 
But his enemies in the end proved too strong for him, and Christianity 
contributed to his undoing. Caedwalla, King of North Wales, formed 
a combination with Penda of Mercia, a stout old pagan, and the two 
overthrew him, in 633, at Heathfield near Doncaster. 

Oswald becomes King of Northumbria. The Scotch-Irish Mission. 
— On the death of Edwin the two Northumbrian kingdoms for the 
moment fell apart again. But they were soon reunited by Oswald, a 
son of the Bernician iEthelfrith. During the time of Edwin he had 
been in exile chiefly at Iona, a little island off the west coast of Scot- 
land, where there was a famous monastery founded toward the close 
of the sixth century by the Irish Saint Columba. Oswald labored 
to convert his kingdom to the Scotch-Irish faith which he had adopted 
at Iona. The field was clear, since the Church of Rome had made 



THE COMING OF THE ANGLO-SAXONS 35 

little headway, especially in Bernicia. But the first missionary who 
came was an austere man who failed to win the hearts of the Northum- 
brians. On his return he was rebuked by Aidan, a gentle and holy 
man. The monks at once decided that Aidan was the man to go in 
his place. He established a see and a monastery at Lindisfarne, or 
Holy Isle, on the Northumbrian coast, not far from the royal residence 
at Bamborough. While as abbot he directed the devotions, study, 
and industry of his monks at Lindisfarne, he also preached and taught 
the people. Since at first he could speak no English, Oswald stood 
generally by his side to interpret what he said. Many stories are 
told of the piety, humbleness, and charity of these two men. On one 
occasion when they were celebrating an Easter feast, a silver dish full 
of dainty meats was brought in. Then the King's almoner entered 
and said that the people outside were clamoring for food. Oswald at 
once ordered the meats to be sent out to them and the dish to be broken 
into bits and distributed among them. Aidan seized his hand and 
cried, " May this hand never decay." According to tradition, it was 
cut off at the time of his death and preserved unwithered at St. Peter's 
church in Bamb6rough. Although Oswald was a strong and valiant 
warrior as well as a man of piety, he was not long able to maintain 
head against Penda, who led an army against him and defeated him at 
Maserfeld in 642. Oswald was slain and miracles were performed by 
earth soaked with his blood. Oswy, a younger brother of the former 
king, came from Iona, and, starting as Oswald had done in Bernicia, 
was able to make himself ruler of all Northumbria, though Deira was 
for a time independent under its old kings. Oswy was able at last to 
make way with old Penda at the battle of Winwaed Eield in 655. 
This triumph accelerated the work that the Scotch-Irish Church was 
doing, for heathen Mercia was won and the East Saxons were recon- 
verted. The Roman Church, however, had not been idle. It had 
secured a foothold in East Anglia, in 627, and in Wessex, in 635. A 
clash between the rivals was bound soon to come. 

Synod of Whitby, 664. Triumph of the Church of Rome. — The 
Celtic missionaries were scholarly, devout, zealous, and took hold of 
the people, but the church which they represented lacked unity and 
organization, the very qualities which were the peculiar strength of 
the mother Roman Church. About this time, Wilfrid, a young Nor- 
thumbrian noble whom Oswy's queen had educated, returned from 
a pilgrimage to the Eternal City. Full of enthusiasm for the older 
system, he labored strenuously to make it prevail. At length, in 664, 
a synod was arranged in the King's presence, at Whitby. Wilfrid 
was chosen to present the Roman claims. The opposing party was 
led by Colman, at that time Bishop of Lindisfarne, for Aidan had died 
thirteen years before. The main controversy was over the date of 
Easter. In the course of the debate Wilfrid asserted that the Roman 
custom was that of Peter to whom Christ had intrusted the keys of 
heaven. This decided Oswy, who declared that he would take the 



36 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

side of Peter, lest " when I come before the gates of heaven, he who 
holds the keys should not open unto me." 

Organization and Extension of the Church under Theodore, 669-690. 
— The results of the Roman victory at Whitby were momentous and 
far-reaching. It brought England into contact with the civilization 
of continental Europe and led to the formation of what had been a 
mere group of mission stations into an organized church. The man 
to whom this work is chiefly due was a learned Greek of Tarsus, 
Theodore by name, whom the Pope sent out as Archbishop of Canter- 
bury. He arrived in 669 and wrought unceasingly for over twenty 
years till his death in 690. He found only seven bishoprics and only 
three bishops to fill them. Two of them were contending for the 
see of York and the other had bought the see of London for money. 
In the teeth of great opposition, Theodore divided these large sees 
until he left fifteen in effective working order. In 673, he held a synod 
at Hertford, notable as the first assembly of the whole English Church. 
A number of wise measures were enacted, and it was decided to hold 
annual synods. This was not carried out, though such meetings came 
to be held from time to time. To bring the Church into closer touch 
with the people, Theodore greatly extended the parochial system. 
The center of Church life in primitive times was the bishop. To each 
was allotted a single church, and he had in his household a body 
of young men whom he taught and sent out to preach and teach in 
their turn. But, corresponding to a need for more regular ministra- 
tions, as time went on, the lords of large estates began to settle priests 
on their lands, and the little townships or hamlets did likewise. While 
Theodore did not originate the system, he did much to foster its growth. 
Much as he did for the unity and extension of Church government, 
the indefatigable Archbishop did not confine himself to this work. 
Assisted by the Abbot Hadrian he founded a school at Canterbury, 
where boys were taught arithmetic, astronomy, Latin, Greek, and 
the Scriptures. Then, indirectly, he did much to raise the standard 
of morals. A " Penitential " of this time — that is, a work, contain- 
ing a list of sins and the penalties to be imposed — if not actually 
written by him, was based largely on answers to questions submitted 
to him. 

The Monks and Their Work. — The religious and educational 
work of the Church in early England was largely done by the monks 
who had established Christianity in the Island. Monks include 
both hermits and anchorites who lived apart even from each other, 
and those who, though withdrawn from the world, dwell together in a 
community. Only the latter played any great part in English life. 
There were communities of men, and double monasteries. In the latter 
case each sex had its separate group of buildings, but was under the 
ministrations of the same priests. In the Anglo-Saxon period these 
orders were mostly Benedictine, following the rule of St. Benedict 
(480-543), a holy man who founded a monastery at Monte Casino in 



THE COMING OF THE ANGLO-SAXONS 37 

southern Italy. He taught men to work with their hands as well as 
their minds. His followers were pledged never to marry, to obey 
their superiors without question, and to accumulate no wealth for 
themselves ; in other words, they were bound by the three vows of 
poverty, chastity, and obedience. While the individuals remained 
poor, the monastic communities became immensely rich. Enjoined 
to labor as well as to pray, they entered into waste places, cut down 
the forests drained the swamps, built dwellings, and cultivated the 
soil Work, even when primarily for the glory of God, is bound to 
produce material results. Aside from their manual labor they studied 
and copied manuscripts and taught the youth. To us it may not 
seem the highest courage to flee from the throbbing life of the world 
and its temptations instead of overcoming them. Moreover these 
monks as their wealth increased and their pioneer work was accom- 
plished became weak, idle, and corrupt. Nevertheless, after all is 
said, they were a great power for good. Life was hard, brutal, and 
vicious and the gentle, pious men and women who devoted themselves 
to study, work, and prayer were shining examples in an age when 
greed, ignorance, and blood-thirstiness were all too common The 
literature of the times is full of the doings of monks and nuns A 
most interesting figure is that of Ealdhelm, known in the Anglican 
calendar as St. Aldhelm. A member of the royal house of Wessex 
he became a pupil of Hadrian, rose to be Abbot of Malmesbury and 
did much to spread learning among the West Saxons. Not only was 
he an exceptional classical scholar; but he had great gifts as a com- 
poser and singer. It is said that when he found the country people 
unwilling to stay in church after the music in order to listen to the 
sermon, he would intercept them on a bridge which they had to cross 
and sing to them. Gradually as he caught their attention he would 
talk to them of sacred things. 

The Venerable Bede (673-735). - Yet by far the most renowned 
and attractive figure among these early monks is the venerable Bede 
(073-735), the " father of English history." His Historic ecclesiastica 
genhs Anglorum, or " Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation " 
extending from 55 b.c. to 731 a.d., is notable not only for being the 
nrst truly historical work produced by an Englishman, but for a grace 
ot style and temper that is all but unique. Although primarily a 
church history, it deals incidentally with temporal affairs, and, indeed 
is almost our only authentic source for the period of the seventh and 
early eighth centuries. As a boy Bede was sent to the monastery 
ot Jarrow on Tyne, and passed his life there. He says, " He gave his 
whole energy to meditating on the Scriptures, and, amid the obser- 
vance of the monastic rule and the daily ministry of singing in the 
Church, ever held it sweet either to learn or to teach or to write " 
Humble and devout, he became the most learned man of his day 
Among other things he helped to found the court school at York 
where Alcuin, the friend of Charlemagne, studied, and through him 



38 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

contributed to spread learning over the Western Empire. He labored 
to the end on a translation of the gospel of St. John ; for he said he 
did not wish to leave his boys in ignorance. The story of his death 
has been preserved in a beautiful letter of one of his pupils Cuthberht. 

Influence of the Church. — The influence of the Church at this 
time was manifold and boundless. Its organization furnished a 
model of unity in the midst of separation and disorder. Its synods 
brought men together and broke down provincialism and prejudice. 
It contributed at least somewhat to raise the standard of morality, 
and preserve and spread learning. It fostered industry, agriculture, 
and the arts, while the men dug, builded, and studied, and the women 
spun, wove, and embroidered. Moreover, extending their efforts 
beyond their own land, many Englishmen became famous and heroic 
apostles to their kinsmen in the low countries and the German lands 
farther east. 

End of the Northumbrian Supremacy. — Oswy of Northumbria 
died in 670. His successor Egfrith was defeated and slain by the 
Picts, and from that time Northumbria ceased to be a leading power. 
Internal strife, hostilities on the northern border, and the enmity of 
Mercia proved too much for it to withstand. The kingdom lingered 
on into the ninth century till it was destroyed by a new enemy, the 
Northmen ; but it would be useless to try to make headway through 
its confused and tumultuous annals. Suffice to say that during the 
eighth century there were fourteen kings, of whom many were deposed 
and none died peacefully. But the period of Northumbrian ascen- 
dancy is marked by the conversion of the north and midlands and by 
the establishment of the supremacy of the Church of Rome with all 
which that implied. 

Supremacy of Mercia. JEthelbald (716-757), Offa (757-796). — 
During the eighth century the leading position in England was taken 
by Mercia. ^Ethelbald (716-757), a nephew of Penda, made himself 
supreme as far north as the Humber, and for nearly a quarter of a 
century was an important factor in political and Church affairs. But 
he was defeated by the West Saxons, at Burford, in 752, and was 
" miserably murdered at night by his own bodyguard " five years 
later. After a short interval he was succeeded by Offa, who had a 
difficult task before him; for, after the battle of Burford, not only 
the West Saxons, but the East Angles and the Welsh broke away. 
After more than twenty years of hard fighting he succeeded in re- 
covering his supremacy south of the Humber and in subduing and 
absorbing the Welsh on the western border. He built an earthwork, 
known as OftVs Dyke, from the mouth of the Wye to the mouth of 
the Dee, marking roughly the line of the Welsh border at the present 
day. He gave his daughter in marriage to the representative of one 
branch of the West Saxon royal house, and drove a rival claimant from 
his territories. He was on terms of intimacy with Charlemagne, and 
more than one sign indicates his influence with the Papacy. Pope 



THE COMING OF THE ANGLO-SAXONS 39 

Hadrian described him as the king of the English nation ; he made 
the Pope a grant, in 787, which is regarded as the origin of Peter's 
pence ; and he received the first and only papal legates who ever 
came to England till the time of Edward the Confessor. He succeeded 
in establishing an archbishopric at Lichfield. This archbishopric, 
which scarcely outlived the King, is the only archiepiscopal see which 
has ever existed in England outside of Canterbury and York (founded 
in 735). Off a made laws for his people, which, though they are no 
longer extant, were drawn on by Alfred the Great for his later and 
more famous compilation. The Mercian King was also liberal in his 
grants to monasteries, and, in spite of a legend that he was a despoiler 
of churches and in spite of one or two stories of his ruthlessness, he 
was a religious as well as an efficient ruler. 

FOR ADDITIONAL READING 

Caesar in his Gallic Wars and Tacitus in his Germania describe the conditions of the 
early Germans on the continent in about 50 B.C. and 100 a.d., respectively. 

Among the descriptions in later works are : Pasquale Villari, The Barbarian Inva- 
sions (1902), bk. I, ch. II; F. B. Gummere, Germanic Origins (1892); Hannis 
Taylor, The Origin and Growth of the English Constitution (1892), I, bk. I, chs. I, 
II; Wm. Stubbs, English Constitutional History (5th ed., 1891), I, chs. II, III. 
Taylor's work is a compilation very clearly written, but exaggerates the Germanic 
origin of English institutions. Stubbs, although superseded in places, is still the 
authoritative comprehensive work on English constitutional history in the medie- 
val period. 

For the invasions and the early history of the Anglo-Saxons, the most valuable 
general sources are Bede, Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum, to 732, and the 
Anglo-Suxon Chronicle, which in one version goes to 11 54. Each work has been 
translated many times. Inexpensive editions are those of J. A. Giles in Bohn's 
Standard Library (1843) an d (1847), respectively. The best modern narratives are 
J. R. Green, The Making of England, a.d. 449-829 (1881) ; Ramsay, Foundations 
of England, I, chs. IX, XI-XIII ; Oman, England before the Norman Conquest, 
chs. XI-XVIII ; Hodgkin, Political History of England, chs. VI-XV (bibliography, 
PP- 493-5°8). 

For the introduction of Christianity see H. O. Wakeman, History of the Church 
of England (1908), chs. I— III, and William Hunt, History of the English Church, chs. 
I— XII. Wakeman's is the best one-volume work. Hunt's is the first of a series of 
nine volumes by different authors forming the standard work on the subject. 
Each chapter is provided with a fairly full bibliography. F. Makower, Constitu- 
tional History of the Church of England (Eng. tr., 1895), sees. 1, 2, 3, is valuable for 
the constitution of the early Church in England. 

An invaluable work of reference for the whole period is the Dictionary of National 
Biography, 63 vols. 1885-1900, with 6 supplementary volumes bringing the work up 
to 191 2. The ample biographies are accompanied by good bibliographies. In 
1908-1909 a cheaper edition in 22 volumes was issued. 



CHAPTER IV 

THE ASCENDANCY OF THE WEST SAXONS. THE DANISH IN- 
VASIONS. THE GROWTH AND DECLINE AND FALL OF THE 
ANGLO-SAXON MONARCHY 

Rise of the West Saxons. Laws of Ine. — Not long after the death 
of Offa, the Mercians were forced to yield their supreme position to the 
West Saxons. While the West Saxons developed a great strength, 
they owed much to the handicaps which the Mercians had to contend 
with, to the fact that the latter were an inland people surrounded on 
all sides by enemies, and that they were an agglomeration of at least 
five tribes separated from one another by rivers, marshes, and forests. 
The West Saxons had started on a career of conquest, generations be- 
fore, with the brightest of prospects, but they had been held back 
largely by internal dissensions. These were due to struggles between 
two rival royal lines and to the restlessness of petty under-kings by 
whom the subject districts were ruled. It was only occasionally in 
the early times that a really notable man came to the front. Greatest 
of these after the warrior Ceawlin (593) was Ine (688-726), celebrated 
for his commanding position in the south and for his code of laws. 
These, dating from the period between 690 and 693, are the " earliest 
extant specimens of West Saxon legislation." They are largely amend- 
ments of existing custom and are chiefly an enumeration of crimes and 
their penalties. One provision, however, prohibiting the sale of bond- 
men of English blood beyond the seas, is markworthy. Ine was a truly 
pious man ; he fought valiantly and governed well ; but his later 
years were embittered by a rising of the aethelings or princes with 
royal pretensions. Discouraged by this, and influenced, perhaps, by 
the efforts of his wife to convince him of the vanity of earthly pomp, 
he abdicated and went with her on a life pilgrimage to Rome, where he 
died. Nearly a century was to pass before the West Saxon power 
again took the lead. This time its supremacy among the Anglo- 
Saxons was destined to be lasting. Many reasons explain this. There 
began in the ninth century a line of kings, who were, almost without 
exception effective rulers and indomitable warriors, and who were sup- 
ported by the Church which, desirous of union among the diverse tribes 
in order to carry on its work, saw the best prospect for such a union 
under the strong West Saxon house. Then the coming of the North- 
men, who were more than once victorious, furnished a common enemy 
to draw the Anglo-Saxons together in united resistance. Also, the 

40 



THE ASCENDANCY OF THE WEST SAXONS 41 

Northmen aided the cause of the West Saxons by destroying the rival 
kingdoms which had hitherto impeded their advance. 

Egbert establishes the West Saxon Supremacy. — The beginning 
of the West Saxon supremacy dates from the accession of Egbert, 
who was the son of an under-king of Kent, but was descended from a 
branch of the House of Cerdic. About 796 he was driven out of Eng- 
land and went to Frankland ; and for some three years he " dwelt in 
honor " under the protection of Charlemagne. From this greatest 
of medieval warriors and rulers he learned invaluable lessons in the 
art of fighting, while from his Empire he gained his first idea of a great 
united rule. On the death of the king who had sent him into exile 
he returned, in 802, and was accepted as ruler by the West Saxons. 
In the teeth of resistance he steadily extended his power. He reduced 
the Mercians to submission, the people of East Anglia sought his 
" peace and protection," he recovered the Kentish kingdom of his 
father, and forced the Northumbrians to take him for their lord. He 
also made the Welsh acknowledge his lordship. During his last years 
he had to fight off attacks of the Northmen, who had first appeared in 
the reign of his predecessor. This work occupied practically the 
whole energies of Egbert's son and of his four grandsons, the last and 
greatest of whom was Alfred. 

The Northmen. — The Northmen, or Danes, as the Anglo-Saxons 
called them, are often known as the " vikings " or rovers. They 
inhabited the peninsulas of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, and re- 
sembled in many respects the north German tribes, who had harassed 
the shores of Britain from the third to the fifth centuries. They were 
heathens, sea rovers, and pirates, and passed their time mainly in 
plundering and fighting. Organized in small bands under petty chiefs 
they had their headquarters in the innumerable fiords, inlets, and creeks 
which indent the Scandinavian coast. Their boats were small, open 
affairs, high at the prow and stern, and propelled by oars, usually 
fifteen on a side. 1 Often they bore a single mast and a sail which could 
be set up to help the oarsmen when the wind was right. Necessity 
as well as inclination forced the Northmen to take to the sea, for 
Charlemagne's conquest of the Saxons blocked any chance of ex- 
panding south by land. They followed two routes : a northern, by 
way of the Shetlands to Ireland, and thence to the extreme south 
coast of England ; a southern, by way of the Frisian and Flemish coast. 
Of those who took the latter course some crossed over to England, 
others made for the French and Spanish coasts or for the Mediterra- 
nean. In the tenth century one band, under their leader Rollo, se- 
cured a foothold in northern France, and established a settlement 
which developed into the powerful duchy of Normandy. At first 
they conducted merely disconnected plundering expeditions, then they 
made settlements, and finally established kingdoms. 

1 Some of the later ones, however, held as many as a hundred and fifty men. 



42 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

The Danes in England. — In 793, they landed on the Holy Isle oi 
Lindisfarne, burned the monastery, plundered the church, killed some 
of the monks and took others prisoners. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle 
records the event with simple, pathetic eloquence : " The ravaging of 
heathen men lamentably destroyed God's church at Lindisfarne 
through rapine and slaughter." In addition, we are told, " This year 
dire forewarnings came over the land of the Northumbrians, and 
miserably terrified the people, there were excessive whirlwinds and 
lightnings ; and fiery dragons were flying through the air. A great 
famine soon followed these tokens." During the course of the next 
century, the invaders secured territorial settlements in northern and 
eastern England, overrunning Northumbria, East Anglia, and Mercia. 
In 795, they landed in Ireland, where, in 832, they established a kingdom 
with a capital at Armagh. As has been seen, they proved a serious 
menace to the West Saxons from the time of Egbert. They not only 
infested the southern and southeastern coasts, but, during the reign of 
his son, they penetrated inland, and even took London and Canterbury. 
A raid into the land of East Anglia, in 870, is notable for the grew- 
some martyrdom of their king. St. Edmund, as he came to be, refused 
to divide his treasure with the Danish chief, to renounce his religion, 
or to become a vassal. Forthwith, he was tied to a tree, scourged, 
then shot through with arrows and beheaded. Long after, a shrine 
was built to commemorate his martyrdom at Bury, now known as Bury 
St. Edmunds. This was while ^Ethelred, a grandson of Egbert, was 
ruling the West Saxons and straining every nerve to drive the Danes 
out of his territory. In 871 he died from wounds. His victories, and 
one was notable, had been overbalanced by many defeats. 

Alfred the Great, 871-901. — ^Ethelred left two sons; but they 
were under age and the time was not one for children. Alfred, 
who had so ably assisted his brother, was chosen to succeed him 
as King of Wessex and Kent. 871 was truly a stormy year in 
English annals. Within the first five months, nine pitched battles 
were fought, not to speak of skirmishes. At length, the Danes 
became tired and consented to a truce. Northumbria and East Anglia 
were in their hands, and Mercia was soon to fall. In 874, they set up 
in that country " an unwise king's thegn ... an Englishman by race, 
but a barbarian in cruelty." That the kingdoms of Wessex and Kent 
were defended against them and organized to form a center for the ul- 
timate recovery of the whole island was due to Alfred, the hero of the 
English race, whom Ranke, the father of modern historical study, 
describes as " one of the greatest figures in the history of the world." 
He was born in 848. From his infancy he was marked as a child of 
special attainments and charm. There is a pretty tradition that his 
mother once showed her children a beautifully illuminated Anglo- 
Saxon book which she would give to the one who would first recite 
the poem it contained. Alfred gained the prize. Two journeys to 
Rome when he was still very young must have fired his imagination and 



THE ASCENDANCY OF THE WEST SAXONS 



43 



given him food for dreams. Latin, the language of learned men he 
began to study after he was twelve. His later youth was spent in hard 
and stern duties He was only twenty-two when the whole burden 
of defending the kingdom fell on him. For a few years after the truce 
Wessex was free from the Danes ; but, in 876, Guthrum, who had made 
himself King of East Angha, landed on the south coast, overran the 
modern Dorsetshire, and seized Exeter. This was the darkest time 
in the annals of the West Saxons. Alfred retreated to the fen countrv 
of Somerset, 1 where he established a fortress at Athelney, an inac- 
cessible island in the marshes. After he had brought together the 
men of Hampshire, Wiltshire, and Somerset he sallied forth and de- 
feated the Danes, in 878, at Ethandun (now Hedington), a place facing 
Chippenham, where the main force of the enemy were massed. Alfred 
forced them to fall back on their camp, and, unable to defend them- 
selves even there, they consented to receive baptism and to evacuate 
the West Saxon land. From the fact that the baptismal rites were 
completed at Wedmore this has often been called the Peace of Wed- 
more (879). It was not till 886, after he had defeated the Danes in 
a sea fight north of the Thames, that Alfred got a treaty dividin^his 
land from what came to be known as the " Danelagh." By the terms 
of that treaty the Danes were to keep all east of a line " up the Thames 
to the mouth of the Lea, up the Lea to its source, thence across to 
Bedford, thence up the Ouse to Watling Street." Alfred got London 
which he fortified and rebuilt. Although he had to meet a few more 
attacks from the Danes, notably during the years 891-896, under the 
redoubtable chief Hasten or Hasting, the land was practically secure 
alter the crisis of 878. It was more than a century before the English 
lands were again endangered from the north. 

Alfred's Military Reorganization. — Alfred's service to his people 
had_ only begun. Having driven out the enemy, he set himself to or- 
ganize a permanent defense, to give them wise laws, to improve their 
political institutions, to educate them and furnish them with a litera- 
ture. The chief military weakness of the English had been the fact 
that as soon as a battle was won, the army would disperse and leave 
the land unprotected when the enemy next appeared. To prevent 
■ fl J ,!> dlvlded the men int0 thre e parts; one was kept at work 
in the helds, another was kept constantly under arms, and still a third 
was assigned to garrison strongholds or fortresses. This practice was 
1 The story is that he was a fugitive in hiding and that once he took refuge in a 

KS?h W - hCre l 'u e h ? U i ewife gave him some cakes t( > tend. He allwed 

K?lTA ^' aS Sh f Ply berated for his ^relessness. In the words of an old 

oaiiad the woman is made to say : — 

"There, don't you see the cakes on fire? 
Then wherefore turn them not ? 
You are glad enough to eat them 
When they are piping hot." 

™»lS^S" dced ' did Alfred comc as a tU8iti ™ bu < * ^' ■» 



44 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

carried much farther by his son, and to it we owe the origin of the many 
English towns. Also, Alfred saw the importance of protecting the 
seas ; but although he won battles with the ships he collected, he 
cannot be called the founder of the English navy, for England never 
had a permanent fleet until the sixteenth century. 

His Laws and Political Reorganization. — Having prepared for 
defense, he proceeded to compile a body of laws. " I gathered these 
laws together," he states, " and commanded them to be written, 
which our forefathers held, those which to me seemed good, and many 
of those which seemed to me not good, I rejected." He selected from 
the dooms of Ethelbert of Kent, from Ine of Wessex, and Off a of Mercia, 
besides taking some provisions directly from the Scriptures. It was 
a decided step in unification to give his subjects a common law where 
each people had had its own particular system. 

His influence also on the political institutions of his time is not 
without significance. The earliest form of organization had been the 
tribe or folk under its chief. The folk had been divided into separate 
districts, each originally composed of groups of a hundred warriors, 
and these in turn had been composed of groups of kinsmen, each 
inhabiting a village or township. As the little tribes were consoli- 
dated into larger kingdoms it became necessary to introduce a new 
government division. These divisions, which ultimately spread over 
England to the number of fifty, came to be called shires, from the Anglo- 
Saxon word sciran, to divide. They appear first in the south. Their 
invention has been attributed to Alfred, but the arrangement is at 
least as old as Ine. What Alfred did was to perfect it and extend it to 
the old tribal kingdoms of Kent, Surrey, Sussex, and Essex, which had 
up to the time of his victories been ruled by one or more under-kings 
of the royal family. From the time of Alfred the lands south of the 
Thames formed a part of the West Saxon kingdom, divided into judi- 
cial and administrative districts, each under regular sets of officials. 
The head of each was an ealdorman. Beside him sat the shire-reeve 
or sheriff, who, originally appointed to collect the royal rents and rep- 
resent the king's interests, gradually became the chief man in the 
shire. In addition to the ealdorman and the sheriff there was a bishop 
to look out for the Church and to offer the benefit of his superior learn- 
ing. The arrangement offered an admirable combination of local 
self-government and central organization; for, while the forms of 
procedure were popular, the presiding officers were responsible to the 
King for the judicial decisions and the other business transacted in 
their courts. Alfred spent much time in deciding appeals. He al- 
ways favored the poor, " because," he said, " in that country the poor 
had no friend but the King." His relations with the subordinate 
divisions of the shires (probably called hundreds, although we have no 
certain records of the use of this name until the next century) is un- 
certain ; but he may have rearranged them for military purposes or 
used such as existed as centers for levying his troops. 



THE ASCENDANCY OF THE WEST SAXONS 45 

His Work in promoting Literature and Education. — Another phase 
of Alfred's varied activity is his work as a promoter of education and 
literature. He often lamented that his own attainments in reading 
were so poor, and that learning had reached such a low ebb in these 
turbulent times. At his accession there was scarcely a priest south 
of the Humber who knew any Latin. It was Alfred's wish that " all 
the youth of England' of free men ... be set to learn . . . until 
that they are well able to read English writing," and " that those whom 
it is proposed to educate further and promote to a higher office should 
be taught Latin." For the latter purpose he caused a court school 
for the sons of the upper classes to be founded at Winchester. It was 
difficult to find scholars among his own people, therefore he went 
outside. From Mercia came four. One of them, Plegmund, became 
Archbishop of Canterbury. John the Saxon and Grimbald came 
from the Continent. Asser, Bishop of St. Davids, Alfred's biographer, 
was brought from Wales to act as reader to the King. The writing 
of English dates from Alfred. Under his auspices was begun the A nglo- 
Saxon Chronicle, the first history of any modern country in the ver- 
nacular. Also he started a collection of ancient epics, of which only one, 
Beowulf, has survived. When men began to see that they had a com- 
mon history and began to read a common language, the petty tribes, 
each speaking a local dialect, naturally began to feel themselves more 
as one people. Further, Alfred caused certain books to be trans- 
lated : " Those namely which are most necessary for all men to know, 
into the language which we all understand." Among them were 
Bede's History; a general history of the world since the deluge, by 
Orosius,^and the Pastoral Care, of Pope Gregory, a work full of " wise 
counsel." Probably the actual translations were made by the learned 
men he gathered about him. The renderings, however, were Alfred's, 
and he interspersed them with little comments, bits of historical and 
geographical information, and lofty sentiments, which he thought 
would inform and uplift his people. Alfred's interests reached far 
beyond his own land. He was never on the Continent after his earliest 
childhood ; but in the translation of Orosius he describes the people 
and lands of central and northern Europe and their relative positions. 
He relates the journey of Ohthere, a Norwegian, notable for doubling 
the North Cape and coasting in the White Sea, who " told his lord 
King Alfred that he dwelt northwest of all the Northmen," and of the 
Dane Wulfstan who explored the eastern Baltic. Alfred's connection 
extended to the far east as well ; for he is said to have had correspond- 
ence with Jerusalem and to have sent alms to India, the first instance 
on record of English intercourse with a country later to play such an 
important part in the destinies of the British Empire. 

Final Estimate of Alfred. — Such was the work of Alfred, defender, 
lawgiver, and educator of his people. He was a man of many inter- 
ests, but with one aim — to serve those over whom he ruled. He was 
a pious man, but not a mere dreamer, always active and methodical 



46. A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

in his activity. He kept constantly by him a little book in which to 
write down things which struck him as worthy of note, and was so 
careful of his time that, it is said, since there were no clocks, he devised 
a candle covered by a lantern to measure the hours that were all too 
brief for what he had to do. His real achievements were to check the 
barbarian invaders and save and increase the heritage of Anglo-Saxon 
civilization which had already been acquired ; to consolidate his king- 
dom and make it a center of reconquest under his successor. He did 
not invent shires, nor found Oxford, nor invent trial by jury, as our 
forefathers believed. Nevertheless, he did much for England, and if 
we can see him aright through the distorting medium of myth and 
fable, he was just as great for what he was as for what he did. He 
himself said, " I have sought to live worthily the while I lived, and 
after my life to leave after me a remembering of me in good works." 
His own ideal is the best commentary on his reign. 

Edward the Elder, 900-924, and the Beginning of Reconquest. — 
Alfred died, 28 October, 900. He was succeeded by his son, Edward 
the Elder, sometimes known as the " Unconquered King." While 
Alfred had confined himself to the land south and west of Watling 
Street, Edward and his sons set themselves to reconquer all England 
from the Danes and to extend their overlordship over the Scots and 
the Welsh. Although the heritage from Alfred was much smaller 
than the lands occupied by the Danes, the English had many advan- 
tages over their enemy. Their kingdom was compact and united 
in government and laws, and, to a considerable degree, in language. 
The West Saxon king was the only one to whom the Anglo-Saxons 
could look, for the other royal houses had become extinct during the 
recent wars. Moreover, Edward, a persistent and ablegeneral himself, 
was assisted by his sister Ethelfleda, " the Lady of the Mercians," 
whose military achievements surpassed those of the Amazons of old. 
On the other hand, the Danes were utterly lacking in cohesion and 
purpose. Edward had to ward off occasional attacks from without, 
but the energies of the continental Danes had been diverted to the 
richer cities of southern Europe and the " tottering Frankish Em- 
pire." Furthermore, those who remained in England were scattered 
under different leaders and different forms of organization. There 
were at least two kingdoms : that founded by Guthrum in East Anglia, 
and extending over part of Essex and southern Mercia ; another in 
southern Northumbria, with its center at York. The- bulk of the mid- 
lands, including a great portion of ancient Mercia, was governed by 
a loose confederacy of Danish chiefs. This is generally known as the 
district of the " Five Boroughs," from the fact that the jarls, or chiefs, 
who made up the confederacy were seated at Derby, Leicester, Lin- 
coln, Stamford, and Nottingham, each with its separate host and law 
court. But it was in no sense a league of cities. Northern Nor- 
thumbria was ruled by native English chiefs, nominally subject to the 
Danes but friendly to the West Saxon house. Scattered throughout 



THE ASCENDANCY OF THE WEST SAXONS 47 

the whole Danelagh was a large mixture of Englishmen who did their 
part in reconquering and absorbing the alien element. Edward and 
Ethelfleda developed a method of warfare, the origin of which may 
be traced back to the time of Alfred. Avoiding battles whenever 
possible, they seized commanding points which they fortified and 
garrisoned as centers of defense and further conquest. These strong- 
holds, called " burns," consisted of mounds fifty or sixty feet high, on 
which was placed the dwelling of the chief, the open space surrounding 
the foot being inclosed by a ditch, reenforced by a rampart of earth 
protected by a wooden palisade. Often, peoples coming to these 
strongholds for protection, engaged in trade and other industries. 
In this way the burhs developed into towns or boroughs. Before the 
close of his reign Edward, assisted until her death, in 918, by his coura- 
geous sister, had recovered Essex and East Anglia and a large portion 
of the Mercian district of the Five Boroughs. He had also extended 
his overlordship over the Northumbrians and the Welsh, both of North 
Wales and the Strathclyde. It is asserted that the King of the Scots 
also took Edward " to father and lord" ; l but this is disputed, although 
later English kings based a claim on Scotland upon this alleged sub- 
mission. We hear of subsequent revolts, even in the districts which 
Edward had actually conquered, but he had good ground for being 
called King of the Anglo-Saxons. His work was finally completed by 
his sons, three of whom in turn succeeded him. 

Further Extension of the West Saxon Power under Edward's Sons. 
— The first of these, Athelstan (925-940), known as " Glorious Athel- 
stan," from his grace and beauty, had been a favorite of his grandfather 
Alfred, who acknowledged him as heir of his line and gave him a purple 
robe, a jeweled belt, and a sword with a golden scabbard. The year 
after his accession, he met the Kings of the Welsh, of the Cumbrians, and 
of the Scots at Dacre (926), and secured a recognition of his overlord- 
ship, from which time he wrote himself " Monarch of all Britain." 
The next year he expelled the Danish King of York and annexed his 
kingdom of southern Northumbria. His growing power caused alarm 
to the princes on his borders, and, in 937, the Scots, Welsh, and Danes 
combined against him. He met the coalition at Brunanburh, an un- 
determined site somewhere in the north country, probably near the 
Solway Firth. A desperate hand-to-hand battle was fought from sun- 
rise to sunset ; in the words of the fine old ballad commemorating it : 

" Sithen sun up 
At morning tide, 
God's noble candle, 
Glid o'er the lands, 
Till the bright being 
Sank to his settle." 

» The Picts had already in the middle of the 9th century been united with the 
Scots under one king. 



48 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

Athelstan won a victory which determined that the West Saxons were 
to be supreme in Britain. Not only did he secure a position at home 
more commanding than any of his predecessors, he obtained a great 
prestige abroad. The most notable foreign rulers sought marriage 
alliances with his house. 1 Edmund (940-946) , known as the " magnifi- 
cent " or the " dear deed-doer," had to face a series of revolts, and 
only managed by hard fighting to retain what his father and brother 
had won. Although Edmund left two sons, he was succeeded by his 
brother Edred (946-955). Edred was weighed down by sickness 
during his short life, but waged persistent war against the restless 
Danes in Northumbria. In 954 he adopted a new policy. He put 
them under an ealdorman, Oswulf, and allowed them their own cus- 
toms and their own laws. This wise moderation, followed by his 
nephew Edgar, in his long reign, resulted finally in incorporating the 
Danes as peaceful subjects. 

St. Dunstan, Early Life and Character. — It was in the reign of 
Edred that Dunstan came to take a leading share in the government. 
His is the greatest name in the English Church since Bede, and he 
stands as peer of Augustine and Theodore. Dunstan was born about 
924, of a noble West Saxon family connected with the royal house and 
numbering several bishops among its members. He was educated 
at the monastery of Glastonbury, and early introduced to the court 
of Athelstan, where he spent much of his time. He was a dreamy, 
imaginative youth, who cared little for the pastimes of his fellows. 
His studious and secluded habits seem to have made him so unpopular 
with them that they accused him of sorcery and induced the King to 
banish him from his presence. Not content with this, they set upon 
him, threw him into a marsh, and trampled upon him. After his ex- 
pulsion from Athelstan's court he dwelt for a time with his uncle, 
Bishop of Winchester, who urged him to become a monk. At first 
he was unwilling to take the vows, and only changed his mind after a 
serious illness. At Glastonbury he built himself a tiny cell, where he 
spent his time studying the Scriptures, copying and illuminating man- 
uscripts, and playing the harp. He also became a skillful worker of 
metals, fashioning organs and church bells, and on one occasion he 
even made a design for a lady to embroider a stole. Visions and 
temptations often assailed him in the midst of his occupations. Once 
the devil is said to have peered through the window of his cell, when 
he was hammering at his anvil, and to have addressed him in un- 
seemly language until Dunstan pinched his nose with a pair of red hot 
tongs, whereat he fled roaring with pain. On another occasion, he 
appeared at the altar where Dunstan was praying, and only left when 
the holy man seized a stick and beat about him, repeating the words 

1 One sister was married to Count Hugh, father of Hugh Capet, first King of 
France ; another to Otto, who became Otto the Great, Emperor of Germany ; an- 
other to Louis, the blind King of Provence ; and still another to Charles the Simple 
King of the West Franks. 



THE ASCENDANCY OF THE WEST SAXONS 49 

of the 68th psalm : " Let God arise and let His enemies be scattered. ' ; 
Recalled to court by Edmund, he was again expelled because of the 
slanders of hostile noblemen. But the King on a stag hunt was 
saved at the brink of a precipice by a prayer and a vow to do right to 
Dunstan. He restored him to favor and made him Abbot of Glaston- 
bury just before his death. 

Dunstan's Reforms. His Political Influence. His Banishment 
under Edwig. — In his new position Dunstan led a movement in 
England to meet the decay in religion and learning that had set in as 
early as the time of Bede, and which had been accentuated by the dis- 
orders resulting from the Danish invasions, when schools and churches 
and monasteries were broken up and fighting became the order of the 
day. Monks and nuns had departed from the rules of their orders, 
had married, had assumed the dress and manners and customs of the 
laity, had lost interest in study, and entered into the pursuits and pas- 
times of those in the world about them. Even Alfred's efforts to pro- 
mote education had borne little fruit. Dunstan set himself against 
all this. He introduced monks at Glastonbury pledged to live the 
single life and to devote themselves to study and the services of the 
Church, and worked untiringly as a teacher himself. But in addition 
to his work as abbot, he accomplished a great political work as well ; 
for Edred made him his treasurer and chief adviser, and it was prob-' 
ably due to his sage counsel that the device was adopted of conciliating 
the Danes by granting them a measure of local independence. Under 
Edred's nephew, Edwig, son of Edmund (955-959), he lost his influ- 
ence for a time. The West Saxons hated him for his opposition to 
their plan of establishing the West Saxon ascendancy by force, while 
he crossed the purposes of an ambitious woman who was bent on marry- 
ing her daughter to the young and weak-minded King. The trouble 
began when Dunstan was bold enough to lead him back to the corona- 
tion feast which he had deserted to enjoy the society of the two ladies. 
Ethelgifu succeeded at length in securing Edwig as the husband of 
her daughter, and Dunstan was banished. He remained two years in 
exile, an exile notable because it was then that he learned much at 
first hand of the revived and developed Benedictine rule that was 
taking such a hold on continental monasteries. This is known as the 
" Cluniac " reform, from the fact that it began at Cluny in France. 
But Dunstan was more interested in education and religion than in 
monastic discipline. It is due more to his friends than to himself — 
particularly to Ethelwold, Bishop of Winchester, known as the 
_ Father of the Monks " — that the stricter aspects of the reform were 
introduced into England. In 963, for instance, it was recorded that 
Ethelwold " drove the clerks out of the bishopric, because they would 
not observe any rule, and he set monks there." 

Recall of Dunstan. Reign of Edgar the Peaceful, 959-975. —In 
957 the people of Northumbria and Mercia revolted against Edwig 
and made his brother Edgar king. One of Edgar's first acts was to 



5 o A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

recall Dunstan, whom he made Archbishop of Canterbury not long 
after. In 959, on the death of Edwig, Edgar became King of the 
whole Island. His reign, which marks the highest point in the power 
of kingship in the Anglo-Saxon period, was powerful and, on the whole, 
uneventful. The royal policy was consolidation on the basis of con- 
ciliation. The Danes were to have their laws and so were the English. 
" I will," Edgar declares, " that secular rights should stand among the 
Danes with as good laws as best they may choose. But with the 
English let that stand which I and my Witan have added to the dooms 
of my forefathers." While the King was supreme over all, the local 
government was in the hands of the great ealdormen of Northumbria, 
East Anglia, and Mercia. This was an extension of the policy which 
had been initiated largely by Dunstan in the reign of Edred. It 
worked well under Edgar's vigorous control, but there was danger, 
realized all too soon under weak rulers, that local divisions would 
break up the unity of the kingdom. The monastic revival was carried 
on steadily. And whatever may be urged against it, the supremacy 
of the monks was better than that of laymen, secular priests, and 
bishops, whose standards' of conduct were lower than those of the regu- 
lar clergy. Canons directed against bearing arms, hunting, hawking, 
dicing, and drunkenness on the part of those in holy orders indicate 
this. Edgar was crowned in 973, and " there was much bliss on that 
blessed day." The coronation is very notable as the first which the 
records describe in detail. The King entered the church wearing his 
crown, which he took off as he knelt before the altar. A Te Deum was 
sung, after which the bishops raised the King, and the coronation oath 
was administered by Dunstan, who presided. Edgar swore, " That the 
Church of God and all Christian people should enjoy true peace for- 
ever, that he would forbid all wrong and robbery to all degrees, and 
that he would command justice and mercy in all judgments." Then 
prayers were said, the Archbishops anointed him, and the people in 
the church shouted: " Let the King live forever ! " Next, Dunstan 
girded him with a sword, placed a ring on his finger, the crown on his 
head, a scepter in his hand, and, assisted by the Archbishop of York, 
seated him on the throne. After his coronation Edgar took his fleet 
round to Chester, where six, and possibly eight, kings did him homage, 
and, it is said, rowed him up the river Dee. Edgar remarked : " When 
any one of my af tercomers gets as many kings to serve him as I have 
here, then may he as truly call himself King of England." 1 In spite 
of rumors of evil deeds in his youth and stories that he " loved foreign 
vices " and " heathen manners," many ballads attest the ability and 
success of his rule. One declares : 

1 Other stories of him are recorded. Although strong, "beauteous and win- 
some, " he was short and slender. On one occasion the Scotch King, Kenneth, who 
first met him at a banquet, expressed surprise that so great a kingdom should be 
ruled by such a mannikin. When Edgar heard of it, he produced two swords and 
offered to fight him, whereupon the Scot retracted his words. 



THE ASCENDANCY OF THE WEST SAXONS 51 

" No fleet was so daring 
No army so strong 
That from Angle kin 
Booty ere took 
The while that his kingstool 
That noble prince ruled." 

And another : 

" In his days 
it prospered well 
and God him granted 
that he dwelt in peace 
the whilst that he lived." 

Later, the time when Edgar's law prevailed was looked back to as a 
golden age. 

.SJthelred the Redeless, 978-1016. Beginning of Decline of Royal 
Power. — With his death troubles began. His eldest son, a mere 
boy, Edward, known in time to come as " The Martyr," was murdered 
by the thegns of his wicked stepmother to make way for her own son 
^Ethelred. She had him crowned at once, and Dunstan performed 
the ceremony, although he is said to have foreseen and foretold that 
evil would come under a king who owed his crown to bloodshed. The 
good Archbishop lived for ten years more ; but his political influence 
was at an end. He devoted himself to his teaching, his episcopal 
duties, and his metal work. He was a man truly pious but not austere, 
sweet and engaging, who did his work in the world without sacrificing 
his principles or becoming himself worldly. His removal from the 
center of affairs was to England an irremediable loss. ^Ethelred, as 
he grew to manhood, showed himself incompetent to rule his country 
in the troublous times that came upon it. Gifted with personal graces, 
he was by no means wanting in ability or energy ; but he lacked abil- 
ity to listen to wisdom or good counsel, hence his name of the " Rede- 
less " or " Unredy." He had no steadfastness of purpose, and was 
passionate and cruel. The policy encouraged by Edgar and Dunstan, 
as might be expected under such a ruler, soon began to show its ill 
effects. The great ealdormen in the different districts set about mak- 
ing themselves independent of royal control. ^Ethelred made matters 
worse in seeking to counteract them by raising new favorites to power 
and endowing them with land. They naturally sought to advance 
their own interests, and thus ^Ethelred only made new whips to 
scourge himself. 

The Second Coming of the Danes. — In the midst of this turmoil, 
the Danes reappeared, and this time they continued their attacks till 
they established themselves as rulers of the whole kingdom. They 
began in 980 with some predatory raids in which Swein, son of the 
Danish King, figured. In 991, after an overwhelming force had won 
a bloody battle at Maldon in Essex — commemorated in a spirited 
ballad — "it was decreed that tributes should be given to the 



52 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

Danish men, on account of the great terror which they caused by the 
sea coast." This was obviously not the first time invaders had been 
bought off. Alfred had on occasion resorted to the practice ; but dur- 
ing the remainder of ^Ethelred's reign there was paid a more or less 
regular tribute. The money was raised by a land tax called Danegeld. 
Continued long after the danger was past, it was for some time the 
only land tax raised in the country, and was not finally done away with 
until nearly two centuries later. The King and his advisers cannot 
be blamed for purchasing a temporary peace ; but the difficulty was 
that ^Ethelred kept on paying, that he failed to take advantage of the 
respites in the invasion to compose the differences between his warring 
lords, or to develop a strong army and navy. Nevertheless, in con- 
sidering the weakness of the English defense, the condition of the 
country, as well as the indecision of the King must be taken into ac- 
count. A great part of the resources in men and money were in the 
hands of the great territorial nobles who were at odds with ^Ethelred. 
Even when the king's officials could be depended upon, they had as a 
fighting force only the ill-organized shire levies. At first, the Danish 
custom was to land at unexpected places, mount on horses, ride " as far 
as they would," burning, plundering, and " man slaying," and doing 
"unspeakable evil." By the time the English were prepared to meet 
them they would seek their ships and slip away. Then, later, they came 
in irresistible forces, when they won battles and had to be bought off. 
At the mercy of the invaders as he was, ^Ethelred brought dire 
vengeance on the English by a stupid as well as brutal deed. 
Alarmed at the rumor of a Danish plot to seize his kingdom, he 
ordered a general massacre of all Danes dwelling in the land, 1 on 
St. Brice's day, 13 November, 1002. This fell deed brought Swein 
into the country again. He was very strong now, since he was King 
of Denmark, and by a victory over a rival, Olaf, had added Norway 
to his dominions. Year after year the poor English were subject to 
his attacks, and to those of other bands as well. One year when they 
were happily free from them, a grievous famine appeared, " grimmer 
than any man had mind of." On rare occasions when the king was 
energetic enough to gather a force of men and ships together, treason 
and dissension were bound to appear, and often the levies broke up 
without even waiting to fight. In 1012, on one of their many inroads, 
the Danes captured Canterbury and took the Archbishop ^Elfheah 
prisoner. He courageously refused to ask his impoverished people 
for a ransom, whereupon his brutal and drunken captors pelted him 
with ox skulls and then crushed his head with a battle axe. 2 

1 Probably this did not include the men of Danish blood settled in the country 
since the first invasions. 

2 Nearly a century later two famous Churchmen, Lanfranc and Anselm, discussed 
his claims to sainthood. Lanfranc questioned them ; since the Archbishop had not 
died for the faith. But the gentle Anselm urged that he had died in the cause of 
justice, and Lanfranc was convinced. He is now enrolled in the English calendar 
as St. Alphege. 



THE ASCENDANCY OF THE WEST SAXONS 53 

The Danes gain a Foothold. — A crisis came in 1013, the beginning 
of the end, when Swein, accompanied by his son Cnut, landed with 
a great force at the mouth of the Humber. The Northumbrians, the 
Mercians, and the West Saxons submitted in quick succession. Even 
London, which at first held out, saw the futility of further resistance. 
The acceptance of Swein amounted to a practical deposition of ^Ethel- 
red, who retired in 1014 to the court of Duke Richard of Normandy, 
whose sister Emma he had married in 1002 on the eve of his disastrous 
massacre of the Danes. Within a month after ^Ethelred's flight, old 
Swein suddenly dropped dead at Gainsborough while on a journey 
about the country levying Danegeld. According to the legend, he had 
levied a heavy contribution on Bury St. Edmunds, and scoffed at the 
veneration in which the saint was held. On mounting his horse to 
leave the town, he saw St. Edmund coming toward him in full armor. 
" Help ! Help ! " he cried; " St. Edmund comes to slay me," and fell to 
the ground and died that very night. The Danes chose Cnut to suc- 
ceed him ; but the English declared for ^Ethelred and sent a message 
to him that " no lord was dearer to them than their lord by birth, if 
he would rule them rightlier than he had done before." He returned 
and " gladly was he received by all." In spite of his promises he ac- 
complished little. He did, in a fitful burst of energy, manage to drive 
Cnut out of England ; but the Danish leader soon returned, and was in 
possession of western and northern England when ^Ethelred died in 
1016. 

Cnut overcomes Edmund Ironside. — Thereupon, the people of 
London proclaimed as King, Edmund, ^Ethelred's son by a nameless 
mother. From his valor he was known as Edmund Ironside. But 
the bulk of the English, led by a traitorous ealdorman of Mercia, de- 
clared for Cnut. After an uphill fight Edmund was finally defeated 
at Assandun (Ashington) in Essex. He was forced to consent to a 
partition of the kingdom. He died a few days after the treaty, so 
opportunely that it has been believed he was murdered, and Cnut 
became the undisputed King of all England. Edmund's sons were 
sent out of the country, some say to be slain ; but they found a refuge 
in Hungary. Both married, and one of them left a son and a daughter, 
Eadgar and Margaret, who came later to play an interesting part in 
English history. ^Ethelred's sons by Emma were in safe keeping in 
the court of the Norman dukes. 

Reign of Cnut, 1016-1035. — Cnut re-summoned a meeting of the 
leading men of London, had himself formally elected King and the 
lines of ^Ethelred and Edmund formally excluded. After this he was 
crowned by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Cnut had shown himself 
■ crafty, bloody, and ruthless in his rise to power, and during the first 
years of his rule he was merciless and unscrupulous in disposing of 
those who stood in his way. Yet, once seated firmly on the throne, he 
ruled as a wise and just king and sought to govern in the interests of 
his English subjects. Recognizing the necessity of the situation, he 



54 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

followed the recent practice and organized the country into four great 
earldoms — Northumbria, Mercia, East Anglia, and Wessex — though, 
later at least, there were many smaller ones besides. At first he put 
some of these and other offices into Danish hands, but he generally, 
as time went on, chose successors from the English. " At the time 
of his death," says a competent authority, " every conspicuous post 
in England was filled by an Englishman." Wessex, for instance, was 
erelong given to Godwine, who came to be the leading man among the 
English. As one means of strengthening his influence, Cnut married 
the Norman Emma, widow of his old adversary yEthelred. At this 
time he already had two sons by an English woman of rank. In 1018, 
as an earnest of his good will, he dismissed the bulk of his forces, re- 
taining only the crews of forty ships for a royal bodyguard, which, 
under the name of "housecarles," remained as a sort of standing army 
up to the Norman Conquest. The same year he held a Witan, or as- 
sembly of his wise men, at Oxford, where " Danes and Englishmen " 
agreed to live " under the laws of King Edgar." This meant simply 
that the old laws of the English as they were in Edgar's time were to be 
observed, and this was the spirit of all Cnut's enactments. He pledged 
himself to rule rightly; but the people in their turn were to " love 
God and be true to King Cnut." A notable instance of his regard 
for his subjects is a provision in his laws that his reeves or agents 
should provide for him from his own lands, and that no man should be 
forced to contribute to the support of the King and his household 
" unless he himself be willing " ; for, as he writes later from Rome, 
" I have no need to amass money by unjust exactions." 

Death of Cnut. His Character and Rule. — In 1027, Cnut took a 
journey to Rome and was present at the coronation of the Emperor 
Conrad II, on Easter Day. The men that he met and the things which 
he saw are set forth in a letter which he wrote to his subjects from the 
Eternal City. In this same letter he takes occasion to set forth his 
ideals as a ruler. When Cnut died, in 1035, in the full vigor of his 
manhood, his dominion included not only England, but Denmark, 
Norway, and southern Sweden as well. On the other hand, as the 
result of a victory which the Scots, under their King Malcolm, gained 
over his northern subjects at Carham in ioi8,he had been obliged to 
ceed Lothian, formerly a part of Northumbria, and to recognize the 
Tweed as the boundary between the English and the Scots. Edinburgh 
had been lost over half a century before, while Cnut's cession of 
Lothian may have been preceded by a grant of the whole or a part of 
the country by Eadgar to Kenneth, father of Malcolm. Nevertheless, 
the cession is of great importance, for it determined that the nucleus 
of the Scottish kingdom should be Teutonic and not Celtic. If Cnut 
was naturally cruel and greedy of power, he was wise enough to restrain 
these instincts. It is true that most of the praise accorded to him 
comes from the clergy whom he favored, not only by liberal grants, but 
by assisting them to enforce their claims against the laity. Tradi- 



THE ASCENDANCY OF THE WEST SAXONS 55 

tion, however, is distinctly favorable to him, and many stories are 
told which, if not true, at least indicate the estimate in which he was 
held. On one occasion his courtiers urged him to sit in a chair by the 
seaside and bid the waves stop. When they came on regardless of 
the royal presence, he refused to wear his crown again " because the 
honor belonged to God alone, the true ruler of the world." Perhaps 
the prettiest of all is that which tells how he listened to the singing 
of the monks of Ely. 

" Cheerful sang the monks in Ely 
As Cnut the King rode by. 
Row to the shore, lads, said the King, 
And let us hear the Churchmen sing." 

The favorable judgment of the time seems to be justified by his acts. 
Whether sincere or not, he was wise enough to identify himself with 
his people, and if he sought his own interests, they were England's 
interests as well. 

Return to the Old English Line. Edward the Confessor, 1 042-1 066. 
— The reigns of Cnut's sons, Harold Harefoot (103 5-1040) and his 
half brother Harthacnut (1040-1042), were years of disorder and blood- 
shed and heavy taxation. Neither left sons, and on the death of Hartha- 
cnut the people of London at once proclaimed as King, Edward, sole 
surviving son of iEthelred and Emma. The return to the old Anglo- 
Saxon line was due partly to popular feeling against an alien rule and 
partly to the peculiar abuses of the two last reigns. 

Edward was at this time between thirty and forty years of age. 
He was royal in his bearing, with a dignity no doubt enhanced by the 
premature whiteness of his beard and hair. 1 While he was pious, 
affable, and gentle, he was utterly lacking in force and decision and not 
above childish spite, petty meanness, or even worse. Indeed, he had 
hardly been seated on the throne when he had his own mother de- 
clared guilty of treason, and seized the tenth of her treasure and es- 
tates. Considering the way his mother had treated him, the action 
might have been partly explicable except in the case of an incipient 
saint. Yet his reputation for personal holiness was so high that he 
was popularly called the " Confessor," and was actually made a saint 
within a century after his death. He is said to have abolished the 
Danegeld because he saw the devil sitting on the money bags, and he 
once allowed a thief to rob the royal hoard under his very nose, telling 
the treasurer that the poor man needed the money more than they did. 
Having passed the greater part of his life in Normandy, his interests 
were more distinctively Norman than English. He brought over a 
number of Norman followers, who, since he was profoundly susceptible 
to the influence of favorites, succeeded in not only securing themselves 
wealth and offices, but also a voice in his counsels. Chief among the 

1 There seems to be no truth in the story that he was an albino. 



56 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

newcomers was Robert of Jumieges, made Bishop of London in 1044, 
and seven years later, Archbishop of Canterbury. It is said that he 
had such influence over Edward that if he declared " a black crow to 
be white, the King would sooner believe his words than his own eyes." 
But Godwine, the stanch champion of English interests, was allowed 
to retain Wessex, and Edward married his daughter, a lady of more 
learning than charm. This alliance greatly strengthened the hand of 
the old earl. His sons rose to high position, and if two of them 
caused serious concern by their wild turbulence, the other, Harold, 
later to be king, was a " tower of strength." Although greedy and 
politic, Godwine was, so long as his power lasted, a strong check on the 
foreigners. 

Exile of Godwine, 1051. — Nevertheless, foreign influence was 
growing steadily. The King's nephew, Ralph, a Frenchman, secured 
the important earldom of Hereford. Also, Norman castles began to 
rise and frown in many parts of the land. Built of solid masonry, 
they were much more effective fortifications than the old palisade 
mounds, and were used by their lords as centers for oppressing the 
surrounding natives. A crisis came in 105 1. Edward's brother-in- 
law, Eustace, Count of Boulogne, was returning from a visit to the 
King when his unruly followers came into conflict with the men of 
Dover. Being worsted, Eustace complained to King Edward, who 
ordered Godwine to punish the townsmen. This he refused to do. 
Although he armed himself for resistance, the Earls of Northumbria 
and Mercia arrayed themselves on the King's side. Each of these men 
is famous in story ; Siward of Northumbria is the " old Siward " in 
Macbeth, while the Earl of Mercia was Leofric of the well-known tale 
of Leofric and Godiva. In view of the opposition against him, God- 
wine and his whole family were forced to flee, whereupon they were 
outlawed. 

Visit of William of Normandy. — During their enforced exile Ed- 
ward received a visit from a very notable man, no less a person than 
William, Duke of Normandy and future conqueror of England. As 
we know, the Northmen had not confined their attacks to the land 
of the English during the ninth and early tenth centuries. They in- 
fested the west Frankish coast so persistently that, in 912, Charles 
the Simple was forced to make a treaty with Rollo, or Rolf, whereby 
he yielded to him the lands about the mouth of the Seine. Rollo be- 
came a Christian, married the daughter of the Frankish King, and 
established himself at Rouen. In the course of time the wild Scandi- 
navian chiefs were transformed into ducal vassals of the new kingdom 
of the French, established by Hugh Capet in 987, and they and their 
people, while retaining the fierceness and warlike prowess of their 
race, adopted French manners and customs and French methods of 
government. In 1002, ^Ethelred married the sister of Richard the Good 
(996-1026), the third in descent from Rollo, and it was during his resi- 
dence in the court of his uncle that Edward became so susceptible to 



THE ASCENDANCY OF THE WEST SAXONS 57 

those Norman influences that were now causing dissension in England. 
Richard the Good left two sons who succeeded him in turn. The 
second, Robert the Devil, who died in 1035 on a pilgrimage to Jeru- 
salem, was the father of William. It was a chance whether he would 
ever enter into his heritage ; for, aside from the fact that he was a mere 
child, barely eight years old, his mother was a person of very humble 
birth, the daughter of a tanner of Falaise. This gave the aristocratic 
nobles a good pretext for resisting his authority. But his cause was 
maintained by faithful guardians till he grew to manhood, and, in 
1047, with the aid of the French King he was able to win a decisive 
battle (Val-es-Dunes) and to establish his title as ruler of all Normandy. 
By 105 1, he enjoyed the added prestige of having gained several impor- 
tant victories over his powerful neighbor Geoffrey of Anjou, and while 
still a young man of twenty-four, was the most powerful lord among 
the French. William's visit to England was so well timed that there 
seems to be no doubt that he undertook it on a chance of being made 
the heir of the childless Edward. Godwine and his family, the 
champions of the English party, were in exile, and Norman influence 
was supreme at the court. William afterwards asserted that Edward 
promised him the succession. Very likely this was true. Edward's 
yielding nature would easily bend to a stronger, while he was enam- 
ored of the Normans in general, and seems to have had a real fond- 
ness for his cousin. But he had no right to make such a promise, which 
had moreover no binding value ; for it was the custom of the English 
Witan to choose their own king from the members of the royal family. 
Reaction against the Normans. Return and Death of Godwine. — 
Soon after William's visit a revulsion of popular feeling against 
Edward's favor to the Normans encouraged Godwine to return. His 
backing was too strong to be resisted. We are told that the king's 
army was " loath to fight against the men of their own kin," and 
" thought it pity " that Englishmen should destroy one another to 
make room for foreigners. The unpopular Normans fled, and out- 
lawry was declared against those who " reared up bad law, deemed 
unjust dooms, and brought evil councils into the land." Robert of 
Jumieges was replaced as Archbishop of Canterbury by Stigand, an 
Englishman. The Pope, however, was not consulted, and his deci- 
sion that the proceeding was unlawful gave William a second pretext 
for his later invasion of England. Godwine was restored to his earl- 
dom, but he died in 1053. According to a later legend, doubtless un- 
founded, he choked at dinner while protesting his innocence of the 
death of King Edward's elder brother in the days of Harthacnut. 
The earldom of Wessex fell to Godwine's son Harold, a brave and 
earnest man, conscientious and gracious, but evidently inferior in abil- 
ity to his father. In 1055 Siward of Northumbria died. Waltheof, 
his son, was passed over, and Harold's brother Tostig was appointed 
to succeed him. When another brother got East Anglia, which Harold 
had once held, and still another the southeastern counties, all of 



58 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

England, except Mercia, was in the control of Godwine's sons. In such 
a situation it was quite natural that Harold should aspire to the 
throne, even though he was in no way related to the royal family ex- 
cept as brother to the Queen. To be sure, Edward the ^Etheling, son 
of Edmund Ironside, had returned home in 1057 ; but he died before 
he was even presented to his King and namesake, and his son Eadgar 
and his daughter Margaret were mere children. By 1064 Harold was 
generally regarded as heir to the throne. 

Harold and William. Death of Edward the Confessor. — About 
this time a curious incident happened which gave William his third 
pretext for claiming the crown. He was now stronger than ever, 
for he had married Matilda, daughter of the Count of Flanders, and 
had added Maine to his possessions. Sometime between the autumn 
of 1064 and the spring of 1065, Harold, while on a ship, was blown by 
contrary winds to the coast of Ponthieu and seized by Guy, the 
reigning count. When the news reached William, he demanded that 
Harold be handed over to him, and forced him to do homage, to swear 
to marry his daughter, and to support his succession to the throne. 
There is a well-known story, apparently unfounded, that he was made 
to swear on a cloth covering a chest or table, which when removed 
disclosed a mass of holy relics. Not very long after Harold's return 
to England the Northumbrians rose against Tostig, threw off his rule, 
and chose in his place, Morkere, the brother of Edwin, Earl of Mercia. 
Much to Tostig 's disgust, Harold yielded to the popular will. Thus 
deserted, though Edward with childish obstinacy stood by him for 
some time, he had to give in and took refuge in Flanders. In the 
midst of this confusion Edward passed away, 5 January, 1066, uttering 
gloomy prophesies in his declining days. Recognizing the inevitable, 
however, he commended the kingdom to Harold on the eve of his 
death. Pure and holy he may have been, but he showed himself 
too weak and incompetent for those stirring times. One peculiar 
superstitious practice begun by him was continued by English kings 
till the eighteenth century, the so-called " touching for the King's 
evil," or professing to cure certain skin diseases by the laying on of 
hands. Edward was buried in Westminster Abbey, his new founda- 
tion dedicated on Innocents' Day, 28 December, 1065, when he was 
too ill to attend. Rebuilt in its present form by Henry III in the 
thirteenth century, England's most historic and venerable edifice 
really dates from this period. 

Harold, King, 1066. His Opponents and the Claims of William. — | 
There were three candidates for the throne, little Eadgar the ^Etheling, 
Duke William, and Harold. Even the sticklers for the old line saw 
that they stood the best chance of preserving English independence 
by supporting Harold. So he was hastily elected by such of the Witan 
as were in London on the very day of Edward's funeral, Epiphany, 
6 January, 1066. Popular as he was with the people, the new King 
" had little stillness the while that he ruled." His enemies were 



THE ASCENDANCY OF THE WEST SAXONS 59 

many. There were Edwine and Morkere, hostile to the house of 
Godwine. There was his own brother Tostig, lurking abroad, burning 
to recover his northern earldom and to revenge himself on all who had 
shared in putting him out. There was the Pope ready to aid whoever 
would expel the usurper Stigand. Finally, there was William, alert, 
resolute, and determined to secure the coveted crown. His claims 
and pretexts, as we know, were many ; the promise of Edward ; the 
oath of Harold ; and the championship of the Church. He advanced 
a further claim in behalf of his wife, Matilda, descended from the old 
Anglo-Saxon line of kings. When Harold refused to listen to him, 
he at once prepared for war, sought to attach the courts of Europe to 
his cause, and secured the papal blessing for his expedition. Mean- 
time, Harold was seeking to strengthen his position. In April, he 
journeyed north, received the submission of the Northumbrians, and 
sought to cement an alliance with the two Earls by marrying their 
sister Ealdgyth. It turned out that they were the ones to profit by 
the new connection ; for, in the late summer of 1066, Tostig,, ac- 
companied by Harold Hadrada, King of Norway, and a great force, 
entered the Humber, sailed up the Ouse, and invaded Yorkshire. 
Directly the news reached him, Harold hurried to the scene, met and 
annihilated the invading army, 25 September, 1066, at Stamford 
Bridge, eight miles northeast of York. Tostig and Harold Hadrada 
both fell on the field of battle. 

The Coming of William. His Victory at Senlac or Hastings, 1066. 
■ — ■ Within ten days Harold was back in London ; but already, six 
days before, William had landed at Pevensey on the south coast of 
England. His following was composed of members of the young Nor- 
man nobility and of adventurers and soldiers of fortune from all over 
Europe. Older writers place his forces as high as 50,000 and 3000 
ships, though probably it did not exceed 12,000 or 14,000 men and 
700 ships. According to tradition, William stumbled and fell on the 
shingly beach as he landed. His followers regarded this as a bad 
omen ; but he reassured them by crying out : " By the splendor of God 
I have taken seizin of England." From Pevensey he marched to 
Hastings which commanded the northern road to London. Here he 
awaited the coming of Harold, who marched to meet him after taking 
less than a week to prepare his forces. Owing to his haste, he could 
only gather men from the south and east, though nothing can excuse 
the selfishness of Edwin and Morkere in not sending a single man to 
his aid. On the news of Harold's approach, William advanced to 
attack him. On the morning of 14 October the Anglo-Saxon King took 
a strong position on a little plateau — now covered by the site of Battle 
Abbey — lying north of Hastings and somewhat south and west of 
Senlac. He massed his men closely with their front line protected 
by locked shields. 1 Their formation extended along the front and 

1 Another account, not generally accepted, says that they stood behind a sort of 
wooden palisade which they had hastily erected. 



60 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

two sides of the plateau with the fourth side of the square open, pro- 
tected by the steepness of the northern slope. In the center, at the 
highest point now marked by the high altar of the abbey church, 
stood Harold and his brothers. Here was planted the Dragon of 
Wessex and the King's own standard, an embroidered picture of a 
fighting man. William drew up his forces in three divisions, a center 
and two wings, each composed of three lines. The first line con- 
sisted of light-armed foot, the second of heavy-armed foot, and the 
third of heavy cavalry. The light-armed foot of the center were 
provided with crossbows, a recently invented weapon, while- the light- 
armed forces in the wings were made up of archers. The heavy-armed 
forces carried spears and long kite-shaped shields, and were protected 
by shirts and short breeches of ringed mail and helmets. The cavalry 
were likewise protected by helm and mail, and were provided with 
heavy swords and lances. The English light-armed forces bore 
javelins and stone hammers or axes for throwing. Others had heavy, 
tworheaded battle axes, swords, and dagger knives. 1 Of William's 
three divisions one attacked the English in front and one on each 
flank. On the right, the Bretons were forced to draw back. Some of 
the English made the fatal mistake of following them down the hill, but 
the ranks thus broken were soon filled up. Only after a series of fierce 
assaults were the Normans able to gain a foothold on the plateau, 
to break the shield wall, and to capture the standard by which Harold, 
shot in the eye by an arrow, fell fighting to the last. His men made 
one final stand on a narrow isthmus protecting the rear of the plateau 
from which they had been driven. Here too they had to yield, and 
by sunset of the short October day William had won the victory which 
was to make him King of England. 



FOR ADDITIONAL READING 

J. R. Green, The Conquest of England, a.d. 829-1071 (1883). Ramsay, Founda- 
tions, I, chs. XIV-XXX. Oman, England before the Norman Conquest, chs. XIX- 
XXVII. Hodgkin, Political History, chs. XV-XXVI. E. A. Freeman, Norman 
Conquest, 1875-1877, vols. I— III. Taylor, Origin and Growth, I, bk. I, chs. III-V. 
Alfred the Great (Alfred Bowker, ed. 1899) contains chapters on his life and times by 
various hands. The best biography of Alfred is a brief volume by Charles Plummer, 
Life and Times of Alfred the Great (1902). L. M. Larson, Canute the Great (1912) is 
particularly good for the Scandinavian background. J. H. Round, Feudal England 
(1895), pp. 332-398, sharply attacks Freeman's account of the battle of Hastings. 

For the history of the Church in this period, see Wakeman, chs. II-V, and Hunt, 
chs. XIII-XX. 

1 The famous Bayeux Tapestry is of great value on such points. It is a pic- 
torial story of the events, from the time Harold was blown out of his course in 
1065, to his death. It is embroidered on a strip of canvas nineteen inches wide and 
two hundred and thirty-one feet long. It was probably designed for the Bayeux 
Cathedral but is now in the Bayeux municipal museum. 



THE ASCENDANCY OF THE WEST SAXONS 61 

RULERS OF ANGLO-SAXON ENGLAND, 802-1066 

Egbert, 802-839 

Ethelwulf, 830-858 



Ethelbald, 

858-860 


1 
Ethelbert, 

860-866 


1 I 
Ethelred I Alfred, 
866-871 871-901 




1 

Ethelwald 


1 
Edward the Elder, 901-92 

1 


1 

Athei^tan, 925-940 


1 
Edmund I, 

1 


1 
940-946 Edred, 946-955 


Edwy, 


9SS-959 


1 
Edgar, 959-975 

1 



Edward 

the Martyr, 

975-979 



Ethelred the Unready=(i) Elgiva; (2) Emma=CANUTE, 1016-1035 



979-1016 



of Normandy 



Harold I Hardicanute 

1035-1040 (Emma's son), 
1040-1042 

Godwine, Earl of Wessex, 
Ed. 1053 



I I I I 

(1) Edmund Ironside, (2) Edward the C0NFESS0R=Edith, Harold II, 
1016 1042-1066 d. 1075 d. 1066 



Edmund, d. 1050 



Edward, d. 1057 



I 
Edgar Atheling, d. 1120 



Margaret, d. i093 = Malcolm Canmore, d. 1096 



Matilda, d. iii8=Henry I, d. 1135 



CHAPTER V 

THE STATE OF SOCIETY AT THE CLOSE OF THE ANGLO- 
SAXON PERIOD 

Rise and Decline of the Anglo-Saxon Monarchy. — f he key to 

the history of the Anglo-Saxon period for some centuries is the in- 
creasing unity and the growing strength of the central power. The 
original settlements, according to the generally accepted view, were 
made by a number of small tribes, each under a temporary chief or 
war leader known as a dux, heretoga, or ealdorman. During the 
course of the conquest these leaders became permanent heads of the 
tribes which they led; the tribes, in course of time, combined into 
seven or eight kingdoms; and these in turn were finally united into a 
single kingdom under the West Saxon house. The extension and con- 
solidation of the power of this line of kings reached its zenith under 
Edgar. With Edgar a period of decline set in, due partly to the 
incapacity of the later rulers, partly to the growth of powerful 
and conflicting territorial jurisdictions, and partly to cumber- 
some and inadequate administrative machinery. After the final 
union was complete the kingdom as a whole consisted of several 
shires ; each shire contained subordinate districts which came to 
be known as hundreds, and each hundred was made up of a number 
of small communities, either independent and self-governing or subject 
to the control of a lord. If free, these latter were called townships; if 
under a lord, they came, towards the close of the period, to be called 
manors. The Germans described by Cassar had been mainly a 
pastoral people with cattle as their chief wealth. Even in the time 
of Tacitus, tillage, in so far as they engaged in it, was of the most 
rudimentary sort, and they liked to live in scattered hamlets or even 
in detached homesteads. But once settled in England, the invaders 
became less and less a pastoral and more and more an agricultural 
people. This was partly because there was less land available, and 
probably also because the estates of the Romans and the Romanized 
Celts, with their carefully tilled fields, their orchards and gardens, 
furnished models of higher forms of cultivation by which they were 
not slow to profit. 

The Tunscipe or Township. — The kinsmen of each invading tribe 
settled down in a village surrounded by a rude form of boundary 
or enclosure. These enclosures were called " tuns " (compare the 
German word zaun, meaning hedge), and the group of inhabitants 
was known as a tunscipe or township. Less frequently the village 

62 



THE CLOSE OF THE ANGLO-SAXON PERIOD 63 

was known as a ham (compare heim, the German word for home). 
The names of these little settlements usually contain three words : 
first the name of the original head of the family, next the word " ing," 
which came to mean " family of," and finally the word " ton " or 
" ham." Thus, Ashington meant the tun of the family of Ash, and 
Nottingham, the ham of the family of Nott. Originally, most of 
these villages seem to have been free or independent. The settlement 
consisted of a line of houses along a street, the parent of the modern 
High Street. Each house was surrounded by a plot of ground which 
supplied such garden produce as they understood how to raise. 
Stretching out beyond the village street were the lands that the 
villagers used for tillage. Each freeman was entitled to a certain 
amount, usually a " hide," supposed to contain about one hundred 
and twenty acres. In the original allotment a hide was not assigned 
all in one place but scattered in strips, in order that each might share 
in the good land and the bad land alike. Owing to lack of stock and 
farming implements, each man helped his neighbors and was helped 
by them in turn, a practice which has survived in the barn raisings 
and corn huskings of modern rural communities. To avoid exhaust- 
ing the soil, crops were rotated by what is known as the " three-field 
system." One part of the land would be planted with wheat or rye, 
another with oats or barley, and a third would be allowed to lie fallow. 
In the third year the fallow land would be planted and another field 
would be left fallow, and the crop would be varied in the third field. 
During the interval between planting and harvest, rude temporary 
fences were constructed to keep out the cattle. After the crops were 
gathered, the fences were taken down and the cattle turned in to graze 
on the stubble. Besides the arable land, of which each freeman owned 
a definite share, there were common meadows and pasture lands for 
the whole community, and wood lands as well. In the woods fuel 
was cut, and swine roamed about, feeding on acorns and on whatever 
else they could find. At stated seasons the qualified freemen assem- 
bled in their tun-moot, or townmeeting, to transact such business as 
came before them. Here officers were elected, chief among them the 
reeve, who presided over the affairs of the community and went with 
four chosen men to the meetings of the hundred and shire. Here 
local by-laws were framed, rules of cultivation were settled, arrange- 
ments were made for looking after the roads and keeping the peace ; 
but no judicial decisions were undertaken. 

The Manor as an Agrarian Unit. — As time went on, most of these 
villages lost their independence and passed under the control of lords. 
The lord's steward or bailiff took the place of the elected reeve as 
president of the moot, and the freemen became dependent cultivators. 
A number of things tended to increase the number of subject com- 
munities. Famine and pestilence impoverished many ; then the wars, 
notably those waged by the Danish invaders, forced freemen to yield 
the title to their lands in return for protection. Then the increase 



64 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

of conquests westward tended to swell the number of such dependent 
villages. The kings rewarded their followers with lands, and they 
settled cultivators upon them. Although landed estates with village 
communities in subjection upon them, existed from the beginning of 
the period, being merely the old Roman villas under new lords, the 
numbers had greatly increased by the eleventh century, when they 
came to be known as manors. They usually consisted of two parts. 
One part, commonly known as the demesne, consisted of the land 
cultivated directly for the lord by slaves or by serfs. This was also 
called " inland," although it might be scattered among the other 
strips. The " outland " comprised the holdings of the serfs, usually 
limited to a yard or virgate (thirty acres or a quarter of a hide) each, 
although certain persons called " cotters " had no more than five acres. 
The serf received not only land from his lord, but also stock, cattle, 
and farming implements, and some household furniture. In return, 
he paid part of his produce in rent and was called upon to labor 
in the lord's lands during some days in the week and at intervals dur- 
ing the plowing and harvest seasons. 

Manorial Jurisdiction. — On the eve of the Conquest the lords had 
come to administer justice on their estates. They acquired this 
power from grants of " sac and soc," which some authorities date 
from the time of ^Ethelred, and others from a period as late as Edward 
the Confessor, but probably they are at least as early as Cnut. The 
old township court was now a judicial body under the lord's steward 
or bailiff. Following the introduction of Christianity, parishes were 
organized, each under a priest, and these parishes were roughly co- 
terminous with the townships or manors. The parishes gradually 
came to exercise many of the activities of the old towns, which either 
never passed to the lords, or were acquired back from them or devel- 
oped independently. The secular activity of the parish government 
reached its height in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. It 
was with the experience of the parish system in their minds that our 
New England forefathers shaped our town system. 

Boroughs and Cities. — Another growth of this period is the borough 
and city. Usually in England the word town is synonymous with 
borough and is to be distinguished from a township or village. The 
former had a larger population and enjoyed peculiar organization 
and privileges. The most characteristic feature was the wall x ; then 
the borough usually had a court of its own and a market. The 
origin of most of these boroughs is shrouded in obscurity. Some 
have tried to trace them from the Roman municipalities, but without 
success. Although there are certain analogies between the Roman 
and the medieval Anglo-Saxon town, they are mere analogies. As 
a rule, the name and character of the institutions are quite different. 
The Roman towns were centers of a highly developed urban life, 

1 Hence the name "burh," a fortification. 



THE CLOSE OF THE ANGLO-SAXON PERIOD 65 

while the medieval town was frequently little more than an agricul- 
tural and fishing center ; indeed, the burghers often had farms outside 
the walls. The Germans had a superstition against settling in a 
walled town, and frequently we can trace the growth of one of these 
modern towns beside the ruins of an ancient Roman city. While 
the sites were sometimes determined by the older Roman settlements, 
these boroughs seem usually to have originated in the wars against 
the Danes during the ninth and tenth centuries. Sometimes, however, 
a town grew from the union of many neighboring townships, or de- 
veloped from a settlement around a monastery or a castle or where a 
crossing of roads or the ford of a river provided a favorable site for a 
market. Gradually, these towns acquired charters confirming old 
privileges or granting new ones. Centuries passed before they be- 
came, strictly speaking, corporations; that is, organizations in 
which the governing body was, in the eyes of the law, a fictitious 
or ideal person. A city is merely a borough where a cathedral is 
situated. 

The Hundred. — Until the courts of the boroughs and manors 
came into being, generally not before the eleventh century, the hundred 
was the center for all judicial purposes. Although we find no trace of 
the name before the tenth century, the thing itself evidently dates 
back beyond the German invasion. The hundreds seem to have 
been originally districts of the tribal kingdoms, most likely the district 
allotted to a hundred warriors or a hundred heads of families. Each 
had an assembly which met once a month. It was the duty of the 
presiding man, the reeve or hundred elder, to collect the dues from the 
hundred, to secure performance of military service, and to keep order. 
His judicial position was not the same as that of our modern judge ; 
for he merely acted as the mouthpiece of men qualified to attend the 
court — the priest, reeve, and four men from each township or manor, 
as well as the free landowners and the nobles or thegns of the hundred. 
The jurisdiction exercised was criminal as well as civil. In the be- 
ginning, we find the groups of kinsmen responsible for the conduct 
of their members ; in cases of murder or serious injury they had the 
privilege of waging, or the obligation of submitting to the feud or 
private warfare. But before the end of the period, the community 
had established its position as arbiter, and an elaborate compensation 
had been arranged — " wergeld " for murder or injury, and " bot " 
for other damages. It was only when such satisfaction was refused 
that the kindred had a right to wage war or seize the possessions of the 
one who was at fault — whence the maxim which became current : 
"Buy the spear off your side or bear it." For its share in securing 
justice, the State came to claim a fine, known as a " wite," from the 
offender. 

Procedure in the Hundred Moot. — Procedure was as follows : 
The offended party made a formal demand before the public meeting 
or the presiding officer. The accused was obliged, under penalty, 



66 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

to answer the charge and had to deposit a pledge to abide by the 
decision of the court. If he admitted his guilt, it was the duty of the 
meeting to determine the penalty. If he determined to contest the 
accusation, he denied it with a formal oath, usually supported by a 
number of oath helpers, varying according to the rank of the accused 
or the gravity of offense. Sometimes, in cases where land or cattle 
were involved, documents might be produced or witnesses to answer 
set questions. When the crime was too serious or the accused was 
too notorious to find oath helpers, or when he was a foreigner, he 
had to proceed to the ordeal ; that is, submit his case to the judgment 
of God. In the case of the fire ordeal the accused had to carry a piece 
of red-hot iron, weighing one pound, a distance of nine feet. His 
hand was then bandaged, and if it healed in three days, he was declared 
innocent. For especially grave cases there was the threefold ordeal 
when the iron weighed three pounds. Another form of test was the 
hot- water ordeal, where the accused had to plunge his arm up to the 
wrist in boiling water and remove a stone. Here, too, there was a 
threefold ordeal, according to which he had to plunge his arm in up 
to the elbow. The cold-water ordeal is little heard of in Anglo-Saxon 
times, though it was much used later for trying witches. For this test 
the accused was undressed, bound, and lowered into the water by a 
rope at his waist. If he sank a certain depth, he was innocent ; if he 
floated, he was guilty. All this was based on a belief that pure water 
would not receive a guilty person. The " corsned," or sacred morsel, 
was the form usually applied in the case of a priest. He was given 
an ounce of consecrated cheese or bread to swallow, his guilt or inno- 
cence depending upon his ability to perform the feat. Since the 
people regarded the decision in each case as given by God, it partook of 
a religious ceremony. The accused prepared himself by a three days' 
fast and by taking the sacrament. If the test failed, the assembled 
multitude declared the penalty — fine, slavery, outlawry, or death. 
Imprisonment was not used as a form of punishment. Although the 
hundred continued to meet once a month all through this period, it 
lost much of its power from the creation of borough and manorial 
jurisdictions within its borders. 

The Folkmoot and the Shire. — Before the union of the tribes the 
highest form of political and judicial organization was the folkm:ot. 
At this assembly the great landowners, the freemen, and the priest, 
reeve, and four men from each township met twice a year under their 
ealdorman or chief. Here the business of the folk was transacted. 
Since questions of war and peace were decided, they met armed, and 
often proceeded against the enemy directly from the meeting. Here 
certain judicial cases were settled, those involving the different dis- 
tricts, and those too important for the different districts to settle, as 
well as those where justice had not been done in a lower court. After 
the tribal communities had been united into kingdoms, districts began 
to appear midway between the hundred, or smaller jurisdiction, and 



THE CLOSE OF THE ANGLO-SAXON PERIOD 67 

the kingdom. These came to be called shires. Shires originated 
at different times in different parts of the Island. In the south, the 
kingdom of Wessex was divided probably on the lines of the ancient 
tribal state. After the smaller kingdoms, Kent, Essex, and Sussex, 
were incorporated, they too were reduced to shires. North of the 
Thames, the two kingdoms of East Anglia, Norfolk and Suffolk, were 
treated in the same way. The remainder of the midlands were arti- 
ficially divided after the country had been won back from the Danes. 
Usually an important town or fortification was selected and the shires 
grouped around it. For example, Leicester formed the nucleus of 
Leicestershire, Derby of Derbyshire. The shires in the extreme 
north — Lancashire, Cumberland, Westmoreland, Northumberland, 
— were formed after the close of the Anglo-Saxon period. Each shire 
had an assembly, or moot, in which the procedure was much the same 
as in the earlier folkmoots, except that judicial business, at least in 
some of the Danish districts, passed from the assembly to a com- 
mittee learned in the customary law — the twelve senior thegns. 
Besides transacting judicial business the shire moot collected revenues 
and raised military levies. At first, each shire was under the control 
of an ealdorman, or earl, chosen by the king with the consent of his 
wisemen. As time went on the shire moot came to be presided over 
by a shire-reeve or sheriff. The sheriff started merely as a king's 
officer ; he was his bailiff or steward, employed to collect the rents of 
his estates in the shire. In course of time, he came to preside over 
the court and to command the military forces, though he continued to 
be appointed and dismissed by the king at pleasure. The bishops 
represented the Church, and since they were the only learned men of 
the time, they were of great assistance. They participated in all busi- 
ness except trials where a death penalty was involved. 

The Witenagemot. — ■ The highest body in the land was the Witen- 
agemot, or moot of the Witan or wisemen. Some think it was a union 
of the ancient folkmoots ; but in fact it came to be restricted to the 
great officials whom the king assembled about him — the ealdormen, 
the bishops, and the thegns or nobles. All freemen were entitled to 
attend, but they gradually ceased to exercise their right; means of 
communication were too poor to make it possible for those that lived 
at a distance to come, and the increasing size of the body diminished 
the importance of those who were able to appear. Since no system 
of representation was devised, the Witenagemot came to be an as- 
sembly of notables or a royal council. Their business was to assist and 
advise the king in devising such rude legal measures as were framed, 
to give their consent to land grants, and to the naming of ealdor- 
men and bishops. It was they who named the kings — though they 
were limited in their choice to the ablest male next in descent in the 
royal family — and, on rare occasions, they even deposed an unworthy 
ruler. The Witenagemot was usually strong when the king was weak 
and weak when he was strong. 



68 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

The King. — The king, whose eligibility always depended on his 
membership in a certain family, after his choice by his people — in 
later times practically by the Witan — was, during the heathen period, 
lifted on a shield, but in Christian times consecrated by the elaborate 
ceremony already noted in the case of Edgar. It was his function to 
preside over the Witan and over such assemblies, or synods, of the 
Church as were held. He led the levy, or fyrd, in war; he enforced 
the public peace, and he carried out the decrees which he made with 
the consent of his Witan. He was bound to a considerable extent by 
the recorded laws and the traditional customs of the people ; he was 
limited by the National Council in certain respects, and his power of 
giving effect to his prerogative was hampered by lack of means of 
communication and by deficiency of administrative machinery; 
but, in general, the Anglo-Saxon kings enjoyed large powers without 
being absolute monarchs. Rulers like Edgar and Cnut were able to 
rule almost absolutely without causing any perceptible friction, but 
that was probably because they were able and just monarchs. 

Revenues in Anglo-Saxon Times. — In those days of simple con- 
ditions the expenses and income of the State were small and irregular. 
The latter was paid chiefly in produce and personal services. The 
king and his officials had a right to maintenance for themselves and 
their retainers on their progress through the country, and goods 
could be seized for the royal needs ; this right, known as feorum 
fultum, corresponded to the later purveyance. The most common 
form of public service was the trinoda necessitas, or threefold obliga- 
tion of serving in the army, of repairing roads and bridges, and guard- 
ing fortresses. When one of the king's followers died, he had a right to 
the heriot — a payment of horses, armor, and sometimes money, fixed 
according to rank. In theory, this was simply a return of the military 
equipment with which a chief originally endowed the members of 
his comitatus. A commoner form of the heriot was the best beast or 
chattel which the heirs of a serf paid his lord. The king also had 
rents and other dues from towns on the royal demesne ; he received 
certain court fees and fines, and, in the case of lords who died without 
heirs or were guilty of grave offenses against his authority, forfeitures 
of landed estates. He was also entitled to harbor dues and tolls 
on trade, to wreckage and treasure-trove. The Danegeld has already 
been described. 

Evidences of the Growth of Royal Power. — Many evidences of 
the growth of the royal power can be traced through the tenth century ; 
for example, from the time of Alfred, plotting against the king's life 
becomes a treasonable offense, punishable by death. Originally, the 
King's Peace was a personal affair, and when it became general, it was 
at first limited to special places and special seasons — to the four 
Roman roads, rivers, and all navigable streams, and to Christmas, 
Whitsuntide, and Easter ; but as time went on it came to extend over 
the whole country at all times, and the popular courts came to be 



THE CLOSE OF THE ANGLO-SAXON PERIOD 69 

more and more his courts. Another evidence of growth of the royal 
power is the right to dispose of lands without the consent of the Witan. 

Ranks in Anglo-Saxon Society. — The question of ranks in Anglo- 
Saxon society is obscure and complicated. One thing is certain, 
that there were only a few of the very highest class. At the time of 
Edward the Confessor's death it has been estimated that there were 
two archbishops, twelve bishops, eleven abbots, five or six earls, and 
twenty-four king's thegns. Thus the political power of the realm 
was in the hands of less than sixty men. Of the nobility the earl was 
the highest in rank. While his name is derived from the Danish 
" jarl," he was the lineal descendant of the ancient ealdorman ; he 
had, however, come to rule over a district embracing not one, but 
many shires. Next to the earl was the thegn, who, originally a 
minister or servant in the household of a king or great lord, had re- 
ceived endowments of land and had risen to the dignity of a territorial 
noble himself, liable to special military obligations. Yet, unlike the 
later feudal vassal, the thegn's lands were given him as a reward for 
past services and not as a condition of future services ; his title to his 
estate was absolute, subject to no qualification. Thegnhood was open 
not only to this ministerial class ; for even a merchant, if he " throve so 
that he fared thrice over the wide sea by his own means," could attain 
the rank. Besides the king's thegns there were the lesser thegns of 
great earls. The normal minimum holding was five hides of land. 
The ceorls, or simple freemen, who stood on the next lower rung of 
the social ladder, were a comparatively small class at the close of our 
period. They paid fixed rents and services for the lands which other- 
wise were theirs, even to hand down to their heirs ; they served in the 
fyrd, and had a right to attend the various courts where justice was 
administered and business transacted. Below the ceorls were various 
classes of servile dependents, personally free but debarred from 
political rights, usually bound to the estate of some lord by services, 
generally onerous and uncertain, for the lands that they held. 

The Decline of the Royal Power. — The most striking political fact 
at the close of the period was the weakness of the central government. 
By a steady increase and consolidation of territory and by a steady 
absorption of national powers the kingship had risen to its highest 
point under Edgar (959-975). But as the kingdom grew in size the 
power of the rulers declined in strength. This was due partly to the 
incompetence of the succeeding kings, but still more to the condi- 
tions they had to face. Although the country was small it was hard 
to reach points far removed from the court. The only way the king 
could govern the outlying districts was by representatives, and the 
only means he had of paying them was by land grants ; once they 
became landowners in a particular district, their interests naturally 
came to be more closely attached to the neighborhood than to their 
nominal lord. Then, at a time centuries before any conception had 
arisen of the newspaper, the railroad, the telegraph, or even the post 



7 o A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

office, each little group of people lived in and for itself. So the manors, 
the borough courts, and the jurisdictions of the territorial magnates 
came to be the real centers of power. Cnut only recognized, he did 
not create, a situation when he divided the country into great earl- 
doms. But it was the power wielded by these magnates that helps 
to explain the weakness and anarchy of Edward's reign. So, on the 
eve of the Conquest, we note the conflict of two opposing tendencies. 
On the military side there are two armies : the shire levies, under 
the king's representative, the sheriff; and the armies of the thegns 
and earls, nominally the king's, but which could be used for private 
purposes. On the judicial side there were the popular courts of the 
hundred and shire, constantly encroached on by those of the borough 
and manor. As to lands, there were the lands held by the king, the 
nobles, and the people by the old folk right, but constantly decreased 
by special grants, defined by book or charter, giving the grantee pow- 
ers of holding independent of the old customary law. In general, it 
may be said that, while the Anglo-Saxons had contributed to those 
who came after, principles and methods of local self-government, 
they had failed to furnish the necessary complement, a strong central 
government without which local freedom could easily degenerate 
into anarchy. It was reserved for their conquerors to supply what 
was lacking. 

Anglo-Saxon Literature. — The earliest literature among the 
Anglo-Saxons reflects the characteristics of the race and is profoundly 
influenced by their surroundings. It is marked by love of the sea, a 
sense of gloom and mystery, by the fierceness and boastfulness of the 
primitive man, tempered and ennobled by courage and loyalty. It 
is expressed usually in alliterative verse, a form characterized by the 
repetition of the same letter or sound at the beginning of two or more 
words or accented syllables in the same line; as, for instance, " Then 
marched from the moon under misty slopes." Heavy, slow, and 
often uncouth, their poetic style is vigorous and sometimes grand. 1 
Their greatest achievements were in the form of the epic, where 
an action is narrated in poetic form, to be sung by glee men in 
the halls of thegns. Of these, Beowulf is the earliest and the only 
one which has survived in anything like completeness. The material 
may have been brought by the later Angles from their continental 
homes ; but it was not worked up into the shape in which we have 
it till the eighth century. It recounts the glorious deeds of the 
Scandinavian hero Beowulf, his slaying of Grendel the marsh fiend, 

1 Here, for instance, is a picture of the time before the Creation : "There had not 
here as yet, save cavern-shade, aught been; but this wide abyss stood deep and 
dim, strange to its Lord, idle and useless; on which looked with his eyes the King 
firm of mind, and beheld those places void of joys, saw the dark cloud lower in eter- 
nal night, swart under heaven, dark and waste, until this worldly creation through 
the word existed of the Glory-King. . . . The earth as yet was not green with 
grass; ocean covered, swart in eternal night, far and wide the dusky ways." 



THE CLOSE OF THE ANGLO-SAXON PERIOD 71 

and his mother the " she-wolf of the abyss " and of the fire-vomiting 
dragon. Other poems, such as the Bailie of Finnsburg and King Wal- 
dere's Lay, exist only in fragments. Besides the epics there are some 
lyrics or poems that deal with sentiments and feelings, and softened 
by a melancholy which some have supposed due to Celtic influence. 
The Wanderer contains a pathetic lament over the hero's lost friend 
and lord and his present loneliness. 

Contrasted with this poetry is that which owes its inspiration to the 
Church and the Scriptures. One of the most beautiful stories in 
Bede is that of Caedmon, a rude, unlearned cowherd attached to the 
monastery of Whitby. He had no gift of song, and often at the 
merry-makings of his companions, when the harp was passed to him, he 
would leave and return to his stable. On one such occasion a figure 
appeared to him in his sleep and bade him sing. At first he said he 
could not, but finally at the bidding of the stranger *he began to sing 
verses in the praise of God. The next morning he rose and told his 
dream to the steward of the abbey, who took him before the abbess 
and divers monks. After hearing his story, they related to him a 
passage of the Bible, which he rendered into wonderful verse. He 
was made a brother of the monastery, and, as Bede tells us, " he sang 
the creation of the world, the origin of man, and all the history of 
Genesis : and made many verses on the departure of the children of 
Israel and their entering into the land of promise, with many other 
histories from Holy Writ." 

Another early Anglo-Saxon poet was Cynewulf. All that is known 
of him is inferred from the writings attributed to him. From these 
it appears that he was a wandering Northumbrian minstrel of the 
eighth century, who in his youth rejoiced in hunting, the bow, and the 
horse, who received many golden gifts for singing in the halls of the 
great. In his old age he turned to graver things. He wrote four 
poems on the lives of Christ and the Saints, and very possibly was 
the author of Riddles, a series of conundrums for the reader to guess, 
and of the Phcenix, an account of the fabled bird. Closing with an 
allegorical application to the death and resurrection of Christ, this 
latter form is adorned with exquisite touches descriptive of the 
beauties of nature. Next to Bede's History, the greatest prose work 
of the period is the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Beginning with meager 
annals, in the eighth century, the work was greatly expanded under 
Alfred's direction. From his time it was continued independently by 
at least half a dozen religious houses, one version reaching to 11 54. 
In spite of errors and omissions, its bold and simple, but quaint and 
graphic entries furnish the chief source of information for much of the 
period. 

Art and Building. — Like other people in medieval times, the 
Anglo-Saxons were notable for their skill in illuminating manuscripts 
and in embroidery and weaving. We hear how the shuttle, " filled not 
only with purple but with all other colors, flies now this way, now that, 



72 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

among the close spread threads," and how they " glorified the wool 
work with groups of pictures." Alfred brought in goldworkers from 
abroad, though his own people were not without ability in the fashion- 
ing of metals. Bede tells us that the founder of his monastery had to 
send for glassmakers from France. However, the Anglo-Saxons were 
unversed in the masons' art, for they seem to have built with wood. 
The stone church at Canterbury is undoubtedly a relic of British- 
Roman times. Except perhaps in the north, none were built of this 
material in the Anglo-Saxon period until Edward the Confessor. 
With him, under Norman influence, those grand and stately edifices 
begin to appear which fill us with awe and reverence even to this 
present day. Westminster Abbey, though built on an earlier site, 
was his peculiar creation. The simpler sort of houses consisted of a 
single room and were surrounded by a hedge. Sometimes they had 
an upper chamber, called a " solarium," though this was not common. 
The homes of the greater folk consisted of a hall surrounded by 
separate buildings which were used for bedchambers, or " bowers," as 
they were called, for " household offices," and for the housing of 
cattle. The more pretentious were roofed with tiles. Inclosing the 
whole was a wall usually of earth. The walls of the hall were usually 
covered with tapestry, and harps, armor, and weapons were hung 
about on pegs. The fire was in the middle of the floor, and the smoke 
escaped through an opening in the roof. Wood was the customary 
fuel, though coal was apparently not unknown. Benches, sometimes 
covered with carpets and cushions, constituted the chief furniture. 
At one end of the hall was a raised platform where those of higher 
rank sat. Chairs were few and were generally the seats of kings and 
great persons. Beds were usually mere sacks of straw laid on branches. 
They were often built in recesses and covered with a curtain. Since 
there was no sitting room but the hall, the chamber where the women 
sat, after they had served the cup to the lord's guests, was the bedroom. 
Here they spun and wove, here they sewed and embroidered. 

Manner of Living. — At a time when there was little to read and 
when means of communication were few and inadequate, the pleasures 
of feast and song bulked large. Breakfast was commonly at nine, 
dinner, or noon-meat, at three, and supper, or evening food, at an 
uncertain hour. Bread was a great staple. Among their other 
articles of food were milk, butter, cheese, fish, poultry, and meat. 
Vegetables, on the other hand, were few, and in the winter there 
were none. Bacon was very abundant. For months in the year salt 
meat was the only kind to be had, since cattle could not be kept over 
the winter. Such meat was usually boiled, though they understood 
how to broil, roast, and fry. Table manners were as yet very primitive, 
for there were no forks and few table knives. After dinner the hands 
were washed, the tables, which were mere temporary affairs, were taken 
away, and drinking began. Ale, mead, or wine were passed about, and 
the company listened to story-telling and music, or danced. The 



THE CLOSE OF THE ANGLO-SAXON PERIOD 73 

common musical instruments were the harp, poetically known as the 
glee wood, the cithern, the pipe, and the horn. Feasts often ended in 
quarrels. Games of chance were another source of diversion. Chess 
was probably introduced by the Danes ; indeed, it was over a game of 
chess that Cnut slew his brother-in-law. Though singing and playing 
were regarded as desirable accomplishments, wandering gleemen did 
not enjoy a very high status, and besides singing and playing performed 
tricks and cracked jokes from hall to village. The villagers were some- 
times regaled with exhibitions of dancing bears, and on holidays made 
merry with games, such as running, leaping, and wrestling. Hunting 
and hawking were favorite pastimes even with kings like Alfred and 
Edward the Confessor. The clergy showed such a fondness for these 
and kindred pursuits that an ecclesiastical canon was passed under 
King Edgar, declaring " that no priest be a hunter or fowler, or player 
at tables, but let him play on his books as becometh his calling." 
Owing to the badness of the roads, people went about mostly on horse- 
back, though carts or chariots, usually two-wheeled, were sometimes 
used for traveling. Inns were so infrequent that halls and monasteries 
entertained freely, and hospitality was even enjoined by ecclesiastical 
laws. Ale houses, on the other hand, were overcommon and were 
much sought by the humbler folk, who had little else to do during the 
long, dark days. Lesser priests, too, frequented them to such an extent 
that their superiors had to pass laws against the practice. Merchants 
usually traveled in companies, and carried tents under which they 
stopped at night. 

Public Health. — Plague, pestilence, and famine were dread visi- 
tants of early and medieval England, though not as frequent or 
destructive as on the Continent. Epidemics entered the land from 
time to time from the east, like the yellow plague which appeared in 
south England, in 664, and spread north. It later reappeared and so 
thinned the monks of Jarrow that the little boy Bede was the only 
one left to join the abbot in the responses. Local epidemics were 
more frequent and less destructive. They were usually fevers due 
to famines from failure of crops and cattle. 

Trade. — The early villages and manors were almost altogether 
self-sufficing ; they usually raised their own food and made their 
own clothes. At first there was little buying or selling; each man 
worked for the other members of the community and was supplied 
by them in turn. Salt was about the only thing brought from the 
outside. Various things, however, came to be needed, such as iron 
for plowshares, and this, and the fact that some articles came to be 
produced better in one place than in another, led to the gradual 
development of trade. An enactment of Ine's aims to distinguish 
the honest merchant from the robber. " If a far-coming man," so 
reads the law, " or a stranger journey through wood out of the high- 
way, and neither shout nor blow his horn, he is to be held for a thief 
and either slain or redeemed." Most little towns had a market, 



74 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

and before the close of the period fairs were coming to assume a posi- 
tion of importance. For some time after the coming of the Teutons 
sea-faring life ceased, and there was in consequence little oversea trade. 
As early as the time of Offa, however, it is recorded that English 
merchants had joined bands of traveling pilgrims and imported, with- 
out paying duty, articles of gold and silver, and a letter from Charle- 
magne to Offa, offering protection to certain English traders in France, 
is regarded as the earliest English commercial treaty. But it was the 
Danish invasions which first revived the art of shipbuilding. Alfred, 
says the Chronicle for 897, " commanded long ships to be built 
to oppose the invaders." These ships were primarily for war, but 
they had their effect on commerce. In Alfred's time the chief inter- 
course was with France and the Mediterranean, though his embassies 
to Jerusalem and India may have enlarged the commercial horizon, 
while the coming of the Danes opened communications with the 
trading settlements of the Northmen. Scattered indications occur 
from time to time of the growth of an import and export trade. By 
the close of the tenth and the early part of the eleventh century, 
wine, fish, clothes, pepper, gloves, and vinegar were brought from 
France, Flanders, and the Empire. From the north and northeast 
came furs, skins, ropes, masts, weapons, and iron work. The mer- 
chant in /Elfric's Colloquies or Dialogues, a Latin reading book for 
boys, which appeared about the year 1000, relates that he brought 
from oversea brocade, silk, precious gems, gold, wine, oil, ivory, 
bronze, copper, sulphur, and glass. Many of these commodities came 
originally from the Orient, whence they were conveyed overland to 
Constantinople, or rather to the Bosphorus, and shipped to Venice 
or some other Italian port. Thence they were taken overland to 
Flanders to be finally shipped across the Channel. In return, the 
English exported mainly metals, such as tin and lead, wool, and slaves. 
The slave trade was carried on extensively in spite of the efforts of 
the Church to stop it. Gregory's missionary zeal had been inspired 
by the sight of Anglian captives in the slave mart at Rome. Ine's 
laws imposed a penalty on those who sold their countrymen beyond 
seas, and later enactments prohibit such selling, at least to heathen 
lands. But Bristol was a great center for the trade, even after the 
Conquest, and it was well into the twelfth century before the iniquitous 
traffic was stamped out. 

Such was England on the eve of the Conquest. William, who now 
entered as master, was to inflict much misery ; but he was to contribute 
much to its power and prosperity. 

FOR ADDITIONAL READING 

Political and legal institutions are treated in Taylor, Origin and Growth, I, chs. 
III-V; Taswell-Langmead, English Constitutional History (iqii), ch. I; Wakeman 
and Hassall, Constitutional History, I, chs. IV-VII ; A. B. White, The Making of the 



THE CLOSE OF THE ANGLO-SAXON PERIOD 75 

English Constitution (1908), pt. I, chs. I— III. The latter work, the most up-to-date 
of any of the constitutional histories here cited, has on p. xxv a fuller list of works 
for further reading. Traill, Social England, I, ch. II, deals with all aspects of Anglo- 
Saxon history and life. Ramsay, Foundations, I, chs. X, XXX, treats briefly the 
same subject. Ch. II in Pollock and Maitland's History of English Law (1898), 
vol. I, is an excellent statement of the main features of Anglo-Saxon Law. Pol- 
lock and Maitland's treatise is the authority in the period it covers — to the time of 
Edward I. Wm. Cunningham, Growth of English Industry and Commerce (1896), I, 
bk. I, is devoted mainly to economic conditions. This work is valuable for the whole 
period up to the middle of the nineteenth century. The daily life of the Anglo- 
Saxons is described in Thomas Wright, Homes of Other Days (1871), ch. I. 

For a brief account of Anglo-Saxon literature see Moody and Lovett, A History 
of English Literature (1908). This is perhaps the best one-volume work covering 
the whole period of English literature. H. A. Taine, History of English Literature 
(tr. van Laun, 4 vols., 1873), I, bk. I, ch. I, is very stimulating ; but not always to be 
relied upon. J. A. Jusserand, A Literary History of the English People (3 vols., 
1906-1909) , vol. I, bk. I ; a charming and scholarly treatment. The Cambridge His- 
tory of Literature (vols. I-X, 1907-1913) is a cooperative work which contains a mine 
of information ; vol. I, chs. I-VII (bibliography, 419-445), is devoted to the Anglo- 
Saxon period. For further references see Moody and Lovett's reading guide, 385 ff. 

For a discussion of Anglo-Saxon feudalism see Maitland, Domesday Book and 
Beyond (1897), 150-172, 303-313, and G. B. Adams, American Historical Review, 
October, 1901, pp. 11-36. For an epoch-making article on Anglo-Saxon land law 
see P. Vinogradoff, "Folkland," English Historical Review, VIII, 1-17. For selec- 
tions from the Anglo-Saxon laws, chiefly in English translation, see Stubbs, Select 
Charters Illustrative of English Constitutional History (7th ed., 1890), pp. 60-76. 



CHAPTER VI 

THE ANGLO-NORMAN KINGS (1066-1154). THE STRENGTHENING 
OF THE CENTRAL POWER BY WILLIAM AND HIS SONS. THE 
INTERVAL OF ANARCHY IN THE REIGN OF HIS GRANDSON 
STEPHEN 

William secures London and is crowned King of England. — After 
his victory at Hastings many weeks passed before William reached 
London. He was delayed by sickness ; he chose a roundabout way by 
the seacoast to secure his communication with Normandy, and he 
lingered somewhat in the vain hope that Englishmen would come 
to submit to his authority. When he at length reached the southern 
bank of the Thames, he wisely made no attempt to cross the river 
in front of the strongly walled city, but sought a ford higher up at 
Wallingford. In this way, too, he was able to cut the city off from 
all aid west or north. The men of London had elected Eadgar the 
^theling to succeed Harold ; but on William's approach they gave 
up all hope of resistance, and, headed by the ^theling, went forth 
to meet him and offered to take him for their king. As soon as a 
stronghold had been prepared for his reception — the future Tower 
of London — the Conqueror rode into the city, and was crowned on 
Christmas Day, 25 December, 1066, in Edward's Abbey. The event 
was marred by a woeful accident, ominous for the future. The Nor- 
man guard outside, mistaking the shouts of the assemblage within 
for cries of resistance, began to fire the neighboring buildings. A 
panic resulted, which caused William for once in his life to show fear. 

William redistributes the Lands of the Conquered. — After the 
coronation more submissions followed, chief among them those of 
Edwin and Morkere and of Waltheof. William made them liberal 
promises, but held them at court as hostages, hoping thereby to get a 
hold on the midlands and north of England. Before proceeding to 
extend his conquests he took steps to organize what he already held. 
Courts were set up ; a charter, confirming the old liberties enjoyed 
under King Edward, was granted to the men of London ; friends 
and supporters were rewarded and foes punished. The lands of 
those who had fought against him were seized and divided among 
himself and his followers. Likewise, he appropriated the Crown 
lands and the private estates of Harold. Those who submitted 
were allowed to keep their lands, but only on payment of heavy fines. 
Henceforth, there were to be no lands held in absolute or allodial 
ownership ; every landlord must hold directly or indirectly of the 

76 



THE ANGLO-NORMAN KINGS 77 

King. Much spoil fell into William's hands, and from it he distributed 
rich gifts to the Pope and the churches in France — asa reward for 
lending divine sanction to his enterprise. 

William establishes his Power throughout England, 1 067-1 071. — 
For the next four or five years after his accession the Norman Con- 
queror was occupied in putting down risings and overc oming resist- 
ance to the extension of his authority. The first outbreak occurred 
in 1067 while William was absent in Normandy, and was a manifesta- 
tion of bitter discontent against the alien rulers, who " built castles 
wide throughout the land and the poor people distressed." The re- 
bellion centered in Kent and Hereford. His representatives had 
practically restored order before William could get back ; but during 
the year 1068 he was occupied in almost constant fighting. He 
managed first to subdue the west, where the people rallied to the sup- 
port of Harold's mother and Harold's sons. Among his confiscations 
were the lands which form the basis of the present Duchy of Corn- 
wall, an appanage of the Prince of Wales. The north gave the 
most serious trouble. It began in 1068 and came to a head in a great 
rising in the following year. Eadgar the ^theling, who had taken 
refuge with King Malcolm of Scotland, was put up as king, and a 
body of Danes assisted the native English and Scots. When William 
was at length able to break up their combination and to scatter his 
enemies, he took care to stamp out all possibility of further resistance. 
Marching from the Ouse to the Tyne and back, he ruthlessly destroyed 
everything that lived or could sustain life, and every building, so that 
the vale of York was a waste and ruin for years to come. Some of the 
desert places he granted to his followers, but a few of the English 
leaders were allowed to make their submission, and Waltheof was 
married to William's niece, Judith. From York, the Conqueror led 
his army across to Chester in the dead of winter. Everything — the 
rigor of the season, the rough and unknown way, and even an at- 
tempted revolt of his foreign mercenaries — was overcome by his 
irresistible will. His pitiless devastation remains an indelible blot 
on his character ; but it accomplished its purpose, for neither he nor 
his sons had to face another general rising of the English. A few of 
the more desperate made a final stand in the island of Ely in 107 1. 
They were led by Hereward the Wake, 1 the hero of Kingsley's famous 
novel. William had to come in person " with land fyrd and ship- 
fyrd " to rout him out. Hereward himself escaped. Edwin and 
Morkere, who had submitted to William on his way to London, and 
who, joining the northern rising, had been pardoned more than once, 
at last met their fate. They had slipped away to join the insurgents ; 
but Edwin was slain on the way and Morkere was taken and ended 
his days in prison. At Ely the dying resistance of the native English 
breathed its last gasp. Eadgar the ^Etheling had again fled to Mal- 

1 Wake is generally interpreted to mean "Watchful," though some connect it 
with the name of a local family of some note. 



78 



A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 



colm, the husband of his sister Margaret. To avoid further danger 
from this quarter William marched north in 1072, met the Scotch 
king at Abernethy, and arranged a treaty by which Eadgar was ex- 
pelled During the remaining years of his long life he only emerges 
twice when he accompanied William's son Robert on the first cru- 
sade, and when he fought against Henry I at Tinchebrai in 1106 

The Rising of the Norman Earls, 1075- — William s future diffi- 
culties came from his own following. In 1075 Roger, son of the Earl 
of Hereford, and Ralph, Earl of Norfolk, rose against their King. 
Their pretext was that he was an usurper, their real grievance that 
he held them under too strict control. Waltheof was drawn into the 
conspiracy. Though he seems to have disclosed the plot and cer- 
tainly gave himself up without taking arms, he was afterwards be- 
headed. 1 Roger got off with the lighter Norman penalty of imprison- 
ment for life, while Ralph eluded capture. 

William's Method of maintaining his Hold over the English. — 
Once his arms had triumphed, William had to solve the twofold prob- 
lem of holding the English in subjection and of keeping a check on 
his Norman followers. In the case of the English, he continued the 
practice, begun after his victory over Harold, of seizing the lands 
of those who resisted his authority and handing them over to Normans 
who would take good care to defend them. Each lord, too, had to 
furnish a contingent of soldiers in proportion to the size of his grant. 
The feudal army, thus constituted, proved a powerful weapon in the 
King's hands. Secondly, he secured every district which he con- 
quered by a castle garrisoned with his own men. Before the end of 
his reign, one of these strongholds frowned upon every town of im- 
portance in the Island. Yet he did not rely on force alone. He 
attached the English to himself by protecting them with good laws. 
Gradually they came to see that even stern rule and oppressive taxes 
accompanied by peace and prosperity were better than lax rule where 
anarchy had full play. The popular support once gained proved a 
stanch prop for monarchy for over a century. 

Checks on the Baronage. — The baronage were held in check, 
partly by force of circumstances, partly by William's courage, energy, 
and wise foresight. Though he granted enormous estates to some, 
the lands composing them were scattered throughout the land. Yet 
this was due to accident rather than to design, to the piecemeal char- 
acter of the conquest, and to the fact that they had been so held under 
their former owners. Intentionally, however, he broke up the four 
great earldoms which had been such a source of weakness to the kings 
of the later Anglo-Saxon period. If he granted broad lands and 
quasi-regal rights, which came to be known as palatine jurisdictions, 
to some trusted officials such as the Earls of Kent, Hereford, Chester, 

1 The usual story is that Judith coveted his land and that William wanted to 
rid himself of " the last of his English earls ; " but the death sentence was in accord 
with the Anglo-Saxon law of treason. 



THE ANGLO-NORMAN KINGS 79 

Shrewsbury, and the Bishop of Durham, this was for the defense 
of his borders. In general, it was his aim to keep the administration 
in the hands of the sheriffs, and to reduce the earls to a merely titular 
position. By retaining the local machinery and also by keeping up 
the national militia, he held a strong counterpoise to baronial rule and 
the feudal army. 

William and the Church. — Another body of men whom William 
attached to himself were the Churchmen, and, so far as possible, he 
sought to detach them from secular interests. During the Anglo- 
Saxon period the Church had been closely bound up with the ordinary 
system of government. Bishops had been appointed by the King, 
with the consent of the Witan ; bishops had sat in this body and in 
the shire court; also, with some exceptions, cases involving clergy- 
men and Church business had been tried there. William changed all 
this. He appointed great prelates on his own authority, and he 
issued an ordinance providing that henceforth ecclesiastical persons 
and causes should not be tried in the secular courts, but in those of 
the bishop. In so doing he was, he thought, acting in the interests 
of the Church and also of himself. He hoped to free the clergy from 
the control of those whose lives they were seeking to reform and 
save, and, by drawing them away from the laity, to bind them 
more closely to him as King. The result, in the long run, was un- 
fortunate ; it tended to foster an exclusive privileged class, and 
opened a quarrel between two conflicting jurisdictions which lasted 
for centuries. 

Clerical Appointments. — In his episcopal appointments, with one 
notable exception — the saintly Wulfstan of Worcester, deservedly 
remembered for his efforts to suppress the slave trade — William 
displaced Englishmen for Normans. Yet these foreign prelates stood 
as stoutly against the baronage as their predecessors would have 
done to preserve their lands and privileges. To fill the office of 
Archbishop of Canterbury, the King chose Lanfranc, a sagacious 
and learned Italian, who had studied law in his native Pavia. Later, 
he entered the Church and went to Normandy, where he made the 
abbey of Bee famous as a center of learning. He won William's 
favor by his wit and good humor. The Duke had ordered him to 
depart from Bee for opposing his marriage with Matilda. As he was 
riding away on a lame horse he met the author of his exile and said : 
" I am going out of the province, in accordance with your order, and 
if you will kindly give me a better horse I will obey your command 
more speedily." William was so pleased that he forgave him and 
made him Abbot of his new foundation at Caen, whence he promoted 
him to Canterbury. Doubtless William's motives in excluding 
Englishmen were partly political, to fill their places with his sup- 
porters. Yet there was more to it than that. The Anglo-Saxon 
Church had not kept pace with those of the Continent in learning, and 
was low in morals as well. Aided by the advice of his new councilors, 



8o A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

William worked sincerely to secure bishops and abbots who would 
work for better things. In some cases the choice was unfortunate; 
for instance, in that of the harsh and oppressive Thurstan of Canter- 
bury, who, when his monks refused to accept a new form of chanting, 
called in his Norman archers and shot them down even at the altar. 
It is good to know that William removed him when the matter came 
to his ears. In general, the influence of the new dynasty was dis- 
tinctly good for the Church. Clergymen who lived under monastic 
rule were forced to put away their wives ; parish priests who had wives 
might keep them, though no more married priests would be chosen. 
Monasteries once more became the centers of learning and culture. 
Many new churches and abbeys were built in the Norman style of 
architecture. In order to increase the influence of bishops, many 
of their seats which had hitherto been in country villages were re- 
moved to populous towns. 

Relations with the Papacy. — While William had given as one of 
the reasons for his invasion the desire to vindicate the power of the 
Papacy against Stigand and while he desired to be the Pope's cham- 
pion and friend, he was prepared to resist to the utmost any papal 
encroachment on his authority or independence. In 1074 Hildebrand, 
who had long been the power behind the throne, became supreme 
pontiff as Gregory VII. He was one of the greatest advocates in 
history of papal authority, and, particularly, of the three Cluniac 
reforms: celibacy, simony, and investiture. The latter question 
did not come up for settlement till the reign of his sons, but William 
was of one mind with Gregory on the matter of clerical marriages 
and the sale of church offices. On the other hand, as against the 
claims of the Pope, he laid down three principles which defined the 
position of English sovereigns for some time to come. These were : 
that no Pope should be recognized or no papal letters should be re- 
ceived without his permission; that no decrees of ecclesiastical as- 
semblies should be passed without his consent ; and that no tenant 
in chief of the Crown should be excommunicated without his orders. 
His son William Rufus would admit no papal legate without a royal 
' license. Yet, if William was arbitrary in his relations with the Church 
he did not abuse his powers ; but sought to protect its rights and to 
raise the tone of its life. 

The Old Anglo-Saxon Laws retained with a Few Innovations. — 
Really a conqueror, William's constant assertion was that he came 
to rule as the legitimate successor of the old royal line ; and, as far 
as possible, he allowed the English to retain their manners, customs, 
and institutions. This is seen in his legislation : " I recommend that 
all men have and hold the law of Edward with those additions which 
I have ordained for the advantage of the English people." His 
innovations were few; chief among them the ordinance separating 
the lay and spiritual courts. Then, he did away with death penalties, 
though the mutilations he allowed in their stead must have been far 



THE ANGLO-NORMAN KINGS 81 

more cruel. A new form of ordeal, the judicial combat, was intro- 
duced mainly for the benefit of his Normans. A curious device for 
their protection, which came to be used as a means of royal extortion 
was the responsibility of the hundred or presentment of Englishry! 
It provided that if a man were murdered, the hundred where it hap- 
pened had to pay a heavy fine, unless they could find the assassin or 
prove that the victim were an Englishman. Another innovation of 
William was the enactments regarding the forests, for the so-called 
forest laws of Cnut are a forgery of the twelfth century. William 
and his sons were passionately fond of hunting and reserved large 
tracts of land for their pastime. These lands were usually, though 
not necessarily, wooded ; but any tract of Crown land reserved for 
royal hunting was called a forest. We are told that William " loved 
the tall stags as if he had been their father:" however, there were 
many considerations beside mere love of sport, that made his suc- 
cessors cling so tenaciously to their forest rights. They yielded the 
Crown a revenue — for rights of cutting wood and pasturing, chiefly 
of swine, were sold ; they gave the king an excuse for keeping a large 
force of armed men which could be used for a royal army in time of 
need; finally, they took large areas out of the pale of the common or 
traditional law so that the king had at his disposal special courts 
and special law as tools of his arbitrary will. William's penalty for 
hunting the royal deer was loss of eyes, while Cnut's (which probably 
reflect conditions shortly after his time) prescribe the penalty of 
death for killing a stag. The process of afforesting, which withdrew 
much land from cultivation, was a serious grievance to the people. 
In recent years much of this land has been sold or turned over to 
agriculture. That which remains as Crown land still furnishes a 
considerable item of public revenue. 

The Domesday Survey, 1085. — If William gave his people good 
laws, he was determined they should pay for them ; one of the most 
frequently reiterated complaints of the reign is that of heavy taxation. 
An important item of revenue was the Danegeld of two shillings a 
hide, which was revived in 1084. In order to estimate the resources 
of the country for purposes of taxation we find him having " much 
thought and deep speech " with his Witan at Gloucester, in 1085, 
over the state of the country and its population. In consequence, he 
determined on a great survey or official inquiry, the results of which 
were embodied in a report known as the Domesday Book. Many 
guesses have been made as to the meaning of the name, the most 
generally accepted being that it arose from the belief that, like the 
great Day of Judgment, the survey would spare none. The Chronicle 
records in 1085 that the King : " Sent his men over all England, into 
every shire, and caused them to ascertain how many hundred hides of 
land it contained, and what lands the King possessed therein, what 
cattle there were in the several counties, and how much revenue he 
ought to receive from each. He also caused them to write down 



82 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

how much land belonged to his archbishops, to his bishops, his abbots, 
and his earls, and, that I may be brief, what property every inhabitant 
of all England possessed in land or in cattle, and how much money 
this was worth. So very narrowly did he cause the survey to be 
made, that there was not a single hide nor a rood of land, nor — it is 
shameful to relate that which he thought no shame to do — was there 
an ox, or a cow, or a pig passed by." The methods employed by the 
royal commissioners were to visit not only the shires, but every hun- 
dred in the shire and to take testimony on oath from those best quali- 
fied to give it, the landowners, the priests, the bailiffs and six villeins 
from each township or manor. The four counties of Lancashire, 
Cumberland, Westmoreland, and Northumberland were not included. 
Besides getting the information he sought, the Conqueror has left 
to posterity, in the Domesday Book, " a great rate book or tax roll, 
a land register, a military register, a census of population, and topo- 
graphical dictionary." But it must be said that, suggestive as it is 
for the economic and political conditions of the time, it raises fully as 
many questions as it answers. 

The Oath on Salisbury Plain, 1086. — The importance of the 
great gemot which William held on Salisbury Plain in the following 
year has doubtless been much exaggerated. We are told that " there 
came to him his Witan and all the landsittende (land owning), men of 
substance that were all over England, whosesoever men they were 
and all bowed down to him, and became his men, and swore oaths of 
fealty to him that they would be faithful to him against all men." 
This has often been cited as one of the sources of strength of the Nor- 
man kings : that in this assembly the landowners were all bound 
by a direct oath to William. But no innovation was introduced, 
for, doubtless, such oaths had been exacted all through the reign ; 
moreover, it is quite unlikely that all the landowners in England could 
be brought together at this single assembly. 1 

Last Years and Death, 1087. — Of William's last years little re- 
mains to be said. He had to face revolt from Robert, his eldest son 
(known as " Curthose " from his short, squat figure). Robert was a 
young man, affable, courageous, and skillful in athletics and martial 
exercises, but lavish, weak, and dissipated. Discontented because 
his father denied him power corresponding with his station and ex- 
pectations, he was egged on by many unruly nobles who hoped to 
profit by discord, and by the King of France, who was always looking 
for a chance to extend his territories. His first outbreak occurred in 
1077, provoked by a jest of Robert's brothers, William and Henry. 
They were with the King on one of his expeditions against a local 

1 Two errors are prevalent with regard to William. According to one, the cur- 
few was introduced by him as a special measure to keep the English down ; but 
it existed earlier ; it was, indeed, a police measure throughout medieval Europe : 
nor did he introduce the Norman-French language into the English law courts; 
that probably did not occur until the reign of Henry III, over a century later. 



THE ANGLO-NORMAN KINGS 83 

enemy. William and Henry occupied the rooms above Robert and 
as a joke poured water through the floor. During the night the in- 
sulted Robert decamped and attempted to seize the castle of Rouen. 
After two or three years of wandering and desultory fighting, father 
and son were reconciled, but Robert was always ready when occasion 
offered to cause his father trouble. The King's final campaign came 
in the summer of 1087. In the course of a border war with Philip 
of France he met with an accident, at the capture of Mantes, which 
proved fatal. He was taken back to Rouen, where he lingered six 
weeks. Before his death he divided his kingdom, assigning Normandy 
to his eldest son Robert, and England to William Rufus. To Henry 
he gave 5000 pounds of silver with the prophecy, it is said, that in 
due time he would get all his father had. William was buried in his 
foundation of St. Stephen's at Caen, but not before a knight had been 
satisfied, who appeared at the service and claimed the land on which 
the abbey stood as unjustly seized from his father. 

Character and Rule. — William, the conqueror of England and 
founder of a new line of kings, was a man to inspire awe. Of more 
than average height and exceeding stoutness, heavy voiced, and of 
enormous strength, he was a " very stern and wrathful man, so that 
none durst do anything against him." He was harsh, despotic, and 
avaricious, " took from his subjects many marks of gold, and many 
hundred pounds of silver, and this with or without right and with 
little need." He sold his lands to the highest bidder, and if another 
came, he ruthlessly set aside the earlier claims. He built castles and 
garrisoned them; he appropriated much land for his forests. But 
withal he was " a very wise and a great man," and more honored and 
more powerful than any of his predecessors. He was " mild to those 
good men who loved God, but severe beyond measure to those who 
withstood his will," and if he was a foreign conqueror, he preserved 
the forms of the old English system, and if he was " sharp sighted to 
his own interest," the establishment of his power was good for Eng- 
land ; for he put an end to those disruptive tendencies which stood 
in the way of national organization and laid the foundations of a 
strong, orderly government which is the necessary basis of freedom, 
prosperity, and progress. Englishmen saw that his supremacy was 
a necessary safeguard, both against the lawlessness of the self-seeking 
nobles contending for supremacy and the anarchy of the discontented 
people. " Among other things the good order that William estab- 
lished is not to be forgotten ; it was such that any man, who was him- 
self aught, might travel over the kingdom with a bosom full of gold 
unmolested, and no man durst kill another, however great the injury 
he might have received from him." William could show himself 
pitilessly cruel on occasion ; but it was for a purpose and not from 
mere caprice. On the other hand, his friendship for men like Lan- 
franc and Anselm, who figures so largely in the next reign, shows that 
his austerity was tempered by gentler traits. 



84 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

Results of the Norman Conquest. — The Norman Conquest was 
deep and far-reaching in its results. In the first place, it brought 
in a new line of foreign kings who were, for three successive reigns, 
men of vigor and energy, and who were supported by an armed force 
bound to them by close and special ties. Thus fortified, they not 
only crushed out the local differences which had marked the earlier 
period ; but, by preserving whatever was best in the old system, they 
paved the way for the combination of central unity and local inde- 
pendence which survives to-day as the most characteristic feature 
of the English government. Although their aim was primarily to 
strengthen their own position, the peace and order which they pre- 
served made for progress. Moreover, the infusion of a new racial 
element, combining the vigor of the primitive Northmen and the 
alertness of the latinized Frenchman, tended to vivify and broaden 
the sluggish and narrow national character. Finally, by bringing 
remote England into closer connection with the Continent it opened 
the way for the intellectual and cultivating influences of the centers 
of older and higher civilization. 1 

Anglo-Norman Feudalism. — Doubtless the most significant change 
of all was the introduction of a well-organized form of feudal tenure 
where feudal tendencies only had hitherto existed. Feudalism is a 
greatly overworked word used to describe conditions, by no means 
identical, which prevailed in England, France, and Germany from the 
eighth to the fifteenth centuries. It has been well said that, applied to 
this period, it means as much or as little as the term " representative 
government " would mean when employed to describe the forms existing 
in any of our modern countries. " Feudalism comprises both a system 
of land tenure and a system of government " ; it was the form of 
political and social organization which, by the eleventh century, had 
become general among the peoples of western Europe. It was an 
arrangement by which the various relations between man and man 
were determined according to the amount of land held by one or 
another. At the top of the scale stood the lord or suzerain in whom 
the title or ownership of the land was vested. Those to whom he gave 
the use of it were called vassals ; lord and vassal were each bound by 
specified obligations, the lord to protect and defend his vassal, the 
vassal to render service to his lord. The commonest form of service 
rendered was military. Usually there were several intermediate lords 
and vassals between the suzerain and the small cultivator. In a thor- 
oughly feudalized state the king was at the top of the scale. As a 
matter of fact, however, the greater lords held themselves practically 
independent of their nominal ruler and led their own armies and judged 
and taxed their own dependents. Feudal elements had existed in 
Anglo-Saxon England. The thegns or manorial lords granted lands 
in return for service, and exercised jurisdiction over their dependents ; 

1 But see Oman, England before the Norman Conquest, 648-651, who inclines to 
minimize the benefits of the Conquest. 



THE ANGLO-NORMAN KINGS 85 

but their relation to the Crown was not feudal ; they received lands 
not as a condition of future service, but as a reward for past services. 
Their ownership was absolute ; for, although they furnished armies 
for their King, they did not do so by virtue of any contract or agreement 
based on their land grant. What William did was to fuse these ele- 
ments into a single whole. He made himself the supreme landowner of 
every foot of English soil. Each new grant was made conditional on 
service rendered, and every Englishman whom he allowed to remain 
in possession had to yield his title to the King and promise service 
likewise. Generally the grant was made in return for an agreement 
on the part of the landlord to furnish the King with a specified number 
of fully armed knights to serve him in his foreign campaigns for a 
stated period each year — usually forty days. If the grant were 
large enough, the tenant in chief would subdivide the land, and this 
process might be repeated again and again. The unit of service 
was called a knight's fee. It was usually five hides in extent; but 
might be larger and might be smaller, depending on the value of the 
land. In later times the knight's fee was estimated on the basis of 
its annual income, first £20 and then £40. 

Feudal Incidents, and Other Obligations. — Certain obligations 
came to attach to all military tenures. The overlord had the right of 
acting as guardian and of collecting the revenues of the estate, during 
the time when the heir was under age. This was known as wardship. 
When the young lord entered into possession, he had to pay a fine 
known as relief. By the right of marriage, the lord could determine 
when an heiress might marry, and might demand payment for allowing 
her to take a husband of her own choice. These rights were defensible 
when land was granted in return for military service ; for during a 
minority the estate contributed no defender to the land, and it was 
decidedly against the King's interest to allow an heiress to marry an 
enemy or a weakling. Escheat was another right reserved to the 
sovereign, by virtue of which the estate reverted to him when the 
line to whom it was granted died out. Then the King could claim the 
right of forfeiture for any offense which a vassal might happen to 
commit against feudal law. These obligations attached to a military 
tenure were called incidents. Besides the incidents, there were certain 
payments, known as aids, which the lord could claim at crises. During 
the twelfth century, three of these became customary: one for knighting 
the King's eldest son, another for marrying his eldest daughter, and a 
third to ransom him in case he fell into captivity. Another effect of feu- 
dalism was to develop a form of inheritance, known as primogeniture, 
by which the lands came to descend to the eldest son. The old Anglo- 
Saxon custom of equal division among heirs, known as gavelkind, was 
not suited to a system where the main function of an estate was to 
furnish an instrument of military defense, and it did not survive to 
any extent, except in Kent. The feudal theory even came to exercise 
an effect on the royal succession. Although the form of election 



86 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

continued, the crown began to be regarded more as a hereditary posses- 
sion, and one of William's sons even tried to hand it over to his daugh- 
ter. William carefully avoided the evils of continental feudalism, 
where the landlords were independent rulers and the King was naught. 
By establishing, as he did, feudalism as a form of land tenure, and by 
preventing it from becoming a system of government, he made it a 
source of strength rather than weakness ; for he was supreme landowner 
as well as King, and got thereby much revenue and an additional army. 

Royal Revenues. The Magnum Concilium. — It was partly because 
he wished to pose as the successor of Edward, partly because he 
wished to have resources independent of his feudal vassals, that William 
kept up the national taxes, the national militia, and the national 
courts. Besides the feudal revenues and the Danegeld, he had the 
county fa-:n, a lump sum paid in by the sheriffs, who in their turn 
collected the rents from the royal manors in their county and fees 
from the courts of the hundred and shire. Further sources of Crown 
revenue were profits from cases settled in the Great Council, and cer- 
tain miscellaneous receipts, such as those from forests and mines, 
murder fines, royal licenses to Jews, and taxes, later, called tallages, 
from towns on the royal domain. The old National Assembly (of the 
great men of the realm) continued to meet usually three times a 
year on Easter at Winchester, on Whitsuntide at Westminster, and 
on Christmas at Gloucester. But some changes were introduced ; for 
instance, the name was changed ; it came to be spoken of as the Great 
Council (Magnum Concilium) or King's Court (Curia Regis). Also, 
where it formerly consisted of Englishmen, it now consisted largely of 
Normans. Finally, although practically all of the same classes 
attended as in Anglo-Saxon times, the bishops and great landed nobles 
came, not by virtue of their office, but as tenants in chief of the Crown. 
Although in theory their old powers were retained, in fact the King 
was practically supreme in legislation and taxation. All judicial 
cases that were not tried in the private courts of the manor or borough, 
or in the courts of the hundred and shire and the church courts went 
to the Great Council. Indeed great men and great causes were tried 
here in the first instance. 

The Conquest and the Manorial System. — The new feudal organi- 
zation was not without its effect on the manorial system and the de- 
pendent cultivators. In the first place, it tended to alter the character 
of the latter's military obligations. Formerly, he had owed labor 
services and rent to his lord and military service as a king's subject. 
Now he was called on to render military duties through his lord as a 
condition of cultivating. Knight's fees came to approximate to 
manors, forming parts of the larger or including one or two more of 
the smaller. A second result was to accelerate the downfall of 
slavery. The influence of the Church must not be forgotten, par- 
ticularly in improving the slave's lot and in doing away with traffic be- 
yond the seas; but the gradual disappearance of slavery itself was 



THE ANGLO-NORMAN KINGS 87 

largely due to the feudal theory, which had no place for any being 
absolutely without rights. The feudal law, among other things, 
allowed slaves escaping to town to have their freedom, if they remained 
a year and a day. The towns, however, seldom welcomed fugitive 
serfs, and made use of the laws mainly to protect burgesses against 
old claims. 

The Manor as a Judicial and Agrarian Unit. — As time went on, the 
jurisdiction of the lord of the manor increased more and more, and 
developed under three distinct aspects. This process of development 
was probably not complete before the close of the thirteenth century. 
Civil cases, where the law of the land was involved in connection with 
freemen, were dealt with in a session of the tenants, known as the 
court baron, where two freeholders had to be present. Where serfs 
or villeins alone were involved and the common law did not enter, 
the session was called a court customary, from the fact that the 
cases were decided according to the custom of the manor. Criminal 
cases were dealt with in a session known as the court leet. The manor 
was usually the unit of private jurisdiction. There was no system of 
great seigniorial courts, as on the Continent, where appeals were 
regularly carried from the lord's lower courts. However, there were 
a few " honours " or " liberties " that originated before the Conquest 
in a royal grant to some great noble, with jurisdiction over several 
manors or hundreds. In general, the power of the sheriff was en- 
couraged as a counterpoise to the great barons, and it increased with 
the decline of the' earls and the withdrawal of the bishops from the 
shire courts. But the .sheriffs became in their turn local magnates, 
and were, in course of time, largely superseded in their judicial, ad- 
ministrative, and military duties by the King's judges, by justices of 
the peace, and by the lords lieutenants. The lord of a manor was 
represented in his judicial and administrative business by his steward 
or bailiff, and often did not live continuously on any one of his estates. 
The manors were still isolated rural communities, as they had been in 
the previous period, and continued so for centuries to come. The 
tenants rendered their services of labor and paid rents chiefly in 
produce. Little or no money was yet in local circulation. Methods 
of agriculture remained primitive, and there was much unclaimed or 
waste land. The older districts of the southeast, which were the most 
fertile, contained the greater part of the population ; the north and west 
were wild, barren, and sparsely settled. It is estimated that less than 
half the present area capable of cultivation was in use. Nearly half 
the total crop was wheat, though the product of oats and barley was 
considerable. There were some vegetables, but no root crops. The 
system of scattered holdings and common cultivation still prevailed. 
Marling was the only way of fertilizing the soil. Orchards were 
frequent, and thirty-eight vineyards are mentioned in Domesday 
Book. Bees were kept to a considerable extent because the honey 
was used for sugar, and dairy produce and poultry formed staple 



88 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

articles of diet. The state of public health was probably better than 
on the Continent. There was some leprosy, though not as much as 
is sometimes supposed. Skin diseases, due to the absence of fresh vege- 
tables and the excessive use of fish and meat, were common. There 
was no St. Anthony's fire so prevalent in France, for black bread made 
from rye was not eaten. 

Towns after the Conquest. — The great majority of the towns, 
about three quarters, indeed, were agricultural. Most of the eighty 
mentioned in Domesday Book were merely villages. The flourishing 
centers of trade as a rule were the seaports. London and Southamp- 
ton controlled the trade of southern England with the Continent ; 
Norwich was the center of the eastern traffic and Bristol of the trade 
with Ireland. Many towns, such as York, Lincoln, Winchester, and 
Oxford, developed from early fortifications. From one point of view, 
though temporarily, the towns suffered from the Conquest, when the 
population fell off about one half. The reason for this was that 
castles were established in their midst or rebuilt, the townsmen were 
burdened with garrisons, and often their houses were cleared away 
to make room for fortifications. Nevertheless, the ultimate result of 
the Conquest was favorable to town growth. Foreign commerce was 
extended by closer relations with the Continent and internal trade 
was fostered by the better peace that the strong kings of the Norman 
line were able to impose. 

The Population and Classes. — The population at the period of the 
Conquest was probably about 300,000 families or 2,000,000 souls. 
In round numbers, the agricultural population was divided by tenure 
into 10,000 nobles and gentry, of whom 1500 were tenants in chief; 
35,000 small freeholders ; 200,000 serfs of various degrees of depend- 
ence ; and 25,000 bondsmen. The remainder of the 300,000 were made 
up of burgesses and lower clergy. Most of the tenants in chief, and 
even of the more considerable under tenants, were Frenchmen ; but the 
two races soon fused by intermarriage, and the distinction between 
Englishmen and Frenchmen came to be the one between the King's 
subjects on either side of the Channel rather than one between Saxons 
and Normans settled in England. 

Language and Literature. — French chiefly was spoken at the 
King's court, in the castle and the manor house, while English was the 
tongue of the humbler folk. Laws, charters, writs, records of judicial 
decisions, and the writings of the learned were in Latin. It was not till 
the thirteenth century that French came to be the language of the 
statutes and to be employed by the legal class. The expulsion of the 
Anglo-Saxons from the higher offices in Church and State checked the 
growth of a literature in the native tongue, though one version of the An- 
glo-Saxon Chronicle was continued to n 54. The story of the victory 
of Senlac was recorded nearly a century after the event, by Wace of 
Jersey in his French epic, the Roman de Ron, a history of the Norman 
reigning house. The style is simple, direct, and unadorned, for Wace 



THE ANGLO-NORMAN KINGS 89 

was a historian rather than a poet. The Normans as a race were 
practical and serious rather than romantic, and most of their writing 
in this period is either religious or historical. Lanfranc, among 
other things, wrote a treatise against the heresy of Berengar of Tours. 
Anselm, who succeeded him, wrote a long series of philosophical, 
theological, and devotional works, which combine, to a rare degree, 
acumen and originality with spiritual elevation and sweetness. A 
prevailing interest of the time is shown in the number of lives of saints 
which appeared. The historical writers are, in the main, mere annal- 
ists, copying their earlier matter from their predecessors, and chiefly 
valuable for their rather bald records of their own day. Among them 
are Ordericus Vitalis,a monk of Evereul ; Florence, a monk of Worces- 
ter ; Henry, Archdeacon of Huntingdon ; and William of Malmesbury. 
Ordericus wrote with some imagination and vividness, though he 
was inaccurate in detail and chaotic in method. William of Malmes- 
bury was the first writer since Bede to organize his material and to 
discuss cause and effect ; in other words, he was the first of the Anglo- 
Normans who was a historian rather than a chronicler. Geoffrey 
of Monmouth, a Welshman, collected old Celtic legends and is the 
source of much medieval romance. From him, in part, the stories 
of Arthur and Merlin were handed down, and to him we owe the plot 
of Shakespeare's King Lear. 

Anglo-Norman Architecture. — Although a new architectural move- 
ment was on foot at least as early as Edward the Confessor, it received 
a marked impulse from the Conquest. Almost invariably the Normans 
began rebuilding the cathedrals and abbeys of the conquered Saxons. 
Both peoples used the so-called Romanesque style, but, while the 
older edifices were of wood, in most instances the new church buildings 
were of stone. Very simple, austere, and impressive they were, with 
their low square towers and round arches supported by heavy piers 
and columns. Their vast proportions were not so much to produce 
an impression of grandeur and strength as for a practical reason ; they 
feared for the endurance of their mortar. Early in the twelfth century 
the introduction of a new type came with the appearance of the pointed 
arch. This new style came to be known as the Gothic or Early English. 
It did not at once supersede the Romanesque ; for the old and the 
new continued side by side all through the century. Even more 
notable, was the development of castle building. The Anglo-Saxon 
strongholds were simple mounds of earth surrounded by a moat and a 
palisade. The Normans introduced the square rectangular keep or 
tower of stone. Gradually, as the art of defense progressed, outer 
walls were added and were strengthened by gate towers. Projecting 
galleries were built with openings in the floor to command the ditch 
which was dug as a further defense. Within the inclosure other 
towers were built to sweep the invaders by a cross fire. Siege engines 
were at first very primitive and ineffective, so the chief way to reduce 
a castle was by starvation. The earliest castles, during the twelfth 



9 o A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

and thirteenth centuries, were fortresses rather than places of residence, 
and castle guard was an obligation due from lesser men to the barons 
and the King. There was little advance in domestic architecture dur- 
ing the period immediately following the Conquest. Commercial 
development, too, must have been slow at first ; for the silver penny 
for some time was the only coin struck. 

William Rufus, 1087-1100. Character and Policy. — The new 
King, William II, was crowned by Lanfranc in London without any for- 
mal election. He was about twenty-eight or twenty-nine years of age, 
short and corpulent, and of great bodily strength. He got his name 
of " Rufus " from his ruddy face. Owing to the Conqueror's policy 
of excluding his sons from any share in the government during his 
lifetime, his successor came to the throne quite inexperienced in public 
affairs. One of his few redeeming features was the respect which he 
retained for his father's memory, and Lanfranc, during the two years 
that he continued to live, held him in some restraint. William showed 
considerable abilities as a soldier and in keeping the people on his side. 
He could be generous on occasion, and was not very cruel for the age 
in which he lived. On the other hand, he was capricious, unable to 
stick to any principle or policy, and inordinately wasteful. 1 The King's 
prodigality explains his greediness in extorting money and supplies 
from his subjects ; it is related that people fled to the woods when he 
drew near, to save what they could. Worst of all was the viciousness 
of his personal life and his blasphemy. His father had been so austere 
in his morals and so strict in the observance of his religious duties 
that the contrast was all the more striking. Even the fashions indi- 
cate the departure from the simpler and soberer ideals of the past 
reign. . The courtiers began to let their hair grow long, curled and 
bound with ribbons ; they wore garments like women ; they affected 
a feminine, mincing gait, and adopted shoes with long curved points 
like rams' horns or scorpions' tails. They passed their nights in 
" drinking and revelry," and it was said of William that " he every 
morning got up a worse man than he lay down and every evening lay 
down a worse man than he got up." He " openly mocked at God and 
the saints," and he favored Jews, who had first come over in his father's 
time from Rouen ; not, however, in any broad spirit of tolerance, but to 
annoy Christians, and to use them like sponges to suck money from his 
subjects and to squeeze it from them into his own coffers. He did 
not regard it as wrong to break his word to his own people or to 
foreign princes ; yet, in accordance with t'he new artificial code known 
as chivalry which was just coming in, he observed scrupulously every 
promise which he made as a knight and a gentleman. 

1 A well-known story, which may or may not be true, illustrates his reputation 
as a spendthrift. His chamberlain once bought him a pair of boots. William asked 
the price ; when he was told three shillings, he contemptuously ordered the servant 
to take them away and bring a pair worth a mark of silver. The servant brought 
a cheaper pair and pocketed the difference. 



THE ANGLO-NORMAN KINGS 91 

Resistance of the Norman Barons. — The English seemed to have 
welcomed him at his accession ; but the Norman lords who had estates 
on both sides of the water preferred the rule of his weaker brother 
Robert, and broke out in revolt early in 1088. Robert was too much 
occupied with his duchy of Normandy to come in person, and the rebel 
forces were led by the Conqueror's half-brother Odo, Bishop of Bayeux. 
William, partly by his energy, partly by the support of some of the 
; barons whose estates were wholly in England, managed to overcome 
I his enemies. A chief source of strength was the support of the English 
, people, to whom, in an assembly where he had laid " his necessities be- 
■ fore them and entreated their assistance," he had promised " the best 
law that had ever been in this land ; all unright gelds he forbade, and 
3 to each man he gave his woods and his hunting." Once triumphant, 
] he imitated the discretion of his father, welcomed the submission of 
I his enemies, and was particularly mild to those who might be danger- 
ous. Already, at his coronation, he had sought popularity in another 
. quarter by gifts to the Church and poor. In 1 091, he made terms with 
j Robert by which each agreed, in the event of the other's death without 
, heirs, to unite the dominions of both. This same year he received the 
. homage of Malcolm of Scotland, and, in 1092, in the teeth of the pro- 
. tests of the Scotch King, proceeded to annex Cumberland. 

Ranulf Flambard. — Meantime Lanfranc had died in 1089, and 

William's rule changed for the worse. He took as his chief adviser 

Ranulf, or Ralph, known as " Flambard," the " Fiery Torch that 

J licked up everything." Although of humble birth and loose personal 

; habits, Flambard was audacious and aspiring. By virtue of his business 

ability he had won the favor of the Conqueror and risen to the position 

I of royal chaplain. As Rufus's chief minister or treasurer he managed 

all the financial and judicial business of the realm, and was rewarded in 

j 1099 with the bishopric of Durham. His name is associated with 

; systematically fleecing the estates of royal tenants. While he did not 

j originate, he carried to greater lengths than ever before the exactions 

known as feudal incidents, requiring particularly exorbitant reliefs 

'. from incoming heirs. More than this, he extended his extortions to 

, the possessions of the Church, shamelessly selling offices and keeping 

. bishoprics and abbacies vacant in order to collect their revenues for 

j the king. The see of Canterbury was not filled for four years, and at 

the close of the reign three bishoprics and eleven abbeys were at rent. 

Anselm made Archbishop of Canterbury, 1093. — In 1093, William 

was overtaken by a serious illness, and, face to face with death, he 

momentarily repented of his evil ways. " He made many promises 

to God in his trouble, his own life he would lead aright, and God's 

churches in protection and peace keep, and nevermore for fee sell them : 

and all right laws would he among his people have." As an earnest 

of his upright intention, he was prevailed upon to fill the archbishopric 

of Canterbury. The man selected was Anselm — good and upright, 

of great learning, and " amongst the most noted of his time." A 



9 2 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

native of Aosta in southern Burgundy, he became a pupil of Lanfranc 
at Bee, succeeded him in the office of prior, and later rose to be abbot. 
Doubtless the greatest scholar in theology of the period, he was much 
interested in education, even of young boys, and once administered a 
wise reproof to an abbot who sought to spur his pupils by flogging. 
He accepted the high office with the greatest unwillingness. The 
pastoral staff was literally forced into his hands and he was carried 
bodily into the chapel for consecration. He stood for high ideals, 
and realizing that by nature and training he was unfitted for the rough 
Work before him, he protested to the bishops and nobles that they 
were " seeking to yoke a young unbroken bull to a weak old sheep," 
adding, " the Church plow needs a better matched pair than that." 
Events proved his foresight ; a conflict was inevitable. He was 
right in contending that the Church which stood for the moral and edu- 
cational improvement of man should be independent of unscrupulous 
and self-seeking laymen. The baseness and profanity of the King 
cannot be too much insisted upon, but underlying all of William's 
unworthy motives was a principle that future history would justify. 
The Church was not a purely spiritual institution, and its bishops and 
other officials were not purely spiritual ; they controlled large estates 
and larger powers, which must be subordinate to the central powers if 
national independence and unity and order were to be preserved. 

Conflict between the King and Archbishop. — The King soon re- 
covered from his illness, " repented of his repentance," and. resumed 
his evil courses, his tyranny, and his profanity. " The Lord," he said, 
" will get no good of me for the ill that he sent me." Anselm 
stood squarely against him, and a series of struggles arose. They 
all contributed to the main issue as to whether the Archbishop and 
the Church which he represented should be independent of royal 
control. He resisted William's attempt to seize certain lands belong- 
ing to the see of Canterbury, he refused to contribute more than 500 
marks for a Norman war for which the Red King was preparing, 
and he sought to hold a synod for the reformation of manners. 

Moreover, there were two rival candidates for the Papacy, and Wil- 
liam refused to recognise Urban II, whom Anselm supported. The 
conflict became acute in 1095, when the Archbishop asked permission 
to go to Rome to get his pall, or symbol of archiepiscopal authority, 
from Urban. William refused because it would commit him to the 
candidate whom he had never accepted. In the same year a council 
was held at Rockingham to decide whether the Archbishop's duty to 
the King and to the Pope conflicted. Although no agreement was 
reached, Anselm boldly declared that he would render to Caesar the 
things that were Caesar's, and to God the things that were God's. 
He showed his composure by falling asleep while the King was deciding 
what answer to send him. The King then sought to gain a point by 
sending secretly and acknowledging Urban, but he failed to get Anselm 
to accept the pallium from his own hands. The Archbishop took it 



THE ANGLO-NORMAN KINGS 93 

from the altar in the usual way, although he did agree to observe the 
laws and customs of the realm, in so far as he could without prejudic- 
ing his allegiance to the Holy See. After another conflict, in 1097, 
over his refusal to furnish a contingent for a campaign in Wales, 
Anselm obtained the grudging permission of the King to go to Rome. 
With a pilgrim's scrip and staff he left the country, never to return 
until a new king was on the throne. 

The First Crusade, 1096. — Meantime, a movement was on foot 
which relieved Rufus of danger from his brother Robert during the 
remainder of his reign. Peter of Amiens and Urban II were preaching 
a Crusade, the first of many, to recover the Holy Sepulcher at Jerusalem 
from the Seljuk Turks who had taken the city in 1077. Among the 
nobles of western Europe who joined in this enterprise was the Duke 
of Normandy. So poor that he often had to stay in bed for lack of 
clothes, he mortgaged his duchy to his brother Rufus in return for 
10,000 marks. He took with him many younger sons and allies who 
from lack of estates were likely to foment discord, and left William 
free to pursue his plans undisturbed. Among his companions was 
the restless Odo of Bayeux, who died at Palermo. The year that the 
Crusade was preparing, 1095, a rising occurred in England under the 
powerful Robert of Mowbray, Earl of Northumberland. Notwith- 
standing troubles in Wales, where he was much occupied during the 
reign, William was able to put it down. In contrast to his mildness in 
1088, he punished the ringleaders with merciless severity. Mowbray, 
to be sure, got off with imprisonment, but those who were implicated 
with him were brutally mutilated. 

Death of William Rufus, 1100. — The Red King's last years were 
spent mainly in trying to extend his power in the Norman duchy 
which he was holding in pawn. But England, shocked by his wicked- 
ness and burdened by taxation, was growing weary of him. In August, 
1 100, he was shot by an arrow while hunting in the New Forest, a 
peculiarly fatal place for the line of William the Conqueror, since 
two others besides Rufus met their death here. It seems most likely 
that the shooting was accidental, though Walter Tirel, a favorite 
courtier, was charged with murder. The event was said to have been 
foretold by all manner of visions and portents. William's epitaph in 
the Chronicle is a scathing estimate : " He was very powerful and 
stern over his lands and subjects, and towards all his neighbors, and 
much to be dreaded, and through the counsels of evil men, which were 
always pleasing to him, and through his own avarice he was ever 
vexing the people with armies and with cruel taxes, for in his days all 
justice sank, and all unrighteousness arose, in the Light of God and 
the World. He trampled on the Church of God ... for he desired 
to be the heir of every one, Churchman or layman . . . and in fine 
... all that was abominable to God and oppressive to men was com- 
mon in this island in William's time ; and therefore he was hated by 
almost all his people, and abhorred by God as his end showeth, in 



94 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

that he died in the midst of his unrighteousness, without repentance 
or any reparation made for his evil deeds." Against this can only 
be set the good peace that he kept. When it was found that he was 
really dead, the nobles of the hunting party fled to Winchester, each 
to look after his own interests. His body was brought to the city 
by the foresters and buried without religious rites. 

Henry I, 1100-1135. His Charter of Liberties. — Henry, the Con- 
queror's youngest son and the one in whom he had the greatest con- 
fidence, was one of those who hastened to Winchester. He managed 
to seize the keys of the royal hoard. In spite of the claims of his 
elder brother Robert, he was accepted by the leading men on the spot 
and was crowned soon after at Westminster. In order to attach his 
people to him the new King, besides taking the customary coronation 
oath to rule with justice and mercy, issued a Charter of Liberties, in 
which he promised to do away with the evil customs of his brother's 
reign. The Church was to be free, and no profit was to be taken from 
vacant bishoprics and abbeys. Reliefs from lay barons were to be 
just and lawful, and the King was to charge nothing for licenses to 
marry. Widows were not to marry against their will. The guardian 
of the person and lands of a minor should be the mother or such other 
relative as should seem just. As the King dealt with his tenants so 
should they deal with those under them. All the King's men were to 
dispose freely of their money, and, if prevented, their relations or other 
qualified persons might dispose of it. Just fines were to be taken 
from offending tenants in place of the excessive exactions of the two 
Williams. Military tenants were to be freed from all payments and 
labor except armed service. Firm peace was to be established and 
maintained, and the laws of Edward the Confessor, with the Con- 
queror's improvements, were to be retained. The new King, however, 
was firm on one point : the forests were to be retained as the old 
King had had them. Such was " the parent of all later charters." 
It marks the first check on the despotism founded by the Con- 
queror and carried to such a height by the Red King. Although 
its promises were often broken, the fact that Henry felt it even 
worth while to make them is significant, and they were used as 
the precedent in exacting from King John over a century later the 
momentous body of concessions known as Magna Charta or the Great 
Charter. As a further guarantee of his intention to undo the wrongs 
of his brother's reign, Henry recalled Anselm, filled vacant bishoprics 
and abbeys, and sent Flambard to the Tower. He chose for his wife 
Edith, daughter of Malcolm and Margaret of Scotland and niece of 
Eadgar the ^Etheling. In this way the Norman was united to the 
old English line. Although the barons looked at the alliance with 
contempt, it pleased the people. As a concession, however, to Norman 
usage the Queen's name was changed to Matilda. 

Rising of the Barons, 1101. — Within a month after Henry's 
coronation Robert returned from the Holy Land. He had only been 



THE ANGLO-NORMAN KINGS 95 

home a short time when he was induced to invade England and 
contest with Henry for the crown. Flambard, who had escaped 
from the Tower, was particularly active in egging him on ; but 
probably the representations of his Norman vassals resident in Eng- 
land carried the most weight. If the Church and the people had not 
stood by Henry, he would have been forced to yield. As it was he 
gained a victory by diplomacy rather than force. After Robert had 
succeeded in landing unexpectedly at Portsmouth, in 1101, he met him 
at Alton and persuaded him to give up his claims to the English 
throne in return for a yearly pension of 3000 marks and a concession of 
all but one of his Norman possessions. The brothers further agreed 
each to name the other his heir, and to assist one another in the 
punishment of traitors. Henry, thus strengthened, at once pro- 
ceeded against those who had been unfaithful to him. Chief among 
them was Robert of Belleme, Earl of Shrewsbury. He was forced 
into premature revolt by grave charges of misgovernment and 
oppression, was overcome and driven out of the country, in 1102, 
forfeiting his vast English possessions to the King. Henry was now 
supreme at home, and for " three and thirty years he ruled England 
in peace . . . nor in all those years durst any man hold a court 
against him." 

Henry's Conquest of Normandy, 1106. — But Normandy was ruled 
by the unstable Robert, and formed a refuge for the disaffected who 
might at any time organize another invasion into England. More- 
iDver, English subjects who had estates in Normandy were constantly 
Exposed to attacks from Henry's enemies, and Robert was either 
unwilling or unable to protect them. Making use of complaints 
jigainst these disorders, Henry finally led an expedition across the 
I Channel in 1106, defeated his brother's Norman army at Tinchebrai, 
hook Robert prisoner, and appropriated the duchy, which remained an 
English possession for nearly a hundred years. The Duke Robert 
.vas taken to England and held a prisoner till he finally died in Cardiff 
Castle in 1134. Robert of Belleme, the main cause of the trouble, was 
oardoned, but seized six years later, and he also died in prison. By 
]'' the only generous indiscretion of his life " Henry refused to take in 
custody the young son of Duke Robert, who served as a weapon in the 
lands of the King's enemies till his death in n 28. 

Compromise with Anselm, 1106. — This same year, 1106, was 
narked by a final agreement in the matter of filling episcopal offices, 
f here were several stages in the process, election, homage to the King 
or temporal possessions, investiture — the conferring of the ring and 
he staff, which were spiritual symbols of the bishop's marriage to the 
Church and his assumption of the pastoral office — and consecration. 
Vnselm, on his return, had refused to repeat the homage for the lands 
i Canterbury which he had rendered to Rufus, and he also refused to 
consecrate bishops who had received investiture in his absence. As an 
•bedient follower of the Pope he could do nothing else ; for during 



9 6 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

his exile he had attended a Lateran Council in Rome, which had for- 
bidden clergymen to receive lay investiture or do homage to a layman. 
Henry was firm and Anselm was firm ; repeated embassies were sent to 
Rome, and finally the Archbishop went himself. At length the Pope 
suggested a compromise by which the King agreed to allow the ring 
and staff to be conferred by the Church, on condition that each can- 
didate render homage for his land. The victory was really the King's, 
for by refusing to receive homage he might block any episcopal ap- 
pointment that he chose. From this time it came to be the custom 
for the dean and chapter of each cathedral to elect its bishop, but, 
owing to the fact that elections had to take place in the royal chapel 
or in the presence of royal officials, the King really dictated the choice. 

Henry's Last Years. — During the remainder of the reign, although 
Henry had to deal with many risings and continual disorders in Nor- 
mandy, his chief interest was centered in notable improvements and 
innovations in the machinery of government. Aside from this, the 
most notable event of his last years was his attempt to settle the suc- 
cession. In 1 1 20 his son and heir, William, was drowned in the " White 
Ship," crossing the Channel. It was a gay party who paid the penalty 
of drunken revelry with their lives. Henry, if report be true, fell to 
the ground when he heard the news, and never smiled again. The only 
heir left to him was his daughter Matilda, married to Henry V, em- 
peror of Germany. On the death of her husband she returned to 
England, and, although a woman had never ruled the land, Henry in 
1 127 made the barons swear to accept her as his successor. In 11 29 
he married her to Geoffrey, the son of his enemy, the Count of Anjou, 
although she was twenty-seven and he was only a boy of sixteen. The 
barons had to swear allegiance to her again after her marriage, while 
after the birth of her son Henry, the oath was repeated to him in 1133. 
Geoffrey proved a troublesome son-in-law, and while trying to bring 
him to terms, Henry died in Normandy in 1135. His death is said to 
have come from eating too heartily of lampreys or eels, his favorite 
dish. He was sixty-six years old, an advanced age for those times. 

Henry's Character and Policy. — Henry was a man of scholarly 
tastes, from which he got the name " Beauclerk." Although affable 
and witty he was cold and calculating, holding constantly in check 
the violent temper so characteristic of his family. Slow to make up 
his mind, he was quick and decided in action. With ready insight he 
saw that he must hold down the turbulent barons, keep on good terms 
with the Church, and attach the people to himself if he was to rule as a 
strong king. By the orderly system of judicial and financial admin- 
istration which he developed he was actuated by thrift and a desire to 
increase his resources, but he laid the foundation on which the wisest 
of his successors built, and which have contributed so much to the 
stability of the English nation. Extortionate he was and cruel at 
times. The Chronicle says of an early period of his reign, " It is not 
easy to describe the misery of this land, which it suffered at this time 



THE ANGLO-NORMAN KINGS 07 

through the various and manifold oppressions and taxes that never 
ceased nor slackened." On one occasion forty-four thieves were 
hanged in a single judicial session, and, in n 24, ninety debasers of the 
coinage were " foully mutilated." But he gradually won for himself 
the name of the " Lion of Justice," and the Chronicle, no friendly 
witness, said at his death, " He was a good man, and great was the awe 
of him ; no man durst ill treat another in his time : he made peace for 
men and deer." Successful in war, he was at heart a statesman rather 
than a warrior; the necessary development of England justifies his 
campaign against Wales and Scotland, and the protection of his sub- 
jects across the Channel and its close connection with English affairs 
made the reduction of Normandy inevitable. While " selfish aims 
dictated " his policy, he " gave peace and order to his people," and 
the result of his rule was " better than that of many who are called 
benefactors." 

Administrative Machinery. The Curia Regis and the Exchequer. — 
It was after Henry had got the baronage and Church in hand that he 
began to develop a system of transacting the business of government 
which did so much, not only to increase the wealth and power of the 
Crown, but to improve the condition of the country and people as well. 
In this work he was greatly assisted by Roger, created Bishop of Salis- 
bury. 1 First as Chancellor, and then as Justiciar, he organized the 
Curia Regis, or King's Court, which served at once as an advisory body, 
a tribunal for important judicial decisions, and a treasury board. 
This body was smaller than the Great Council of the King's tenants 
in chief, and sat longer and more frequently. It was composed of the 
great officers of the royal household : the Chamberlain, the Constable, 
the Butler, and the Steward. These officers had originally acted 
as servants to the King, had made his bed, had groomed his horses, 
poured his drink, and provided his meals. These duties had, in course 
of time, become purely honorary, had been handed down from father 
to son in certain great families, and were regarded as positions of great 
dignity. Another class of members were the chief ministers or servants 
of the Crown : the Justiciar, the Chancellor, and the Treasurer. The 
justiciar acted as Regent during the King's absence, as his right-hand 
man when he was in the country, and presided over the Curia Regis. 
The Chancellor or royal secretary was keeper of the royal records. 
He got his name from the fact that he originally sat behind the cancelli 
or bars of a screen. Gradually he became a very important official, 
was custodian of the Great Seal which had to be affixed to all the most 
important documents, and was consulted in the transaction of all 
important business, and, in course of time, came to take the place of the 
Justiciar as the king's chief minister. The Treasurer kept the royal 
hoard. To these three offices, new men, usually of the clergy, were 
appointed and were looked at askance by the older nobility. In 

1 He had first attracted Henry's notice when an obscure Norman priest by the 
quick and businesslike way in which he had said mass on one of the royal journeys. 

H 



9 8 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

addition to these two groups of more or less permanent members, 
certain important men were selected from time to time from the 
Great Council. 1 The members of the Curia Regis held two financial 
sessions a year, one at Easter and one at Michaelmas (29 Septem- 
ber), when they met the sheriffs from the various counties, received 
their rents, and went over their accounts. For the sums paid in at 
Easter the sheriff received a tally, which was a stick notched in the 
side and marked, each notch indicating a certain number of pounds, 
shillings, or pence; after notches had been cut, the stick was split 
lengthwise, the Government keeping one half as a check on the sheriff. 
The court in its financial session was called the " Exchequer," from the 
Latin word for chequers. The officials sat about a table and made up 
their accounts by means of counters. In moving these counters to 
and fro they looked as if they were playing chequers. 2 Another way 
of extending royal power over the local districts was by sending officials 
into the different counties, who sat with the sheriffs in the cases in 
which the King was concerned, i.e. Crown pleas ; listened to complaints ; 
and conveyed the King's wishes to his people. Another, and perhaps 
originally their most important duty, was to see to it that the taxes 
due the King were properly levied and collected. These traveling 
representatives of the Crown were called itinerant justices. 

The Towns under Henry I. — In spite of the extension of the central 
power through the Curia Regis, the Exchequer, and the itinerant 
justices, Henry I encouraged the growth of towns by allowing them a 
measure of self-government. The borough courts were active in the 
exercise of their duties ; many boroughs farmed their own taxes. 
London and Lincoln dealt directly with the Exchequer, while, before 
the close of the reign, London was granted the right of electing its own 
sheriff. As yet the towns were small and unimportant, still supple- 
menting their scanty trade and industry by tilling the lands outside 
their walls. There was little foreign commerce. The eastern port 
towns received wines and some articles of luxury from the Normans 
and the cities along the Rhine. Chester and Bristol sent corn and 
luxuries to Ireland in return for furs, hides, and cattle, and English 
sheep supplied the wool for Flemish towns. London was still so rural 
that it suspended the session of its hustings court during the harvest 
season, and is described by foreigners as a city of wooden houses with 
thatched roofs, with narrow streets, " and at night infested with 
savage dogs." But the privileges granted by the King, and the peace 
and good order attracted Norman merchants and Jews, who, though 
unpopular, continued in the royal protection. From these small 
beginnings may be traced the growth of these centers of trade and 
local self-government that came, within a century or two, to play such 
a part in the public life of the land. 

1 The Great Council itself was sometimes known as the Curia Regis. 

2 The name does not come, as some have said, from the fact that the table was 
covered with a checkered cloth. 






THE ANGLO-NORMAN KINGS 99 

English Life in Henry's Time. — On the whole, the life of the period 
seems to have been easy and joyous. Chivalry was coming in with 
its artificial distinctions ; but class feeling was much less marked than 
elsewhere, the common people were contented with their lot. Hos- 
pitality, charity, and love of sport prevailed, and the country could 
with truth be called " Merry England." " Nowhere," we read, " are 
faces more joyous at the board, or hearts more eager to please." If 
London was small and unpretentious, it was the center of jolly pastimes, 
with its cockfights, football games, archery matches, foot races and 
water sports, and occasional skating. Hunting, feasting, and love 
of dress are a favorite theme of attack by austere ecclesiastics. In the 
small villages pilgrimages to local shrines, the visits of wandering 
minstrels, and the numerous saints days furnished constant occasion for 
merrymaking. In the monasteries there was much good cheer, some- 
times we hear of dinners with as many as sixteen courses, washed down 
with copious draughts of wine, cider, and beer. 

The Monastic Revival. — In monastic life, however, this period 
witnessed the beginnings of an earnest revival. From the early part 
of the previous century new orders had come into being, as vital pro- 
tests against the declining ideals of the Benedictine and the Cluniac 
monks. Chief among these reformed orders was that of the Cister- 
cians. Simplicity and austerity were its ideals. Garments were to 
be of the plainest and coarsest sort, church ornaments were to be of 
simple brass, iron, and painted wood. ' Its houses were to be in lonely 
and desolate places. The professed brethren were to devote themselves 
to study, while lay brothers were to do all the manual labor. In 11 28 
the Cistercians came to England, and in the succeeding years estab- 
lished many houses, chiefly in the north, partly because the south was 
already occupied by the older orders and partly because they preferred 
the remote and unpeopled districts. Every one has heard of Melrose 
Abbey in Scotland and Fountains in Yorkshire, only two among their 
many houses. By the middle of the twelfth century there were fifty 
Cistercian houses in England. Their chief industrial pursuit was 
cattle and sheep raising, and the wool of the Cistercians became a 
famous article of export. The order of St. Gilbert of Sempringham, 
which came in about 1139, was for both men and women. Its founder 
was an Englishman, a wealthy and holy man of Lincolnshire, who, in 
spite of great asceticism, is said to have lived to the age of a hundred 
and five or six. Among the other orders which, appear at this time, 
were the Augustinians, or Black Canons, and the Premonstratensians, or 
White Canons. Two military-religious orders, founded as a result of 
the crusading movement, also found their way into England — the 
Knights Hospitallers, who furnished succor to sick and needy pilgrims 
on their way to the Holy City, and the Knights Templars, who guarded 
the roads to the Holy Land. Altogether, well over two hundred new 
houses were founded in the reigns of Henry and his two successors. 
With increasing wealth abuses crept in. The Cistercians, for instance, 



ioo A fflSTORY OF ENGLAND 

are accused of avarice, idleness, luxury, but we must not forget the 
services they rendered in reclaiming waste lands, furthering useful 
arts and trades, preserving and spreading learning, administering 
charity, and setting up standards of living which, even if not always 
observed, were a protest against the brutality and coarseness which 
they saw about them. For a period of nearly twenty years following 
Henry's death such voices were sorely needed. 

Stephen received as King of England, 1135. — On the death of 
Henry I there were three candidates for the throne : Matilda, his 
daughter, and the two sons of his sister Adela — Theobald of Blois 
and Stephen of Boulogne. Of these three, Matilda had unquestionably 
the best title, she was the nearest heir, her father had named her his 
successor, and the barons had sworn to accept her ; but Matilda's sex 
told against her, as did her arrogant temper and her marriage with the 
representative of the Angevin house, long the declared enemy of Eng- 
lishman and Norman. Theobald, although accepted by the Normans, 
was not recognized in England, and being a timid and cautious man, 
he withdrew from the race. Stephen hastened to England. He was 
promptly accepted by the citizens of London in return for his promises 
to maintain peace and to respect the liberties and privileges of the city. 
He had still stronger support in the bishops. At Winchester, of which 
his brother was a bishop, he came to terms with them, granting the 
Church concessions in the matter of elections, and jurisdiction greater 
than it had ever enjoyed on English soil. He then, by promises equally 
lavish, sought the alliance of King David of Scotland, and Robert, 
Earl of Gloucester, Matilda's half brother. In addition to the Corona- 
tion Charter with its customary vague assurances, he issued another 
in the following year, 1136, containing distinct promises to each of the 
three estates : he would not use Church land for gain ; he would do 
away with the wrongs committed by the sheriffs ; he would surrender 
the forests made in Henry's reign; and "observe the good laws of 
Henry and Edward the Confessor." 

His Character and Problems. — Personally, Stephen was a man of 
the most popular and engaging qualities, athletic, brave, generous, 
and affable, but totally incompetent to deal with the problems which 
confronted him. He was unable to fulfill the promises which he had so 
rashly made, he was not keen and foreseeing enough to anticipate the 
opposition which the nobility, turbulent and self-seeking as ever, were 
bound to manifest. He excited animosity by bringing mercenaries 
into the land; he weakened his position by creating new earls and 
allowing them to build castles. Aiming, like ^Ethelred the Redeless, 
to increase his supporters, he only added to his difficulties. In the 
words of the Chronicle: " The more he gave them, the worse they 
always carried themselves toward him." In the very first revolts 
directed against him he showed himself too easy to punish disaffec- 
tion even after he had put it down. " When the traitors perceived 
that he was a mild man and a soft, and a good, and that he did not 



THE ANGLO-NORMAN KINGS 101 

enforce justice, they did all wonder. They had done homage to him, 
and sworn oaths, but they no faith kept." 

His Attacks on Roger of Salisbury and his Family, 1139. — Like all 
easy men, he was capable of sudden acts of violence and rashness of 
the direst consequence. Such a blunder he committed by a foolhardy 
attack on Roger of Salisbury and his family. Between them they 
controlled the financial and judicial business of the Government. 
Old Roger, although he held no office at this time, was the leading 
councilor of the realm. Roger, his son, was Chancellor. Nigel, a 
nephew, was Bishop of Lincoln. To be sure, they affected almost 
royal state, attending councils with armed bands, fortifying castles, 
and accumulating great wealth as well as power. Suddenly Stephen 
ordered them to surrender all their castles into his hands, and when 
they refused, arrested all the family , except Nigel of Ely, who fled to the 
stronghold of Devizes. Stephen only secured the castle and the 
person of Nigel by threatening to hang Roger the Chancellor. The 
King may have been moved to proceed against the house of Roger by 
the intrigues of rival barons, he may have feared that they were com- 
bining against him in favor of Matilda, he may have 'been merely 
jealous of their increasing power and pretensions, but his action was 
disastrous in its consequences. It threw the financial and judicial 
system into a confusion from which it did not recover till the next 
reign, and it alienated the Church, to whose position the King owed his 
support. Even his own brother, Bishop Henry, declared against him. 
The situation was particularly critical. Already Stephen had had to face 
revolts in Norfolk and Devon, a rising in Wales, and in 1138 David 
of Scotland invaded England to secure the earldom of Northumber- 
land for his son Henry. He was met near Northallerton by an army 
gathered by the dauntless energy of the Archbishop of York. As it was 
accompanied by a car bearing the banners of the patron saints of the 
three northern churches of Beverley, Ripon, and York, the engagement 
is often called the " Battle of the Standards." After a fierce con- 
test, in which the English arrows " buzzed like bees and flew like 
rain," the Scots were defeated and retired across the border. Yet in a 
treaty made the following spring, April, 1139, the King yielded prac- 
tically what David had invaded England to obtain. Meantime, the 
southwestern counties had risen at the instigation of Robert of Glouces- 
ter, who had thrown off his allegiance and fled abroad, alleging that 
Stephen was a usurper and had not kept his promises to him. 

The Coming of Matilda and the Beginning of Civil War, 1139. — 
Such was the situation when, in the autumn of 1139, Robert and 
Matilda appeared in person. Their arrival converted the unrest, 
already manifest, into a civil war which lasted for fourteen years. 
The disputed succession was only a pretext which the barons seized 
to foster disorder and thereby to gain power and profit for themselves. 
" All became forsworn and brake their allegiance, for every rich man 
built his castles, and defended them against him, and they filled the 



102 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

land full of castles. They greatly oppressed the wretched people bj 
making them work at these castles, and when the castles were finished 
they filled them with devils and evil men. Then they took those whom 
they suspected to have any goods by night and by day, seizing both 
men and women, and they put them in prison for their gold and silver, 
and tortured them with pains unspeakable for never were any martyrs 
tormented as these were. They hung some up by their feet and 
smoked them with foul smoke ; some by their thumbs, or by the head, 
and they hung burning things at their feet. They put a knotted 
string about their heads and twisted it till it went into the brain. 
They put them into dungeons wherein were adders and snakes and 
toads, and thus wore them out. . . . Many thousands they exhausted 
with hunger. . . . They were continually levying an exaction from 
the barons . . . and when the wretched inhabitants had no more to 
give, then plundered they, and burnt all the barns, so that well might- 
est thou walk a whole day's journey nor ever shouldest thou find a man 
seated in town, nor its land tilled." " Then was corn dear and flesh 
and cheese, and butter, for there was none in the land — wretched men 
starved with hunger — some lived on alms who had been erewhile 
rich : some fled the country — never was there more misery, and 
never acted heathens worse than these. At length they spared neither 
church nor churchyard, but they took all that was valuable therein, 
and then burned the church and all together. Neither did they spare 
the lands of bishops nor of abbots, nor of priests, and every man plun- 
dered his neighbor as much as he could. If two or three men came 
riding to a town all the township fled before them, and thought that 
they were robbers. The bishops and clergy were ever cursing them, 
but this was nothing for they were all accursed, and forsworn, and 
reprobate. The earth bare no corn, you might as well have tilled 
the sea, for the land was all ruined by such deeds, and it was said 
openly that Christ and his saints slept." As another writer of the 
times put it, " In olden days there was no king in Israel, and everyone 
did that which was right in his own eyes ; but in England now it was 
worse ; for there was a king, but impotent, and every man did what 
was wrong in his own eyes." 

The Progress of the War. — The two years following the arrival of 
Robert and Matilda were marked by a bewildering series of raids, 
sieges, and ravaging of towns ; but, in 1 141, the King was defeated at 
Lincoln and captured by Earl Robert, and his son-in-law Ralph, Earl 
of Chester. He was sent a prisoner to Bristol, and Henry of Winches- 
ter — since 1139 papal legate — came to terms with the Queen, on 
condition that she should consult him in all matters of importance 
and leave in his hands the appointment of all bishops and abbots. 
Matilda was received in Winchester with solemn state, and other im- 
portant places surrendered themselves into her hands. The Lon- 
doners, who at first had protested, were obliged to yield also. But 
Matilda showed herself oppressive and unbending, she exacted a heavy 



THE ANGLO-NORMAN KINGS 103 

tax, and canceled all the concessions which Stephen had made to the 
citizens. Incensed at such treatment, they took arms, drove her out 
and opened their gates to the partisans of Stephen. The legate 
Henry deserted her cause and returned to Winchester to hold it for 
the King. Matilda led a force against the city, but Henry slipped out 
and brought an army led by Stephen's queen and William of Ypres, 
his captain of mercenaries, to its relief. Hard pressed between the 
forces within and without, the Empress was obliged to withdraw, and 
in attempting to cover her flight Robert of Gloucester was captured. 
Before the end of the year he was exchanged for Stephen. With the 
balance thus restored the fight went on. But year after year Matilda 
lost ground. The death of Robert, in 1147, deprived her of her chief 
support, and, in the following February, she retired to Anjou and gave 
up the struggle. Yet her retirement neither gave peace to England nor 
a clear title to Stephen. Her son Henry was now fifteen years old ; 
he had already been in the country twice, once from 1142 to 1146, and 
again in 1147, and was soon to return again to contend for his heritage. 
Then the barons in their own interests were determined to continue 
the carnival of misrule : " they remained each man to pursue his own 
policy and fight his own battles. Every lord of a castle was a petty 
king, ruling his own tenants, coining his own money, administering his 
own justice." The infamous Geoffrey de Mandeville, who had changed 
sides half a dozen times, received his death wound in 1144. " Un- 
shriven he had passed away, laden with the curses of the Church, and 
his body no man might bury." Still there were many more equally 
bad, if not so well known. 

Geoffrey of Anjou conquers Normandy. — One great source of 
encouragement to the party opposed to Stephen was the conquest of 
Normandy by Geoffrey of Anjou. Steadily refusing to take any part 
in the English complications, he had been persistent in his attacks 
upon the duchy since the death of Henry I. At first he made little 
progress, but at length his perseverance was rewarded; Rouen, the 
last great fortress to hold out, fell in 1 144. Louis VII, King of France, 
recognized his victory by investing him with the dukedom, and before 
the close of another year he had stamped out the last embers of resist- 
ance. 

Treaty of Wallingford, 11 53. — Geoffrey died in 11 51, not yet 
forty years old. Already, some months before, he had handed 
over the duchy of Normandy to his young son Henry. His death 
added to Henry's possessions the lands of Anjou and Maine. By 
marrying, 1152, Eleanor, heiress of Aquitaine and divorced wife of 
Louis of France, he acquired a vast territory comprising one third 
of the ancient Gaul. His united possessions now reached from " the 
Channel to the Pyreness." After making a truce with Louis and 
others who had leagued themselves against this startling increase of 
power, he set out for England. Stephen made an effort in which he 
was defeated, mainly through the influence of the Church, to secure 



io 4 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

the English succession for his son Eustace, " an evil man " who 
" did more harm than good wherever he went." For a time 
Stephen struggled on doggedly; but when Eustace died, in 1153, the 
poor King really had nothing left to fight for, since his younger son 
seems never to have been considered as a candidate for the throne. 
Consequently, a truce was arranged followed by a pacification at Win- 
chester. According to the treaty, commonly known as the Treaty of 
Wallingford, Stephen was to continue as King during his lifetime, while 
Henry was recognized as his heir, and provisions were made for putting 
an end to the disorders which had so long prevailed. Crown lands 
were to be resumed, foreign mercenaries were to be banished, all 
castles built since the death of Henry I were to be destroyed, and Ste- 
phen was to consult his prospective heir in all important acts. Ste- 
phen died in n 54, and it was left to a young man of twenty-one to mend 
the evils which had come upon the land during the nineteen years' rule 
of a man who was as generous and kindly as he was weak. 

Anarchy. Extent of the Devastation. — During the civil war 
and the anarchy which accompanied it certain districts suffered more 
than others. This was particularly true of the Thames valley, of the 
southwest, and some of the midland counties. Here, when the war 
was at its height, the conditions must have been dreadful. It is 
pictured with grim pathos by a chronicler of the time: " With some 
men," he says, " love of country was turned into loathing and bitter- 
ness, and they preferred to migrate to distant regions. Others, in the 
hope of protection, built lowly huts of wattle work round about the 
churches, and so passed their lives in fear and anguish. Some for 
want of victuals fed upon strange and forbidden meats, the flesh of 
dogs and horses ; others relieved their hunger by devouring unwashed 
and uncooked herbs and roots. In all the shires a part of the inhabit- 
ants died in herds from the stress of famine, while others, with their 
wives and children, went dismally into self-inflicted exile. You 
might behold villages of famous names standing empty because the 
country people, male and female, young and old, hath left them ; fields 
whitened with the harvest as the year verged upon autumn, but the 
cultivators had perished by famine and the ensuing pestilence." 

Results of the Reign. — At first sight, the reign of Stephen appears 
to be nothing more than a period of anarchy and suffering, but it 
brought the people a useful lesson, or reenforced an old one, that the 
rule of a strong King, harsh and despotic though he might be, was to 
be preferred to the unrestricted sway of local magnates. Viewed in 
this light, the reign contributed as much to strengthen the central 
government against feudal independence as the work of a William the 
Conqueror or a Henry Beauclerk. It was only when peace and order 
had been secured in place of anarchy that freedom and self-government 
could be depended upon. On the other hand, the barons were not the 
only force that threatened the unity and security of the land. The 
prevailing uncertainty, and the aim of the contending parties to secure 



THE ANGLO-NORMAN KINGS 



105 



the support of a powerful and influential institution, brought the Church 
into a position of prominence that later kings had to reckon with. 

FOR ADDITIONAL READING 

Freeman, Norman Conquest, IV, V, is still valuable for an exhaustive account of 
the events from 1066 to 11 54, though Freeman was inclined to minimize the effects 
of the Conquest, and many of his findings have been reversed by recent investigators. 
Briefer and more modern narratives are to be found in Ramsay, Foundations of 
England, II ; H. W. C. Davis, England under the Normans and Angevins (1905), chs. 
I-VI, and G. B. Adams, Political History of England (1905), chs. I-XI. Both of 
the latter works embody the results of recent scholarship ; and Davis pays much 
attention to the non-political aspects of the period, presenting in ch. VI an interest- 
ing picture of conditions under the Anglo-Norman kings. 

Taylor, Origin and Growth of the English Constitution,I,bk. II, chs. I— II ; Wakeman 
and Hassall, Constitutional Essays, chs. II, III ; Taswell-Langmead, English Con- 
stitutional History, chs. II, III ; and White, Making of the English Constitution, pt. II, 
and pt. Ill, chs. I, II, contain brief accounts of the constitutional aspects of the 
subject. A more detailed treatment will be found in Stubbs, Constitutional His- 
tory, I, chs. IX, XL Good brief accounts of feudalism are given in E. Emerton, 
Introduction to the Middle Ages (1891), ch. XV; G. B. Adams, Civilization during 
the Middle Ages (1898), ch. IX, especially valuable; Seignobos (tr. E. W. Dow), 
Feudal Regime; and J. H. Robinson, History of Western Europe (1902), ch. IX. 
The feudal incidents are discussed in detail in Pollock and Maitland, English Law, 
I, bk. II, ch. I, and J. S. McKechnie, Magna Carta (1913), pp. 52-77. Pollock and 
Maitland treat Norman and Anglo-Norman Law in I, bk. I, chs. Ill, IV. 

For the Church, see Wakeman, chs. V, VI, Makower, sees. 4, 5 ; and W. R. W. 
Stephens, English Church (1901), chs. I-VIII. 

For social and industrial conditions, see Traill, Social England, I, ch. Ill ; Free- 
man, Norman Conquest, V, ch. XXIV; Cunningham, English Industry and Com- 
merce, I, bk. II; W. J. Ashley, English Economic History (1892), I; and Mary 
Bateson, Mediceval England (1904), pt. I; R. E. Prothero, English Farming, Past 
and Present (1913), ch. I ; the most recent and authoritative work covering the whole 
period of English agriculture. 

References to sources and for further reading : Davis, 534-544 ; Adams, Political 
History, 448-458 ; and White, p. xxvi. 

Selections from the sources : Adams and Stephens, Select Documents of English 
Constitutional History (1901), nos. 1-11, especially 1 and 7. 

THE ANGLO-NORMAN KINGS, 1066-1154 

William the Conqueror = Matilda of Flanders 
1066-1087 



Robert, Duke 

of Normandy, 

d. 1125 



William, 
d. 1 134 



William Rufus, 
108 7-1 100 



Henry = Matilda 
1100-1135 I d. 1118 



William, 
d. 1 1 20 



Matilda = ( 1 ) Emperor 



d. 1167 



Henry V 
(2) Geoffrey 
of Anjou 



Stephen, 
1135-1154 



Adela = Stephen of 
Blois 



Robert of 
Gloucester 



Henry, 

Bishop of 

Winchester 



(2) Henry II, 
1154-1189 



Illegitimate. 



106 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

THE KINGS OF SCOTLAND, 1066-1153 
Duncan I 



Malcolm III = Margaret, Donald Bane, 1094-1097 

1058-1093 I d. 1093 

Duncan I, Edgar, Alexander I, Matilda, David I, 

1093 1097-1107 1107-1124 d. 1118, 1124-1153 

m. Henry I, 
d. 1 135 



CHAPTER VII 

HENRY II (1154-1189). THE RESTORATION OF THE ROYAL 
POWER AND THE RISE OF THE ENGLISH COMMON LAW 

Henry II, Founder of the Angevin or Plantagenet Line. — The 
line of which Henry II is the first representative continued in unbroken 
succession for two hundred and forty-five years. It is sometimes 
known as the Angevin dynasty, from the fact that Henry on his father's 
side descended from the Counts of Anjou ; sometimes as the Plantag- 
enet, from the emblem of Geoffrey of Anjou, a sprig of broom (Latin, 
planta genesta) which he wore in his hat. The new ruler, a boy barely 
turned twenty-one, took up again the good work begun by his grand- 
father, which had been all undone by nineteen years of anarchy. 
It was his task to subdue the barons under the royal hand, to check 
the growing power of the Church, to bring its members within the con- 
trol of the State in worldly things, and to attach the people to their 
sovereign by protecting them from oppression and by advancing their 
welfare. If he did not reach his goal, he took the right road and guided 
the course of events so far that the way was set for the future. 

Henry's Character and Appearance. — Although of middle height, 
Henry's square frame, his long, muscular arms, his round head crowned 
with closely cropped red hair, his fiery, freckled countenance, his eyes 
clear and gray, but bloodshot and flashing like balls of fire in moments 
of anger, marked him as a man of striking appearance. Careless in 
dress, he was temperate in meat and drink, of feverish energy and 
uncommon endurance. When not engaged in war or State business, 
he was either hunting and hawking or deep in a book or in conversa- 
tion with some of the learned men whom he delighted to gather about 
him. _ Even during mass he was busy whispering with councilors or 
drawing little pictures. He never sat except at meals or when he 
was on horseback. He was constantly on the lookout for information ; 
he never forgot a face he had once seen or a fact that had once struck 
his attention. He spoke only French and Latin, but he knew some- 
thing of every language " from the Bay of Biscay to the Jordan." 
Subject at times to ungovernable fits of passion, he was generally 
good-humored and very easy of access. 

His Original Interests not Primarily English. — Although Henry 
had spent four years of his youth in England and had paid occasional 
visits besides, he came to the throne practically a foreigner, and appar- 
ently never learned to speak the English language. Indeed, England 

107 



Io8 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

was only a part of the numerous territories which he ruled. At first 
his only interest in the land was to use it as a source of supply in defend- 
ing and rounding out his possessions across the Channel ; but after 
he had undertaken the work of developing his English resources he 
became more and more interested in the work for its own sake, while 
his original end receded into the dim future. Nevertheless, the con- 
flicting interests and local jealousies of the many states which he sought 
to control, the intrigues of the French kings who drew profit by stir- 
ring up strife against him, and the later dissensions of his sons absorbed 
so much of his time and energy as to keep him abroad more than half 
of his reign . This makes it all the more notable that his most enduring 
work was done in England. . 

Thomas Becket. — He turned his hand first to recovering what the 
Crown had lost under Stephen, he resumed crown lands, he destroyed 
adulterine or unlawful castles, he appointed sheriffs who would carry 
out his will, and he set in motion the administrative machinery which 
had come to a standstill on the death of old Roger of Salisbury. Of all 
the appointments which he made, that of Chancellor was fraught with 
the greatest consequences. This official in those days ranked below 
the Justiciar and the Treasurer, but as secretary of the royal household \ 
he was brought into closest contact with the sovereign and had many 
important duties to perform ; he had the custody of the royal seal, 
he drew up all important documents, he kept the legal records, and 
had charge of the King's chaplains and clerks. Thomas Becket, whom 
he selected, was the son of a Norman merchant settled in London. 
Brought up in the household of Archbishop Theobald, he received the 
usual ecclesiastical education, but had distinguished himself rather as 
a man of affairs than as a scholar or theologian. He first endeared 
himself to Henry by his " most subtle management " in inducing the 
Pope to reject Stephen's efforts to secure the succession of Eustace. 
Thomas was a striking contrast to his master : he was fifteen years 
older ; he was tall, dark, and handsome ; he dressed with the greatest 
care and elegance, maintained a large and lavish household, and dis- 
pensed sumptuous hospitality. Yet he and Henry became fast friends ; 
they worked together, they hunted together, and, on occasion, they 
romped like schoolboys. But immersed as he was in worldly busi- 
ness and luxury, and so martial that he more than once rode in the 
King's armies, the life of Thomas was so pure that even his enemies 
found no word to say against him. 

The Opening of the Conflict between Becket and Henry, 1163. — 
A time came when the firm friends were turned into bitter enemies. 
In 1161 Theobald died. Henry, wishing to secure a tru=ty agent to 
assist him in curbing the power of the Church, determined to appoint 
Thomas to the vacant Archbishopric. The Chancellor resisted stoutly ; 
for it was his nature to champion to the utmost any cause which 
he undertook, and he realized that as head of the English Church he 
would be bound to come into conflict with the royal policy.. His 



DOMINIONS OF THE 

HOUSE OF ANJOU 

SCALE OF ENGLISH MILES 
25 60 100 150 



Dominions of the House of Anjou_ 




2 Longitude from Creenwich 2 



THE RESTORATION OF THE ROYAL POWER 109 

scruples, however, were overborne, and in May, 1162, he assumed the 
office of Archbishop of Canterbury. He resigned the chancellorship 
and all his worldly interests and suddenly became an ascetic of the 
most extreme type as well as a most ardent defender of Church privilege. 
Not many months passed before he broke with the King. Curiously 
enough, the first quarrel arose over a point which did not concern the 
Church at all. Henry demanded that the sheriffs should pay into the 
royal treasury a certain " aid " or fee which they had been accustomed 
to collect from the shires in payment for their work. Thomas, at a 
council held at Woodstock, in 1163, took the part of the sheriffs, and 
thus became the first English subject on record to resist his sovereign 
on a question of national taxation. This opening breach was followed 
by many others in rapid succession, all of which involved questions at 
issue between Church and State. The Archbishop demanded back 
land which had been taken from his see in times past, and even excom- 
municated without royal leave one of the King's tenants in chief. 
But the climax was reached in the struggle over criminous clerks. 

The Criminous Clerks. — In Anglo-Saxon times cases concerning 
the Church and the clergy had been tried in the courts of the hundred 
and shire. William the Conqueror, in separating lay and spiritual 
jurisdiction, had failed to draw a definite line between the two classes 
of cases ; but he and his sons had apparently kept the clergy under the 
control of their courts in matters of temporal concern. In the trou- 
blous time of Stephen the Church courts had greatly extended their 
powers, and, among other things, claimed the exclusive right to judge 
the offenses of clergymen, even if committed against the law of the 
land. In so far as they were the moral and religious guides of the time, 
one can understand why they should try to keep their persons and goods 
out of the reach of men whom greed or revenge might prompt to con- 
trol them. But there was another side of the question. Since the 
sentences of the Church courts were very light, unscrupulous men took 
advantage of the clerical privileges, easy to obtain, in order to shelter 
themselves from penalties which their crimes deserved. Obviously, 
the increase of a class of persons exempt from the law of the land would 
be a serious menace to the security of the State and to the authority 
of the Crown. This was what King Henry was determined to prevent. 
Two or three cases arose at this time of clerks found to be guilty of 
murder and robbery, and Becket not only refused to have them re- 
tried in the King's courts, but even to allow adequate sentences to be 
pronounced against them. The King summoned a council at West- 
minster and ordered the bishops to agree that clerks accused of crime 
should be called before the King's courts to answer the charges ; if 
well grounded, they should be tried in their episcopal courts in the 
presence of a King's justice, and if guilty, they should be handed over to 
the lay courts for punishment. The King did not ask that clerks 
should actually be tried in his courts. But the bishops, led by Thomas, 
refused to concede even what the King required. On being asked if they 



no A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

would obey the customs of the realm, they agreed only with a quali- 
fication, " saving their order." Thereupon the King dissolved the 
assembly in anger. Finally, after the bishops one after another had 
weakened, Thomas assented without any qualification. 

The Constitutions of Clarendon, 1 164. — In order to make the under- 
standing definite, Henry summoned a Great Council to meet at his 
hunting lodge at Clarendon, in January, 1164, and directed some of the 
oldest barons of the realm to draw up the " customs " as they had 
existed in the reign of Henry I. These customs which Henry II 
presented to Becket and the bishops for acceptance, are known as the 
" Constitutions of Clarendon." They were grouped under sixteen 
heads and aimed to settle all questions at issue between the King and 
the clergy. However, they went far beyond the original question 
in dispute ; indeed, far beyond any claim that Henry had ever made. 
Their provisions not only brought the criminous clergy under the 
cognizance of the King's justice, but defined the relations between the 
royal and ecclesiastical courts, and drew into the King's tribunals 
many cases involving church property and large court fees. Also 
they sought to define again the relations between the sovereign and the 
Pope. Their general aim was to put the King at the head of the Eng- 
lish Church and to subordinate the clergy to his will ; to make the law 
of the land dominant over the law of the Church. Only a small field 
was left to the courts Christian : offenses of a minor nature concerning 
the clergy alone ; crimes of the laity involving spiritual punishment ; 
cases relating to marriages and wills, defamation of character, usury, 
and the like. 

Resistance and Flight of Becket, 1164. — Although Becket, after 
stout resistance, accepted the Constitutions, he apparently never 
intended to keep his promise, on the ground that they were against the 
law of God. In fact, he applied for a dispensation from the Pope 
absolving him from his agreement. The King, whose anger was great, 
found an occasion to test the Archbishop's obedience. Thomas was 
very stiff-necked, but Henry was so captious and violent that the 
Archbishop despaired of maintaining his position, and finally fled one 
night in a pelting rain. Adopting a disguise, he took ship across the 
Channel, reached the domains of the King of France in safety, and 
secured an audience with Alexander III at Sens. The ambassadors 
of the King had already preceded him. The Pope was in a delicate 
position. The Emperor, Frederick Barbarossa, was supporting a 
rival or anti-pope, and Henry had stood loyally by him, while the 
attitude of Louis VII was doubtful. On the other hand, Becket was 
the champion of the Church. Consequently, he tried to delay an 
answer. When Henry heard of his attitude, he proceeded to seize the 
revenues of Becket and to send his relatives into exile. Thereupon, 
Pope Alexander, while he did not formally condemn the Constitutions, 
absolved Becket from observing them except so far as was consistent 
with his holy orders. For six years, from n 64 to 11 70, the quarrel 



THE RESTORATION OF THE ROYAL POWER in 

continued, Becket striving with might and main to force the King to 
recede from his position. 

The Murder of Becket, 1170. — A crisis came in n 70, when the King 
determined to crown his son Henry as his successor. Becket, who 
had refused several offers of mediation and had been liberally excom- 
municating the King's supporters, was stung to fury by the fact that 
the coronation ceremony was to be performed by Roger, Archbishop 
of York. Louis VII, too, was offended because his daughter, the 
consort of the young prince, was not crowned with her husband. In 
order to evade an interdict that had been prepared against him, the 
King met Becket, and promised him amends for the slight in the matter 
of the coronation, while Thomas, on his part, promised to return to 
England. As none of the essential points at issue were settled, the 
reconciliation proved a hollow one, and the Archbishop went back to 
his see with dark forebodings. He made matters worse by suspending 
and excommunicating a number of those who had assisted in the 
recent coronation and who were holding archiepiscopal lands. Henry 
received the news with a furious outburst of passion. " My subjects 
are sluggards, men of no spirit," he roared ; " they keep no faith with 
their lord, they allow me to be made the laughing-stock of a low-born 
clerk." At once four knights hastened to Canterbury, and after a 
heated interview with Becket, they followed him to the cathedral and 
murdered him within the precincts of the holy place. His body was 
found covered with a coarse haircloth shirt and scarred with scourging. 
Within a few days of his death, it was said, miracles began to be wrought 
at his burial place ; in less than three years' time he was canonized by 
Alexander III, and his shrine became the most popular of English 
centers for pilgrims until it was destroyed at the Reformation. Stead- 
fast and courageous he was, and his royal adversary persecuted him in 
mean and petty ways, even if he did not intentionally cause his death ; 
but the cause for which the Archbishop contended — the exemption 
of the clergy from State control and the supremacy of the Church in 
important matters of temporal concern — was a political, not a reli- 
gious one. Though he met a martyr's fate, Thomas waged his struggle 
as a politician and not as a saint. His death brought to his cause a 
greater victory than he would ever have been able to gain had he lived. 
Public opinion held Henry accountable for the base deed for which 
he was only indirectly responsible, and he was obliged to seek recon- 
ciliation with the Pope at the expense of concessions and on terms very^ 
humbling to his royal pride. 

Henry in Ireland. State of the Country. — While Henry was wait- 
ing to see what the Pope would do, he turned his attention to Ireland, 
first granted to England by Adrian IV in n 54. The Irish, developing 
in comparative isolation, had attained a degree of culture and a fervor 
of religious life far in advance of their social and political development. 
Their zealous missionaries had carried their faith even to the wildest 
parts of the German lands, they had beautiful legends and sweet- 



H2 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

tongued bards, they excelled in the illumination of manuscripts ; but 
their Church was only slowly subject to episcopal control, the people 
were still in the tribal stage, and law and the means of keeping peace 
and order were sadly lacking. The kings of the five provinces of 
Ulster, Leinster, Meath, Munster, and Connaught " fiercely battled 
like bulls for the mastery of the herd," while the petty chiefs were 
constantly warring against one another. Cattle were the chief standard 
of value, houses were primitive and clothing was scanty, and there was 
a dearth of arable land and mineral resources. Most of the trade was 
in the hands of the Danes settled at Dublin, Wexford, Waterford, and 
Limerick, who sent their ships laden with skins and hides to the Eng- 
lish and French ports and brought back corn, wine, and trinkets. In 
1 1 66 Diarmait, King of Leinster, hard pressed by rivals, appealed to 
Henry for aid. Though too much occupied to go in person, the Eng- 
lish King allowed him to enlist volunteers among his subjects. Chief 
of the recruits was Richard de Clare, Earl of Pembroke, known as 
" Strongbow " because he was a redoubtable warrior. In addition, 
there came men from England, Wales, and from across the Channel, 
restless and needy adventurers, eager for any stirring or profitable 
undertaking. Strongbow having stipulated with Diarmait that he 
should marry his daughter and become his heir, aided him to triumph 
over his enemies. The death of Diarmait in 1171 opened such a pros- 
pect of power for the English Earl that Henry became jealous and 
recalled him. King and vassal met in Gloucester and crossed over to 
Ireland with a force of about 4000 men. During his stay in the coun- 
try from October, 1 171, to April, 1 1 72, Henry was able to secure the sub- 
mission of most of the native chiefs and kings as well as of the prelates 
of the Irish Church, and held a synod at Cashel where many measures 
of reform were passed. But although he left Strongbow with various 
English officials to represent him at his departure, the latter served 
rather to limit the authority of the ruler of Leinster than to maintain 
peace and order. Indeed, owing to extensive confiscations of land, 
the English intervention added one more element of discord to the 
troubled country, and left it " as it were, a shaking sod." 

Henry's Submission at Avranches. "Benefit of Clergy." — After 
leaving Ireland, Henry crossed to Normandy, and at Avranches came 
to terms with the papal legates and received absolution. He swore 
that he had not instigated the murder of Becket, that he would sup- 
port Alexander III and his successors, that he would allow appeals to 
Rome to all who would guarantee not to undertake anything against 
his kingdom. The Constitutions of Clarendon and the matter of the 
criminous courts were passed over in silence ; for in this connection he 
went no further than to agree to do away with any customs introduced 
against the Church in his time. As a matter of fact, his courts con- 
tinued to claim control over most of the property cases in which the 
Church was involved, while clergymen accused of criminal offenses 
claimed exemption from the lay courts — " benefit of clergy " it was 
called — for centuries. 



THE RESTORATION OF THE ROYAL POWER 113 

The Revolt of 11 73. — No sooner had Henry become reconciled 
with the Pope than he had to face a dangerous revolt headed by the 
young Henry, whose succession had been established by his corona- 
tion only three years before. Back of this revolt lay many causes of 
discontent. The King had provided magnificently for his three eldest 
sons. Henry was recognized as heir of England and Normandy, 
Richard as Duke of Aquitaine, and Geoffrey was to be married to the 
heiress of Brittany, but the King was cautious and niggardly. He 
refused them authority and revenues equal to their high pretensions. 
Then Louis VII was anxious to keep the family embroiled, in order 
that he might increase the possessions of France. Queen Eleanor 
was on bad terms with her husband, while the feudal barons on both 
sides of the Channel were restive under the King's firm rule. The 
occasion was furnished by the attempt of Henry to provide for his 
youngest son John out of the Angevin provinces, which Prince Henry 
claimed as a part of his heritage. By means of liberal promises the 
King of the Scots as well as many petty under sovereigns in Flanders 
and elsewhere, were drawn into the combination against the English 
King. All the support on which he could count was that of a few faith- 
ful servants, his mercenaries, the Church with which he had been 
reconciled, and the common people who preferred heavy taxes to 
another carnival of bloodshed and anarchy. Furthermore the Eng- 
lish King and his ministers acted with promptness and decision, while 
his opponents were divided by selfish and conflicting aims. 

Crushing of the Rebellion. — The rebellion broke out in n 73, and 
it was not till the summer of n 74 that Henry gained the upper hand 
in his continental possessions. Meantime, his Justiciar and other 
faithful followers had been facing, with a fair degree of success, both 
English revolts and invasions from Scotland. Two days after his 
landing, a royal force led by Ranulf de Glanville, later celebrated as 
one of England's most famous jurists, succeeded in defeating and cap- 
turing the Scotch king William the Lion at Alnwick. Before taking 
the field in person Henry went to Becket's tomb to do penance : clad 
in a woolen robe, barefoot, he knelt, kissed the spot where the holy 
martyr had fallen, and received eighty stripes on his bare back from 
the assembled prelates and monks. In return for this and certain 
concessions he received final absolution. The capture of William put 
an end to the English rebellion ; but abroad his sons were still in arms : 
Louis VII, too, had seized the occasion of his absence to make war 
again, but he dared not face Henry on his return, which occurred 
directly after he had settled matters in the English domains. Before 
the close of September, the young Henry, Geoffrey, and Richard all 
submitted to their father. He was very forgiving and even granted 
them generous allowances. William the Lion at Falaise did liege 
homage, and, as an earnest of his good faith, gave up many hostages 
and castles. In crushing this rebellion Henry, for the only time in his 
life, used mercenaries on English soil. Never again in that country 



ii 4 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

did subjects rise against their sovereign until nobles, clergy, and 
commons were united over a generation later in a great national rising. 

Henry's Last Years and Death. — Across the Channel events did 
not result so happily. The King of France, the feudal barons, and 
two of his sons, Richard and John, troubled King Henry to the end of 
his days. His other sons, Prince Henry and Geoffrey, died in 1183 
and 1 186 respectively. A chief source of difficulty was the question 
of the succession. The original plan had been to give Henry England, 
Normandy, Maine, and Anjou, to Richard Aquitaine, and to Geoffrey 
Brittany. John was to be made Lord of Ireland, and was sent 
over to take possession in n 85; but he showed himself absolutely 
incapable, he affronted the chieftains who came to visit him by pulling 
their long beards, he squandered on amusements the money which his 
father gave him, he seized the land of the natives to confer it on un- 
worthy favorites, and was soon recalled. Still the King cherished his 
project and the Pope agreed, sending him a crown of peacock's feathers 
entwined with gold. Brittany was held for Geoffrey's heir, born 
shortly after the death of his father. Richard succeeded to the pre- 
tensions of his deceased brother Henry, and refused to yield to John 
any of his original heritage in Aquitaine. John, thus unprovided for, 
came to be called "Lackland." In 1188 Richard joined Philip II, 
who had succeeded as King of France in 1180, and demanded that 
Henry II recognize his succession and consent to his marriage with 
Philip's sister Alais, to whom he had been betrothed since childhood. 
Henry, old, discouraged, and sick, had to consent to their terms. When 
he found the name of John among those who had joined his enemies, 
he was heart-broken. Turning on his bed, he muttered, " Now let 
all things go as they will, I care nor more for myself, nor for the world." 
He was taken to Chinon, the place where his eyes had first seen the 
light, and died within two days, repeating in his last hours, " Shame, 
shame on a beaten king." It is said that the attendants plundered his 
apartments and even his corpse, which was only covered from naked- 
ness by a young man who threw a cloak over it. 

Henry's Constitutional and Legal Reforms. — From this sad end 
to a still sadder struggle with treacherous and undutiful sons, it is a 
relief to give a survey of those aspects of Henry's work which have 
given him deservedly a place among England's greater kings. In 
spite of its tragic ending, and although he showed lamentable lack of 
judgment in dealing with his sons, his foreign policy was in one sense 
successful, for he held his vast possessions intact to the day of his 
death. But it is in the field of domestic legislation, and preeminently 
in that of legal reform, that he marked an epoch in progress. His 
Norman ancestors had begun the work of shaping the law as it exists 
to-day in the English-speaking world : they had wrought to make it 
the law of England rather than the law of Kentishmen, Mercians, or 
West Saxons ; they had wrought to break down or prevent the growth 
of special privileges, to unify conflicting customs, to introduce trained 



THE RESTORATION OF THE ROYAL POWER 115 

judges, organize courts, improve methods of procedure ; in short, to 
construct that system of common law, or law based on custom, usages, 
and court decision, and the methods of administering it which it has 
been the work of succeeding centuries to perfect in detail. So Henry 
II did not originate this work, but he contributed so much toward the 
process of development that his reign was truly " a critical period in 
the history of English law." Not only did he undertake far-reaching 
reforms, but he determined the momentous fact that the law of the 
land should be English and not Roman, as was the case in other Euro- 
pean countries. The legal and constitutional edifice begun by William 
I and Henry I was demolished during the anarchy of Stephen's reign, 
and Henry II had to rebuild practically from the foundations. 

The Political and Legal Problem. — Although Henry II had the 
interests of his subjects somewhat at heart, his foremost aim was 
political, to strengthen the royal powers at the expense of the Church 
and the barons. To this end he reorganized, strengthened, and con- 
solidated the old courts, established new ones, and, as a means of 
outbidding his rivals, introduced novel and improved methods of 
procedure, in criminal and civil causes. As a result, before the close of 
his reign the King's courts and judges, instead of being exceptional 
resorts for great men and great causes, had come to exercise, as a matter 
of course, a vast and steadily increasing jurisdiction. This meant 
much for the future of English methods. When Henry and his judges 
began their work, law and procedure were as yet confused, conflicting, 
and disorganized. Anglo-Saxon law was still administered in the hun- 
dred and county courts. Aside from private and inadequate compila- 
tions, the law was practically unwritten, and the Anglo-Norman offi- 
cials who administered it, even though they might be willing to respect 
local customs, understood them imperfectly at best. Manorial, 
borough, and other special courts enjoyed great powers and privileges. 
Obviously if the royal power continued to increase, it would seek to 
bring order out of this chaos. If a more logical and uniform system 
could not be fashioned out of the existing native elements, help might 
be sought elsewhere. 

Henry II prevents the Roman Law from becoming the Law of Eng- 
land. — Beyond the Alps just at this time a code, long in disuse, was 
coming to life again that from its universal character, its logical struc- 
ture, and its rational arrangement, was admirably suited to meet the 
needs of the youthful countries of western Europe. This was the law 
of the old Roman Empire, or Roman law, codified by order of the 
Emperor Justinian in the sixth century. It was a fusion of the prac- 
tice and principles of a people of unparalleled legal genius and of un- 
paralleled administrative experience. Although it had fallen into 
oblivion during the period of formation of the new Germanic states on 
the ruins of the Western Empire, the twelfth century witnessed its 
revival at the recently established University of Bolbgna. Students 
began to flock to Italy, and doctors of law gradually made their way to 



n6 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

France, England, and the Germanic Empire. In the reign of Stephen, 
for example, we find one Vacarius teaching in the household of Arch- 
bishop Theobald. The same century also marks an epoch in the devel- 
opment of the canon law, or law of the Church of Rome. Between 
1 139 and 1 142 Gratian published his celebrated codification known as 
the Decretum. In the thirteenth centujy the Roman civil law secured 
a permanent foothold in France, in the fifteenth century we find it 
domiciled in Germany. Scotland also, to a large degree, took up the 
new system, but, except in the ecclesiastical and chancery courts, it 
never obtained any considerable or abiding hold in England. It is 
due to the work of Henry II that it did not. In other countries no 
single system existed able to dispute the superior claims of the intru- 
sive guest. But Henry II, in his efforts to make his authority supreme 
and absolute, so simplified and unified divergent practices that by the 
time the Roman law was in a position to make itself felt in the Island, 
the common law was too widespread and too firmly founded to be 
supplanted by any alien rival. 

Henry II brings the Jury System into General Use. — The story ol 
how Henry did his work is too long and the details are too involved to 
be told here. One or two points only can be considered. Henry recog- 
nized that if his system of justice was to prevail, it behooved him to in- 
troduce better methods than those already in vogue. His measures 
witness how completely he outbid his rivals. For instance, he brought 
into general use juries for accusing criminals and for deciding disputed 
points at law — the parents of our modern grand and petty juries. 
Curiously enough, this bulwark of English liberty, long regarded as an 
Anglo-Saxon heritage, was of royal and foreign origin. Starting from 
the inquest, a device of the Frankish Emperors who sent round officials 
to gather information on the sworn testimony of the communities they 
visited, the system, much developed on French soil, was brought to 
England by William the Conqueror from his Norman home. He and 
his sons employed it for various purposes, among other things to get 
information in judicial cases where the royal interest was involved. 
At first allowed to privileged subjects as an exceptional favor, Henry 
extended it to all. We are already familiar with the clumsy methods 
employed by the Anglo-Saxons to bring criminals to account and to 
decide questions of disputed ownership. By the presentment jury, 
consisting usually of twelve men from each hundred and four from 
each adjoining township, criminals were brought to account by men 
sworn to voice the common report of their vicinage. Inquisition or 
recognition juries — or assizes * — enabled men to determine ^ then- 
rights of possession against an intruder by forms of procedure juster 
and more summary than they had ever before dreamed of. By a 
decree of his it was first made possible to defend a title by the testi- 
mony of those who knew the facts of the case, and to avoid the brutal 

!The word "assize" has many meanings: a royal enactment, a form of trial, 
an early form of jury, a judicial session. 



THE RESTORATION OF THE ROYAL POWER 117 

and inconclusive trial by combat. Writs were devised by which 
such cases could be drawn into the royal courts, which, in spite of their 
many shortcomings, gave speedier and more impartial hearings than 
those whose jurisdictions they invaded. 

The Development of the Jury. — It should be borne in mind that 
Henry's juries were strikingly different from the bodies familiar to us. 
Members were at first chosen for their knowledge of the facts in the 
case to be decided, though gradually they came to supplement their 
personal knowledge by information acquired by a private examination 
of documents and men not in the panel. The separation of the wit- 
nesses from the jurors was a process of slow growth, for it was not till 
the fifteenth century that the former came to testify in open court. 
Moreover, the earliest trial juries — inquisition or recognition juries, 
as they were then called — dealt only with civil cases. In criminal 
cases the jury introduced by Henry II, and employed under his suc- 
cessors, was concerned only with the presentment or accusation of 
offenders whose ultimate fate was still decided by the ordeal. But 
this form of test practically disappeared when Innocent III, in 1215, 
forbade the clergy to participate in trials where it was used. So, under 
Henry III, new juries were introduced to decide on the truth of the 
facts presented by the accusation jury. Oftentimes, howeVer, the new 
jury might be the original body of accusers acting in the new capacity. 
If an accused man were formally condemned by a trial jury, he for- 
feited his possessions to the State ; otherwise he could only be put to 
death. It rested with him to say whether he would submit to a jury 
trial — " put himself on his country," as it was called in technical lan- 
guage. Often a felon, sure of his condemnation, in order to save his 
goods for his family, would prefer a painful death rather than stand a 
certain trial. As a means of forcing him the terrible peine forte et dure, 
only abolished in 1772, was employed. The prisoner was stripped 
naked, laid on the floor of a dungeon, pressed with heavy weights, and 
fed on bread and water till he died or submitted. Strange to say, the 
old forms of procedure remained on the statute book long after they 
had become practically obsolete ; trial by battle was not abolished till 
1819 and compurgation not till 1833. The jury is mentioned in the 
Constitutions of Clarendon of 1164, but we get more detailed informa- 
tion concerning it in the Assizes, or royal ordinances of Clarendon and 
Northampton of 1166 and 1176, respectively. 

Henry II's Reorganization of the Courts and Administrative Re- 
forms. — Aside from the introduction of the jury into general use, there 
were many other instances of Henry's legal and administrative activity. 
He restored the Curia Regis and Exchequer founded by Henry I. 
In 1 1 78 he marked off from the former a body of two clerks and three 
laymen to hear cases in which the Crown was concerned and those of his 
subjects which were too important for the local courts. This is the 
parent of the later courts of King's Bench and Common Pleas. Then 
he marked England anew into circuits and sent out itinerant justices 



n8 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

to represent him in the courts of the hundred and shire. He held 
certain notable inquisitions, or official inquiries, to obtain information 
on important points. One held in 1166 aimed to ascertain the amount 
of military service due from his tenants in chief. Another, in n 70 — 
the Inquisition of Sheriffs — undertook to find out what abuses the 
sheriffs and other officials had been guilty of during the King's four 
years' absence from England. As a result of this inquiry, fifteen were 
turned away, probably not only on account of extortion and oppres- 
sions but because the King wanted to replace them by men more de- 
voted to his interests. In 1 181, by his famous Assize of Arms, he took 
steps to reorganize the military forces in a more serviceable way by 
providing that every free subject of the realm should arm himself 
according to his property. In this way he provided another check on 
the power of the great territorial lords ; he showed his people that he 
was to depend upon their services rather than upon mercenaries. It is 
interesting to notice that in determining each man's liability according 
to property he made use of the sworn testimony of neighbors. One of 
the few unpopular measures that can be laid to his door is his severe 
regulation of the forests. Although really an absolute King, he had the 
wisdom to summon his Great Council and to issue his most important 
enactments in their name. In this way he secured the approval of his 
great tenants in chief by seeming to consult them, and broke down 
their local differences by associating them together in common efforts. 
The Revenue. — As a financier, Henry II was apparently less suc- 
cessful than in any other branch of his administration. He was always 
on the lookout for money, but he was capricious and often despotic in 
its collection. He failed to devise any permanent productive system, 
and it has been estimated that his income was less than that of his 
grandfather. Certainly it was less adequate to his needs. One source 
of additional revenue came from the increased royal courts. The old 
Danegeld ceased to be levied soon after his accession, and in its place 
he imposed a new tax, known as the donum in the counties and the 
auxilium in the towns. Henry I had added another feudal tax known 
as scutage ; it was a tax on each knight's fee, which the King might 
impose in lieu of military service. Henry II greatly increased the 
practice because it gave him funds for mercenaries to use in his con- 
tinental wars. One form of taxation first met in his reign is a tax on 
incomes and personal property. The first levy of this sort was imposed 
in 1 188, and is known as the Saladin Tithe because it called for a tenth 
of the revenues and goods of subjects to assist in the recovery of 
Jerusalem, captured in the previous year by the great Mohammedan 
warrior, Saladin. Again the liability of each person assessed was 
determined by a jury of neighbors. These juries, employed to repre- 
sent the community in judicial and financial business, came, before 
many years had passed, to be called together in one place to assist the 
King and Great Council in the government of the realm. With that 
step parliamentary government began. 



THE RESTORATION OF THE ROYAL POWER 119 

Summary of the Work of Henry II. — Such was the work of Henry 
II. As a ruler of many peoples, French and English, he was able to 
hold together vast dominions against opposing forces. In England 
he achieved great and far-reaching results. He restored, extended, 
and defined the organs of central government and increased the power 
of the Crown against the barons and the Church, and instituted a series 
of legal reforms from which English-speaking people receive benefit 
even to-day. 

FOR ADDITIONAL READING 

Narrative. Ramsay, The Angevin Empire (1903), chs. I-XIV. G. B. Adams, 
Political History, chs. XlI-XVI. Davis, Norman and A ngevin England, chs. VII-IX. 
Kate Norgate, England under the Angevin Kings (1887), I, chs. IX-XI; II, chs. 
I-VI; a full and interesting narrative. Mrs. J. R. Green, Henry II (1892) ; a good 
brief account. The Constitutional side of the subject is treated in Taylor, Origin 
and Growth, I, bk. II, ch. Ill ; Taswell-Langmead, ch. Ill ; Wakeman and Hassall, 
Constitutional Essays, ch. Ill ; Stubbs, English Constitutional History, I, ch. XII ; 
and Pollock and Maitland, I, bk. I, chs. V, VI. R. L. Poole, The Exchequer in the 
Twelfth Century (191 2) ; the most recent and scholarly work on the subject. Refer- 
ences for further reading same as ch. VI. Selections from the sources : Adams and 
Stephens, nos. 12-20. 

THE EARLIER ANGEVIN KINGS, 1154-1272 

Henry 11 = Eleanor of Guienne, d. 1204, 
1154-1189 I divorced wife of Louis VII 



Henry, Richard I, 
d. 1 183 1189-110.9 



Geoffrey = Constance 
d. 1 186 I of Brit- 
tany 

Arthur, 
d. 1203 



John = Isabella Eleanor 



1199- 
1216 



of An- 

gouleme 



Henry III = Eleanor of 



1216-1272 



Provence 



Joan, 

m. Alexander II 

of Scotland 



Eleanor, 

m. Simon de 

Montfort 



Richard, 

King of the 

Romans, 

d. 1271 



Edward I, Edmund Crouchback, Margaret, 

1272-1307 d. 1295 m. Alexander III 

of Scotland 



THE KINGS OF SCOTLAND FROM 1133-1286 

David I (see p. 106) 

I 
Henry, Earl of Huntingdon 

I 



Malcolm IV, 1153-1165 



William the Lion, 1166-1214 



Alexander 11 = Joan, sister of Henry III 
1 2 14-1249 

Alexander III, 

m. Margaret, daughter of Henry III, 

1 249-1 286 



133 



CHAPTER VIII 

RICHARD I (1189-1199) AND THE TRANSITION FROM ABSOLUTE 
TOWARD LIMITED MONARCHY. CONDITIONS AT THE CLOSE 
OF THE TWELFTH CENTURY 

Twofold Nature of Richard's Reign. — On 3 September, 1189, 
Richard, surnamed Cceur de Lion, or the Lion-Hearted, was crowned 
King of England. He was thirty-two years old and had been recog- 
nized as Duke of Aquitaine for eighteen years. The third of Henry 
II's sons, he was the eldest who survived him. " A knight errant " 
had " succeeded a statesman," but the change was not at first very 
marked, because, with the exception of a few months, in 1189 and 1194, 
the new King was absent from England throughout this reign of nearly 
ten years, and the government was carried on by ministers who sought, 
in the main, to continue the policy of Henry II. The reign, then, has 
to be considered from two points of view : one deals with personal 
exploits and adventures, with his part in the Third Crusade, with his 
later imprisonment in Europe, his career in France and its dramatic 
close. The other side relates to points of constitutional advance, 
notably the growth of the representative principle in the system of 
administration employed by the central government in the local 
centers. 

His Personal Character. — Richard had many faults : he was an 
undutiful son, he was lavish in expense, unscrupulous in extortion, 
violent in passion, and had little interest or capacity in problems of 
statesmanship. But much can be said in his extenuation. He lived 
in a rude and stormy age, his father, though he loved his sons and sought 
their advancement, was often both petty and violent in his treatment 
of them, while from their boyhood they were a prey to the intrigues of 
designing persons. Richard, too, had his good impulses and redeem- 
ing features. He was a " splendid savage " with the virtues and vices 
of the medieval hero. He was warm-hearted, generous, and forgiving 
toward his enemies, particularly to his younger brother John, even 
though he was moved as much by contempt as by Christian precept. 
Then much of the money which he squeezed from subjects he devoted, 
not to his personal use, but to a cause that was regarded as the highest 
in which men could engage, the winning of the Holy City from the 
enemies of Christ. " What more can kings desire," sang a troubadour 
of the time, " than the right to save themselves from Hell flames by 
puissant deeds of arms." As a general, both in the tactics of a partic- 



THE CLOSE OF THE TWELFTH CENTURY 121 

ular battle and in the strategy of a campaign, he was regarded as the 
genius of his age. In spite of his knightly figure, — he was two inches 
over six feet, lithe and graceful, — in spite of his courage and warlike 
temperament, he was nervously organized and not robust in health. 
His romantic nature, his fondness for poetry and music, mark him as 
a Frenchman rather than an Englishman. A troubadour, Bertrand 
de Born, gave him the name " Yea and Nay," but his code of good 
faith was as high as the standard of the times. 

Beginning of the Reign. Coronation and Massacre of the Jews. 
— In the settlement following Henry II 's death he forgave and took 
into favor those who had adhered to Henry, while those who had 
taken his own side of the quarrel had their estates confiscated for dis- 
loyalty. In an interview with Philip II of France the two monarchs 
pledged themselves to start for the Holy Land in Lent of the coming 
year. Richard's coronation, a magnificent affair, was marred by a 
cruel massacre of the Jews, who had come to London to present the 
King with gifts. The massacre spread to other parts of the realm, that 
at York being particularly atrocious. The movement against the 
Jews, inspired by hatred of their extortion and by the superstitious zeal 
awakened by the pending crusade, was joined by that class of violent 
and disorderly persons who are always seeking a chance for plunder 
and bloodshed. 

Richard's Departure for the Third Crusade. — Richard began at 
once after his coronation to raise funds for the Crusade and to provide 
for the government during his absence. The faithful Glanville was 
allowed to resign, if he was not actually deprived of the Justiciarship, 
and had to pay a large sum of money into the bargain. His office was 
acquired not long after by William Longchamp, whom Richard had 
first chosen to be Chancellor and Bishop of Ely. He was ugly, stunted, 
and lame, but able, industrious, and thoroughly devoted to his master's 
interests. Securing a commission as papal legate, he became as pow- 
erful in spiritual as in temporal affairs. But he stood almost alone in 
representing the interests of Richard, who made the mistake of leaving 
John and his half-brother Geoffrey, both bitter enemies, in Normandy. 
They soon crossed to England and caused him endless trouble. On 
the other hand, he took with him some of his most trustworthy servants, 
Glanville, Baldwin, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Hubert Walter, 
destined to play a leading role in this and the subsequent reign. Then 
Richard sold everything he could, offices, lands, privileges, and favors. 
Some men pai^i to resign offices, others to acquire them. He announced 
that he would sell London if he could get a purchaser. He excused 
men from accompanying him on the crusade in return for money pay- 
ments, and even sold back to William the Lion of Scotland the con- 
cessions that old Henry had wrung from him at Falaise. Richard 
crossed to France in December, 1 189. It was a formidable task which 
he and Philip had undertaken. Practically all the strongholds of 
Palestine were in the hands of Saladin (or Salah-ed-din, " honor to the 



122 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

faith "), the powerful ruler of Egypt, Syria, and Mesopotamia. Fred- 
erick Barbarossa, Emperor of the Germans, had already lost his life 
in the cause. Proceeding by the way of the Mediterranean from 
Marseilles, Richard was delayed in Sicily and again at Cyprus, and 
did not reach the scene of the fighting until June of 1 191. The French 
King had arrived before him. Although they both succumbed to 
sickness, they managed to secure possession of Acre in July. Shortly 
after Philip returned home. He made his illness the pretext, but he 
was already alienated from Richard, who had thrown over his sister 
Alais and married Berengaria of Navarre. More particularly, he was 
anxious to look after his affairs at home. With his other allies the 
English King marched on Jerusalem and twice managed to get within 
striking distance of the city. But the exhausting march, the heat, the 
dearth of supplies, and the persistent harassing of the enemy had sadly 
reduced the Christian forces, while the commanders were at odds 
among themselves. Much against Richard's will they turned back. 
As he faced the city for the last time he is said to have covered his face 
with his shield, declaring that he was unworthy to look upon the holy 
place which he was unable to recover. 

Treachery of John. Expulsion of Longchamp. — Meantime, very 
disquieting news arrived from England where John, shortly after his 
landing, had become involved in difficulties culminating in open war 
with the royal representative. For a time things went his way. In 
October, 1 191, he brought the Great Council together ; they proceeded 
to depose Longchamp and to declare John heir to the throne, in the 
event of Richard's death without issue. The motives leading up to 
the struggle were petty and personal, but the results were important. 
While the dismissal of the Justiciar, who had made himself very un- 
popular during his master's absence, does not mark the first step in 
the direction of ministerial responsibility, the act certainly added to 
the Council's prestige. Further, the citizens of London, in return for 
aiding the victorious party, apparently received a recognition of their 
" commune," involving considerable rights of self-government. And, 
finally, the Church was encouraged to revive its claims to free canonical 
election. Philip, after his return, sought further to embroil the situa- 
tion by offering to John Richard's continental possessions ; but John's 
mother, Eleanor, induced him to reject the seductive proposal. 

Capture and Imprisonment of Richard. — Richard, after his retreat 
from Jerusalem, succeeded in capturing a caravan train from Egypt 
and in relieving Joppa hard beset by the Saracens. Then he fell ill 
of a fever,. Saladin chivalrously sending him snow and fruit to soothe 
his suffering. After his recovery he arranged a truce for three years 
by which the Christians retained the coast from Acre to Joppa and 
the right of visiting the holy places. In October, 1192, he left Pales- 
tine, never to return again. On his voyage home he landed near the 
head of the Adriatic, and as he wandered through the territories of 
Leopold of Austria whose enmity he had incurred at Acre, he was 



THE CLOSE OF THE TWELFTH CENTURY 123 

taken prisoner. It is said that he was recognized when his servant 
offered gold bezants for food. Leopold was forced to hand him over 
to the Emperor, Henry VI, who, besides itching for ransom, nursed 
a number of grievances against the English King. Philip and John 
were overjoyed at the capture ; but the prospect of a ransom of 150,000 
marks and Richard's promise to do homage for England and his other 
lands induced the Emperor to agree to his release. There seems to 
be little basis for the beautiful story of his discovery in captivity by 
his favorite minstrel Blondel. In April of 1193 the Queen mother 
and the Justiciar, Walter of Coutances, 1 began to collect the money 
for the ransom ; they demanded an aid from clergy and laity of one 
fourth of rents and movables without exemption even of church plate. 
Orders like the Cistercians who had no plate had to give wool instead. 

Richard in England, March to May, 1194. — John and Philip were 
baffled in their efforts to prolong Richard's captivity and seize his 
kingdom, for the ransom was paid. Though Richard was received 
with greatest enthusiasm by his subjects, he only remained in the coun- 
try from March to May, 1194, and employed most of his time in selling 
again the offices and honors already sold to provide for the Third Cru- 
sade. Disloyalty furnished him a good pretext, but he spared the lands 
of John, and when his brother crawled at his feet, told him he was but 
a child who had been ill-advised, and gave him a good dinner. In 
addition to sales and confiscations, Richard levied heavy taxes to carry 
on a war of revenge against Philip, and departed never to return again. 

The Administration of Hubert Walter, 1194-1198. — For the next 
four years the Government was in the hands of Hubert Walter, Arch- 
bishop of Canterbury and successor of Walter of Coutances as Justiciar. 
He was a nephew of the great Glanville and had been trained in the 
methods of Henry II. Intrusted with the task of keeping order and 
supplying Richard's constant demands for money, the credit for the 
constitutional and administrative progress of the period is due to him. 
Like so many of the notable prelates of the next four centuries, he was 
primarily secular in his interests. Lavish, and even charged with 
extortion and avarice, he did much to conciliate the middle classes, to 
give the small landowner a share in the management of the shires, 
to extend the jury system and make it more representative, and to 
confer self-government on important towns. 2 His instructions to the 
itinerant justices in 1194 and in 1198 introduced important reforms. 
The justices in 1194 were ordered to provide for the election, in each 
shire, of four crowners or coroners to decide what were Crown pleas, 
and to reserve them for the royal judges. The suitors, or those en- 

1 The successor of Longchamp. 

2 In 1 194 a charter, the oldest surviving, was granted to Lincoln, allowing the 
citizens to elect their own magistrates. In this same year, and again in 1199, a 
charter was granted to London : in neither is the commune mentioned which John 
conceded in 1191, but the citizens apparently kept their mayor; for Magna Carta 
in 1 2 1 5 confirms their right to elect such an official. 






I24 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

titled to attend the county court, were to be the electors. The Arti- 
cles of the Eyre of this year, together with those of 1198, provided that 
the presentment juries hitherto appointed by the sheriff should be se- 
lected by four knights chosen in the county court. Moreover, these 
juries who formerly confined their activities to criminal accusations, were 
instructed to investigate and report on all sorts of royal business. In 
1 195 Hubert issued an order that every one over fifteen years of age 
should take an oath to keep the peace before knights appointed to 
act as custodians of the peace ; as yet these knights had no judicial 
power, but they were predecessors of the later justices of the peace who 
came to play such an important part in English history. Most of 
the Justiciar's other measures were not so successful. He tried, for 
instance, to introduce a uniform system of weights and measures and 
to prevent the frauds of cloth workers and cloth merchants. In 1 197 
Hugh, Bishop of Lincoln, refused, in a Great Council, to contribute 
to a sum to equip three hundred knights to serve abroad for a year. 
There was no substantial ground for Hugh's action, knights were sup- 
posed to serve for forty days, and this was merely asking for a less 
number for a larger period, which, amounted to the same thing. But 
the King and Justiciar had to bow to public opinion, and a precedent 
of successful resistance to an unpopular tax was established^ In 11 98 
a carucage of five shillings a carucate was levied. 1 In this case the 
juries of assessment were elected in the county court. Meanwhile, in 
1 196, Hubert Walter had to deal with a demonstration in London led 
by William Fitz Osbert, or " Longbeard," described as an advocate of 
the poor. Mad with zeal for justice, in his position of alderman he at- 
tacked his colleagues for favoring the rich at the expense of the lesser 
sort. Alarmed at his agitation, they charged him in their turn with 
sedition and a conspiracy to sack the houses of the wealthy. He took 
sanctuary in the Bow Church, but Hubert Walter smoked him out 
by setting the church on fire, and dragged him to Tyburn gallows . 
at a horse's tail. The monks of Canterbury, who owned the church, 
complained to the Pope charging the Justiciar with sacrilege. Inno- 
cent III demanded that he give up his secular office, and Richard 
I, incensed at the successful resistance of Hugh of Lincoln and be- 
cause the carucage of 11 98 did not bring in a more satisfactory revenue, 
agreed to remove him. Hubert Walter was succeeded by Geoffrey 
Fitzpeter in the office of Justiciar ; but he reappeared again as Chan- 
cellor in the next reign. 

Richard's Death, 1199. Results of the Reign. — Richard spent his 
few remaining years fighting King Philip of France. It was in the 
course of these wars, mainly over boundaries, that he built his famous 
Chateau Gaillard, a " Saucy Castle," on the Seine. In 1199 he was 
mortally wounded by the bolt of a crossbow while besieging the Castle 

1 This comparatively new tax stood in place of the old Danegeld and could be 
more exactly calculated. A carucate was the amount of land which an eight-ox 
team could plough in a single season and was estimated at 100 acres. 



THE CLOSE OF THE TWELFTH CENTURY 125 

of Chaluz belonging to his vassal the Viscount of Limoges. A peasant 
plowing the land of the Viscount had turned up a golden ornament 
to which Richard as overlord laid claim. The archer who had 
wounded him was brought before the dying King. " It is thou," said 
he, " who didst slay my father and my brothers, now slay me also. 
I do not fear thy tortures." The chivalrous King pardoned him, but 
he was afterwards, by the order of the King's sister, mutilated, flayed, 
and torn asunder by wild horses. Richard's worst traits, his hot tem- 
per and his avarice, grew on him in his later years. 1 The charge that 
he constantly neglected English interests for those beyond the seas can 
to some extent be met. While the highest religious ideals of the age 
prompted him to go on the Third Crusade, reasons, likewise of weight 
from the contemporary standpoint, determined the wars with France. 
He regarded his French possessions as an essential part of his kingdom. 
Commercially they might have been of as much value in French as in 
English hands ; but they yielded large revenues to their overlord ; and 
Richard could not see, any more than his successors could see, that they 
were a source of weakness rather than strength to England. Yet the 
wars which he waged abroad contributed to English constitutional 
development, the need of money developed the machinery of represen- 
tation, and at the same time awakened forces of opposition which later 
made use of this machinery against the Crown. 

The Secular Character of the Period of Henry II and His Sons. — 
Perhaps the most striking feature of the age of Henry II and his sons 
is its worldly or secular character. The death of Becket brought to 
an abrupt pause an intellectual and moral revival which, under the 
influence of the higher clergy and the monks, had shown its force as 
early as the reign of Henry I. Some scientists there were, like the 
learned Adelhard of Bath who had translated Euclid, and written a 
work on the Causes of Things (De Rerum Causis), and like Robert of 
Crickland, who abridged Pliny's Natural History. But science was 
mainly subordinated to theology and, for that reason, made little 
progress. Partly owing to the number of quacks, notably in medicine 
and astrology, but most of all because of the superstition of the age, 
men of science were under suspicion and justified their pursuit of for- 
bidden knowledge by curious apologies, generally to the effect that it 
aided in the comprehension of theological subjects. One plea is 
unique : " Science is useful in this vale of misery because it teaches 
us to live rightly in the midst of this perverse and wicked generation." 
At first, too, classical scholars had to take an apologetic attitude; 
we are told that " even in the classics there were thoughts which de- 
served the attention of the serious mind." But although Paris and 
Chartres were centers of classical learning, and John of Salisbury, 
the foremost scholar of his time, was an enthusiast on the subject, it 

1 Fulk de Neuilly once bade him give in marriage his three evil daughters, pride, 
avarice, and luxury. He replied with biting wit that he would give his pride to the 
Templars, his avarice to the Cistercians, and his luxury to the bishops. 



126 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

had to yield the palm to law and logic. English schools were foundec 
slowly and were mostly connected ' with cathedrals, monasteries, and 
parish churches. Chief among these latter was that which Archbishop 
Theobald gathered about him at Canterbury. Here were gathered 
together a circle of young men of promising legal and political talent. 
Thomas Becket was of course the most famous of them all, but John of 
Salisbury was the finest scholarly product. His Policraticus or 
Statesmen's Guide Book deals primarily with principles of govern- 
ment and philosophy; but many digressions make it practically 
an encyclopedia. Having incurred Henry's anger, he left the country 
and in 1176 was made Bishop of Chartres. It was Theobald who in- 
troduced the study of the civil law into England ; he brought over 
Vacarius, who was silenced by Stephen. 

Learning at Henry II 's Court. — In spite of the materialistic and 
bigoted character of the age, Henry II and many of his family were 
well-educated, alert, and interested in learning. This is true even of 
John, the blackest of the dark sheep ; for the story that he got this 
reputation from having once borrowed a book of the Abbot of St. 
Albans is unjust. Many learned men, though more particularly his- 
torians and legal scholars, surrounded the King. There was much 
intercourse with foreign countries, diplomatic, ecclesiastical, and 
scholarly. Many letters have survived to attest this. While they 
contain much news, they are, unfortunately, polished and conventional 
rather than gossipy and spontaneous. 

Decline in Moral and Religious Enthusiasm. — The number of 
lettered laymen in the royal service was greater than ever before. 
Yet the clergy continued to manifest more interest in law, politics, 
and administration than in the pursuits proper to their sacred calling. 
The same mundane spirit was manifest in the country at large. The 
monastic revival was beginning to spend its force. Even during the 
stormy nineteen years of Stephen's reign, one hundred and fifteen reli- 
gious houses had been founded ; during the thirty-five years that Henry 
II ruled, there were only one hundred and thirteen. This decrease in 
the number of new foundations was accompanied by a decline in morals 
and religious fervor. The Cistercians, for example, were accused 
of pride and avarice, sins perhaps more lamentable than the more 
customary monastic failings, sloth and gluttony. One or two efforts, 
at least, to extend canonical rules of life and to widen the area of reli- 
gious education failed. Such standards as existed were rather 
revivals from the past. The Carthusians, who were striving for re- 
form on the Continent, only came to England in the last years of 
Henry II, and their houses were few and unimportant. 

Legal and Historical Writing. — As one might expect, the writings 
of the period were mainly of a legal and historical character. In the 
reign of Henry II appeared a Treatise concerning the Laws and Cus- 
toms of the Kingdom of England, notable as the first systematic treat- 
ment of the subject ever produced in the country. It was formerly 



THE CLOSE OF THE TWELFTH CENTURY 127 

ascribed to Henry's great Justiciar, Ranulf de Glanville, though it is 
quite possible that the author was his nephew Hubert Walter. While 
historical writing was at a standstill during the first half of the reign, 
the murder of Thomas Becket called forth no less than ten biographies 
of the martyr. In 11 72 began the so-called " Chronicle of Benedict 
of Peterborough " entitled the Acts of King Henry and King Richard. 
It was probably written by Richard Fitzneal, Treasurer, and Bishop 
of London, to whom we owe the Dialogue of the Exchequer, describing 
the organization and procedure of that celebrated financial body. 
The Acts of King Henry, and its continuation by Roger of Hoveden 
form the most valuable record of this period. This and the other 
late twelfth century chronicles differ greatly from the earlier ones : 
they are annals, bare notes of events ; but they are written by men in 
the midst of affairs, busy statesmen and diplomats, and not by solitary 
monks. Then they reach out beyond the boundaries of England and 
deal with what is going on in Europe and with the Orient which the 
Crusades had opened to western Christendom. However, there is one 
striking exception. The only work that is really historical, that tries 
to grasp events and to interpret their meaning, William of Newburgh's 
History of English Affairs, was the production of a canon in a remote 
and lonely Augustinian priory in Yorkshire. His comments on the 
men and affairs of his time are marked by excellent judgment. More- 
over, he was the first to denounce the mass of fable which that unblush- 
ing romancer Geoffrey of Monmouth passed off as history, a fact which 
has led a learned scholar to name him "the father of historical criticism." 
Walter Map and Giraldus Cambrensis. — Two writers who throw 
vivid lights on the conditions in which they lived were Walter Map and 
Gerald de Barri. The former was a versatile, many-sided man of 
great learning. His only surviving work, Courtiers' Triflings, is an 
interesting scrapbook on all sorts of subjects with the dominating aim 
of satirizing the Church and clergy and the follies and vices of the 
court, as John of Salisbury had, with a more thundering voice, de- 
nounced them in his Statesmen'' s Guide Book some years before. 
Gerald de Barri, or Gerald the Welshman (Giraldus Cambrensis) as 
he is more commonly called, wrote a valuable and lively account of 
the conquest of Ireland, as well as topographical descriptions both of 
that country and of his native Wales. Although his works on Ireland 
are manifestly hostile to the natives and full of wild and horrible tales, 
they are one of the few historical sources for the period. Gerald pro- 
duced various other vivacious and racy works on many subjects, and 
has been called the " father of English popular literature." These 
works were all in Latin. First in the reign of John, Layamon, a simple 
Worcestershire priest, in his Brut, or legendary history of Brutus and 
Britain, set himself " to tell the noble deeds of Englishmen " in the 
English tongue. This was the first seed of a noble national literary 
revival which came to fruition in Chaucer's immortal Canterbury Tales 
two centuries later. 



128 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

The Rise of the Universities. — In the last years of Henry II Eng- 
land's oldest and best known seat of learning , Oxford, came into 
prominence, although it was not formally known as a " University " 
till the reign of his grandson Henry III. One of the most notable fea- 
tures of the twelfth century is the rise of the universities. The earliest 
teachers, in England as elsewhere, were in schools attached to monas- 
teries, cathedrals, and occasionally to a royal court. Gradually, how- 
ever, groups of students began to gather in this place or that to hear 
some man famous for learning or eloquence. As time went on, groups, 
sometimes of masters, sometimes of scholars, organized themselves 
into corporations or gilds called universities. Originally meaning 
any body of men ina collective capacity, the term universitas came at 
length to be restricted to those combined together for learning or 
teaching. The aim of such organizations was to regulate conditions 
of membership and methods of instruction. At Bologna, the uni- 
versitas was one of scholars, at Paris it was composed of masters. 
The University of Oxford traces its origin to an expulsion of English 
students from Paris about 1167. There had been teachers at Oxford 
before this date, but they had taught merely in a private capacity. 1 
In 1 186, Giraldus, who read his Topography of Ireland to the students of 
Oxford, speaks of doctors of different faculties and of scholars of various 
ranks, rich and poor. In 1192, it is said that the clerks were so nu- 
merous that the city could scarcely hold them. At Cambridge, too, 
there are evidences in the twelfth century of teaching given in con- 
nection with religious foundations. The University proper seems to 
owe its origin to one of the town and gown conflicts common in early 
times, which led to a migration from Oxford in 1209, though it was not 
till 1318 that the younger institution secured formal recognition. 

Conditions at the Universities. — The conditions were at first very 
primitive. The students lodged with the townsmen, and the masters 
lectured wherever they could, sometimes in the open air with their 
classes sitting about them on the bare ground. During the course of 
the thirteenth century houses began to be established for communities 
of poor scholars. These have developed into the modern colleges 
with organized bodies of masters, fellows, and scholars. Studies 
were grouped under various heads — liberal arts, theology, law, and 
in some universities medicine, each with its faculty or recognized hier- 
archy of teachers and governors. The faculty of arts gave instruction 
in the seven liberal arts, divided into the trivium, which included 
grammar, rhetoric, and dialectics, and the quadrivium including 
geometry, arithmetic, music, and astronomy. 

Growth of Towns since the Conquest. — The progress of boroughs 
and cities was marked by new and important stages during the reign 
of the sons of Henry II. It should be recalled that, while their origin 

1 The story that the famous canonist Vacarius, whom Theobald called in and 
whom Stephen silenced, lectured there rests on no adequate evidence. He prob- 
ably taught at Canterbury. 



THE CLOSE OF THE TWELFTH CENTURY 129 

is obscure and by no means uniform, already before the Conquest 
they were distinguished by certain well-recognized characteristics : 
they were walled ; they were under a special peace ; they enjoyed cer- 
tain market rights ; and they paid a lump sum known as firtna burgi 
(or farm of the borough) in place of the dues and taxes customarily 
collected by the sheriff. While the Conquest subjected them to in- 
creasing oppressions and exactions, the greater prosperity which it 
brought in its train, from wider markets and the advent of foreign 
traders, enabled them to purchase protection and privileges from kings 
strong enough to maintain them. The concessions thus secured were 
recorded in charters which either confirmed old liberties and privi- 
leges or conceded new ones. Those to London were the most impor- 
tant and were much in advance of the others, for which they serve 
to a large extent as models. William I's grant to London, though in 
legal form, was not, strictly speaking, a charter ; it was little more than 
a promise in general terms that the liberties and property of the city 
should not be disturbed. Henry I, however, in 1 100, granted a charter 
containing distinct concessions ; in return for £ 300 a year he aban- 
doned all revenues from Middlesex, in other words the farm of the 
county; he allowed the citizens to appoint their sheriff and to hold 
their court ; he exempted them from trial by battle, from special tolls 
and exactions as well as from a number of general imposts ; and fines, 
or amercements, were limited in amount. No notable gains came 
under Henry II. He granted many charters ; but as a rule they did 
nothing more than confirm liberties enjoyed in his grandfather's time. 
He was jealous of the growth of any jurisdiction that might lessen the 
power and revenues of the central government ; while he had no need, 
as his neighbors the French kings had, to nurse the growth of the 
municipalities as a counterpoise to the feudal nobles. Nay, more, 
certain instances occur where he caused men to be fined for setting up 
organizations to control local government or trade without a royal 
license. The reign of Richard I, however, marked a distinct stage 
in the progress of English municipal autonomy. In the first seven 
years of his reign no less than nine charters were granted. The main 
aim was doubtless to get money, though some see in his policy an 
intelligent recognition of the signs of the times. Perhaps the most 
interesting concession was one in which he had no part. It was made 
to London by John and Walter of Coutances, in 1191, to secure the 
aid of the City against William Longchamp. It took the form of the 
grant of a commune, or communa, an organization well known in France 
but as yet new to England. A commune in the general sense meant 
any union for the advance of civic liberties ; in the special sense it 
means a collective feudal person, a corporate organization with the 
legal position and independence of a feudal vassal. Whether London 
was granted a commune in the restricted sense, on the French model, 
has never been determined. If so, the organization did not survive long 
into the thirteenth century. It was not confirmed by Richard, nor 



130 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

by John himself, until the barons inserted a clause on the subject in 
Magna Carta. But that clause was included in subsequent reissues 
of the Great Charter. The right to have a mayor, however, dates 
from ngi. Henry FitzAylwine, the first mayor, held office for life. 
By Magna Carta the right of annual election was conceded. In the 
Lord Mayor, the board of aldermen, and the common council subse- 
quently added, the government of the city is vested to-day. 

The Gilds. — Side by side with the municipal governments other 
organizations grew up with the primary aim of controlling commerce, 
trade, and industry. These gilds, as they were called, were in the orig- 
inal medieval sense private voluntary societies for mutual help and 
pleasure. Some were merely social or religious in character. The 
gilds merchant, the aim of which was to further the trading privileges 
of members and to exclude from competition all non-members, date 
from the eleventh century and became very numerous in the twelfth. 
In course of time these gilds merchant came to control a larger num- 
ber of the town governments, and even in many cases to take their 
place. They were wealthy and exclusive bodies ; it was this fact that 
led the handicraftsmen, according to a widely accepted view, to or- 
ganize associations of their own known as craft gilds. The earliest 
known body of this sort is that of the weavers, who received a charter 
from Henry I. In the course of the twelfth, and the following century, 
the bakers, the fullers, the grocers, the butchers, the clothiers, and 
many other mysteries or crafts came to have their separate organiza- 
tions. The central government and the municipal authorities seem 
to have looked on their growth with some disfavor, or were, at least, 
very jealous in guarding their rights of granting them licenses. Henry 
II imposed fines on no less than eighteen adulterine or unlicensed 
crafts in a single year ; though if they paid their fines, he made no at- 
tempt to disturb them. John was more shifty. In 1201 the citizens 
of London bought from him the privilege of turning out the weaver's 
gild. Having received the money, he turned to the weavers and got 
them to pay him to take them under the royal protection, thus nullify- 
ing the privilege which he had just sold. It would seem that the oppo- 
sition existing between the aristocratic merchants and the humbler 
craftsmen has been exaggerated. At any rate, a common motive of 
the latter in organizing craft gilds was not so much hostility to the 
gilds merchant as a desire to raise their own standards of production 
and conditions of labor. London never had a gild merchant ; but her 
craft gilds grew in wealth and importance, and, under the name of 
livery companies, both craftsmen and merchants came to take an im- 
portant share in the government of the city. 

Markets and Fairs. Foreign Trade. Growth of London. — With 
the growth of trade and industry there was also an increase in the 
number of markets where local products were disposed of, and of fairs, 
held at less frequent intervals, to which people, foreigners as well as 
natives, came from far and near to buy and sell. Naturally, there was 



THE CLOSE OF THE TWELFTH CENTURY 131 

much rivalry between neighboring markets, involving disputes as to 
their respective rights. Some were settled peaceably, in other cases 
the contending parties r-esorted to club law. An amusing encounter 
took place in 1201 when the brothers of St. Edmunds at Bury came with 
six hundred armed men to Lakenheath, where their rivals, the monks 
of Ely, had set up a market. Their prior was so frightened that he 
" would not come out of his house " to prevent the seizure of his goods 
which he only recovered later through the Exchequer. There was 
also rivalry between the great seaports, between Bristol and Chester, 
for instance, for the control of the trade of Dublin. London at this 
time was steadily increasing its trade relations with the merchant 
cities of northern Germany and the low countries. In 1194 Richard, 
supplementing an earlier concession of Henry II, granted to the 
citizens of Cologne a gild hall in the city, and probably the hall, 
known from the fourteenth century as the Steelyard, 1 which came to 
be the headquarters of the Hanseatic merchants, dates from this 
period. With the extension of trade and the increase of wealth con- 
siderable building was undertaken. The first English " building act," 
in the form of an ordinance of the London Council, was promulgated 
in 1 212. It is very striking for its precautions against fire. Wooden 
houses were to be replaced by stone at dangerous points such as the 
market place. Thenceforth no thatched roofs were to be allowed, 
only tiles, wooden shingles, and lead might be used. A tub of water 
must be placed before each building, and cooks and bakers might not 
work at night. About the same time, the wooden bridge across the 
Thames was burned and was rebuilt of stone. 

Rural Life. — Among the rural classes the customary services seem 
to have grown lighter than in the period immediately following the 
Conquest, and the tendency is more marked to substitute rents in 
money and kind in their place. If these rents are somewhat heavier 
than in the past, it was due to the fact that the tillers of the soil were 
beginning to share in the general prosperity. Even at that, some pay- 
ments were successfully resisted, as when the cellarer and the men of 
the Abbot of Bury had to give up a forcible attempt to collect reap- 
silver, by a body of old women who berated them with hard words 
and threatened them with saucepans. Some villeins rose from the 
ranks, like the great scholar Grosseteste, who, a generation or two 
later, became Bishop of Lincoln. In general, however, the lot of the 
villein was a hard one, and there was ordinarily little hope of bettering 
it. It is only occasionally that one hears of a mild, generous landlord 
like St. Hugh of Lincoln. The Assize of Clarendon contains a pro- 
vision to prevent serfs from taking orders, while the Franciscan friars 
who came to England early in the reign of Henry III were forbidden 
by their rules to admit them. They were occasionally sold apart 
from the land as late as the thirteenth century. Toward the end of 

1 It got its name from the fact fchat here cloth was marked with a leaden seal to 
show that it was properly dyed. 



i 3 2 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

the twelfth it is recorded that the Canons of Osney bought one man for 
twenty shillings, another for four pounds and a horse. Leprosy and 
skin diseases prevailed. Lack of drainage and ventilation, the diffi- 
culty of communication, and the necessity of living on salted fish and 
meats made the winters in the rural districts cheerless and unhealthy. 
In spite of hard conditions, Henry II and the ministers who carried 
on his work had wrought well ; their administration and judicial re- 
forms, aided by time, had welded Saxon and Norman into a united 
English people. By their foreign policy the King and his son Richard 
had secured for England a recognized place among the powers of Eu- 
rope. 

FOR ADDITIONAL READING 

Narrative. Ramsay, Angevin Empire, chs. XV-XXII. Davis, England under 
the Normans and Angevins, chs. XI, XII. Adams, Political History, chs. XVII, 
XVIII. Norgate, England under the Angevin Kings, chs. VII-IX. Stubbs, 
Historical Introduction to the Rolls Series (ed. Arthur Hassall, 1902). This volume, 
made up of Bishop Stubbs' introduction to certain of the Chronicles and Memorials 
of Great Britain, commonly known as the "Rolls Series," embodies some of the 
soundest work on the period. 

Constitutional. Taylor, Origin and Growth, I, bk. II, ch. IV, sec. 3. Taswell- 
Langmead, ch. III. 

Social and intellectual conditions. Traill, Social England, I, ch. III. Norgate, 
II, ch. II. Stubbs, Lectures on Mediaeval and Modern History (1900), VI, VII ; two 
brilliant and learned lectures on "Learning and Literature at the Court of Henry 
II. " Bateson, Mediaeval England, pt. II. The standard work on the universities 
is H. Rashdall, The Universities of the Middle Ages (2 vols., 1895); II, pt. II, is 
devoted to the English universities to 1500, with particular reference to Oxford. 
For a brief account of the origin and development of boroughs see D. J. Medley, 
Manual of English Constihdional History (3d ed., 1902, sec. 61). 

The Church. Wakeman, chs. VI, VII. W. R. W. Stephens, ch. X. 

Selections from the sources. Adams and Stephens, no. ai. 



CHAPTER IX 

THE REIGN OF JOHN (1199-1216). THE LOSS OF NORMANDY, THE 
QUARREL WITH THE CHURCH, THE BARONIAL REVOLT 
AND MAGNA CARTA 

Reign of John and Henry III. — In 1199, after years of intrigue 
against his brother Richard and against Richard's next lineal heir, 
Arthur, son of Geoffrey, John at length attained the crown. His 
reign and that of his son, Henry III, mark the most important consti- 
tutional crisis in England's history. Ever since William the Norman 
overcame the Saxon Harold, the monarchy, save for a temporary lapse 
under Stephen, had been marching along the road of absolutism. In 
spite of Richard's absenteeism and greed, in spite of the forces of oppo- 
sition which were silently shaping themselves against the royal power, 
his able ministers were apparently maintaining it as strong as Henry II 
had left it. The King's Courts were supreme over all others, the 
sovereign drew his revenues both from feudal dues and national taxes, 
and commanded the military services of feudal vassals as well as of 
subjects. The people, as a whole, still preferred the rule of a strong 
if exacting sovereign to the manifold and capricious exactions of many 
lords. It looked as if the thirteenth century might witness a growth 
in the same direction which had been so marked in the twelfth. Yet 
John was not long on the throne before a storm arose which nearly 
shook him from his seat, a storm which continued to rage at intervals 
through the following reign. The barons who led the fight failed in 
their effort to transfer the balance of power from the Crown to their 
own body. Nevertheless the result was momentous. John's grand- 
son, Edward I, found it necessary to recognize limitations to the royal 
power which transformed an absolute into a constitutional monarchy. 
Moreover, during the course of the struggle an organization came into 
being that was gradually to voice the will of the nation in such limita- 
tions, sharing in the government and ultimately controlling it. This 
was the English Parliament. 

The actors in the great movement were not consciously contending 
for what they brought about. The battle, or series of battles, was 
fought on specific issues, and many of the men who led the attack 
against John and his son were petty or even selfish in their aims. Al- 
though the people suffered, and joined in the resistance, the leaders 
were the barons and the bishops aiming to safeguard their rights, 
chiefly feudal, recognized by coronation oaths and conceded and de- 

133 



i 3 4 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

rived by grants of successive sovereigns, notably by the famous 
charter of Henry I. The chief responsibility for precipitating the 
crisis must be laid at the door of King John. A mere baronial move- 
ment might not have been formidable, as past experience had proved. 
But John, by his lack of foresight, his cruelty, oppression, and vicious- 
ness, managed to antagonize all three classes of his subjects, and, by 
uniting the opposition, to insure its triumph. His son, a more worthy 
man, by his arbitrariness, his extravagance, and his favor to foreigners, 
reanimated the opposition and widened the breach. To some degree 
circumstances, rather than either John or Henry, were to blame ; 
the existing sources of supply were inadequate to meet the growing 
needs of the State, and in order to secure sufficient revenues it was 
necessary to demand more than the customary services and taxes, a 
demand that was bound to be resisted. To increase the revenues 
and meet the inevitable discontent, to mold the representatives of 
the subjects as willing instruments of the royal will, would have been 
a difficult problem for any ruler. 

Character of John. — Contemporary writers were nearly unani- 
mous in their denunciation of John. To Matthew of Paris " he was a 
tyrant rather than a king, a destroyer rather than a ruler, an oppressor 
of his own and a favorer of strangers, a lion to his subjects, a lamb to 
his enemies and foreigners." William of Newburgh described him as 
" nature's enemy," while Giraldus Cambrensis declared " that of all 
tyrants of history " he " was the very worst." Truly he was " burden- 
some to rich and poor." There was no truth or sincerity in him. He 
was a " mean reproduction of all the vices of his ancestors, with many 
others besides," and " through thirty years of public life, we search 
in vain for any good deed, one kindly act to set against his countless 
offendings." A younger son, greedy of lands and power, he plotted 
against his father and against his brother. He was ungrateful to 
them and to the ministers who faithfully served him. One glaring 
case among many occurred in 1 209, when he allowed William Marshall 
to swear allegiance to the King of France and then tried to bring him 
to judgment for treason. He was cruel, too, beyond measure. He 
had the archdeacon of Norwich seized, loaded with chains, and crushed 
beneath a cope of lead for warning men against serving him when he 
was excommunicated by the Pope. He is said to have wrung 10,000 
marks from a rich Jew of Bristol by causing a tooth to be drawn every 
day until the unfortunate man yielded at the end of a week. John 
was subject to attacks of rage when, it was said, he was so con- 
torted with fury that he could scarcely be recognized. When forced 
to concede Magna Carta, though he appeared gay and smiling in public, 
when he was alone " he gnashed his teeth, rolled his eyes, caught up 
sticks and straws, and gnawed them like a wild man." He was fond 
of the pleasures of the chase and excessive in his forest exactions. He 
was very extravagant and self-indulgent, he gambled heavily, he 
adorned himself with jewels and fine clothes, he loved rich wines and 



THE REIGN OF JOHN 135 

costly meats. He led a sinful life and sought to atone for it by alms- 
giving. Some kings in history, equally immoral personally, have ruled 
ably and well. He manifested an ill-timed levity on solemn occasions 
and was often strangely apathetic at crises. This gained him the title 
of " John Softsword." When the French were despoiling his terri- 
tories in the winter of 1202 he kept the Christmas season " faring sump- 
tuously every day and prolonging his slumbers till dinner-time." Yet 
he was personally brave and not unskilled in arms. At times he 
showed a certain fitful energy, and was possessed of a certain low cun- 
ning. But his lack of foresight, his neglect of opportunity, and his 
rashness led him to situations, political, diplomatic, and military, 
which almost invariably ended in defeat. The historian Green's 
characterization of him as " the most able and ruthless of the Ange- 
vins " cannot be sustained. 

The Three Critical Events of John's Reign. — Many circumstances 
combined to assist John in attaining the throne. He was thirty-two 
years old, in the prime of his manhood. Arthur was a boy of twelve, 
and, more than once, a child had been passed over in favor of a mature 
member of the royal family. Moreover, Richard had designated John 
as his successor. The three leading Englishmen of the time, Hubert 
Walter, Geoffrey Fitzpeter, and William Marshall, as well as his 
mother Eleanor, lent him the personal weight of their support, and 
England, Normandy, and Aquitaine declared for him. On Ascension 
Day, 27 May, 1199, he was crowned at Westminster Abbey by Arch- 
bishop Hubert Walter. Within a few months Arthur was obliged 
to do homage, and Maine and Anjou, which had hitherto held out for 
him, recognized John as lord. But a combination of impolicy and mis- 
haps soon plunged the new King into difficulties. Three successive 
crises mark the remainder of the reign. First, in a struggle with 
Arthur, backed by Philip of France, though he was able to dispose of 
his nephew, he lost all his continental possessions except Aquitaine. 
Next, in a conflict with the Papacy he ended by making a complete 
submission to Rome. Finally, a series of breaches with his subjects 
came to a head in a great combination of all classes headed by the barons 
which resulted in the great charter of liberties known as Magna Carta. 

I. The French War and the Loss of Normandy. — Even after 
John had been recognized as King the situation across the Channel 
was fraught with menace. Arthur had submitted, but he was still 
not without supporters. Philip Augustus, one of the most astute 
kings who ever ruled France, wanted to extend his power at John's 
expense and was quite ready to use the claims of his rival as a pretext. 
Moreover, there was a growing sentiment in parts of northern France 
against continuing under English rule. In the face of all this, John 
committed the first of a series of blunders which led to the triumph 
of Philip. In the year 1200 he divorced his wife Isabel (sometimes 
called Avice) of Gloucester and married Isabel of Angouleme. By 
this act he antagonized not only the powerful family of his discarded 



136 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

wife, but a large section of the Poitevin nobles as well ; for the new 
Isabel had been betrothed to Hugh of Lusignan, one of their number. 
In order to anticipate any resistance from the family of Hugh, John 
seized some of their castles, charged their supporters with treason, 
and offered to fight them with hired champions. The Lusignans 
appealed to Philip, who, early in 1202, summoned John to appear be- 
fore a court of his peers at Paris. On his disregard of the summons, 
Philip declared his fiefs forfeited, and proceeded to make war on his 
Norman possessions. Intending to keep Normandy for himself, he 
invested Arthur with Brittany, Anjou, Maine, and Touraine. John 
in one of his spasmodic bursts of energy captured his nephew while 
he was impiously besieging his aged grandmother in the castle of Mire- 
beau in Poitou. After Hubert de Burgh refused to obey the King's 
order to put out the eyes of the young prisoner, John, so the story goes, 
came in person to the castle of Rouen, whither Arthur had been re- 
moved, and had him stabbed and thrown into the Seine, April, 1203. 
Whether true or not, Arthur disappeared and rumor attributed the 
crime to John. Without formally charging him with the murder of 
his nephew, Philip continued the war with added vigor. One by one, 
John's strongholds opened their gates to him, and, one by one, John's 
vassals came over to his side. In March, 1 204, weakened by assaults 
and the battering of its walls, Chateau Gaillard, the strongest fortress 
in Christendom, finally yielded. On 24 June, Rouen, "theuncon- 
quered city," surrendered, and the great duchy of Normandy passed 
out of English hands. Maine, Anjou, and Touraine had already been 
secured by the French, and Poitou soon followed. Aquitaine held to 
England, partly because the Gascon merchants feared to lose their 
wine trade, partly because they were as alien to the King of France as 
to the King of England, and clung to the latter from the likelihood of 
a less rigorous rule. 

The loss of the French possessions was of tremendous significance. 
Withdrawn from their Norman support, the English kings were brought 
" face to face with their subjects," while the barons, on their side, 
broken off from their Norman connections, were drawn more and more 
to make common cause with the English people. It would have been 
well if Aquitaine had gone too ; since, thereby, future troubles, and 
possibly the great war which occupied the two succeeding centuries, 
might have been avoided. For John the loss in prestige was immense, 
and had no small share in bringing to a head the movement resulting 
in the crowning event of his reign. This was foreshadowed when, in 
the spring of 1205, he called for a levy to recover his lost dominions 
and was forced to give it up in the teeth of a strenuous popular resist- 
ance led by Hubert Walter and William Marshall. 

II. The Disputed Archiepiscopal Election, 1205. — The death of 
the great Archbishop this same year was most unfortunate for John, 
and for two reasons. In the first place, it robbed him of an experi- 
enced and faithful councilor whom he could ill spare, though, in view 






THE REIGN OF JOHN 137 

of their recent quarrel, he failed to realize this, and hailed the news with 
the joyful exclamation : " Now am I for the first time King of Eng- 
land." More important still, the attempt to fill the vacant see gave 
rise to complications which led to the King's second great humiliation — 
the submission to the Papacy. The younger monks of Christ Church, 
Canterbury, began the trouble by meeting in secret and choosing 
the sub-prior Reginald as Hubert's successor. But the King, in spite 
of any forms of free election which had been conceded, had always 
claimed a deciding voice in the selection of bishops and archbishops. 
Moreover, in the case of Canterbury, the bishops of the province had 
usually, since the reign of Henry I, been consulted. In the course of 
the dispute all three parties sent appeals to Rome. The Pope, at this 
time Innocent III, one of the greatest statesmen and diplomats who 
has ever occupied the papal chair, was constantly alert to extend the 
powers of his office. In spite of the fact that the majority of the monks, 
fearing the royal wrath, had in the meantime held a new election and 
chosen a man put forward by John, Innocent made no attempt to de- 
cide between the rival candidates ; but, rejecting them both, ordered 
a fresh election. This was in 1206. Notwithstanding the efforts of 
the King, the choice fell upon the papal candidate Stephen Langton, 
regarded as " the most illustrious lecturer of theology of his day," 
and as preeminent in character as in learning. He was an English- 
man, who, though he had lived long at the Roman curia, proved him- 
self to be a sincere patriot. 

The Struggle between King and Pope. — John was beside himself 
with rage. Yet, instead of resisting the election as an invasion of his 
prerogative, he proceeded to denounce Langton as an obscure individ- 
ual of whom he had never heard, though he had previously spoken of 
him in the highest terms. He refused to admit him, seized the prop- 
erty of the monks of Christ Church and the Canterbury estates, and 
forbade appeals to Rome. Thereupon, in 1208, the Pope laid the land 
under an interdict ; by this the church doors were closed, all services 
except baptism had to be held outside and the dead could only be buried 
in unconsecrated ground. John sought to avert the impending blow 
by vain bluster, threatening to drive all ecclesiastics out of the country 
and to tear out the eyes of the messengers from Rome. Many of the 
bishops found it wise to flee, much of their property was confiscated, 
and even the monks and lower clergy were persecuted and pillaged. 
At length, the King found it necessary to issue a proclamation to pro- 
tect their property against the excessive zeal of his followers, though, 
it is reported, that when a highwayman robbed and murdered a priest, 
he said, " Let him go, he has only killed one of my enemies." After 
a series of futile negotiations Innocent finally, in 1209, declared John 
excommunicate, though the sentence was only proclaimed in France, 
not in England. 

John's Position becomes Critical. — During the course of this and 
the two following years we find John chiefly occupied with Wales, 



i 3 8 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

Scotland, and. Ireland. He made some head against Llywelyn ap 
Jowerth, prince of North Wales, though he was unable to place any 
binding restrictions upon him. However, he secured a recognition 
from William the Lion which put Scotland practically in the position 
of a vassal state. He achieved still greater results in Ireland. Thither 
he led an expedition in person, he received homage from the native 
chiefs, he overcame, punished, or drove out his enemies among the 
Anglo-Irish lords, introduced and extended English laws, mapped the 
country under English rule into twelve counties, and set up a new 
coinage. Says one of the chroniclers, " All men bore witness that 
never since the time of Arthur was there a King so greatly feared in 
Wales, in Scotland, or in Ireland." l But such triumphs as he had 
gained were offset by the loss of his French possessions and by the 
fact that he was under the ban of the Church. Though he professed 
neither to fear God nor to regard man, the term of his momentary suc- 
cesses was nearly over. The Welsh broke out again into revolt and 
his English subjects turned more and more against him. Wars and 
embassies were so costly as to require more than could be wrung from 
the Church and the Jews. He made matters worse by seizing the 
castles and hostages from those he suspected, until he had almost as 
many enemies as he had barons. Then appeared a poor half-crazed 
hermit, Peter of Wakefield, prophesying that by Ascension Day, 12 13, 
John would be no longer King. Thoroughly frightened, he sought to 
strengthen himself and to avert the impending danger by conciliation. 
He caused the harsh execution of the forest laws to be softened, he 
provided for a relaxation of restraints on continental trade and for a 
better administration of justice throughout the land. On the Con- 
tinent things were going badly ; his nephew Otto IV had been 
excommunicated for encroachments on papal territory, and his brother- 
in-law, Raymond VI of Toulouse, was under a similar ban for shelter- 
ing Albigensian heretics. 

John's Surrender to the Pope, 12 13. — With his prospects steadily 
darkening, John felt it necessary to resume negotiations with the Pope. 
Innocent's terms were, in substance : that he should accept Langton 
as Archbishop ; that he should restore all bishops, monks, and others ; 
clerk or lay, who had been deprived during the late struggle, and make 
them full compensation. The alternative was deposition. John 
held off, until Innocent, to bring pressure upon him, authorized Philip 
of France to invade England and deprive him of his kingdom. The 
French King, seeing a possible chance of putting his son Louis on the 
English throne and making the country a vassal state, eagerly made 
preparation. He pretended, however, that his sole aim was to defend 
the Church and to punish John for his murder of Arthur and other 
crimes. John made frantic efforts to meet the threatened attack; 

1 Seeking to strengthen his possessions by oversea alliances, he even went so far, 
in 121 2, as to send an embassy to the Mohammedan emir of Morocco, offering, 
according to a later but untrustworthy legend, to embrace that religion. 






THE REIGN OF JOHN 139 

but, finding that he could count on little support from his subjects, 
decided to yield. On 13 May, 12 13, he met the papal legate Pandulf 
at Dover and accepted the hard terms. Two days later, of his own 
accord, he took the further step of surrendering his kingdom to the 
Pope. He received it back as a fief, did homage to Pandulf, and prom- 
ised, for himself and his heirs, to pay an annual tribute of 1000 marks. 
He probably felt that nothing else would check the threatened invasion 
and counteract the growing disaffection of the barons. To many the 
step " seemed ignominious and a heavy yoke of servitude ; " and, some 
years later, Matthew Paris denounced it " as a thing to be detested 
for all time." Yet it may be questioned whether this represented 
the prevailing view. The state of vassalage was not, in those times, 
regarded as degrading. English kings since the Conquest had held 
their continental possession as fiefs of France, and even the lion-hearted 
Richard had agreed to yield all England in fief to the Emperor. The 
contemporary Walter of Coventry doubtless voiced the attitude of 
reasonable sober men when he wrote : John " by his act provided pru- 
dently both for himself and for his people, for matters were in such a 
strait, and so great was the fear on all sides, that there was no ready 
way of avoiding the imminent peril — perhaps no other way at all. 
For when once he had put himself under apostolical protection, and 
made his realms a part of the patrimony of St. Peter, there was not in the 
Roman world a sovereign who durst attack him, or invade them, in- 
asmuch as Pope Innocent was universally held in awe above all his 
predecessors for many years past." It was the getting into the diffi- 
culty rather than the way he extricated himself that was most detri- 
mental to King John, and, in some respects, to his successors. It 
furnished the Papacy with a precedent for interfering in disputed 
elections, while the ill usage of the clergy alienated a class hitherto 
generally on the side of the Crown. Nevertheless, his submission to 
Rome was a confession of defeat, and he had been forced to admit as 
Archbishop a man who shortly became the guiding spirit of the oppo- 
sition. Still, Ascension Day passed safely, John set up a marquee in 
which he gave a banquet, and poor Peter was hanged. Now that he 
was a vassal of the Holy See, Innocent prohibited Philip from waging 
war on him. Langton arrived in July and solemnly absolved him from 
his excommunication, but the interdict was not yet lifted, for the va- 
cant benefices were still unfilled and the compensation due the clergy 
had yet to be settled. 

III. The Opening of the Struggle with the Barons, 1213. — John's 
efforts to revenge himself against Philip brought to an issue the third 
and final crisis of the reign. Directly after his submission he began 
to prepare, an expedition to Poitou. The barons refused to follow, 
mainly on the ground that he was excommunicate. When the ban 
was removed, they took the ground that their tenures did not bind 
them to serve abroad. The chief opposition came from the northern 
barons; but Stephen Langton frustrated the King in his design of 



i 4 o A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

punishing them. While there seems to have been no legal ground for 
their latter contention, they had many and excessive causes of discon- 
tent. They received promises in plenty, but little else. On 20 July 
John renewed his coronation oath, with its assurances to love and 
defend the Holy Church, to renew the good laws of his predecessors 
and annul all bad ones, to judge all men according to just judgments, 
and to restore every man his rights. Further, when, 4 August, a 
Great Council was summoned to St. Albans to assess compensation 
for damages due the clergy, though nothing was settled on that point, 
the Justiciar, Geoffrey Fitzpeter, promised to observe the good laws of 
Henry I, and all sheriffs and other officers were ordered to abstain from 
injustice for the future. Still again, at a council at St. Paul's on the 
25th of the same month, Stephen Langton laid a copy of Henry I's 
charter before the assembled clergy as a model on which reforms should 
be undertaken by the King. Geoffrey died in October. Though he 
was not a great statesman or thoroughgoing patriot, having suggested 
some of John's most vexatious exactions, he was an efficient adminis- 
trator and seems to have had rare ability in faithfully serving his 
master, while working for conciliation and against excesses. But 
John, alienated by his recent attitude, greeted the news of his death 
with the remark : " When he gets to hell let him salute Hubert Walter 
whom I doubt not he will find there. Now by God's feet I am for the 
first time King of England." But England now became, in the words 
of Matthew Paris, " a ship in storm without a helm. The beginning 
of tempest was the death of Hubert ; after the death of Geoffrey the 
country could not even breathe." 

Existing Grievances. — First, there were the grievances purely 
feudal, some dating from the past, such as forcing heiresses into un- 
equal marriages, extorting excessive reliefs and scutages, and abusing 
the right of wardship. Others bore on the non-feudal classes as well. 
Taxes were excessive and arbitrary. Carucages and impositions on 
movables increased in frequency and amount. Then there were the 
exactions from the Jews, and fines, some without a shadow of justice. 
One case is recorded in the treasury roll of 1201 of two men of Dover, 
who owed a fine " because they had been out with Count John," 
that is, for supporting him in his rebellion against Richard in 1193. 
Demands for foreign service were not unusual, though Henry II had 
usually provided mercenaries paid from the scutage. These reasons 
led to the resistance under John. In the first place his demands were 
more frequent. In the second place men were alienated by his capri- 
ciousness and futility. In 1201, and again 1205, he had levied men for 
foreign service and then dismissed them with a fine, while in 1202-3 
he had failed to accomplish anything with the force he took abroad. 
Finally, the interest of Englishmen in foreign service was growing less 
and less. For some time it had been the custom to divide estates be- 
tween the English and French branches of baronial families, and now 
all but Aquitaine had passed out of English hands. The successful 



THE REIGN OF JOHN 141 

resistance of Hugh of Lincoln some years before was significant of the 
changing feeling. John, too, had allowed his royal baronial supporters 
to oppress the people. We do not know how many actually took arms 
against him ; but, certainly for the first time since the Conquest, the 
great majority failed to range themselves on his side. In spite of the 
recent reconciliation with the Papacy, the Church could not forget 
what it had suffered while the fight was raging. In 1207, John's own 
half-brother, Geoffrey of York, had gone into exile because he would 
not submit to the taxes imposed upon his province. In short, England 
was suffering under " all the evil customs which the King's father and 
brother had raised up for the oppression of the Church and the realm 
together with that which the King himself had added thereto." 

The Winning of Magna Carta. — Such was the situation when John, 
gathering such forces as would follow him, started, February, 12 14, 
to invade Poitou. After gaining a few momentary successes he was 
obliged to retreat before the French forces, since the Poitevin barons 
would not fight for him in the open field. While he was planning his 
next move, his hopes were utterly dashed by the failure of a great coali- 
tion which he had arranged. On 27 July an army led by his nephew, 
Otto the Emperor, by his half-brother, William Longsword, Earl of 
Salisbury, by the Counts of Flanders, Boulogne, Brabant, and Holland, 
and the Duke of Lorraine was met and defeated by Philip as it was 
hastening down to attack France on the northern border. John was 
obliged to make peace, 18 September, 12 14, after which, isolated and 
humiliated, he returned to England in the following month. Unmind- 
ful of his precarious situation he brought matters to an issue by de- 
manding a scutage from the barons who had refused to accompany 
him to Poitou. Thereupon, the hardier spirits united, it is said, 
at St. Edmunds under pretense of a pilgrimage, demanded the con- 
firmation of Henry I's Charter, and took an oath to wage war on the 
King in case he refused their terms. All through the winter the 
negotiations went on. John put off a definite answer as long as he 
could, employing the interval in trying to circumvent his adversaries 
by various subterfuges. He sought to detach the clergy by a charter 
granting freedom of election to cathedral churches and monasteries. 
Then he demanded from his subjects an oath of allegiance against all 
men, with a particular provision that they should stand by him against 
the barons. He began to collect mercenaries, appealed to the Pope, 
and even, on Ash Wednesday, 121 5, took the cross. But all his twist- 
ings and doublings availed him nothing. The barons, fearing that he 
might overreach them in the end, sent him their demands in detailed 
form at Oxford, where he happened to be staying. They went far be- 
yond what they had originally asked. John furiously swore that they 
were " idle dreams without a shadow of reason " and that he would 
not make himself a slave by any such concessions. Thereupon, they 
decided to wage war, and renounced their allegiance on the ground 
that the King had ceased to observe his feudal obligations. They 



i 4 2 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

chose Robert Fitzwalter as commander with the title of " Marshall 
of the Army of God and the Holy Church/' and marched down and oc- 
cupied London. John, finding that almost no one but his mercenaries 
would stand by him, and that Stephen Langton, really in sympathy 
with the baronial cause, would not excommunicate his enemies, was 
forced to yield. After some further parley the barons met him at 
Runnymede 15 June, 121 5, where he set his seal to the Great 
Charter. 

Magna Carta, its Meaning to the Men of John's Time and to Future 
Ages. — This document has been described as " the greatest and most 
enduring landmark of English constitutional liberty — the first of its 
creative statutes." But the importance of Magna Carta is due rather 
to the use that was afterwards made of it by the champions of popular 
rights than to what was actually desired by the men who framed it. 
It was secured by the barons primarily in the interests of their own 
order, to safeguard their feudal privileges against the encroachments 
of John and his royal predecessors. Many guarantees of popular 
government and popular liberty, subsequently traced back to the 
Charter, are not to be found among its provisions. For example, it 
does not say that there shall be no taxation, except by the voice of the 
people. Parliament as the representative of all classes of the realm 
did not yet exist. Moreover, the two most effective means by which 
the common man is protected against legal injustice to-day, trial by 
jury and habeas corpus — the latter a device to prevent holding a 
man in prison without cause shown — are not worked out in anything 
like their modern form. Another notable fact is that five sixths of the 
population of England at that time were villeins whose chief grievances 
were at the hands of the manorial lords. Very little is done for them. 
More than a third of the sixty-three clauses into which Magna Carta 
came to be divided relate to tenants in chief, while the bulk of the 
rest concern under-tenants, Churchmen, merchants, and other free 
classes, comprising together a sixth of the inhabitants. One provi- 
sion restraining the King's right of issuing writs of praecipe, calling 
cases to his courts, would have been a serious clog on justice had not a 
means been found to evade it. Some provisions, too, are not as un- 
selfish as they seem. As an instance, that which declares that mer- 
chants shall have the right to come and go freely in the kingdom was 
really in the interest of the upper classes who were then the great pur- 
chasers. Certain great general principles were embodied in the mo- 
mentous document ; namely, that property shall not be taken from the 
subject for public use without compensation, that punishments shall 
not be cruel or unusual (although the Bill of Rights had to declare on 
this point again nearly five centuries later), that fines were not to be 
excessive, and that justice was to be open to all, freely and fairly ad- 
ministered. Still, machinery had to be devised to make these prin- 
ciples operative, and there were long stretches of English history when 
they and their service were practically forgotten. Shakespere in his 



THE REIGN OF JOHN 143 

great drama King John, while he touches on most of the striking events 
of the reign, does not mention Magna Carta at all. 

The Real Significance of Magna Carta. — In what then does its 
significance consist ? It consists not so much in any of its particular 
provisions as in imposing the first restrictions upon royal absolutism, 
in establishing the principle that the King must observe the Law. 
The law which the barons had in mind was the feudal law, to which 
they and the King were the contracting parties. The principle of con- 
tract, or of reciprocal obligation definitely defined between the parties 
to an agreement, is an essentially feudal principle ; and it is necessary 
to bear in mind that that dying feudalism left this priceless contribu- 
tion to the cause of English liberty. While there is no evidence of 
a strictly popular rising against King John, while the barons led the 
movement primarily in their own interest, they united with them the 
Church, they kept the mass of freemen from supporting the sovereign, 
and consequently, to some degree, undertook the business of these two 
classes as well as their own. In this sense only is the oft-quoted state- 
ment of Bishop Stubbs true, that " the Great Charter is, then, the act 
of the united nation, the Church, the barons, and the commons, for 
the first time thoroughly at one." 

Summary of the Provisions relating to Each of the Three Estates 
Separately. — Its provisions have been most conveniently grouped 
under two main heads : first, provisions relating to the rights and priv- 
ileges of the three separate estates as political classes into which society 
was divided ; secondly, provisions relating to these classes as a whole. 

I. The following provisions relate to the Church, the barons, and 
the commons, respectively. 1. The Church is to be free and to hold 
its rights entire and its liberties uninjured, particularly in the election 
of bishops. 2. The baronage is promised many concessions. Feu- 
dal abuses in the matter of reliefs, wardships, marriages, and the col- 
lection of debts shall be renounced. No scutage or aid beyond the 
three customary aids shall be imposed except by the Common Council 
of the tenants in chief. The same conditions which the King agrees to 
observe toward his immediate vassals shall be observed by them in 
dealing with their mesne or under-tenants. 3. Concessions to the 
commons 1 refer to all freemen or freeholders below the rank of nobles. 
Part of the concessions are to groups and part to individuals. Ancient 
liberties and free customs are guaranteed to London and other towns. 
The ancient rents of the counties are not to be increased. Merchants 
are to come in and go out of the kingdom free from all evil tolls and by 
the ancient and rightful customs. All goods seized for the King's 
use are to be paid for. Those bound to render labor services to the 
King shall have the alternative of paying money. 

Summary of Provisions relating to the Three Classes as a Whole. — 
The provisions relating to the kingdom as a whole have mainly to do 

1 On the Continent the term was restricted to the members of organized civic 
communities. 



i 44 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

with judicial reforms. Common pleas, or suits between subjects, are 
not to follow the King's court, but to be held in one fixed place. 
Crown pleas, criminal prosecutions carried on in the name of the 
King, must be conducted by judges properly qualified. The writ of 
prcecipe is not to be used. The two most celebrated provisions, teeming 
with significance for the future, are those contained in clauses XXXIX 
and XL. The former provides that " no freeman shall be arrested, 
or detained in prison or deprived of his freehold, or outlawed, or ban- 
ished, or in any way molested, and we will not set forth against him, 
nor send against him, unless by the lawful judgment of his peers and 
by the law of the land." It is generally thought by modern scholars 
that the provision concerning judgment of peers was introduced by the 
barons to secure their exemption from accountability to the King's 
judges. It has survived in the right of peers in certain cases to be 
tried by the law of the land. In that sense the provision was reac- 
tionary rather than progressive. Moreover, the law of the land at 
that time recognized forms of trial other than and quite different from 
jury trial. Clause XL declares : " To no one will we sell, to no one will 
we deny or delay right or justice." It was not for centuries that the 
writ of habeas corpus, that was to make this clause fully operative, was 
developed. But the germ of great principles is to be found in this and 
the preceding provisions. Some modifications are made in the harsh 
forest laws which had been a growing burden since the Conqueror. All 
forests made in John's reign were to be disafforested, all forest abuses 
were to be inquired into by twelve sworn knights, and forest laws were 
to apply to those only who lived within their bounds. Of the tempo- 
rary clauses of the Charter the most important provided for the dis- 
missal of foreign mercenaries. 

Means of Enforcement and Future Importance of Magna Carta. — 
To insure the inforcement of the terms of the charter a committee of 
twenty-four barons and the Lord Mayor of London were appointed who 
were authorized to levy war on the King until any transgression of 
which he might be guilty should have been amended. This machinery 
for securing its observance was the weakest thing about it, for there 
could be no peaceful progress under any such arrangement. It was 
soon given up, and before the century had passed we find a body in 
the making to whom, in due course of time, the maintenance of its 
great principles was intrusted. 

Such was Magna Carta : "in form a grant from the King to his 
people, in reality a treaty extorted from him by his barons, acting with 
the clergy and the commons." One great cause of its enduring sig- 
nificance is that it kept off from speculative problems and dealt with 
actual conditions ; it aimed not so much to create new liberties and 
privileges as to define those already existent and to guard against their 
infraction. As a wise historian has said, the Great Charter is " not 
the foundation of English liberty, but the first, clearest, most united, 
and historically the most important enunciation of it"; truly "it 



THE REIGN OF JOHN 145 

was the revelation of the possibility of freedom to the medieval world," 
and " the maintenance of the Charter was henceforth the watchword 
of English liberty." 

The Baronial War and the Death of John, 1216. — Although, for 
the moment, steps were taken to carry out its provisions, John had 
made concessions which he could not afford and did not intend to keep. 
Moreover, certain of the extremists among the northern barons, the 
" Trans-Humbrians," had refused to enter into the agreement at 
Runnymede and continued in arms. In August, 121 5, John prepared 
to renew the war ; he strengthened the royal castles, sought out allies, 
and engaged mercenaries. Thereupon, the barons made ready to 
depose him. The Pope, who, since John's submission, was on his side, 
had, already before the sealing of the Charter, ordered the excommuni- 
cation of the disturbers of the kingdom. Then, in August, he issued a 
bull declaring the Charter null and void on the ground that it had been 
extorted by force, and forbidding the King to observe it or the barons 
to enforce its observance. Finally, he suspended Stephen Langton 
for refusing to carry out his sentence of excommunication. The 
leaders of the baronial opposition now took the extreme step of trans- 
ferring their allegiance to Louis of France, " begging him and praying 
him that he would come with a mighty arm to pluck them out of the 
hand of the tyrant." But during the winter months of 1215-1216 
they showed the greatest lassitude, while John, with one of his spasms 
of fitful energy, harried the land from the south of the Thames to the 
Scottish border. In spite of papal prohibition Louis landed at Thanet, 
21 May, 1 216, two months after John had returned from his victorious 
northern campaign. The English King retreated before the invader 
to the border of Wales, where he remained inactive until the end of 
August, when he marched into the east midlands, ravaging as he went. 
On 19 October, he died at Newark, of an illness brought on partly 
by his recent exertion, partly by an excess, it is said, of overeating. 
Turning, in his last hours, to the Church which he had slighted all his 
life, he confessed, received the last sacrament, and, by this own request, 
was buried in the habit of a monk in Worcester cathedral. So passed 
the worst of the Angevins. Among many prophecies foretelling the 
downfall of his line is the beautiful legend of Fulk the Good of Anjou, 
who once succored a leper who turned out to be an angel and foretold 
that his descendants should nourish to the ninth generation. John 
was the ninth of his line. No king of England has since borne his 
name, but his very vices and incapacity precipitated the downfall of 
absolutism and the rise of constitutional liberty. 



FOR ADDITIONAL READING 

Narrative. The most recent detailed account of the reign of John is Kate Nor- 
gate's John Lackland (1902). Stubbs, Historical Introductions, and his Constitutional 
History, I, ch. XII, are both valuable. Other accounts may be found in Ramsay, 



i 4 6 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

Angevin Empire, chs. XXIII-XXXI; Adams, Political History, chs. XIX-XXI; 
and Davis, England under the Normans and Angevins, chs. XIII-XV. 

For a discussion of the constitutional significance of the reign of John and Henry 
III, see G. B. Adams, "The Critical Period of English History," American His- 
torical Review, July, 1900. This is developed in his Origin of the English Constitu- 
tion (1902). Edward Jenks, "The Myth of Magna Carta," Independent Review, 
November, 1904, pp. 260-273, is stimulating but exaggerated. The standard work 
on Magna Carta is W. S. McKechnie, Magna Carta: .A Commentary (1913), which 
contains an historical introduction, also the text of the Great Charter, both in Latin 
and in English translation, and an elaborate commentary on each clause. The 
text of Magna Carta may be found also in translation in Adams and Stephens, no. 39. 



CHAPTER X 

HENRV III (1216-1272). THE STRUGGLE OF THE BARONS TO 
MAINTAIN THE CHARTER, TO EXPEL FOREIGN INFLUENCE 
AND TO CONTROL THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE KINGDOM' 
CONDITIONS AT THE CLOSE OF THE REIGN 

A Further Stage in the Transition from Absolute to Limited Mon- 
archy. — The long reign of Henry III marks a further stage in the 
transition from an absolute to a limited constitutional monarchy. 
This fact must be kept steadily in mind, otherwise the period will 
seem one of the dreariest and most complicated in English history. 
On the one side stood a King, of pure life and refined tastes to be sure, 
but mean, petty, selfish, unstable, and un-English in his interests; on 
the other, a body of barons thwarting him at every turn, devising 
clumsy and unworkable schemes to restrict his power and to obtain 
control of the administration in their own interests. They failed in 
their immediate aim, but it was due to their efforts and the royal in- 
capacity that Magna Carta was made a reality, that the nation as 
distinct from the King came to realize its needs and its power, and that 
the first steps were taken to develop a body for voicing its will. 

The Expulsion of the French, 1217. — Less than two weeks after his 
father's death, Henry, a boy of nine years, was crowned at Gloucester. 
Early in November the leaders of the King's party met at Bristol and 
elected William Marshall, Earl of Pembroke, Regent of the kingdom — 
rector regis et regni. With him were associated as councilors Peter 
des Roches, Bishop of Winchester, and the papal legate, Gualo. Peter, 
a wily Poitevin, had been an adherent of John and was to give the king- 
dom trouble for years to come. A poet of the time describes him as 
skillful at accounts but lazy in turning the leaves of the Bible, as loving 
lucre more than Luke. The new reign, however, opened with the 
brightest of prospects. The Regent was a stanch and devoted man, 
and he and the legate proceeded to win the general confidence by 
voluntarily confirming the Charter which had only been wrung from 
John by armed force. The French still occupied a part of the country, 
but Louis was under the ban, while the Church was lending its power- 
ful support to Henry's government. Moreover, the King's very youth 
and innocence were a source of strength. The barons had risen, not 
against the royal office, but against an unpopular and oppressive 
King. Now that he was no more, most of them turned gladly from a 
foreign invader to a ruler of the native line. The legate proclaimed 

147 



I48 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

a crusade against the French, and in the war which followed Henry's 
supporters wore white crosses. After his forces had been defeated at 
Lincoln in May and in a sea fight off the Thames in August, 1217, 
Louis was ready to leave the country. The first battle is known as 
the " Fair of Lincoln," because the English gained such an easy victory. 
The second marks an epoch in English naval tactics ; it is the first case 
on record of their maneuvering to get the weather gage From their 
position on the windward side they sorely distressed the enemy by 
throwing missiles and quicklime. After the departure of the-French 
Prince the Charter was again confirmed and a new Charter of Forests 
issued While some changes were made in this and m the previous 
confirmation, it was, in time to come, though often renewed and con- 
firmed, never materially altered. . 

Early Years of Henry's Minority, 1217-1224. -The fair prospects 
under which the new reign opened did not remain long unclouded. 
Gualo, who had the good of the country at heart, was soon succeeded 
bv Pandulf, " a meddlesome and imperious intriguer, whose only 
virtue was that he sought to keep peace. The "turn of Stephen 
Langton, in May, 1218, was offset in the following year by the death 
of the aged Regent, William Marshall, a fine type of the medieval 
soldier-statesman, who had labored effectively to restore peace and good 
government. The regency ended with him, and the chief power fell 
to three men, each representing different interests: Pandulf, those of 
the Pope and of his own kinsman; Peter des Roches, those of the 
foreign favorites and military adventurers; Hubert de Burgh, those 
of the loyal English party. Hubert had been the faithful servant of 
Richard and John; he had shown his wisdom in advising the latter 
to accept Magna Carta, and his valor and naval ability in the defense 
of Dover Castle and the defeat of Louis' reinforcements in the recent 
seafight His watchword was administrative reorganization and 
Englishmen in English offices. One element of opposition was over- 
come when Pandulf withdrew in 1220, in consequence of a promise 
which Stephen Langton obtained from the Pope to allow no papa 
legate in the country during the Archbishop's lifetime The harder 
task remained of dealing with the unreconciled element of the feudal 
barons and the foreign military adventurers Although at times they 
acted in conjunction, the former party was led by William of Aumale 
(or Albemarle), and his successor the Earl of Chester; the latter by 
Faulkes de Breaute, 1 who was instigated and abetted by Peter des 
Roches. After some futile risings the restless barons were for the 
time being suppressed in 1223, and the Bishop of Winchester and his 
partisans were temporarily excluded from the royal councils. In 
1224 Faulkes, who for a time " was more than King of England was 
forced to leave the country with a safe-conduct. He died two years 
later. 

1 Faulkes had been captain of John's mercenaries, and his name survived in 
the famous Vauxhall. 



HENRY III 149 

Last Years of Henry's Minority, 1 224-1 227. — Meantime, trouble 
was developing in Henry's possessions across the Channel. The com- 
mons of Gascony, although they preferred English to French rule, 
were unwilling to spend money on defense, and resented any inter- 
ference with their municipal liberties, while they expected the English 
governors, or seneschals, to protect them in their quarrels with the 
neighboring barons. These barons, particularly in Poitou, were so 
turbulent that one English seneschal complained that they respected 
him " no more than a horseboy." Without adequate support of men 
or money, one after another threw up the office in despair. Matters 
were further complicated by the death, in 1223, of the cautious and 
astute Philip Augustus, who had done so much to enlarge his domin- 
ions at the expense of England. As a matter of form, Hubert de- 
manded Anjou, Maine, and Normandy for his sovereign. The new 
King, Louis VIII, replied by attacking Poitou. Thence he proceeded 
to extend his operations into Gascony, a step which forced Hubert, 
much against his will, to prepare an expedition to defend the English 
possessions. But the sudden death of Louis gave him his opportunity 
to patch up a peace with the French Queen, who was acting as Regent 
for her little son, the future St. Louis. In 1227 the Justiciar pro- 
claimed Henry of age and succeeded in getting rid of Peter des Roches, 
who went off to Palestine, where he remained four years. Neverthe- 
less, Hubert was unable to maintain for long a very effective control 
over his vain and unstable master. Henry, who was burning to re- 
trieve the lands which his father had lost, readily listened to certain 
Norman barons who sought his aid in revolt. Hubert reluctantly 
fitted out an expedition which the King, early in 1230, led in person. 
After an inglorious campaign, in which the English soldiers performed 
greater feats in deep drinking than in fighting, he returned home, in 
September, having accomplished nothing. Likewise, a large royal 
levy sent in 1228 against Llywelyn of Snowdon, who had succeeded in 
uniting central and south Wales under his sway, had to " return to 
England in shame." Added to all this, in 1229, the aged and truculent 
Pope Gregory IX levied a tax of a tenth of all clerical property in 
England to aid him in a stubborn war which he was waging against 
the Emperor Frederick II. Moreover, his agents were busy filling 
English church livings with Italians, a step which led to riots on the 
part of patrons whose rights were thus infringed. 

The Fall of Hubert de Burgh, 1232. Beginning of Henry's Personal 
Rule. — This was the state of affairs when Peter des Roches returned 
in 1 23 1 and opened an attack on his rival. He accused him of abetting 
the rioters, and of mismanaging the public funds, which, owing to 
Henry's extravagance and to the extensive military expenses, were in 
a very low state. While the first charge was true, the Justiciar could 
not properly be blamed for the second. With equal injustice, Hubert 
was made the scapegoat of the failure of the recent French and Welsh 
campaigns. Nevertheless, the King with indecent readiness dismissed 



150 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

him. Once out of office, he was so hard pressed that he had to take 
sanctuary, but this proved no protection, for his pursuers starved him 
out. The common people were loud in their sympathy, and a coura- 
geous smith who was ordered to fetter him refused to touch one who had 
delivered the land from a foreign enemy. But part of his property 
was taken from him and he had to spend some years in captivity. 
With the fall of Hubert de Burgh the Justiciar ceased to be the first 
minister in the kingdom and his duties were thenceforth purely judi- 
cial. Henry's personal government now began, and " during twenty- 
six years he gave abundant evidence of his insincerity and incapacity." 
All positions of trust were filled with foreign favorites under the thumb 
of Peter and Henry. Over two thirds of the sheriffdoms were in 
the hands of Peter's dependents. 

Increasing Abuses and Futile Opposition. — Richard Marshall, 
the old Regent's second son, led an opposition to the foreign rule ; but 
he was forced to flee to the Welsh border, and thence was enticed to 
Ireland, where he met his death through treachery in 1234. Before 
the battle in which he received his death wound he declared : "I 
know that this day I am delivered over to death, but it's better to 
die honorably for the cause of justice than to flee from the field 
and become a reproach to knighthood." From him the leadership 
of the opposition passed to Edmund Rich, Archbishop of Canter- 
bury, 1 234-1 240, a holy and learned man; but, although he forced 
the King to call some of his favorites to account and finally to 
shake off the influence of Peter des Roches, he lacked the vigor 
and aggressiveness to accomplish much. Henry returned to his old 
courses, and his marriage with Eleanor of Provence in 1236 brought 
swarms of needy kinsmen and followers, among them four or five 
of the Queen's uncles, to be provided for. There seemed to be no 
leader in England capable of withstanding these aliens. Richard 
of Cornwall, Henry's brother, was for a time the popular hero of the 
opposition ; but he did not long maintain this unfraternal attitude, 
and his marriage in 1243 with Sanchia, the Queen's sister, bound him 
firmly to the court party. Besides the grievance of providing for greedy 
Provencals and Savoyards, the country had to bear the burden of 
renewed exactions from the Papacy. In 1237 the Pope, at the royal 
request, sent a cardinal legate, Otho. He began by getting into a 
conflict with the University of Oxford, when his brother, whom he had 
brought as cook for fear of poison, threw a plate of soup in the face 
of an Irish scholar who appeared begging for bread. During the four 
years that he stayed, Otho steadily increased his unpopularity by 
the heavy contributions which he demanded from the clergy ; indeed, 
it is said that he took away almost as much gold and silver as he left 
in the country ; in addition, he claimed for his master the right to fill 
three hundred livings with Italians, while the spiritless Henry de- 
clared: " I neither wish nor dare to oppose the Lord Pope in any- 
thing." Truly, said Richard of Cornwall : " England was like a vine- 



HENRY III 151 

yard with a broken hedge so that all who went by could steal of her 
grapes." Edmund Rich died abroad in 1240. He was succeeded as 
leader of the national clerical party by one of the most remarkable men 
of the century — Robert Grosseteste, Bishop of Lincoln. Both at 
Oxford and as lecturer to the Franciscan Friars, Grosseteste achieved 
a preeminent reputation for scholarship, not only in theology but in 
science. Made bishop late in life, he turned his attention to the 
reform of his diocese and to politics, with the aim of uniting Church and 
baronage in the defense of their common liberties and in resistance to 
papal encroachment. Particularly did he set himself against foreign 
nominees to English livings, whom he described as intruders " who 
not only strive to tear off the fleece, but do not even know the features 
of their flock." But, wedded to the theory of the superiority of the 
Church over the State, and a stanch advocate of clerical immunity, 
he was not a man to lead most effectively the popular cause. 

The Baronial Demand for Elective Ministers. — In 1241 the barons 
of Poitou attempted another revolt against the King of France. They 
drew the Gascons into the combination, and Henry led a small expedi- 
tion to their aid. Most of the English barons, however, refused to 
support him ; he was defeated in battle and barely escaped falling into 
the hands of the enemy. So, in April, 1243, he was obliged to make 
a five years' truce and Poitou was incorporated in the French domin- 
ions. Henry lingered long in Gascony, partly because he wanted to 
knit the towns into a closer union with England, partly because he 
dreaded to face his subjects. Nevertheless, he arranged to be received 
with ridiculous pomp on his return. The situation grew steadily 
darker. London became disaffected, and another papal agent came to 
glean after Otho's abundant harvest. The King fell into sore financial 
straits, so that the barons, taking advantage of his needs, began to 
demand that he choose ministers Of native birth and acceptable to 
the country. The most striking case occurred in 1244, when a com- 
mittee appointed to fix the conditions of a money grant set down as one 
of them that the Justiciar, the Chancellor, and the Treasurer should be 
chosen in the Great Council. It was some years before they were able 
to carry their point. Henry might yield to the Pope, but he maintained 
a lofty attitude toward his subjects. When they renewed their 
demand in 1248 and requested him to dismiss the aliens who were 
still flocking to his court — new batches had arrived the previous 
year — he replied : " Servants do not judge their master, vassals do 
not judge their prince and bind him by conditions. Much rather should 
they put themselves at his disposal and be submissive to his will." 
In consequence, all sorts of expedients were tried to supply the royal 
necessities. Plate and jewels were sold, likewise grants of privileges, 
and even of administering justice, while the forest courts imposed 
increasing exactions. Though he refused to accompany Louis IX 
on a crusade to Egypt, Henry, in 1252, with the Pope's support, de- 
manded a tithe for the purpose. When the barons agreed, on con- 



152 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

dition that the charters be confirmed again and the money be em- 
ployed solely in the design for which it was asked, he swore with great 
oaths " that never while breath was in his body, would he submit to 
be a slave." Grosseteste died in 1253, prophesying that only the sword 
could deliver the Church from her Egyptian bondage. Curiously 
enough, the barons were at length to find a leader among the very 
foreigners whom they were seeking to oppose. 

Simon de Montfort becomes Leader of the National Party. — 
Simon de Montfort was a Norman by birth who first came to England 
in 1229 to prosecute a claim on the earldom of Leicester which he 
inherited from a marriage of his grandfather with an heiress of that 
house. He began as an adherent of the royal party, married Henry's 
sister Eleanor, and secured the title and estates which he sought. In 
1239, however, he became involved in a bitter personal quarrel with 
the King, and the next year departed with Richard of Cornwall on a 
crusade to the Holy Land. On his return he began to identify him- 
self with Grosseteste and the baronial party ; but it required another 
quarrel to complete his rupture with the King. In 1248 he was sent 
to rule Gascony, on the express condition that he should enjoy full 
powers, including control of the Gascon revenue, for seven years. 
The situation was well-nigh hopeless ; the towns were in revolt and 
the nobles intriguing busily, some with France, some with Navarre. 
Simon was energetic and put down resistance with a high hand. He 
was cruel and oppressive, no doubt, and reaped a harvest of discontent 
which resulted in bitter complaints to the King. Henry, though he 
acknowledged to his brother-in-law that he had fought bravely for 
him, finally yielded to the hostile representations, and in spite of 
Simon's protests, dismissed him. This may look like a weak desertion 
of a faithful servant ; but it is none the less true that, however far 
the Governor may have been at fault, he had been rapidly alienating 
a people whom the King desired to conciliate. Thus, on the eve of the 
great crisis of his reign, Henry forced into the enemy's camp the most 
remarkable man of his generation, a man destined to become one of 
the most notable figures in English history. 

The Baronial Opposition comes to a Head, 1254. — In 1254, two 
years after this event, the King crowned his impolicy by an act of 
extravagant folly which brought to a focus all the forms of opposition 
which had been slowly converging against his misgovernment, his 
futile foreign policy, and his abject submission to papal exaction. He 
accepted for his second son Edmund the crown of Sicily which the 
Pope had long been striving to wrest from the Imperial House of 
Hohenstaufen, and which Richard of Cornwall had wisely refused. 
Edmund never attained the Sicilian throne; but the efforts which 
his father made in his behalf were none the less momentous. He 
pledged himself to provide an army and 140,000 marks, and applied 
to his Great Council for supplies to redeem his bond. They refused 
in 1255 and again in 1257, when Henry brought his little son before 



HENRY III 153 

them in Apulian dress, and sought to work on their sentiments. 1 
Everything combined to foster discontent. Rain, flood, bad harvests, 
cattle murrain, and high prices were estranging the poor. New Church 
leaders took the place of Grosseteste; in 1256 the Pope had added 
another exaction by demanding for the first time annates or first 
fruits — the first year's annual revenue from clergy newly inducted 
into benefices. Aside from the new grievances old ones continued 
from the previous reign, for, although the Charters had been fre- 
quently confirmed, their concessions had been disregarded. Many 
castles were in the hands of foreigners ; sheriffs and itinerant 
judges were perverting justice and levying excessive fines, and the 
forest laws were unmitigated in their severity. The storm burst in 
1258. 

The Provisions of Oxford, 1258. — On 28 April, 1258, a Great Council 
of magnates, reenforced by representative knights from the shires, 
assembled. When the King in the face of the gathering discontent 
ventured a third time to ask for money for the Sicilian campaign, 
the barons and knights in full armor, though they laid their swords 
aside, crowded into the royal presence chamber and presented their 
terms. They demanded the dismissal of all aliens and the appoint- 
ment of a committee of twenty-four — half from the royal party, 
half from the baronial — to draw up a scheme of reform to present 
at the next meeting of the Great Council. The King was forced to 
assent. An assembly met in June at Oxford, known as the " Mad 
Parliament." To it the committee submitted not only a list of griev- 
ances but a plan of government by which all authority was to be 
transferred from the Crown to representative bodies of the baronage. 
Chief among them was a permanent committee of fifteen which was 
to have complete control of the administration and to which the King's 
ministers were to be answerable. Three times a year it was to meet 
with another committee of twelve chosen from the Great Council to 
transact the business formerly in the hands of the latter body. 
Other committees still were to undertake the work of financial and 
Church reform. Such were the Provisions of Oxford. Their merit 
was in putting a check on the absolutism of an unpatriotic and incom- 
petent King. Yet they are open to serious criticism in that they 
aimed to put in his place an oligarchy that would tend to become 
equally self-seeking and ineffective, and would be far more likely to 
hamper the executive and to foment discord than to advance the 
welfare of the kingdom. 

The Mise of Amiens. Preparation for War, 1264. — No sooner 
were the Provisions acknowledged than the baronial party split into 
two factions. One was led by Simon de Montfort, who seems to 
have been honestly desirous of securing the interests of all classes. 
The other, led by Richard de Clare, Earl of Gloucester, was selfishly 

J The clergy, however, granted 52,000 marks. 



i 5 4 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

concerned with the interests of its own order. Simon secured a mo- 
mentary ascendancy by attaching Prince Edward — Henry's eldest 
son — to his cause, and, in 1259, in a Great Council at Westminster 
carried the passage of a series of measures known as the Provisions 
of Westminster, by which the powers and profits of the private feudal 
courts were greatly curtailed. For a time the King worked loyally 
with the new council : inquiries were made into abuses, and, willingly 
or unwillingly, Henry issued a proclamation in which he commanded 
all true men " steadfastly to hold and to defend the statutes that be 
made and are to be made by our councilors." 1 Yet before many 
months he managed to shake himself free from the baronial shackles 
which had been imposed upon him. He made an alliance with Louis 
IX, King of France, he drew Gloucester and his followers to his side, 
he reconciled himself with Edward, and finally appealed to Pope 
Alexander IV to release him from his oath to observe the Provisions. 
This last request was granted by a bull dated 13 April, 1261, which 
annulled the whole legislation of 1258-1259. With his hand thus 
strengthened Henry returned to his old courses. The renewal of 
danger drew the two factions of the barons together again and civil 
war broke out in 1263. But Henry was stronger than he had been 
five years before, and the opposing forces proved so evenly balanced 
that they decided to arbitrate and appealed to Louis IX to settle the 
points at issue. He announced his decision, 23 January, 1264, in a 
document known as the Mise of Amiens, deciding almost every 
question in favor of the King. He pronounced the Provisions invalid, 
and declared that Henry had a right to appoint his own ministers and 
custodians of castles. He was, however, to be bound by the ancient 
charters and customs, and both sides were urged to keep the peace. 
Simon, whose chief following was now among the lesser folk, refused 
to be bound by the award, in spite of the fact that he had promised 
to abide by its terms. " Though all men quit me," he declared, 
" I will remain with my four sons and will fight for the good cause 
which I have sworn to defend — the honor of the Holy Church and 
the good of the realm." 

Simon's Victory at Lewes, 1264. His Famous Parliament, 1265. — 
In the civil war which followed he was able to win a great victory over 
the royal forces, 14 May, 1 264, at Lewes. Before the battle he exhorted 
his soldiers to beseech the Lord for strength and help, and each one 
prostrated himself on the ground with arms outstretched to form a cross, 
and prayed. Henry was forced by a treaty known as the Mise of 
Lewes to agree to uphold the Great Charter, the Charter of the Forests, 
and the Provisions of Oxford. The administration, local and central, 

1 A slight incident shows his awe of Simon. One sultry day in July, overtaken 
by a thunderstorm, he was driven to shelter in a house by the Thames occupied by 
de Montfort. Seeing he was much afraid, his host sought to reassure him. Where- 
upon King Henry exclaimed: "I fear thunder and lightning exceedingly, but I 
fear thee more than all the thunder and lightning in the world." 






HENRY III 155 

and the custody of castles passed again into the baronial hands. Then 
a Parliament was called which constituted a body of three electors, 
chief of whom was Simon, to choose a council of nine to control the 
government of the King. Edward was to be a hostage for the good 
behavior of the " Marchers," or men of the Welsh border, who were 
bitterly hostile to the baronial leader for having called in the Welsh 
as allies. The scheme of government of 1264 has the merit of being 
much simpler and less oligarchical than that of 1258. During the 
period of his triumph de Montfort had the King issue writs, sum- 
moning a notable assembly which sat from January to March, 1265. 
This has often been spoken of as the first Parliament in English history 
because it was the first body in which both knights of the shire and 
representatives from the towns sat with the Great Council, but, as will 
be shown later, it was a partisan body and far from being completely 
representative in other respects. De Montfort's Parliament, however, 
is not without constitutional significance, as a stage in the develop- 
ment from the Great Council to the institution which came to 
represent the three estates of the realm. More than once already 
knights from the shires had sat with the barons, but never before 
had they been reenforced by representatives from the towns, and 
it was a matter of great moment that Simon had called in this 
class to support him against his opponents at court and among the 
magnates. 

The Defeat and Death of Simon, 1265. His Character and Work. — 
In April, 1265, war broke out again. The standard of revolt was 
raised by the Marchers. Disgruntled members of Simon's party and 
old royal adherents flocked to the western country. Prince Edward, 
who had escaped from his keepers while hunting, soon appeared as 
leader. On 4 August he succeeded in entrapping the baronial army 
at Evesham, on a narrow tongue of land formed by an abrupt bend of 
the Stratford Avon. Simon, in the face of impending disaster, could 
not but admire the skillful tactics by which his young opponent had 
undone him. " By the arm of St. James," he cried, " they come on 
cunningly. Yet they have not taught themselves that order of battle, 
they have learnt it from me. God have mercy upon our souls, for 
our bodies are theirs." He fell bravely fighting. By the victory of 
Evesham and the death of Simon the royal party was again trium- 
phant. . " Sir Simon the righteous," the man whom Henry feared 
more than thunder and lightning, left no successor capable of carrying 
on his work. He was not a hero without blemish. Coming from a race 
of poor but ambitious counts he began life as an adventurer. He had 
sought twice in vain to advance his fortunes by marriage before he 
attained the hand of the King's sister, nor did he begin his opposition 
as a disinterested advocate of popular liberty ; it was occasioned in 
the first instance by quarrels with Henry, culminating in the Gascon 
j affair. Even after he put himself at the head of the national party 
I he was at times shifty and cruel, and always masterful and impatient 



IS 6 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

of restraint. But, whether from interest or conviction, he threw 
himself on the support of the people and worked sincerely for their 
interests. He secured them a more complete representation in the 
National Council than they had ever enjoyed. Edward never forgot 
the lessons he had learned from him and showed it in the constitu- 
tional character of his long and prosperous reign. The people and 
the lower clergy adored their departed leader as a saint, and, accord- 
ing to report, miracles were worked at his tomb. 

Final Submission of the Barons, 1267. Results of the Struggle. — 
A few of the barons held out stubbornly at Kenilworth until December 
of 1266 when disease and famine compelled them to surrender. By 
the Dictum of Kenilworth they were allowed to redeem their estates 
on payment of heavy fines, the reenactment of the Charters was 
promised as well as the redress of some of the grievances mentioned in 
the Provisions of 1258. But another revolt had to be faced, some 
minor risings had- to be put down, and Llywelyn had to be pacified 
before the country was really at peace, In 1267 the Statute of Marl- 
borough reenacted in a formal fashion the chief of the Provisions of 
Westminster. The next year Edward and his brother Edmund felt 
safe in taking the cross, though their departure was delayed by financial 
difficulties till 1270. The barons had failed to secure the supremacy 
at which they aimed, and it was well for England that they did ; but 
they had broken the power of absolutism, they had aroused and 
kept alive the national opposition, they had made the Charters a 
reality, they had taken steps to make the Great Council a popular rep- 
resentative body, and the result of their work was to manifest it- 
self in the next reign and live on in time to come. 

Death of Henry, 1272. His Character. — While his sons were 
away on the Crusade Henry died, 16 November, 1272, in his sixty- 
sixth year. Personally he had many commendable qualities. _ His 
private life was blameless, he was religious, and especially faithful 
in attending mass. He had a refined mind and cultivated tastes. He 
loved " fair churches, beautiful sculpture, delicate gold work, and 
richly illuminated books," and was a generous patron of painting and 
architecture. His most enduring monument is Westminster Abbey, 
the foundation of Edward the Confessor which he caused to be rebuilt. 
He apparently had no taste for literature. Except for occasional 
flurries of temper when his will was crossed, he was mild and amiable. 
Above all things he had a " horror of violence," and is said to have 
wept bitterly when he learned that his name had been used to lure 
Richard Marshall to Ireland. Physically he was brave and loved 
a bit of horse-play with his nobles. Matthew Paris tells how once 
in the abbey orchard they pelted each other with apples and squeezed 
the juice of unripe grapes in each other's eyes. As to his faults, they 
are manifest in the history of his reign. He lacked moral courage, 
he was timid, evasive, weak, and obstinate. He had no talent for 
administration, or grasp of politics, and was un-English in feeling. 



HENRY III 157 

Dante placed him in the region of purgatory reserved for negligent 
and incompetent rulers. < 

England and the Intellectual and Religious Movements of the 
Time. — There was one good side to the un-English policy of Henry 
III. It helped to open the country to the best fruits of continental 
civilization. The period of royal misrule, of political strife, and civil 
war was, by a strange contrast, one of high achievement in art, in 
religious revival, and intellectual progress, truly, as has been happily 
said, the " flowering time of English medieval life." In England, as 
elsewhere, two antagonistic tendencies were at work. Politically, 
there was a tendency to accentuate national differences. This ran 
counter to the other great tendency of the Middle Ages, that toward 
unity, toward universality. The Catholic Church with the Pope 
at the head was the church of all western Christendom ; its clergy, 
its monks and friars were subjects of no country but citizens of heaven, 
as they sometimes pleased to call themselves. The academic system 
was a universal one, famous scholars were equally at home in England, 
France, and Italy, and Latin was the language of the clerical and the 
learned in every Christian land. The Crusades, too, offered a com- 
mon enterprise which brought together men from the north, the west, 
and the south without distinction of boundary. Improved means 
of communication were bringing increased opportunities for religious, 
intellectual, social, and commercial intercourse. The friar, the 
knight-errant, the scholar, and the merchant tended to maintain and 
foster a union which a growing sense of nationality threatened to 
break. Henry's hospitality to foreigners and relations with the Papacy 
resulted in the spread of ideas and forces which the exclusive policy 
of the barons might have checked. The most potent factor in the 
revived intellectual and religious life of the age is to be found in the 
new orders — the friars. 

The Franciscan and Dominican Friars. — Two of these orders of 
brothers (Latin fratres) came into being at about the same time, and 
they supplemented each other. That of the Spanish St. Dominic 
was strong in organization and the defense of orthodoxy, that of the 
Italian, St. Francis, in spiritual impulse and the service of humanity. 
Shortly before Henry III of England was born, a young merchant of 
the little Italian town of Assisi — Giovanni Francesco Bernardoni by 
name — felt prompted by a divine voice to renounce his past life 
and to devote himself to the service of God and of his fellow men. In 
one direction, particularly, there was an abundant field, while the 
laborers were few and unfitted for the work. The towns, growing in 
wealth and importance, had scant regard for the poor who lived on 
their outskirts. The parish priest, however effective in the small 
rural village, proved unequal to the situation. The monk, devoted 
to prayer, labor and study, was a recluse who fled from the crowded 
haunts of men. St. Francis, for so he came to be known, taking 
literally the words of Christ, " provide neither gold nor silver nor 



I5 8 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

brass in your purses, neither scrip for your journey, nor yet staves," 
braved his father's anger, renounced his worldly prospects, and went 
forth to teach and preach and minister to the simple and needy. 
All created things, the birds, the flowers, and wild beasts as well as 
man shared in the love of this gentle holy soul. After some years 
he went to Rome, hatless and barefoot, and obtained from Innocent III 
permission to establish a rule of life, from which grew his famous 
order of friars. It was not formally recognized till 1223, though by 
121 5 it had grown to such proportions that provincial ministers had 
been appointed to preside over the French, German, and Spanish 
members. In three respects the Franciscan friars grew away from 
the original intention of their founder. He started with the idea of 
wandering missionaries, with no formal organization, who should not 
concern themselves with theology. Even in his own lifetime they 
came to center chiefly in cities, they were constituted into a regular 
order, and as time went on they became famous for their learned 
scholars. Meantime, in southern France, Domingo de Guzman, son 
of a noble Castilian house and trained in the best academic traditions 
of the day, was devoting his rare talents and wondrous zeal to combat- 
ing heresy and schism. He showed his pitiless orthodoxy by his 
support of the bloody war against the Albigenses. ' ' Lord, ' ' he prayed, 
" send forth thine arm and afflict them, that this affliction may give 
them understanding." But it was from the pulpit rather than by 
the sword that he was to fight for the true faith. He founded the 
order of preaching friars which, in the course of a few years, adopted 
the Franciscan principle of poverty and was formally recognized in 
1220. 

The Coming of the Friars to England. — In 1221 a band of thirteen 
Dominicans landed in England. They established themselves in 
London, whence they proceeded to Oxford. There they set up schools 
and gathered disciples about them whom they trained as preachers. 
The Dominicans were followed three years later by nine Franciscans, 
who grew and spread until, within five years, they were domiciled in 
almost every considerable town in England. Their houses were held 
for them in trust, for they could possess no property. Settling down 
outside the city walls among the destitute and lowly, they taught and 
ministered with heroic devotion. Far from being depressed by their 
surroundings they were so full of fun that " a deaf man could hardly 
refrain from laughter at seeing them." Indeed an ordinance had to 
be issued at Oxford to prevent them from laughing so much during 
their prayers. They preached to the people in a homely style, spicing 
their sermons with merry jests and tales. What with their humor 
and their zeal, they gained a wonderful hold wherever they went. 
Popes came to use them as a sort of " flying squadron " to break the 
power of the bishops, of the parish priests, and of such monastic bodies as 
had become too local in their interests. Though at first King Henry 
did not welcome the friars, later he and Edward selected their con- 



HENRY III 



159 



fessors from them. Although the English Franciscans produced some 
of the most famous scholars of the age, 1 so many unworthy recruits 
entered the ranks as time went on that by Chaucer's day they had come 
to be generally regarded as beggarly rogues. 

The Parish Priest. — The earlier friars, as well as doing their pecul- 
iar work in the towns and the universities, acted as evangelists, con- 
ducting revivals in the rural districts. Except for the Jews, however, 
there were almost no heretics or dissenters in England. 2 Yet in spite 
of the activity of the friars, the parish church was still the center of 
village life, though the gilds, too, had a marked religious aspect; 
for they provided masses for the souls of deceased members; they 
had their patron saints and funds for charity. The parish priests 
were simple men of very scanty learning, with just enough Latin to 
say mass. This office they were expected to perform devoutly at 
least once a week and not more than once in the same day except on 
Christmas and Easter. They were also to be diligent in preaching 
and teaching, lest they should be regarded as " dumb dogs when they 

j ought by their timely barking to repel the attacks of spiritual wolves," 
and they were to be cheerful and constant in visiting the sick. In a 
word they, with their superiors, the bishops and others, " were ex- 
pected to act as a kind of moral police, enforcing the laws of Christian 
discipline upon every class of society, and in every department of 
human life." They were forbidden to accept any secular office, such 
as that of steward or bailiff, or any judicial function involving power 
to inflict capital punishment. They were also prohibited from 

; dressing in military fashion and from taking part in " scot ales " or 

j public feasts where there were competitions in drinking. While there 
were frequent complaints of negligence in visiting and teaching, of 

; hurrying through the service, of too frequent absence from the parish, 
some performed their duties excellently and many others did their 

j best according to their lights. Still, ignorance and indolence and bad 

I examples of conduct were the despair of reformers like Grosseteste, 
and led them to welcome the friars. Two impediments to a higher 
standard were the presentation to church livings of Italians and of 
boys with family influence. Riotous sports, gluttony, especially at 

j funeral feasts, and heavy drinking bouts were among the chief offenses 

! of the laity. 

The Popular Religion. — The religion of the age was very real. 
The people, though rude and boisterous, were simple and childlike 
and ready to atone for their sins by crusades and pilgrimages, by con- 

1 For example, Roger Bacon and William of Ockham. On the other hand, the 
most famous Dominicans such as Thomas Aquinas and Albertus Magnus were 
not Englishmen. 

• 2 A foreign sect which appeared in the reign of Henry II had made only one con- 
vert. By the Assize of Clarendon it was enacted that the intruders should be 
excommunicated and branded, and that if any should receive them, their houses 
should be carried out of the village and burned. 



i6 o A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

tributing to the building of churches and monasteries, and by gifts at 
shrines and altars. Anchorites living in caves and on the banks of 
lonely streams were visited by pilgrims marveling at their faith and 
holiness. Worship was chiefly a matter of outward form. ^ Though 
the people were generally instructed in the creed, the Lord's Prayer, 
and the ten commandments, they blindly worshiped images and 
relics and sought to approach God mainly through the medium of the 
saints. Belief in witchcraft, charms, and spells was practically uni- 
versal. Some of the popular superstitions were very touching and 
pretty A story is told of the appearance one harvest time in East 
Anglia, " no man knew whence," of a boy and girl "completely green 
in their person, and clad in garments of a strange color and unknown 
materials." These strange visitors were most kindly welcomed, 
baptized into the fellowship of the Church, and cherished, " till at 
length they changed their natural color through the natural effect 

of our food." 

The Universities. — At the beginning of Henry's reign the two es- 
sentials of a university were the masters and the scholars, who might 
migrate wherever they would. A great step in advance was taken 
when men began to found colleges, or houses with a master and scholars 
or fellows, with the object of providing shelter for poor students and 
of encouraging systematic study. Their originals may be traced to 
the convents which the mendicant friars caused to be built for them 
at great academic centers. John Balliol's foundation at Oxford in 
1260 was hardly more than an almshouse for needy scholars; but 
Walter de Merton's, three years later, was well organized and furnished a 
model for subsequent college benefactors. The universities were far 
from being centers of secluded calm, for we hear of riots among the 
students. On more than one occasion they seceded to Northampton, 
to Stamford, and elsewhere for temporary sojourns. Moreover, they 
exercised a profound and active influence on the politics and govern- 
ment of the time ; they produced men who took prominent places at 
court or on the episcopal bench. Cambridge took the side of Louis 
against John, while later, Oxford was a stanch supporter of Simon de 
Montfort. In the early part of the century English scholars, as a 
rule, were obliged to go abroad for study, but in later generations 
many names appear which shine brightly in the annals of Oxford. 
Grosseteste and Adam Marsh, lecturers to the Franciscans, were 
famous scholars, though their fame has been eclipsed by that of 
Roger Bacon (12 14- 1294). Since the eleventh century the prevailing 
interest of the learned had been to elaborate the great philosophical, 
theological system known as Scholasticism, which aimed to organize 
the belief of the Church by weapons of logic supplied by Aristotle. 
There were two schools of philosophic thought, the Realists who 
asserted that general ideas, " Universals " as they called them, 
alone were real, and their opponents the Nominalists, who asserted 
that such general ideas had no real existence but were only names. 



HENRY III !6! 

The dominant method of the Schoolmen was deductive ; that is, they 
proceeded from general principles to particular cases. Bacon, who 
mastered all the scientific learning of the time and who knew Greek 
and Hebrew as well, sought to introduce the experimental or inductive 
method by which general principles are discovered or framed from 
particular facts. " Much have I labored," he once wrote to Clement 
IV, " both in the sciences and the languages for forty years since I 
first learned my alphabet. Except for two years of the forty I have 
been always studying." He spent, we are told, large sums of money 
on books, experiments, instruments, and in purchasing the friend- 
ship of the wise. Unfortunately, he was ahead of his time ; he was 
suspected of being a heretic and magician and spent years of his life 
in exile and confinement. Although the age was a learned one, the 
tendency was toward formalism, toward speculative philosophy, 
rather than toward elegant culture, broad human interests, and grace- 
ful literary expression. 

Literature and Language. — In this period the only historian to 
compare with William of Malmesbury and William of Newburgh 
was Matthew Paris. His style, though overwordy, is graphic and per- 
sonal. ^ He set himself not only to record events, but to comment on 
their significance and to discuss the motives and character of the men 
who took part in them. He was fearless in his condemnation of 
the evils of his time. His knowledge was not confined to purely 
English affairs, but included those of the Continent as well. The fact 
that, besides being a monk and a historian, he was a traveler, a courtier, 
and a politician, mingling in the affairs of the busy world, though it 
lent to his work the partisanship of a man of affairs, gave him great 
opportunities for acquiring information. Then, too, St. Albans, 
where he generally dwelt, very accessible to London and to the great 
Northern road, was most favorably situated for obtaining the news of 
the day. The Chronicles were, of course, written in Latin, which was 
still the language of the learned. French remained the elegant lan- 
guage of the court and upper classes and of the romances by which 
they were diverted. The insular dialect of it, Anglo-French, had 
begun to be used, too, in pleadings in the law courts and in the debates 
in the Great Council. As a result of growing national sentiment, 
English, the tongue of the yeoman and the lower classes, was steadily 
developing as a vehicle of literary expression. An English song on 
the Battle of Lewes appeared, while King Horn and Havelock the Dane 
are national epics influenced by the form of French romance. At 
village alehouses and fairs strolling minstrels sang popular ballads 
of the early heroes Arthur and Merlin, Alexander and Charlemagne. 
Yet more than a century was to pass before the first really great 
creation in English literature was to see the light. 

Architecture. — " Architecture, the great art of the Middle Ages, 
was in its perfection " in this reign. The transition from the Norman 
to the Early English style, with its delicate spires and pointed arches, 



l62 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

was complete by the reign of John. Under his successor the latter 
style reached its maturity. Salisbury cathedral (1225-1258) is a 
noble example of pure Early English work. The nave and west front 
of Wells are also early English. 1 King Henry's chief architectural 
interest was in the rebuilding of Westminster Abbey. Curiously 
enough, this national monument is most un-English in structure. 
The building is French, and the decorations still more so. Here 
stained glass seems to have been systematically used for the first time, 
though there are evidences of its use much earlier. Very few castles 
were built in this period except along the frontier districts facing the 
Welsh border. One great change came in from France during the 
reign of John. The square keep was replaced by round towers. 
Earlier castles had consisted of a simple keep, but as time went on 
walls came to be built fortified by towers at intervals. Within the 
walls were the buildings used as dwellings, usually of wood. Although 
increasing attempts were made to render castles habitable by the 
addition of fireplaces and other comforts, the fortified manor houses 
were being more and more preferred as dwellings for the great, while 
the poor folk still lived in simple wooden houses. 

Foreign Trade. — Merchants, except during the intervals of war 
with France, were allowed to come and go freely. English staples 
were mainly agricultural — grain, cattle, and dairy produce. Such 
surplus as was raised was sold at local markets and fairs. Wool, 
woolfells, and hides had come to be the chief articles of export, along 
with tin, lead, and iron. The crusaders had given a great impulse to 
intercourse with the East, and the great nobles, lay and clerical, im- 
ported fine cloths, silks, furs, and jewels, wax, spices, and wines. Some 
fine cloth came from the looms of Flanders and the north of France, 
where most of the English wool found a market. The Rhine cities sup- 
plemented the Gascon ports as sources for the wine supply. The Han- 
seatic League controlled the Baltic trade and brought in furs, tar, and 
fish. The Italians cities were for two centuries to come the chief 
carriers in the Oriental traffic. Although the foreign trade was 
mainly in the hands of foreign merchants, English shipping was 
steadily increasing. Southhampton was the port of entry for most 
of the Mediterranean trade. London was, of course, a prominent 
shipping center, and so were Bristol and Chester. The Cinque Ports 2 
were coming into importance and securing peculiar privileges because 
of the ships which they furnished for the royal navy. They were 

1 This cathedral is notable for the sculptured figures on its west front, over three 
hundred in all, nearly half of which are of life size or larger. They are arranged in 
tiers and include representations of the leading personages of Biblical and native 
history. Executed between 1230 and 1235, there was nothing then to compare 
with them north and west of the Alps. But this is a unique exception, for the 
English have not, as a rule, excelled in sculpture work. 

2 Originally five port towns in Sussex and Kent (Hastings, Romney, Hythe, 
Dover, and Sandwich), to which two (Winchelsea and Rye) were subsequently 
added. 



HENRY III 



163 



still little better than " nests of chartered sea robbers," and many 
complaints were brought against them on this score ; but they rendered 
indispensable service on more than one occasion. So they were sum- 
moned to send members to Simon de Montfort's Parliament of 1265 
and by a charter of Edward I they were recognized as a corporate 
organization, with their own officers, courts, exemption from taxes 
and right to make by-laws. Henry's reign is notable in many ways 
as a stage in the progress of maritime affairs. The naval tactics off 
Dover in 1217 foreshadow a method of fighting which the English 
made use of in the following centuries with signal success. Licenses 
to privateers were first issued, and the compass began to be employed 
Internal Trade. Markets and Fairs. — The danger and difficulty 
of traveling, as well as the innumerable and vexatious charges for tolls 
and ferries, hampered internal trade. There were some good roads 
the survival of Roman times ; for example, that from Dover to London ; 
but many were almost impassable during certain seasons in the year! 
Outside the beaten path the country was infested by robbers By 
the Statute of Winchester (1285) "it is commanded that highways 
leading from one market town to another shall be enlarged so that 
there be neither dyke, tree, nor bush whereby a man may lurk to do 
hurt, within two hundred feet of the one side and two hundred feet 
on the other side of the way." Outside the local markets and the 
towns, trading centered in the great annual fairs. The most famous 
of these were at Stourbridge and Winchester. The Stourbridge fair 
controlled the trade of the eastern counties and the Baltic Sea. Every 
trade and nationality was represented. It was under the control of 
the corporation of Cambridge, it was opened annually on 18 Sep- 
tember, when temporary booths were set up, and it continued for 
three weeks. More important still was the Winchester fair under the 
control of the Bishop of Winchester. Lying between Southhampton 
and London it was the great mart for the southeast. It opened 
every year on the eve of St. Giles (31 August) and lasted for sixteen 
days. During the session of the fair all trade was suspended in the 
neighborhood and weights and measures were carefully scrutinized. 
The fairs had a special law administered in the Pie Powder Court, 
so-called from the French Pieds poudres (dusty feet) in reference to 
the traveling merchants and others who came under its jurisdiction. 
In return for privileges and protection the merchants paid heavy 
toll to the lord who controlled the fair, and curious cases are on record 
of those who tried to evade their obligations by digging their way in 
under the palisades. Other fairs were held at Boston, St. Ives, Oxford 
and Stamford. 

Native Industries, Towns, and Gilds. — The progress of the native 
industries was not as yet very great. Agriculture, fishing, and mining 
were the chief pursuits. Such cloth as was manufactured went to 
supply the needs of the household, except in certain towns where the 
Flemish weavers, dyers, and fullers were established. Each village 



i6 4 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

had its own tanner and bootmaker, smith, carpenter, and miller, and 
usually a professional hunter of wolves, cats, and otters, and moles 
whose skins were mainly used for hats. As the kings from the twelfth 
century had been granting charters to the towns so now the great 
lords were beginning to concede privileges to the towns under their 
sway. Even the smaller ones were no longer the homes of agricul- 
turists, but contained nourishing organizations of trades and handi- 
craftsmen. The division of labor was a very pronounced feature. 
In connection with the production and distribution of each of the 
staple commodities, wool and leather, we find ten or a dozen separate 
gilds or companies. Each had its special quarters or market in the 
city. Houses were arranged with the dwelling rooms at the top, the 
workshop below, while the goods were exposed for sale under the 
overhanging porch or at the edge of the street. The gilds were exer- 
cising an increasing influence in town government ; their members 
occupied the most important offices, and municipal affairs were regu- 
lated in their interests. Although the Lombards and Tuscans were 
coming to be known as money lenders, capital was still largely con- 
trolled by the Jews who were excluded from public office, from in- 
dustry and landholding, owing to religious obligations involved, while, 
on the other hand, since the Church did not countenance lending at 
interest, they had an open field in this form of business activity. 
The power of the towns and cities was being recognized in politics 
from the fact that their representatives begin to be summoned to 
the Great Councils. An index of prosperity is seen in fact that their 
outward appearance grows more imposing. Stone houses, formerly 
beyond the reach of any but Jews and nobles, become more common 
as places of residence. 

Rural Life. — After all, however, England was still mainly an agri- 
cultural country. The long vacations of the universities and the law 
courts are a survival of this time when the students and the prac- 
titioners were needed at home to work on the harvest. All evidences 
point to a quiet, steady improvement of conditions. Landlords de- 
voted more and more personal attention to their estates. Though 
the tenant farmer had appeared, he played little part in rural economy 
till the scarcity of labor caused by the Black Death in the middle of 
the next century. The status of the cultivator continued to improve 
and more and more serfs became free agricultural laborers. The 
clergy, however, were constantly preaching to the tillers of the soil 
to remain where God had placed them, comparing the ambitious to 
the worm that thought it had wings or the rat who wished to marry 
the sun's daughter. An indication and a cause of improvement in 
agricultural methods is the appearance of treatises on the subject. 
Grosseteste wrote one in Anglo-Norman French in 1 240-1 241 for Mar- 
garet, Dowager Countess of Lincoln. The most celebrated of all, 
however, is Walter of Henley's Treatise on Husbandry for the guidance 
of stewards of manors. It appeared some time before 1283 and re- 



.. 



HENRY III 165 

mained the standard for nearly two centuries. Owing to the faulty 
communications which made it necessary for each district to be, so 
far as possible, self-sufficing, the wasteful system of mixed farming 
persisted. Wheat, rye, and stock were all raised together without 
regard to the fitness of the special locality for one or the other, except 
in certain parts of Yorkshire where the Cistercians devoted them- 
selves to wool growing. Owing to the same difficulty of transporta- 
tion, the lords and even the kings wandered about from manor to 
manor for the purpose of consuming the supplies belonging to them. 
Some magnates had as many as ten or eleven estates scattered over 
different counties. Each had a bailiff to keep its accounts and was 
under the general supervision of a steward whose duties were mainly 
legal. It was still practically impossible to keep any considerable 
amount of stock over the winter. There was a heavy famine during 
the years i257-i25odue partly to bad harvests and partly to the drain 
of heavy taxes, much of which went out of the country. In 1288 the 
sheep scab appeared for the first time in English history. But these 
were exceptions in a generally prosperous period. 

FOR ADDITIONAL READING 

Narrative. Ramsay, The Dawn of the Constitution (1908), chs. I-XVI. Davis, 
England under the Normans and Angevins, chs. XVI-XVIII. T. F. Tout, Political 
History of England (1905) ; an interesting and scholarly account of the period from 
the accession of Henry III to the death of Edward I ; the appendix, pp. 443-464, on 
authorities, is especially good for source material. Stubbs, Early Plantagenets 
(1886), covering the years from 1135 to 1327, gives the best brief account of the 
reign of Henry III, owing to its grouping of topics, chs. VIII, IX. Kate Norgate, 
The Minority of Henry III (191 2) is the fullest and most recent narrative of the early 
years of Henry III. 

Constitutional and legal. Taylor, Origin and Growth, I, bk. I, sees. 4-7. Taswell- 
Langmead, chs. V-VII, passim. Stubbs, Constitutional History, II, ch. XIV. 
Pollock and Maitland, English Law, I, bk. I, ch. VII. 

Social, industrial, and intellectual conditions. Traill, Social England, I, ch. I. 
Bateson, Mediceval England, pt. II, passim. Davis, ch. XIX; Ramsay, ch. XVII; 
Moody and Lovett, ch. II. Taine, I, ch. II. Cambridge History of Literature, I, II. 
Jusserand, Literary History, I. 

Biography. G. W. Prothero, Simon de Montfort (1877); the best biography in 
English. F. S. Stevenson, Robert Grossetesle (1899); "the most complete life of 
Grosseteste." M. Creighton, Historical Lectures and Addresses (1903) ; containing 
three brief excellent lectures on Grosseteste and his times. 

The Church. Wakeman, ch. VII; W. R. W. Stephens, chs. XI-XVI. F. A. 
Gasquet, Henry II and the English Church (1905) ; from the Roman Catholic stand- 
point. A. Jessopp, The Coming of the Friars (1890), ch. I. Creighton, Lectures, 
"The Friars," pp. 69-83,98-116. 

Selections from the sources. Adams and Stephens, nos. 30-36. 



CHAPTER XI 

EDWARD I AND EDWARD II (1272-1327). THE COMPLETION OF THE 
FOUNDATIONS OF THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTIONAL SYSTEM 

Edward I (1272-1307), Accession and Early Life. — Henry III had 
been dead and buried for nearly two years before Edward I returned 
from the Holy Land. His succession was unopposed, and for the 
first time in English history the new reign dated from the close of 
the old instead of from the day of the coronation, though the maxim 
that " the King never dies " was unheard of for generations. Born 
in 1239, Edward was in the prime of his young manhood. The grand- 
son of the worst and the son of the pettiest of the Angevins, with 
a foreign mother and a foreign grandmother, he seemed far from 
fitted to lead a people whose national and patriotic aspirations were 
rapidly awakening. Nor did his childhood or early youth promise 
much. At his birth King Henry extorted such rich presents from 
his subjects that the cry was raised : " God gave us this infant but 
our Lord the King sells him to us." At fifteen he was married to a 
foreign princess, Eleanor of Castile, and jousts, tournaments, and the 
pleasures of the chase caused him for a time to neglect the vast es- 
tates and jurisdictions intrusted to his care. The baronial revolt, 
however, brought him for a season under the influence ofde Mont- 
fort, from whom he learned lessons in military and political affairs 
which deeply influenced his future. His royal station and his affec- 
tion for his father soon drew him from the ranks of revolt. The royal 
victory which followed was due more to him than to any other single 
man. He did more than win battles, for it was largely due to his 
foresight and generosity that terms were made with the barons ena- 
bling them to return to their allegiance. His departure from the 
country after the wars really strengthened his hand, since it with- 
drew him from association with his unpopular father. Such was the 
early life of the Prince who was crowned at Westminster Abbey, 19 
August, 1274, and who came to be recognized as the first truly English 
King since the Norman Conquest. 

Personal Traits. — In spite of his ancestry, and of some unpromis- 
ing signs in his youth, Edward was well qualified, both in mind and 
body, to become the representative of English hopes. His very name 
was significant : it was that of the Confessor who, however little he 
deserved it, was venerated as the national hero. Then his fair hair 
and ruddy cheeks were typically Anglo-Saxon. He was so tall that 

166 



EDWARD I AND EDWARD II l6r 

he got the name of " Long-shanks," and his frame was well knit and 
athletic. His commanding presence, united with skill in chivalrous 
exercises, military ability, and love for hunting and hawking were 
bound to impress the medieval Englishman. Men told more than 
one story of his bravery and resource. On one occasion while he was 
in the Holy Land an assassin attempted to stab him with a poisoned 
dagger as he was resting on a couch. Edward caught the blow on 
his arm, kicked the man sprawling on the floor, and killed him with 
his own weapon before help came. He had the violent temper of 
his Angevin ancestors, which once burst out so furiously that the 
dean of St. Paul's fell dead with fright. Ordinarily, however, he 
held himself m perfect control. While prompt to resist encroach- 
ments of the Church or the Papacy and alert in detecting superstition 
and imposture, he was genuinely religious. He was devout in visiting 
shrines, he made vows in time of stress, and, when delivered from 
danger and difficulty, never failed to offer public thanks. Usually 
he retired to a monastery to pass the quiet Lenten season. Warm 
in his family affection, to the mass of men he appeared stern and un- 
feeling. Naturally frugal and abstemious, he kept up sufficient of 
courtly state to support the dignity of his position. He prided him- 
self on his truthfulness, adopting as his motto, pactum serva (" keep 
truth ) yet he was not above legal evasions, for often he kept only 
the letter of an agreement at the expense of the spirit. 

His Military Policy. — Skilled as he was in war, he took no joy in 
battle and had no desire to extend his dominions abroad. Though 
he engaged in war with the King of France, it was to preserve the do- 
minions that he had inherited from his father, not to regain what 
John had lost. He did aspire to be the arbiter of Europe in order 
to maintain the balance of power against France ; but in this policy 
he made use of diplomacy rather than arms. He was not altogether 
successful, though he managed to raise England to a position in 
Lurope second only to her ancient enemy. 

His Work as Lawgiver and Administrative Organizer. — It was 
as a lawgiver and as an administrative organizer that Edward did 
his most enduring work. Henry II had achieved much; but his 
successors had misused the great powers he had passed on to them 
and had come into conflict with the growing spirit of nationalism and 
independence. Edward's task was to resume what Henry had begun ; 
to preserve what was best, and adapt it to new conditions ; to accept 
at the same time the most beneficial and necessary of the reforms which 
had been forced on the Crown ; and to fuse the old and the new into 
the structure of the Constitution. Although he adapted and sup- 
plemented rather than originated, he completed the ground plan of 
the English government as it exists to-day. Those who came after 
had only to complete the edifice on the foundations which he had 
reared. By the end of his reign the principle was accepted that the 
King was m general bound to respect the privileges of his subjects and 



^8 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

• 
to observe the laws of the land ; the voice of the people should be 
declared in Parliament, a body which for the first time came to com- 
pletely represent all three classes of the realm — the nobles, the 
clergy, and the commons — and that all taxes, except those sanc- 
tioned by custom, should be granted by this body. These principles 
were often violated in subsequent centuries ; but it was much to have 
secured their recognition thus early. Through the efforts of Edward 
the common man was placed more securely than ever before under 
the law of the land as against the feudal lord. By the close of his 
reign the three common law courts, the King's Bench, the Common 
Pleas, and the Exchequer, had taken shape each with its distinct 
records, and they continued practically unchanged till the close of 
the nineteenth century. The circuits and functions of the itinerant 
justices had been carefully marked out, and the Council, to assist 
the King in his deliberations, had become a recognized institution. 
Also a body of officials under the Chancellor was emerging which 
was to judge suits on their merits, by right or " equity," when the 
common law was too inelastic to meet the requirements of an individ- 
ual case. All this and more was brought about largely by a series of 
laws or statutes so comprehensive and so superior in numbers and 
importance that the reign of Edward can almost be said to mark the 
beginning of English legislation. In the quaint words of the Canon 
of Oseney : " Edward revived the ancient laws which had slumbered 
through the disturbance of the realm : some corrupted by abuse he 
restored to their proper form: some less evident and apparent he 
declared : some new ones, useful and honorable, he added." 

Wales. Edward's First Campaign, 1277. — The first serious prob- 
lem that the King had to face was the conquest of Wales. We have 
seen how the Celtic peoples occupying the strip of coast to the north 
and south of the peninsula had been already isolated from their kins- 
men, and conquered and absorbed, and how the Normans had set 
up earldoms to protect the Marches, or border, from the fierce moun- 
taineers who remained unsubdued. During the time of John and 
Henry, Llywelyn ap Jorwerth and his grandson Llywelyn ap Gruffydd 
had extended their authority over the whole of Wales. For a time 
they seemed destined to unite the scattered and mutually hostile 
tribes into a single people and to establish an independent nation. 
The older Llywelyn, by making common cause with the barons 
against John, secured important concessions in Magna Carta. The 
younger, in alliance with Simon de Montfort, took an active part 
against Henry III during the barons' war. By the Peace of Shrews- 
bury, 1267, the English King granted him extremely liberal terms; 
in return for homage and an indemnity to the Crown, he was to hold 
Wales as a principality and to be recognized as immediate lord of all 
the Welsh chieftains outside the limits of the Marches. Llywelyn 
kept reasonably quiet during the remainder of Henry's reign; but 
he refused to perform any homage or pay any indemnity to Edward ; 



EDWARD I AND EDWARD II 169 

he failed to appear at the coronation, and disregarded frequent sum- 
monses. In 1275 Edward secured possession of Llywelyn's intended 
bride and refused to restore her except on terms that the Welsh 
prince rejected. War was formally declared, and in August, 1277, 
Edward led an invasion into Wales. Llywelyn was hemmed in and 
starved into submission. He was forced to render homage and to 
have his possessions reduced to the district around Snowdon. 

Second Campaign, 1282. Subjugation of Wales. Statute of 
Rhuddlan. — The peace lasted less than five years. The English offi- 
cials, however, were unscrupulous and brutal in their administration, and 
the tactlessness of the Archbishop of Canterbury fanned the smolder- 
ing embers of resistance again into a flame. Llywelyn was joined by 
his brother David, and, on Palm Sunday, 1282, they opened a new 
war by attacking the three border castles of Flint, Rhuddlan, and 
Hawarden. Thence the revolt spread all over Wales. Edward took 
the field again, and, as in 1277, Llywelyn was forced back into the 
mountainous district of Snowdon and blockaded by sea and land. 
Fearing to face starvation again, he forced his way out and was slain 
in a skirmish near the upper waters of the Severn. His head was 
sent to London, was crowned with ivy, and displayed upon a pole 
on the Tower. With his death the backbone of the resistance was 
broken. David was captured and sentenced to death in the follow- 
ing year. The conquest of Wales was complete. A notable feature 
of these Welsh wars is the fact that the long bow was first used effec- 
tively, a weapon which was to play such a part in the wars of the 
next century. Edward at once began to secure his new possessions. 
Snowdon was surrounded by a chain of fortresses, each of which be- 
came the center of a town whither English traders and colonists were 
attracted by important privileges. In other parts of Wales as well, 
new garrisons and fortresses were established or old ones rebuilt. 
In 1284 the Statute of Wales was issued at Rhuddlan to provide for 
governing the recent acquisitions. Wales was formally annexed to 
the English dominions, and the English shire system was extended 
by the creation of four shires in the north and by the reorganization 
of two already established in the south. English law administered 
by English sheriffs was introduced, though, wherever possible, Welsh 
local customs were allowed to stand. The Marcher lordships, however, 
were suffered to exist and to retain their extensive jurisdiction for 
two centuries and more, and an equal period was to elapse before the 
Welsh were incorporated into the English parliamentary system. In 
1301 the title of Prince of Wales was conferred on Edward's oldest 
surviving son, born at Carnarvon in 1284. This has been the cus- 
tomary title of the heir apparent to the throne ever since. 

The French and the Scotch Wars and their Consequences. — From 
1286 to 1289 Edward was abroad. Not long after his return he in- 
volved himself in complications with Scotland that, combined with 
a French war which followed, led to consequences most significant 



i 7 o A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

for England's foreign and domestic history. From now on English 
kings were constantly interfering in Scotch affairs, a constant source 
of friction, till the smaller kingdom was finally incorporated with 
the larger in 1707. Moreover, this new policy threw Scotland into 
the arms of England's chief enemy, France, and in 1295 an alliance 
was made between the two countries by which Scotch manners and 
customs were profoundly influenced by the French. Also, French 
intrigue so accentuated the natural hostility of the Scots that Eng- 
land had to reckon with her northern neighbors in every crisis, foreign 
and domestic, during the next four centuries. The constitutional 
progress of Edward's reign was clue largely to these wars. The King's 
need of money in 1295 led him to summon the " Model Parliament," 
the first body completely representative of all three political classes. 
Requiring more than he got from Parliament, Edward was obliged 
to demand increased military service from his barons and to squeeze 
further contributions from the clergy and the merchants. This 
led to a threefold combination against him, in the face of which he 
was obliged to yield a new continuation of the Charters in 1297, ad- 
mitting the principle that all taxes over and above those regularly 
belonging to the Crown must be granted by Parliament. 

The Disputed Succession in Scotland. — The trouble with Scot- 
land arose over a disputed succession. The country ruled by the 
Scotch kings in the thirteenth century was composed of many diverse 
elements. 1 Although the royal race was Celtic, the Lowlands, form- 
ing the richest and most populous part of the realm, were inhabited 
by people of English blood with English institutions and bound to 
England by close feudal ties. Ever since the time of Edward the 
Elder, English kings had claimed a shadowy overlordship over the 
Scots ; but its extent and character had never been clearly determined. 
Suddenly, in 1286, Alexander III, the reigning King, was killed by his 
horse falling over a cliff. He left as his heir a little granddaughter, 
Margaret, known as the " Maid of Norway." Edward determined 
to unite the two countries by marrying Margaret to his son. The 
Scots gave their consent with certain conditions ; but, in September, 

1290, Margaret died on her way from Norway to Scotland. In May, 

1 291, Edward ordered the Scotch barons and clergy to meet him at 
Norham, and there announced his intention, as Superior and Lord 
Paramount, of settling the succession. There were no less than 
twelve claimants, of whom the two leading ones were John Balliol 
and Robert Bruce. As a result of the findings of a body of commis- 
sioners, to whom the law of the case was referred, Edward pronounced 

1 Its nucleus was the district north of the Clyde, settled by the Scots from Ire- 
land in the sixth century. In 843 Kenneth MacAlpine, King of the Scots, acquired 
Pictland, the territory of the ancient Caledonians, north of the Forth. The north- 
ern Strathclyde country, or Cumbria, lying south of the Clyde, was added in the 
tenth century. Lothian, between the Forth and the Tweed, was next conquered 
and the conquest confirmed by Cnut in 101S. 







BOflMAY * CQ tl tHWt,H.Vt 



EDWARD I AND EDWARD DZ 171 

in favor of Balliol, who swore fealty to him, and on St. Andrew's 
Day, 30 November, 1292, was crowned at Scone. 

The Conquest of Scotland, 1296. The Deposition of Balliol. — 

Though Edward had intervened in the interests of order, he took 
advantage of the situation to press his claims to overlordship. In 
pursuance of this policy he demanded that English courts should 
decide cases appealed from the courts of Scotland. Balliol sought 
to evade this requirement, contracted an alliance with France, sent 
an expedition across the border, and ended, in 1296, by renouncing 
his allegiance. " Has the foolish fellow done such folly? " cried 
Edward when he heard that Balliol had refused his summons to ap- 
pear before him ; " if he does not choose to come to us, we shall go to 
him." Before the close of the summer he had conquered the country 
and reduced Balliol to submission. Appearing with a white rod in 
his hand and stripped of every kingly decoration, the latter surrendered 
his scepter and renounced his claim to the kingdom. Taken to Eng- 
land a prisoner, he was confined in the Tower. Afterwards released 
at the request of the Pope, he lived for twenty years in France in in- 
glorious obscurity. Though Edward was far from harsh, many of 
his measures tended to gall the already irritated pride of the Scots. 
He made a triumphal march through the country; he declared the 
kingdom forfeited ; he broke the Great Seal, and placed most of the 
great offices of State in English hands. He sent many of the patriot 
leaders to dwell south of the Trent so long as the war with France 
continued, and carried off the ancient coronation stone of Scone to 
Westminster Abbey, where it has remained ever since. 1 

The War with France, 1293. — The breach with France began as 
early as 1293. It arose out of quarrels between English and French 
sailors due to bitter commercial rivalry. In the course of the struggle, 
Philip IV summoned Edward to appear before the Parliament of 
Paris, January 1294. The English King sent his brother Edmund in 
his place, who was induced by the wily Philip to consent to a French 
occupation of certain Gascon castles and to the formal surrender of 
the duchy pending the settlement of the points in dispute. When 
he had once got the Gascon possessions in his hands, Philip declared 
the English King contumacious and his fiefs forfeit for non-appearance. 
Edward, furious at the deceit practiced upon him, declared war in a 
Parliament held in June, 1294. Heavy taxes were imposed and other 
exactions extorted. The clergy were assessed half their spiritual 
revenues, the shires a tenth of their incomes, and the boroughs a sixth. 
The coined money deposited in the treasuries of the churches was 
appropriated, the wool of the merchants was seized and only given 
up in return for large grants. A formidable rising of the Welsh, who 
chafed under English rule, kept Edward occupied till July, and taxed 

1 An old prophecy declaring that where that stone was a Scotch king should 
rule was thought to be fulfilled when James VI became King of England over three 
hundred years later. 



1 72 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

his resources severely. Then a Gascon expedition, sent out under 
his nephew, John of Brittany, turned out a failure. Levies were de- 
manded from Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and the Marches for another, 
and Edward made a vain attempt to organize a great European com- 
bination against the French. The effort to control the sea marks an 
important step in the maritime history of both countries. It led 
Edward to establish, in 1295, his famous coast guard. Philip, on 
his part, planned an invasion and a blockade of the English ports ; 
both failed, but the ships which he prepared mark the beginning of 
the French royal navy. Then came the alliance with Scotland. 
In order to meet it Edward took the decisive step of appealing to the 
whole body of his subjects by summoning the Model Parliament in 
November, 1295, a step which marks the culmination of the growth 
of representative government and perhaps the most important stage 
in its history. 

The Beginnings of Parliament to 1265. — The term " Parliament " 
means literally a speaking, and came to be applied to the body in 
which the speaking took place. The term is now understood to mean 
a general council of the realm, summoned by the King, to consult on 
the affairs of the realm and to transact its business, to vote taxes, to 
enact and repeal laws. The body now consists of two houses : the 
House of Lords, composed of the nobles and most of the bishops ; 
and the House of Commons, composed of the elected representatives 
of the people. The name "Parliament" was first applied by the 
chronicler Matthew Paris to an assembly of the Magnates in 1246. 
This body, however, was no more representative or elective than the 
Witan, or the Great Council which followed after the Conquest. The 
complement of elected representatives from the Commons had yet 
to appear. From the earliest Anglo-Saxon times the reeve, priest, 
and four men from each township had appeared in the hundred and 
shire courts. These courts, however, transacted little or no legislative 
business, and, with the growth of the royal power, they and the men 
who came to them decreased steadily in importance. It is from 
another direction that the growth of the system of parliamentary 
representation is to be traced. It started with the representative 
juries, first employed regularly under Henry II to bring criminals 
to justice, to decide suits at law, and to assess taxes. During the time 
of Hubert Walter, these juries came to be more and more representa- 
tive in character. As the lesser nobility came to count for less in 
the Great Council they began to identify themselves with the landed 
gentry of the counties, and to serve in juries transacting local busi- 
ness. If the barons in their growing opposition to the Crown should 
unite with these local representatives, or if the King should throw 
himself on their support and they should be summoned together in 
one place to grant supplies and assist in national deliberations, a 
Parliament in the modern sense would be well on foot. This is pre- 
cisely what happened. Sometimes the Crown and sometimes the 






EDWARD I AND EDWARD II 173 

barons called together such representatives until they came to form 
a part of the regular machinery of government. Historians have 
pointed to two assemblies held in 12 13 as marking an important stage 
in the making of Parliament. In one case, the reeve and four men 
from certain towns were summoned to meet at St. Albans to assess 
damages due to the clergy for losses incurred during John's quarrel 
with the Pope. In the other, four discreet knights of each shire were 
called to Oxford " to confer with the King on the affairs of the king- 
dom." It is uncertain whether the local representatives appeared at 
either place, and taxes continued for many years to be voted in coun- 
cils of great tenants in chief and assessed and collected in the separate 
shires by representative knights. Still the fact that such summonses 
were issued at all is interesting. The first clear case of a central 
assembly of representative knights comes in 1254, as the result of 
royal necessity. Henry III, absent in Gascony, wanted money for 
his campaign, but the bishops and barons refused to vote it. There- 
upon the Regents, Queen Eleanor and Richard of Cornwall, summoned 
through the sheriffs two knights from each shire to declare what the 
electors were willing to grant. 

The Growth of Parliament from 1265 to 1295. — The next step was 
taken in 1265, when Simon de Montfort summoned to his Parliament 
not only two knights from each shire, but also two citizens or bur- 
gesses from each of twenty-one cities and boroughs which he selected. 
This has often been called the first English Parliament ; but while 
Simon deserves credit for his first bringing together the two elements 
that make up the later House of Commons, his was not a completely 
representative body. It consisted exclusively of his own supporters, 
the lower clergy were not summoned at all, the barons there were 
only of his following, and, in the case of the towns, the writs were 
directed to such mayors as were on his side, and not, as came to be 
the case later, to the sheriffs of the shires in which the towns were 
situated. All that one can say is that the Parliament of 1265 repre- 
sented more classes than any which had met up to that time. It is 
doubtful, too, whether Simon intended his arrangement as permanent 
or only to sanction the system of government set up after the battle 
of Lewes ; at any rate, writs for a Parliament for the following June 
summoned only the prelates and barons without any mention of the 
clergy, and for thirty years no Parliament met which included repre- 
sentatives from all classes. The fact must also be taken into account 
that the towns were attaining such importance that they would soon 
have secured representatives without Simon. Nevertheless, he 
deserves credit for initiating a very important step in parliamentary 
progress. 

The Model Parliament, 1295. — Edward's Parliament of 1295 
was the first to represent all classes. Here were present representatives 
from the nobility, earls and barons ; from the clergy, archbishops and 
bishops, abbots, priors, heads of the military religious orders, deans 



174 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

of cathedrals, and proctors or delegates from the various chapters 
and dioceses ; from the commons, two knights from each shire and 
representatives from more than a hundred cities and boroughs. The 
writs of summons declared that : " Inasmuch as a most righteous 
law of the Emperor's ordains that what touches all shall be approved 
by all, so it evidently appears that common dangers should be met by 
remedies agreed upon in common." Edward was more interested 
in getting money for his wars with France and Scotland than in per- 
fecting the constitution of Parliament. Also, some incomplete as- 
semblies met after 1295 ; but the assembly of that year furnished the 
model for time to come. It was the work of the next century to de- 
cide how the estates now represented should arrange themselves. 
The lower clergy soon dropped out and transacted their business 
in representative bodies of their own, known as Convocations. 
There were two of these, one under Canterbury and one under 
York, and each was divided into two houses, an upper and a lower. 
The higher clergy had seats both in the upper house of Convocation 
and in Parliament. In the latter body they soon came to be 
organized, together with the temporal peers, into the House of 
Lords, while the knights of the shire and the representatives of the 
cities and boroughs united to form the House of Commons. 1 The 
first distinct record of a session of these two houses separately 
occurs in 1332, after Edward I had been in his grave a quarter of a 
century. 

The King arouses the Opposition of the Clergy, the Barons, and 
the Merchants, 1296. — It was with the money granted by the Model 
Parliament that Edward was able to conquer Scotland in 1296, but 
an expedition to Gascony, led by his brother Edmund, was a dismal 
failure. While the barons, knights, and burgesses, assembled in a 
new Parliament, November, 1296, made liberal grants for another 
campaign against Philip the Fair, the clergy refused absolutely to 
contribute. Their leader, Robert Winchelsea, Archbishop of Canter- 
bury, took his stand on a bull known as Clericis laicos, issued the 29th 

1 Although, twice in the reign of Edward III, it was enacted that there should 
be annual Parliaments, demands for frequent sessions never came except in times 
of political excitement ; only a few far-sighted political leaders realized the possi- 
bilities of Parliament as a constant check on the royal powers. Owing to the fact 
that they were usually assembled to grant supplies ; owing to the expense and hard- 
ship of the journey to Westminster, the usual place of meeting; and to the fact 
that, as individuals, they counted for very little when they got there, the bulk of 
the Commons regarded attendance as a burden rather than a privilege, as a futile 
interruption of their daily occupations. Even the payment of 45. a day to knights 
of the shire and of 2s. to burgesses did not prove very tempting. Most of the parlia- 
mentary business was prepared beforehand by the King and his council, and the 
sheriffs usually controlled the elections. From 1330 on a determined effort was 
made to keep lawyers, who were regarded as an undesirable element, from sitting 
in Parliament. In 1372 they were excluded from the country representation, and 
in one Parliament at least, the " Unlearned Parliament " of 1404, not a single lawyer 
was admitted. In later times they reappeared in constantly increasing numbers. 



EDWARD I AND EDWARD II 175 

of the previous February by Boniface VIII, which forbade the lay 
authorities under pain of excommunication to collect taxes from the 
clergy without the Pope's consent. Edward replied by putting the 
clergy outside the protection of the law so that any man might plunder 
them at will. " Henceforth," so ran the decree of the Lord Chief 
Justice, " a clerk may have no redress however atrocious may be the 
injury from which he may have suffered." Thereupon all lay fiefs 
of clerks in the see of Canterbury who refused to pay were seized by 
royal order. This brought them to time. Increased necessity soon 
forced Edward into conflict with both the barons and the merchants. 
In a baronial assembly held at Salisbury in February, 1297, the Mar- 
shal, the Earl of Norfolk, and the Constable, the Earl of Hereford, 
refused to serve in Gascony unless the King who planned to attack 
Flanders should command in person. Edward's wrath was furious: 
" By God, Sir Earl," he roared at the Marshal, " thou shalt either go 
or hang." " By that same oath, Sir King," replied the undaunted 
Marshal, " I will neither go nor hang," and, together with the Con- 
stable, he collected men at arms to support their resistance. The 
King embittered the merchants by seizing a portion of their wool and 
subjecting the remainder to a heavy tax. Disaffection was further 
spread by requisitions for grain and salt throughout the kingdom. 

Edward's Expedition to Flanders. Wallace's Rising in Scotland, 
1297. — Edward's courage and resource and the loyalty of his sub- 
jects in the face of danger enabled him to tide over the crisis. With 
Winchelsea's grudging assent — " Let each man save his own soul 
and follow his own conscience " — the clergy yielded their quota ; 
the merchants were satisfied with a promise that they would be com- 
pensated for their wool when peace was restored ; and the King paid 
for his requisitions and agreed to pay for the services of all who would 
respond to his " affectionate request." Leaving Prince Edward as 
Regent with Winchelsea among his leading councilors, he departed 
for Flanders in the summer of 1297 with a goodly following. The 
Gascon expedition was dropped. Norfolk and Hereford resig led 
their offices and held sullenly aloof. Meantime, a formidable rising 
broke out in Scotland, headed by Sir William Wallace, one of the Low- 
land barons. Edward refused to be diverted from Flanders, though 
he sent some of his best warriors to the North. The English forces 
were overcome at the Battle of Stirling Bridge, 11 September, and 
Scotland passed for the moment out of English hands. 

The Confirmation of the Charters, 1297. — Just as the King was 
ready to embark, the barons who remained disaffected presented 
him with a list of grievances and demanded a confirmation of the 
Charters. He had been able to evade them ; but after his departure 
they took advantage of the Scotch crisis to renew their demands. 
They came to Parliament armed, they threatened to vote no more 
supplies, and 12 October, the Regency was forced to give way. The 
concessions were embodied in a famous document known as the 



176 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

Confirmatio Cartarum. It provided that the Charter of Liberties 
and the Charter of the Forests should be confirmed, and that the 
King's recent exactions should not be made precedents, particularly 
that the " maletolte " x should be discontinued. Most important of 
all, it was enacted that " no aids, tasks, or prises were to be taken, 
but by the common consent of the realm and for the common profit 
thereof, saving the ancient aids and prises due and accustomed." 2 
The Confirmatio was ratified by the King at Ghent. By specifying 
" aids, tasks, and prises " the barons sought to cover all forms of 
taxes known to them, and the King recognized the principle that no 
new or extraordinary taxes should be levied without the consent of 
Parliament. Twice afterwards, however, he aroused opposition 
by his tax levies. In 1304 he collected a tallage from towns on the 
royal demesne. Here he was within his rights, but it was a mere 
legal evasion when, in 1303, he imposed certain customs duties on 
foreign merchants on the ground that he was not thereby taxing his 
subjects, though he really was indirectly, since such customs were 
bound to affect prices. Quite indefensible also was his action, in 
1305, in securing from Clement V a solemn absolution from the en- 
gagement of 1297. Yet in spite of all wriggling, a principle had been 
formulated and recognized which was to influence profoundly the 
course of English constitutional history. 

Peace with France, 1299. Defeat and Execution of Wallace, 1305. 
— Edward accomplished little in Flanders, and, as Philip IV was not 
keen for fighting, a peace was arranged in 1297 — concluded 1299 — 
on terms suggested by Boniface VIII, to whom the matter had been 
referred. Each party was to retain what he had at the beginning 
of the war, and the arrangement was to be cemented by a double 
marriage : Edward, now a widower, was to marry Philip's sister, 
and Prince Edward, the French King's infant daughter Isabella. 
In July, 1298, the English King was ready to take the field against 
the Scots, and, on the 22d, he met and defeated the forces of Wal- 
lace at Falkirk. The Scotch pikemen proved no match for the Eng- 
lish cavalry combined with Welsh archers. In spite of his victory 
Edward, owing to the scarcity of provisions and desertions, had to 
march south in the early winter of 1299, leaving southern Scotland 
still unconquered. Wrangles with his barons over carrying out the 

1 A tax on wool of 40s. a sack in excess of a tax fixed in 1275. 

2 The Stakitum de Tallagio non concedendo, formerly accepted ?s a statute, was 
probably a preliminary draft of the baronial demands granted in the Confirmatio. 
It is much more sweeping in its concessions than the authorized version which does 
not yield the royal right of tallage and does not contain the saving clauses to be 
found in the Statutnm. Some progress was made in cutting off uncontrolled sources 
of supply. Tallage was never levied after 1332. A statute of 1340 directed against 
it may have had some influence, though its disappearance is due rather to a sub- 
stitution of general for special forms of taxation. The subsidy, or tax on wool, 
taken by the King over and above the ancient custom fixed by Parliament in 1275, 
was steadily protested against, but it required two statutes the second passed in 
1371, to put an end to it. 



EDWARD I AND EDWARD II 177 

terms of the Confirmatio and negotiations with Philip, who still clung 
to Gascony, 1 kept Edward occupied for some years ; but at length , 
in 1304, he completed the reduction of the country. William Wallace, 
who held out after the bulk of his countrymen had submitted, was 
betrayed by a Scot in Edward's service, taken to London, and executed 
in 1305. 

Robert Bruce. Edward's Last Campaign against the Scots, 1307. — 
Edward sought to make amends by framing wise laws for the govern- 
ment of the country, but the spirit of the Scots was still unbroken. 
A leader was at hand in Robert Bruce, the grandson of Balliol's old 
rival. He had been on Edward's side during the earlier struggles, 
but he was bold and ambitious. Crowned at Scone, 25 March, 1306, 
he became then the champion of national independence. Every one 
has heard how in one of his moments of discouragement, when he 
was a fugitive in the lonely wastes, a spider taught him patience. The 
devotion of his followers did not even stick at treachery to the Eng- 
lish. Bishop Wishart broke his sixth oath of fealty, and took the 
timber which Edward gave him for a steeple for his cathedral to 
construct siege engines. Edward, regardless of the infirmities of 
age, vowing that if he reduced his Scotch enemies he would never 
again take arms against Christian man but devote himself to a crusade, 
hastily made preparations and started northward. Before he had 
got far, Bruce was defeated and put to flight by the warden of Scot- 
land. Summary vengeance was visited on such of his supporters as 
were captured, among them the Countess of Buchan, who was hung 
in an iron cage outside the walls of Berwick Castle. The return of 
Bruce spurred Edward to hasten his march, but death overtook him 
seven miles from Carlisle, 7 July, 1307, before he reached the border. 
The approach of death did not diminish the old King's hatred toward 
his opponents. By his order, Edwardus Primus, Scotorum Malleus, 
Pactum Serva, was inscribed on his tomb, while he further ordered 
that his bones should be carried with the army whenever the Scots 
rebelled, and only buried after their defeat. His idea of uniting the 
various races of Britain into a single nation was a noble one ; but to 
seek to carry it out in the teeth of such intense opposition was criminal 
folly which involved England and Scotland in untold losses of men 
and money. It was not till centuries later that that poorer northern 
country came to see that her interests were bound to those of her 
southern neighbor. 

Although Edward failed to realize his dream of incorporating Scot- 
land, his management of affairs elsewhere beyond the English borders 
was not unsuccessful. He had reduced Wales. In Gascony few com- 
plaints came from either barons or commons, and he frustrated Philip's 
attempt to wrest the country from his control. The Irish situation 

1 Finally, in 1303, Philip yielded Gascony, thus falsifying the Pope's prediction, 
"What the French once lay hold of they never let go, and to have to do with the 
French is to have to do with the devil." 



178 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

bristled with difficulties ; but he was able to increase revenues over 
expenditures, and to give the country a comparatively good rule. 

The Hundred Rolls, the Quo Warrantos, and the Year of Legal 
Memory. — It was in the field of internal administration that Edward 
achieved his greatest triumphs. He began in 1274 by sending out a 
body of royal commissioners provided with articles of inquiry to be 
answered by sworn jurors of every hundred. The results of their 
investigation are recorded in documents known as the " Hundred 
Rolls," from the fact that the records concerning each hundred were 
preserved on separate rolls of parchment in the Government archives. 
As Domesday Book throws a flood of light on financial and agrarian 
conditions, so these Rolls tell much about exemptions from royal 
jurisdiction ; about privileges, such as monopolies of mill rights, 
fishing rights, ferry rights, hereditary sheriffdoms ; about such abuses 
as bribery and unfair administration of justice. By the Statute of 
Gloucester, 1278, the King provided for a judicial visitation to find 
out by what warrant, quo warranto, local privileges encroaching on 
the power of the Crown were enjoyed. In the following spring the 
King's judges started out armed with writs of quo warranto; church- 
men, barons, no matter how powerful, had to produce a charter war- 
ranting their privileges or else pay a fine. Naturally there was great 
murmuring and even resistance. The Earl of Warenne, for example, 
produced a rusty sword as the warrant of himself and his ancestors, 
and offered to defend what he possessed with the sword. .Finally, a 
compromise was reached. All who could trace back their claims to 
1 189, the year of the accession of Richard I, might retain them with- 
out further evidence. Any privilege acquired since required a written 
record. So the year 1189 came to be the " year of legal memory," 
the boundary between written record and oral tradition. 

The First and Second Statutes of Westminster, 1275 and 1285, and 
the Statute of Merchants. — Edward was determined to correct the 
abuses of officials acting in his name as well as to enforce the royal 
rights. To that end ordinances were issued from the Exchequer — 
the financial court of the realm — to prevent extortion and specula- 
tion and to close the court to unauthorized persons. The royal atti- 
tude is manifest too, in the first and second Statutes of Westminster 
enacted in 1275 and 1285, respectively, in which "great zeal and 
desire " was expressed " to redress the state of the Realm in such 
things as require amendment . . . that the peace of the Holy 
Church and the Land be well kept and maintained in all points, and 
Common Right be done to all, as well Poor as Rich, without respect 
to Persons." These two statutes are mainly a restatement and sum- 
mary of previous enactments, such as Magna Carta and the Provi- 
sions of Westminster, and the embodiment, as well,, of the best fea- 
tures of the administrative measures of Henry II and his successors. 
While the main aim in both is to deal with existing abuses in royal 
and feudal jurisdiction, and to regulate the procedure of the courts 






EDWARD I AND EDWARD II 179 

rather than to formulate new general principles, the second statute 
contains one important new provision. This is the clause " concern- 
ing conditional gifts," de donis conditionalibus. It established en- 
tailed estates ; that is, estates that should be handed down in an order 
of succession established by the original donor, failing which they 
should go back to him and his heirs. The measure was acceptable 
both to the King and to the great nobles ; to the former because it 
enabled him, when the conditions were not fulfilled, to get back lands 
originally granted by the Crown ; to the latter because it prevented 
their estates from being diminished by division among heirs or in 
payment of debt. The latter point was all the more important be- 
cause two years before, in 1283, a statute had been passed for the pro- 
tection of merchants. 1 Foreign merchants, from the fact that they 
had very little security for their persons and none for collecting debts, 
had grown shy of doing business in the country, and trade had suffered. 
To remedy the situation the Statute of Merchants provided that 
creditors could force their debtors to acknowledge their debts and have 
them enrolled ; and, in event of non-payment, could have the debtor's 
land and chattels seized and imprison their persons until the claims 
were satisfied. 

The Statute of Mortmain or De Religiosis, 1279. — In 1279 Edward 
attempted to deal with another grievance. The Church had been 
increasing its possessions till at length it absorbed fully a third of the 
land of the kingdom. Church lands were said to be held in " Mort- 
main " — as if by a dead hand that never relaxed its grasp — for 
corporations, unlike families, never died. Nor was this the chief 
grievance ; ecclesiastical holdings were exempt from most of the 
military obligations and other services, such as wardships, marriages, 
and reliefs. In consequence, the custom arose for those who wished 
to evade those obligations to grant their lands to the Church on con- 
dition of enjoying part of the income. In order to check this abuse 
Edward enacted his famous statute De Religiosis or Mortmain, pro- 
hibiting such grants without royal license. The effect was regulative 
rather than prohibitive, for many licenses for alienation were given. 

The Statute of Winchester, 1285. — By the Statute of Winchester 
the King sought to revive and reorganize the old institutions of national 
police and defense. Every district was to be responsible for the 
robberies, murders, burnings, thefts, and other crimes committed 
within its borders. In walled towns the gates were to be shut from 
sunset to sunrise; and, during the summer months, from Ascension 
Day to Michaelmas, the inhabitants were to set a watch at each gate. 
Strangers were to be arrested and examined, " and if they will not 
obey the arrest, they (the watch) shall levy Hue and Cry upon them, 
and shall . . . follow with Hue and Cry with all the Town and the 

1 The Statute of Merchants, sometimes called the Statute of Acton B urnell, be- 
cause it was drawn up at the manor house of Edward's great Chancellor, Robert 
Burnell, near Shrewsbury. 



180 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

Towns near, and so Hue and Cry shall be made from Town to Town, 
until that they be taken and delivered to the sheriff." It was further 
enacted that every man, in proportion to his lands and goods, was to 
provide himself with arms and armor, according to the ancient Assize 
of Henry II. View of armor was to be made twice every year, and 
in every hundred and franchise two constables were to be chosen to 
perform this task and likewise to report to the justices all failures, 
in their districts, to keep arms and armor, to punish crime, to follow 
the hue and cry, as well as all illegal harboring of strangers. The 
justices were in their turn to report such information to the King at 
every Parliament. The appointment of constables marks another 
stage in bringing the local government into closer connection with 
the central. In succeeding years " conservators of the peace " were 
frequently appointed to enforce the provisions of the Statute. These 
officials are the direct ancestors of the justices of the peace who be- 
came such an important feature of English local government from the 
fourteenth century on. An ordinance concerning London throws 
much light on conditions, social, industrial, and political. Ap- 
parently the city was becoming very cosmopolitan, attracting hosts 
of foreign visitors, some of whom had nothing to do but " run up and 
down the streets more by night than by day, and are well attired in 
clothing and array, and have their food of delicate meats and costly." 
Expulsion of the Jews, 1290. — One step of a different kind taken 
by Edward during the years of his progressive legislation was his ex- 
pulsion of the Jews in 1290. Welcomed by the Conqueror and his 
sons as agents for extorting money from their subjects they were 
carefully protected by Henry II. Although, legally, chattels of the 
Crown, practically, they became masters of the resources of the king- 
dom. Usury or the taking of interest was forbidden by the law of 
the Church, and, though this restriction was sometimes disregarded, 
the bulk of the business of money lending fell into Jewish hands. 
The abbey church of St. Edmunds at Bury was built from a Jewish 
loan, and Aaron, a rich Jew of Lincoln, whose stone house remains 
as one of the finest examples of the domestic architecture of the period, 
is said to have built the shrine of St. Albans and to have furnished 
the funds for nine Cistercian monasteries. The massacres at the 
opening of Richard's reign indicate the popular hatred against them, 
due largely to their exemption from the laws of the land and to their 
extortion for which they were not altogether to blame. Also, they 
were accused of openly mocking at the belief and ceremonies of the 
Church, and wild stories were circulated of their buying Christian 
boys to crucify them. Although Richard yielded to popular senti- 
ment so far as to allow their persecutors to escape with light punish- 
ments, he took steps to regulate their loans and to protect their bonds 
by establishing in 1194 a Jewish exchequer with specially appointed 
persons to witness the one and to act as custodians of the other. 
Even the pious Henry III made use of them, though great men like 






EDWARD I AND EDWARD II 181 

Grosseteste and de Montfort wanted to see them banished. The 
old accusations were repeated in the reign of Edward with many more 
besides ; they were charged with playing into the hands of the rich by 
making over small mortgages to great landowners, and even of forgery 
and money clipping. Edward was prejudiced against them, and his 
mother, Eleanor of Provence, and the clergy were even more so. Such 
being the situation, he very readily agreed to drive them out in return 
for a parliamentary grant. By his bigotry he deprived himself of use- 
ful servants and no doubt seriously retarded the financial development 
of the country. It was centuries before the Jews were allowed to 
return. 

The Statute of Westminster III. Quia Emptores, 1290. — The 
same year, 1290, is notable for the passing of the last of the great 
statutes of the reign, Westminster III. It is otherwise known as 
Quia Emptores, from the opening words : " For as much as purchasers 
of land." It aimed to prevent the process of increasing subinfeuda- 
tion, whereby services due to great landowners were becoming so 
subdivided and confused that it was difficult to keep track of them. 
According to this enactment, lands granted by a tenant ceased to be 
under his control, but passed to that of his lord. In other words, 
the grantee was not the vassal of the grantor, but of the grantor's 
lord. As the Statute expressly authorized the sale or alienation of 
lands under such conditions, many landowners, from financial neces- 
sity, took advantage of the authorization, in spite of the restriction. 
Since the King was in many cases the overlord of such landowners, 
the number of small freeholders directly dependent on the Crown was 
greatly increased. 

Edward as a Ruler. Significance of his Reign. — Edward I was a 
masterful man who sought to be every inch a King, but he had the 
good of his subjects at heart and spent his life in their service. While 
claiming all that was due him, he was wise enough to recognize the 
limitations put upon the royal authority in the struggles of the cen- 
tury by accepting the two great principles, that Parliament should 
represent all classes, and that it should have a voice in granting all 
revenues over and above these belonging to the King by law and 
ancient usage. Only twice in English history, during the separation 
from the Church of Rome in the sixteenth century and during the epoch 
of reform in the nineteenth, have there been periods of more significant 
legislative activity than that of Edward I. When his other work is 
taken into account, his conquest of Wales, his Model Parliament, his 
Confirmation of the Charters, and his judicial and administrative 
reforms, it is evident that his reign of thirty-five years is one of the 
most notable in the annals of the country. 

Edward II, 1307-1327. Early Training and Character. — Edward 
of Carnarvon, the unworthy son of a worthy father, succeeded to the 
throne at the age of twenty-three. He had been carefully trained in 
the business of war and state. During the critical year 1297 he had 



iS 2 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

acted as Regent. Created Prince of Wales in 1301, he attended his 
father in his later Scotch campaigns. The " frivolity and extrava- 
gance " of his after years was manifest thus early. He took a lion 
and Genoese fiddlers on his journeys, and Piers Gaveston, his earliest 
and most worthless favorite, had already begun to exercise a baneful 
influence on him. The chroniclers have left graphic descriptions of 
the new King's appearance and character. Tall, handsome, and of 
uncommon bodily strength, he had no liking for tournaments, and 
was a coward in battle, and in spite of his father's training had no 
inclination or aptitude for business. Though he loved pomp and 
ceremony and fine clothes, his natural tastes were low. He sought 
the society of grooms and watermen, he drank deeply, and was so 
ignorant that he had to take his coronation oath in French instead of 
Latin. Although a good musician, his main occupations were racing, 
breeding dogs and horses, and manual labor such as smith's work, 
digging trenches, and thatching roofs. Weak and good natured, a 
" chatterer " with no dignity or self-restraint, he was easily swayed 
by unscrupulous men who cultivated him for their own ends. He 
neglected his wife Isabella — at one time even reducing her to twenty 
shillings a day — so that she became bitterly estranged from him and 
was finally the instrument of his downfall. 

Edward began his reign by recalling Piers Gaveston, whom his 
father had recently banished, thus choosing the worst when he needed 
the best. Gaveston, who had been brought up as the Prince's foster 
brother, was a presumptuous adventurer. Attractive, brave, and 
accomplished, he was also intentionally mischievous, he was greedy 
for money and power, and the royal attentions turned his head. He 
did incalculable harm at the outset in estranging the great lords by 
his levity and mockery and by the insulting names he showered upon 
them. The politics of this reign are on a distinctly lower level than 
those of the last. The King was opposed not as a strong man seeking 
to solve national problems in his own way, but because he was childish, 
extravagant, frivolous, and incapable. He complained once that he 
was treated as an idiot, and so he was and with justice. On the other 
hand, the men who led the fight against him were even less patriotic 
and large minded than those of the preceding generation in seeking 
to advance personal and class privileges and powers. 

Edward comes into Conflict with his Barons (1308) and his Parlia- 
ment. — Edward's coronation oath contained an important innova- 
tion. In addition to the customary promises he pledged himself to 
hold and keep the laws and righteous customs chosen by the com- 
munity of the realm. This is all the more significant because of the 
complete representation accorded in 1295. Nevertheless, he began 
at once to make himself unpopular. He made peace with the Scots, 
he dismissed ministers, he loaded Gaveston with favors, and even 
appointed him Regent while he went to France for his bride. The 
Great Council which met in April, 1308, raised an outcry and declared 






EDWARD I AND EDWARD II 183 

significantly that homage was due to the Crown rather than to the 
King in person. Edward was forced to banish his favorite, though he 
had him back again in little more than a year. In April, 1309, a parlia- 
ment of all the estates assembled. They accompanied a promise 
of a money grant with a petition enumerating a list of grievances 
which indicate that the complaints were confined to no one class. 
They included oppressive requisitions of corn, malt, meat, poultry, 
and fish from subjects, heavy customs on the wine, cloth, and other 
merchandise of foreign merchants, exactions at fairs, and faulty ad- 
ministration of justice. Edward returned a favorable answer, but 
the return of Gaveston, more arrogant than ever, led to a crisis. 

The Lords Ordainers and the Ordinances of 131 1. — In March, 1310, 
the barons, in the teeth of the royal prohibition, assembled fully 
armed, and forced the King to assent to the appointment of a body of 
twenty-one commissioners to reform . the administration. These 
Lords Ordainers, as they were called, remind one of the baronial 
committee of 1258. The same conditions are again present, a weak 
King, a foreign favorite, and incompetent administration. The 
Ordainers drew up a body of " Ordinances " which aimed not only 
to reform the whole system of finance and administration of justice, 
but to deprive the King of all independent power. He was to make 
no gifts, fill no great offices of state, nor go to war or quit the realm 
without the consent of his barons. The progress in representation 
made under Montfort and Edward was disregarded. Parliament 
was to meet once or twice a year and to witness important acts, but 
the real power was to pass into the hands of a narrow oligarchy. 
Bitterest for Edward, the banishment of Gaveston was again insisted 
on. To avoid this he put off ratifying the Ordinances till October, 
1311, and then broke his pledge. 

Thomas of Lancaster and the Baronial Rising, 1312. — Thereupon, 
the barons, led by Thomas of Lancaster, took up arms. Thomas 
(1277-1322) was the cousin of the King. By virtue of his high con- 
nections, his offices, and his vast estates he was the most powerful man 
in the kingdom. Naturally ambitious and self-seeking, he was glad 
to accept the position of leader against the Crown ; but in addition he 
had personal affronts from Piers Gaveston to avenge. He was coarse 
and violent and showed a total inability to use for any good or lofty 
purpose the powers which circumstances thrust upon him. Edward 
made vain efforts to save his favorite, even offering to recognize 
Robert Bruce as independent King of Scotland and to cede Gascony 
to Philip the Fair. Gaveston was captured by the baronial forces 
and after a trial that was no more than a farce was beheaded 19 May, 
1312. 

The Scotch Victory at Bannockburn, 1314. — Edward failed to 
profit by the lesson. He did patch up a peace with his opponents, 
but he failed to recover their confidence or to attach them to his 
service. In consequence of their aloofness the Scotch were able to 



184 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

inflict on the English the most disastrous defeat in the centuries of 
conflict between the two countries. Robert Bruce uttered no vain 
boast when he said that he was more afraid of the bones of Edward I 
than of his living son. After the old King's death his successes were 
almost uninterrupted until Stirling Castle was the only stronghold 
of importance remaining in English hands, and that was hard pressed 
by the Scotch King's brother, Edward Bruce. In the early summer of 
1314 Edward II marched to relieve it. The hostile barons refused 
to follow in person and only grudgingly sent their legal contingents. 
Nevertheless, the English army was the greatest ever yet sent to 
invade the north and outnumbered the Scotch more than two to one. 
The chroniclers state that it numbered 100,000 l and that the war 
carriages, if put one before the other, would have extended twenty 
leagues. Bruce drew up his forces in the royal park between Bannock- 
burn and Stirling Castle. Edward, overconfident, allowed his 
troops to pass the night before the conflict in noisy revelry, while the 
Scots spent the time in stillness and devotion. The engagement was 
fought 24 June, 1314. It ended in a complete rout. The English 
King fled to Dunbar, whence he took to the sea and never stopped until 
he reached his own kingdom. The disaster at Bannockburn con- 
tributed greatly to his inevitable downfall. During the remainder 
of the reign the northern border suffered one inroad after another. 
30 March, 1323, after two more ineffectual campaigns, Edward con- 
cluded a truce for thirteen years, though he still refused to acknowl- 
edge Bruce as King of the Scots. This truce was still in force at the 
close of the reign. 

Temporary Triumph of the Lancastrians. Rise of the Despensers. 
— Thomas of Lancaster took advantage of the King's humiliation to 
make himself supreme. He was appointed commander-in-chief 
against the Scots, he was named chief of the Council, he filled the 
offices of State with his nominees, and reduced his royal master to an 
allowance of £10 a day. Yet he was either incapable or unwilling 
to do anything for the defense of the country. He would not lead 
an army to the Border, he would not even attend Parliament. Finally 
he retired, and a permanent council was set up which practically put 
the royal power in commission. Edward found new favorites in the 
two Despensers, father and son. The elder, although his father had 
died for the baronial cause at Evesham, had been a faithful servant 
of the old King Edward and had continued his allegiance to his successor. 
About 13 18 the young Despenser also joined the court party. Al- 
though " neither foreigners nor upstarts," they were regarded with 
envy by the barons because of their greed and ambition. 

Rising against the Despensers. Defeat and Death of Thomas of 
Lancaster. — Thomas started the cry against them with an accusation 
that they had received gifts contrary to the Ordinances of 131 1. The 

1 Probably 30,000 would be an extreme figure. 






EDWARD I AND EDWARD II 185 

Marcher Earls who feared that the younger Despenser would extend 
his power on the Welsh border, where he claimed the lands of the Earl- 
dom of Gloucester, were the first to take up arms. The King sought 
vainly to avert hostilities, whereupon in a Parliament, held in 1321, 
formal charges were brought against both father and son, who were 
condemned to forfeiture and exile for usurping royal powers and at- 
tempting to estrange the King from his people, for inciting civil war, 
and perverting justice. Edward, in a unique flash of energy, raised 
an army in behalf of his favorites. Thomas, who had prepared some- 
what tardily to assist the Marcher Lords, was defeated and captured 
by the royal army at Boroughb ridge, 16 March, 1322. Tried and 
sentenced in his own castle of Pomfret, he was beheaded six days later 
as a rebel taken in arms against the sovereign. Although of a piece 
with his own treatment of Gaveston, Thomas of Lancaster's bloody 
end in a struggle against royal extravagance, favoritism, and mis- 
government gave him a place in the hearts of the people which neither 
his merits nor his achievements deserved. He became a popular 
idol, miraculous cures were said to be performed at the place of his 
execution, his effigy was set up in St. Paul's, London, and in the reign 
of Edward III it was even proposed to make him a saint. 1 Many 
others of the baronial captives were either imprisoned or put to death. 

Four Years of Misrule, 1322-1326. — Edward's victory marked 
an interesting attempt to restore the league between the King and the 
commons which had prevailed up to the time of John and to 
recognize as its mouthpiece that body which the struggles of the 
thirteenth century had created. In a Parliament of 1322 the Or- 
dinances, a purely baronial production, were revoked and the im- 
portant principle enunciated that, " matters which are to be estab- 
lished for the estate of our Lord the King and his heirs, and for the 
estate of the realm and the people, shall be treated, accorded and 
established in Parliament by the King and by the Council of the prel- 
ates, earls and barons, and the commonality of the realm." Yet 
Edward proved too flighty and incapable of winning the people any 
more than the barons. For four years, from 1322 to 1326, he ruled 
completely subject to the Despensers, whose chief aim was to fill 
their own pockets and increase their own power. Disorder, failure, 
treachery were the result : " the military summonses were not obeyed, 
the taxes were not collected, the country was overrun by bands of 
lawless men, the law was unexecuted." To cap all, the Despensers 
affronted Queen Isabella. A woman of violent passions, lacking 
in morality and scruples, and embittered by humiliation and neglect, 
she eagerly seized an opportunity which presented itself to overthrow 
the hated counselors, and, as it turned out, her husband as well. 

Overthrow and Imprisonment of the King, 1326. — On the death 
of Philip V of France, Edward was summoned to do homage for Gas- 

1 His reputation was further enhanced by the fact that the House of Lancaster 
later secured the throne. 



186 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

cony and Ponthieu to his successor. The Despensers feared to let 
the King out of their sight, and Isabella got permission, in 1325, to go 
in his stead. Aided by Roger Mortimer, one of the Marcher Lords 
who had been imprisoned in 1322 and who had since escaped from the 
Tower, she gathered about her a disaffected party and planned an 
invasion of England. The figurehead was the King's eldest son and 
heir, Prince Edward, a boy of thirteen, who was abroad with his 
mother. When King Edward heard of the plot that was being hatched 
against him, he threatened his wife and son with outlawry and made 
belated and futile attempts to defend his realm. Isabella landed in 
Suffolk, 24 September, declaring herself the avenger of Earl Thomas 
and the enemy of the Despensers. Deserted by all save a scanty 
following, the King fled first to the west, thence into Wales. Here 
after an unsuccessful attempt to escape to Ireland, he took refuge in 
Neath Abbey and offered to treat with his wife. Isabella, however, 
marched against the elder Despenser, whom she took prisoner, tried, 
and hanged as a traitor on the common gallows outside the town of 
Bristol. His head was sent to Winchester. On the same day, 26 
October, 1326, Prince Edward was proclaimed guardian of the realm 
which his father had deserted. 16 November the King and the 
young Despenser were captured by the Queen's forces. The latter 
was executed a few days later ; but a longer period of debasement and 
suffering was in store for his royal master. 

Deposition and Death, 1327. — Parliament assembled January, 
1327. In a tumultuous meeting the young Edward was chosen King. 
Then six articles were framed to justify the deposition of his father. 
They declared : " That he was incompetent to govern, that he had 
rejected good counsel and neglected the business of the kingdom for 
unbecoming occupations, that he had lost Scotland, Ireland, and Gas- 
cony, that he had injured the Church and imprisoned her ministers, 
and also had imprisoned, exiled, and put to death many of the noble 
men of the land, that he had broken his coronation oath, especially 
in the matter of doing justice to all, that he had ruined the realm, and 
there was no hope of his correction." The reply of the captive King 
was pitiful : " He wept and said it grieved him much that he deserved 
so little of his people, and he begged pardon of all who were present, 
but since it could not be otherwise he thanked them for electing his 
eldest son." His consent having been extorted, homage and fealty 
were solemnly renounced, and the Steward of the Household broke 
his staff of office in token that his royal master had ceased to reign. 
The furious Queen pursued him with unrelenting ferocity. He was 
taken from one prison to another, denied sufficient food and cloth- 
ing, prevented from sleeping, crowned with a crown of hay, and 
showered by the roadside with ditch water. Finally at. Berkeley 
Castle, after he survived confinement in the charnel house used as a 
pest chamber, he was murdered 21 September, 1327. Yet he was 
buried with great pomp. The Welsh celebrated his end with mourn- 



EDWARD I AND EDWARD II 187 

ful dirges. Later legends had it that he escaped his enemies, and 
after weary wanderings finally passed away in a hermit's cell in 
Lombardy. 

Significance of his Deposition. — The folly of Edward Carnarvon 
brought upon him a terrible and overheavy retribution. The in- 
struments of his downfall were moSt unworthy. Isabella had sought 
to right her deep wrongs by still deeper sins. Her chief counselors 
and followers were impelled by personal rather than patriotic motives. 
Yet one step in their procedure was fraught with significance. They 
took a long stride in the direction of popular liberty when they called 
upon Parliament, as the voice of the people, to declare the great 
principle that allegiance might be renounced to a King who had ceased 
to govern in the interest of his subjects. 

FOR ADDITIONAL READING 

Narrative. Ramsay, The Dawn of tlie Constitution, chs. XVIII-XXXIII. The 
Genesis of Lancaster (1913), I, chs. I-X. Tout, Political History, chs. VII-XIV. 
K. H. Vickers, England in the Later Middle Ages (1913), chs. I-VIII; bibliography, 
pp. 509-517. E. Jenks, Edward Plantagenet (1902) ; chs. IX and XIII are particu- 
larly good for the legislation of Edward I. 

Constitutional. Taylor, Origin and Growth, I, bk. II, ch. IV, sees. 8-10. Taswell- 
Langmead, ch. VIII. Stubbs, Constitutional History, II, ch. XV. Maitland, Con- 
stitutional History of England (1908) gives, pp. 1-1 64, an excellent account of the public 
law in the time of Edward I. Medley, Manual contains a good summary of the 
origin and development of Parliament, ch. III. C. S. Mcllwain, The High Court of 
Parliament and its Supremacy (1910) contains an able discussion of the boundaries 
between legislative and judicial powers. L. O. Pike, The Constitutional History of 
the House of Lords (1894) ; the standard work on the subject. For a full account of 
the origin and development of the law courts see W. S. Holdsworth, History of 
English Law (1903), I. 

Selections from the sources. Adams and Stephens, nos. 37-55. 

Scotland. P. H. Brown, History of Scotland, 3 vols. (1899-1909); the best brief 
history, I, bk. Ill, chs. I-IV. 



1 88 



A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 



THE LATER ANGEVINS, OR THE PLANTAGENETS, 1272-1399 
Henry III, 1216-1272 



Edward I = (i) Eleanor of 
1272-1307 I Castile; 

(2) Margaret 
of France 

I 



Margaret, 

m. Alexander III 

of Scotland 



Edmund, 

Earl of 

Lancaster 



(i) Edward II = Isabella of 



1307-1327 



France 



Edward III = Philippa of 



1327-1377 



Hainault 



(2) Edmund, 
Earl of Kent, 
executed 1330 



Joan, m. 

(1) SirT. Holland; 

(2) The Black Prince 



Thomas, Henry, 

Earl of Earl of 

Lancaster, Lancaster, 

d. 1322 d. 134s 



Henry, 

Duke of 

Lancaster, 

d. 1362 



Blanche = John of Gaunt 



Edward = Joan of 



Black 
Prince, 
d. 1376 



Kent 



Richard II, 
1377-1399 



Lionel, 
Duke of 
Clarence 



John of = Blanche, 
Gaunt, heiress of 
d. 1399 Lancaster 



Philippa= Edmund Mortimer, 
d. 1380 

Roger, Earl of March, declared 
heir of Richard II, in 1385; 
killed in Ireland, 1398 



Edmund, 

Duke of 

York 



Henry IV, 
1399-1413 



Thomas, 

Duke of 

Gloucester, 

d. 1397 



THE KINGS OF SCOTLAND, 1165-1390 

Henry, Earl of Huntingdon, 
son of David I 



William the Lion, 1165-1214 

I 
Alexander II, 1214-1249 

I 
Alexander III, 1249- 1286 



Margaret=Eric, King of 
Norway 



Margaret, Maid of 
Norway, 1286-1290 



David, Earl of Huntingdon 



Margaret 

Devorguilla=John Balliol 

I 



Margaret 



John Comyn, 
murdered 



John Balliol, 1 

1 292-1 296 

I 

Edward Balliol 



Isabella 

I 

Robert Bruce, 1 

d. 1293 

I 

Robert, 

d. 1305 

I 

Robert I, 

1306-1329 



Da vtd Bruce, m. Joan, 

sister of Edward II, 

1329-137° 



1 Claimants in 1292. 



Margaret=Walter the Steward 
I or Stuart, ancestor 
of the Stuart line 

Robert II, 1370-1390 



CHAPTER XII 

THE REIGN OF EDWARD III (1327-1377). THE BEGINNING OF 
THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR. CHIVALRY AT ITS HEIGHT. 
THE GROWING IMPORTANCE OF THE COMMONS. THE IN- 
CREASE OF NATIONAL SENTIMENT. FIRST ATTACKS ON 
THE POWER OF ROME 

The Misgovernment of Isabella and Mortimer. — The boy Edward 
had only reached his fifteenth year when he was put in his father's 
place. Parliament, therefore, appointed a Council to carry on the 
government during the minority. The royal guardian and nominal 
head of the Council was Henry of Lancaster, brother of Thomas, but 
the real power was in the hands of the Queen Mother and Mortimer. 
They appropriated two thirds of the royal revenue, and were so high- 
handed that " no one dared to open his mouth for the good of the 
King or of the Kingdom. ' ' To be sure the new Government made many 
fair promises in answer to a petition from the Commons ; but it 
proved incompetent as well as corrupt and overbearing. An expedi- 
tion was sent against the Scots, who had broken the truce of 1323 by 
a raid into England, but the invaders managed to elude their pursuers. 
The consequence was the " Shameful Peace," in 1328, by which 
Edward, in return for a money payment, formally renounced his claims 
of overlordship. Though the Lancastrian lords, anxious to protect 
their northern estates, may have had a hand in it, it was ascribed 
to Isabella and Mortimer, who were accused of pocketing the proceeds. 
Mortimer's arrogance grew to exceed all bounds, so that his own son 
called him the " King of Folly." He boasted of a retinue of 180 
knights, not to speak of esquires and other followers. He sought to 
overawe Parliament by main force, and when the nobles banded against 
him, he tempted Edmund, Earl of Kent, uncle of the King, into treason 
by a false report that Edward II still lived, and then had him executed 
without trial, 19 March, 1330. 

Their Overthrow by Edward III, 1330. — King Edward, who had 
married Philippa of Hainault, became, in June, 1330, father of a son, 
later famous as the " Black Prince." His new sense of responsi- 
bility, together with the treacherous murder of his uncle, determined 
him to assert his royal rights, and to put an end to the intolerable 
rule of his mother and Mortimer. With a trusty follower and a body 
of men at arms he seized the guilty pair in Nottingham Castle, where 
they had taken refuge, and issued a proclamation that henceforth he 



i 9 o A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

would govern himself. Heavy charges were framed in Parliament 
against Mortimer ; he was condemned without a hearing, and hanged 
29 November. Isabella was given a pension. She lived in honorable 
retirement till her death in 1358, assuming a nun's habit in her later 
years. 

Character of the New King. — At the age of eighteen Edward was 
now truly King. During the greater part of a long and eventful reign 
he shone as the typical hero of chivalry. His figure was striking and 
graceful, his face was described " as the face of a god." Very brilliant 
he must have been on state occasions in his robe of crimson velvet 
worked with leopards of gold. Generous to a fault, with a bearing 
at once courtly and winning, he gained the name of " Edwardus 
Gratiosus." Devoted to hunting and hawking, he likewise excelled 
in " beautiful feats of arms," whether in the tournament or in serious 
war. Yet there is another side. Asa ruler and general he was showy 
rather than solid. He was ambitious, prodigal, and ostentatious, 
having no interest in his people except in so far as they contributed 
resources for his pleasures and his warlike designs. Hence, while he 
dazzled them for a time by the glories he achieved, he failed in the 
long run to win their hearts. The reverses of his later years left him 
a broken and deserted man. He ruled without a settled policy. The 
measures of his reign, so notable in political and commercial progress, 
were due, not to enlightened statesmanship, but were forced upon 
him by his financial necessities. He spent most of his life fighting, 
now with France, now with Scotland. In neither case was he the 
original aggressor ; but not content with asserting his just rights and 
vindicating his honor, he sought to extend his sway over two peoples 
who would not submit to the rule of any but their own kings. While 
he made himself " King of the Sea" and brought England into promi- 
nence that she had never before enjoyed, the price paid was a heavy 
one, and the ultimate result was failure. Other aspects of his reign 
less dramatic were more enduring. Parliament shaped itself into 
the modern House of Lords and House of Commons, and the lower 
House began to assert rights which point the way to its later position 
as mouthpiece of the nation. Commerce advanced with tremendous 
strides, though Edward Ill's title of " Father of English Commerce " 
is hardly deserved. Feudalism and chivalry yielded to the rising 
importance of the middle class. A new literature in the national 
tongue made its appearance. Significant religious changes mani- 
fested themselves, forerunners of a movement which was, in less 
than two centuries, to overthrow the universal supremacy of the 
Church of Rome. Finally, labor and capital began a conflict which 
has continued with varying intensity even to this day. 

Disputed Succession in Scotland. Halidon Hill, 19 July, 1333. — 
In April, 1328, Robert Bruce died of leprosy, leaving a seven-year-old 
son David as his heir. This enabled Edward Balliol to set himself 
up as King. Edward III sent an expedition across the Border to 



THE REIGN OF EDWARD III 191 

support him and on the 19th of July, 1333, the Scotch patriotic 
party, riddled by English arrows which flew " as thick as motes in the 
sunshine," were disastrously defeated at Halidon Hill. They were 
forced to send David Bruce to France, but they doggedly resisted 
Balliol's attempts to subdue them. Philip VI of France determined 
in 1336 to aid his Scotch allies, and England embarked in a war which 
lasted well into the next century. 

Significance of the Hundred Years' War. — " The Hundred Years' 
War," as it is called, profoundly affected many aspects of English 
history. In the first place, it was largely responsible for the downfall 
of chivalry. The two greatest battles of the war were won by the 
yeoman archer against the mailed knight whose prestige had been 
due mainly to his unquestioned superiority in arms. Also the poverty 
and discontent resulting from the constant strain on the country's 
resources was the chief cause of that revolt of labor against capital 
which Edward's grandson had to face. Its political consequences 
were equally momentous. It forced from the King many notable 
concessions, while the restless, turbulent spirit which it fostered con- 
tributed to the movement that set aside the Plantagenet for the 
Lancastrian House, and resulted in the long dynastic struggle of the 
fifteenth century known as the " Wars of the Roses." In addition 
to its social and political consequences the Hundred Years' War 
strongly influenced the religious history of the period ; for the opposi- 
tion to the Papacy, with all that it involved, was colored by hostility 
to France. From 1305 to 1378 the Roman pontiffs were settled at 
Avignon under the control of French kings, and consequently were 
regarded as opposed to English interests. Finally, the war developed 
a spirit of nationality in the two countries such as had never before 
existed. England as purely English and France as purely French are 
largely a creation of this struggle. In the first year of the war, 
7 October, 1337, Edward assumed the title of King of France. Al- 
though this was a mere pretext, although other and more complex 
causes made the conflict inevitable, it is necessary to understand the 
grounds on which he based his claims. 

Edward's Claim to the Throne of France. Hundred Years' 
War. — With the death of Charles IV in 1328 the direct line 
of the House of Capet which had ruled France for more than 
three centuries came to an end. It was maintained in behalf 
of Edward that his mother, sister of the late King, was the 
next lineal heir. The peers of France decided in favor of Philip, 
son of Charles of Valois, uncle of Charles IV. The lawyers later 
justified this decision on the ground that by the law of the Salian 
Franks, one of the ancestral tribes of the modern Frenchmen, women 
could neither inherit estates nor transmit them to a son. After some 
negotiations, Edward accepted the situation and did homage to the 
new monarch, Philip VI, for his possessions in France. Philip, 
however, burning to extend his sway over Guyenne, irritated him by 



i 9 2 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

constant encroachments. Then came Philip's espousal of the cause 
of the Scots. While these were the two main causes which led to 
Edward's resumption of his pretensions to the French succession and 
his subsequent invasions, other reasons contributed to urge him on. 
Robert of Artois, brother-in-law of Philip, had been excluded from 
the succession to the county of Artois which he claimed as his heritage. 
Forced to flee, he took refuge at the English court about 1335, and 
spent his time egging Edward on against his enemy. Another cause 
was the English King's desire to get a foothold in the county of 
Flanders. The Flemings were the great cloth makers of the period, 
and they had recently revolted against their overlord, Count Louis, 
who had suppressed them with French aid. He sought to prevent 
Edward from entering into negotiations with his disaffected cities 
by prohibiting all commercial intercourse with the English, and by 
seizing their merchants and confiscating their goods. Edward replied 
by retaliatory measures which caused great suffering in the industrial 
centers ; but he hoped that the ultimate effect of his blows would fall 
on Count Louis, the subservient vassal of France. On 21 September, 
1336, he convoked a Parliament to deliberate on the machinations of 
Philip in Scotland and Guyenne, and to devise measures for the safety 
of the realm. 

The Opening of the War, 1337. — England was, on the whole, in 
a better position for fighting than France. Although small, her 
territory was compact and united ; she had the better army, and as 
an offset to the danger from Scotland, she possessed strong strategic 
points on the Continent. Before embarking on a campaign, Edward 
sought alliances abroad. He attached himself to most of the petty 
princes of the Low Countries, such as the Counts of Hainault and 
Guelders and the Duke of Brabant, and 15 July, 1337, he made a 
treaty with the Emperor, Louis of Bavaria. Philip VI busied him- 
self with forming counteralliances. Meantime, he had begun the 
war, 24 May, 1337, by ordering the seizure of Guyenne, where several 
castles were besieged and forced to capitulate. Edward's response 
was the assumption of the title of King of France, in October. The 
people of Ghent, embittered by the interference with their trade, put 
at their head Jaques van Artevelde, a rich cloth merchant. The 
leading Flemish cities joined with Ghent, and, in February, 1338, 
made a preliminary convention with England, which was concluded 
by a treaty of commerce in June. 

Edward's Expedition to Flanders, and his Futile Invasion of France, 
I 338-i339- — In July, 1338, Edward sailed for Flanders. He traveled 
about in pompous state, distributing borrowed money with a lavish hand. 
The Emperor Louis, as temporal head of Christendom, made him his 
Vicar-General on the left banks of the Rhine, and solemnly guaranteed 
his title to the crown of France. Nevertheless, his allies were slow 
in coming to his aid, his finances were inadequate, and it was months 
before he was ready to face his enemy. Finally, in October, 1339, 






THE REIGN OF EDWARD III 193 

he invaded France. Philip, who had been awaiting his advance, sent 
a herald with a formal challenge to a pitched battle. He had a 
glorious array : "It was a thing of exceeding beauty to see, the banners 
waving in the wind, the horses mailed and caparisoned down to the 
haunches, knights and esquires in shining armour. Yea nothing 
could vie with it in magnificence." Yet when the English King 
eagerly accepted his challenge, he suddenly turned about and started 
for Paris. Edward returned to Flanders, and, in February, 1340, 
crossed over to England, leaving his queen, two sons, and two earls 
as hostages to the Flemings for his enormous debts. Aside from one 
unsuccessful siege the campaign of more than a year and a half had 
been little more than a grand parade. While he gained nothing, the 
poor folk along his line of march suffered bitterly. Flaming towns 
and villages marked the wake of his progress through a fertile and 
populous district. To the knightly class war was a noble pastime 
governed by an elaborate code of honor, generosity, and bravery ; 
to the peasantry it was a gruesome reality. 

The Campaign of 1340. — Equipped with new supplies, obtained 
from Parliament in return for statutes directed against crying abuses, 
Edward started on a second expedition, 22 June, 1340. Two days 
later he encountered a French fleet lurking in the harbor of Sluys to 
intercept his landing on the Flemish coast. In spite of the fact that 
the enemy's ships were so numerous that they rose " like a forest " 
on the horizon, he gained a decisive victory which made him master 
of the narrow seas. On the other hand, the land campaign was fully 
as futile and inglorious as that of the previous year. Philip cautiously 
refused a challenge to fight his royal opponent either singly or with 
a hundred knights on a side. Edward's allies proved as apathetic as 
ever, and his debts accumulated steadily. So he patched up a truce 
for nine months, and in November stole " away privately for England 
to elude his creditors." The next year the Emperor revoked his 
title of Vicar-General, and one by one his allies in the Low Countries 
dropped off. The last to go were the Flemish cities, after the murder 
of their leader, van Artevelde, in a popular rising in 1345. 

Parliamentary Gains of 1341. — In England the year 1341 was 
marked by events of great political importance. An attempt on the 
part of King Edward to bring his Chief Minister, John Stratford, 
"Archbishop of Canterbury, to answer certain charges in the Court of 
Exchequer brought forth a declaration from the House of Lords that 
peers, whether Ministers or not, should on no account be brought 
to trial or judged except in full Parliament or before their peers. 
Edward was forced to accede to the Lords' declaration. Other im- 
portant concessions were wrung from him; namely, that com- 
missioners should be elected in Parliament to audit accounts of 
officers who had received money for the King ; that the Chancellor, 
as well as other great officers of State, and the judges should be ap- 
pointed by the King in consultation with Parliament and sworn to 



I94 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

obey the law; and that at the beginning of each Parliament Ministers 
should resign their offices into the King's hands and be compelled to 
answer all the complaints. As the joint work of the Lords and Com- 
mons the concessions of 1341 mark a distinct gain over those of 1258 
and 13 1 1, which were the result of exclusively baronial activity. 
Their immediate effect, however, was annulled by the duplicity of 
the King. Having received the grant which Parliament paid as the 
price of the concessions, he repudiated them in October, admitting, 
with brutal frankness, that he had dissembled " in view of public 
necessity." T 

The Truce of 1343. Increasing Financial Embarrassment. — in 
1342 a disputed sucession to the Duchy of Brittany caused Edward 
to lead a force to that country in behalf of one of the claimants. 
Philip marched against him, and for the third time the English and 
French armies faced one another without fighting. In January, 
1343, a truce for three years was arranged. This truce Philip con- 
stantly disregarded by aggressions in Brittany and Guyenne, but 
Edward did not renew the war till 1345- The dela y was doubtless 
due to his financial embarrassments. His creditors in the Nether- 
lands, the Rhine country, and in Italy clamored for payment, and his 
inability to meet his obligations, at which he grieved and even blushed, 
caused the failure of such great banking houses as the Bardi and the 
Peruzzi. The cessation of foreign loans threw the King back on his 
English subjects ; and Parliament and the merchants were able to 
secure important concessions for moneys they advanced. In spite 
of his poverty, Edward could not restrain his love for lavish display. 
In 1344, for instance, he held a gorgeous " round table," or combined 
tournament and banquet at Windsor. It was at this time that he 
built the famous Round Tower as a dining hall for visiting knights 

The Campaign of 1346. — The first notable English triumph m the 
Hundred Years' War was achieved in 1346. Delayed by " horrid 
storms," Edward finally landed at La Hogue on the Norman coast, 
12 July. Marching toward the interior, he was at first unopposed 
except at Caen. " God," says Edward's confessor, " had struck so 
great terror into the hearts of all that they seemed to have completely 
lost courage." He had intended to march south, and join Henry of 
Lancaster who had been operating in Gascony since the previous 
year, but the main French army, under Philip's son John, blocked 
his way. Therefore he made for the Seine. The French King, as 
soon as he learned of his intention, hastily gathered a force to guard 
the right bank of the river and destroyed all the bridges within reach. 
Edward now decided to make for the coast. His position was most 
critical. He had devastated the country behind him, the road south 
was closed to him, while an army twice the size of his own lay between 
him and the Flemish coast. He managed to cross the Seine within 
fifteen miles of Paris ; but the Somme was still ahead of him. Philip 
sent forces to occupy Amiens and Abbeville and followed leisurely 



THE REIGN OF EDWARD III 195 

after. He hoped to coop up the exhausted English army between the 
mouth of the Somme and the sea. Edward sent out scouts to find 
a place to pass over. When he learned that the bridges were all 
destroyed or guarded, he left camp so suddenly that Philip found 
" meat on the spits, bread and pastry in the ovens, wine in the barrels, 
and even some tables ready spread." Unless the English could find 
a ford they were undone. At last a native showed them a place where 
a chalky strip rose in the midst of the sand wide and high enough at 
low tide for twelve men to pass abreast. Philip had posted a strong 
force on the opposite bank to guard the passage, but under a destruc- 
tive fire of arrows the English forced their way over, 24 August, 
before daybreak. The rising tide swept in just in time to cut off 
the main body of Philip's army hurrying in pursuit. 

The Battle of Crecy, 26 August. — Marching north, Edward halted 
at Crecy. " I am on the rightful heritage of my mother," he declared, 
" and I will defend it against my adversary Philip of Valois." This 
time there was to be a battle. The English force, numbering 3900 
men at arms, 11,000 archers, and 5000 Welshmen, were drawn up in 
three divisions or " battles " on the slope of the hillside just east of 
the village. The right was commanded by the Black Prince, a boy of 
sixteen, who was making his debut as a fighter. The slope of the hill- 
side and a little stream at its base furnished some protection. Beyond 
the right of the hill a thick forest barred a flank attack. The division 
on the left was likewise protected, though less effectively, by the woods 
of the neighboring village of Wodicourt. The third division, com- 
manded by the King in person, was posted as a reserve higher up the 
hill. Edward took a position in a windmill at the extreme top, 
whence he could survey the whole field. The English men at arms 
were dismounted, leaving their horses in the rear. Both flanks of 
the two forward divisions were protected by bodies of archers thrown 
out at angles. The English forces were arranged by the morning of 
26 August and spent the day digging little pits to catch the French 
horse. 

Philip, who had crossed the Somme at Abbeville, advanced until 
his van was within a mile or two of Edward's army before his scouts 
were able to inform him of its exact position. As his forces were 
strung all along the road, he decided to accept wise counsel and delay 
the attack till the following day when he could bring them into better 
order. But the van would not retire, and although they halted, 
the rearward kept pushing up from behind, crying: " Death to those 
English traitors ! Not one of them shall ever get back to England." 
While it is impossible to estimate the size of their army, it may have 
been 60,000. Numbers did not count, however, for they were huddled 
together in a struggling mass, and the setting sun glared directly in 
their eyes. The first advance was made by the Genoese crossbow- 
men, followed by a body of men at arms. Their arrows fell short, 
for a sudden summer storm had soaked their bowstrings, since they 



i 9 6 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

had not, like the English, taken the precaution to cover their weapons. 
Exposed to the arrows, " falling like snowflakes," of Edward's long- 
bowmen, they tried to retreat. Instead of opening ranks to let them 
fall back, the horsemen behind rode them down, crying : "Away with 
those faint-hearted rabble ! They do but block our advance." 
Fifteen or sixteen successive charges were made by the French knights 
who never waited for those in front to beat a retreat, until they 
plunged into the writhing swarm of men and horses and exposed 
themselves to the deadly flight of the English arrows. Only once 
did a body of them get far enough up the hill to menace seriously 
the Black Prince, whom his father had placed where he could win his 
spurs by bearing the brunt of the battle. Night ended the contest, 
when Philip, after leading a vain final charge, was persuaded to with- 
draw. The discomfiture of the French was completed the next 
morning when fresh forces coming up, unaware of the disaster, were 
scattered with great loss. 

Results of Crecy. — " Not for two hundred years," wrote the chroni- 
cler Froissart, " had so many princes and nobles fallen in battle. 
God have their souls, for valiantly they died in the service of their 
King, who lamented them exceedingly when he knew the dire truth." 
Among them were the blind King of Bohemia ; Louis, Count of Flan- 
ders; the Duke of Lorraine; and Philip's brother, the Count of Alencon. 
The heralds counted among the fallen over 1500 lords and knights; 
the loss among the men of lesser rank is not known. Estimates vary 
from 10,000 to 40,000, but probably the former number is nearer the 
truth. The English loss was slight, not more than 40, exclusive of 
a few dozen Welshmen who had run out between the charges to slay 
or plunder the disabled knights. Edward had completed success- 
fully a foolhardy campaign by a victory due to splendid tactics, to 
the choice of a strong position, and to a skillful combination of archers 
and men at arms. The immediate consequences were important : 
he had struck terror to the French by his ability to cut his way 
through their dominions and to overcome a force three times his 
own ; moreover, he had diverted their attacks from Guyenne. The 
remoter consequences were momentous ; the very foundations of 
medieval society were shaken when the flower of French mailed 
knighthood had to yield to yeomen archers and Welsh and Irish serfs 
armed with knives and spears. It was a mortal blow at the old 
system of warfare and the social and political structure built upon it. 

Defeat of the Scotch at Neville's Cross, 27 October, 1346. — The 
Scotch, who had recalled David Bruce in 1341, seized the occasion 
of Edward's absence to send an invading force across the border in 
1346. The instigation came from Philip, but the moment seemed 
peculiarly favorable. " There is not a man to hinder us," they said, 
" for all the warriors of England are gone to France, leaving but a 
pack of shoemakers, skinners, and merchants behind." They were 
sadly mistaken. On 27 October, they were met by a force of northern 



THE REIGN OF EDWARD III 197 

levies at Neville's Cross near Durham and completely routed. Bruce 
was taken to London a prisoner, where he remained in captivity for 
eleven years. His old rival, Edward Balliol, died in 1367. On his 
own death in 137 1 he was succeeded by the son of his sister Margaret, 
Robert, High Steward of Scotland, the first of the Stuarts, a line which 
was later to rule over England as well. 

The Siege and Capture of Calais, 1346-1347. — On 28 August, 
1346, Edward started for Calais, the most important town in northern 
France, one which both for commercial and strategic reasons, he was 
anxious to secure. It was a refuge for pirates and privateers who 
devastated English shipping, and, with Dover on the opposite shore, 
commanded the Channel ; in addition it offered an easy means of 
communication with Flanders as well as a basis for operations against 
France. He arrived before the walls, 3 September, when, finding 
the place too strong to carry by assault, he prepared for a siege. The 
inhabitants held out through all the long winter, and until well into 
the following summer. In June the Governor sent a despairing letter 
to his King, informing him that everything was eaten up, horses, 
dogs, and cats, and soon they would be reduced to eat each other. 
Efforts to relieve the place by sea failed, and finally Philip appeared 
with an army. Once more he challenged Edward to pitched battle ; 
then, thinking better of it, suddenly departed, declaring it was better 
to lose the town than to put the lives of his men in jeopardy. Thus 
deserted, the Governor consented to treat. According to a familiar 
story, Edward required six leading burgesses to come forth with halters 
around their necks and the keys of the town in their hands, and was 
only dissuaded from putting them to death by the tears of his Queen. 
Whether the story is true or not, he did spare the lives of the whole 
garrison, though he replaced the old population by English settlers. 
For two hundred years Calais was held as an English market and 
fortress. On 28 September, 1347, another truce was signed, and 12 
October, Edward returned to England. 

English Magnificence and Ostentation. — The capture of Calais 
was the turning point in the career of Edward III. Although only 
thirty-five years old he withdrew almost entirely from the war, and 
occupied himself with domestic concerns, with hunting and hawking 
and tournaments. For eight years hostilities were nominally sus- 
pended ; but while the truce was frequently renewed, it was fre- 
quently broken in Guyenne, where the " unhappy citizens had hardly 
more quiet in peace than in war." In England, on the other hand, 
it seemed as if a " new sun had arisen on account of the abundance 
of peace, the plenty, and the glory of the victories." " There was no 
woman who had not got garments, furs, feather beds, and utensils, 
from the spoils of Calais and other foreign cities," and " then began 
the English matrons to glorify themselves in the dresses of the matrons 
of Celtic Gaul, and as these grieved at the loss of their things, so those 
rejoiced in their acquisition." The upper classes seemed to live only 



i 9 8 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

for pleasure. From October, 1347 to May, 1348, nineteen tourna- 
ments were appointed, some lasting two or three weeks. Plays also 
were a popular amusement for the King and his courtiers. Dress was 
gorgeous and extravagant; that of the women is described " as diverse 
and wonderful." Even the clergy fell victims to the prevailing 
contagion, wearing their hair long, curled, and powdered, adorning 
themselves with rings, girdles, and furred gowns, more like soldiers 
and men of fashion than servants of God. It was probably in this 
period that Edward founded the celebrated Order of the Garter, in 
imitation or memory of King Arthur's Round Table, an order which 
still remains the most exalted in England. 

Causes for Popular Discontent. — The reverse side of this picture 
of glittering magnificence is seen in the popular discontent and the 
grounds upon which it was based. While the war brought much 
booty, it involved great expense, and the exactions levied to meet it 
aroused stout opposition. Edward was ever copious with promises 
which he did not observe ; if he gave up a tax, he made arrangements 
with merchants in which they shared profits, the cost of which fell 
ultimately on the subject. When the King sought the advice of the 
Commons, it was only to put them under the obligation of paying for 
the policy in which they acquiesced. In order to evade responsi- 
bility they professed themselves, in 1348, too ignorant and simple 
to advise him in military affairs ; at the same time they presented no 
less than sixty petitions complaining of abuses, such as monopolies 
of wool and tin, and the unauthorized impost on manufactured cloth. 
In view of the King's usual assurances, they granted supplies on 
conditions; but their attitude is an indication of a gathering dis- 
content which was to come to a head before the close of the reign. 

The Black Death, 13481340. — Before Parliament met again the 
country was visited by a frightful scourge, from which it was neve* 
again wholly free for more than three centuries. The Black Death, 
as it was called, appeared first in Asia, whence it spread along the 
trade routes to Europe, reaching England in the late summer of 1348. 
Its appearance was foretold by all manner of signs and wonders: 
"An extraordinary dreadful comet; earthquake shocks; a star shin- 
ing over the city of Paris in the daytime and fading away at night ; 
a pillar of fire on the papal city of Avignon." Even wilder tales were 
told, of showers of blood, and of the appearance of strange monsters, 
such as a double-headed serpent with faces like the face of a woman and 
wings like a bat. More to the point, famine, due to floods, droughts, 
and the devastations of war, and the unhealthful conditions of ventila- 
tion and drainage, prepared the way for ravages of the plague. It was 
a most loathsome and contagious disease. Among its symptoms 
were black patches all over the body — whence its name — boils, 
vomiting of blood, and fever. So great was the dread " that parents 
abandoned their infected children and all ties of kindred were dis- 
solved." The young and vigorous were the chief victims, while the 



THE REIGN OF EDWARD III 199 

aged and infirm were less subject to attack. It created the greatest 
havoc in the overcrowded parts of cities, but there was little chance 
of escape for such as had once breathed the tainted air. Those who 
lied to the fields and woods fell dead and spread the contagion on the 
way, and ships were found at sea with not a living soul on board. 
Thousands are reported to have died in London alone. The living were 
scarce able to bury the dead. Only a few of the rich had separate 
graves ; most of the others were heaped into trenches. The sitting 
of Parliament was suspended ; the administration of justice ceased 
for lack of judges ; and in many places divine service stopped be- 
cause the priests had died or fled. Many villages were wholly 
deserted, and the grass grew long in the flourishing port of Bristol. 
The Scots, who mocked at the " foul death " of the English, caught 
the infection and lost a third of their population. 

Moral and Religious Effects of the Black Death. — The moral and 
religious effects were startling. Some gave themselves over to excesses 
of drinking and reveling; but the greater number, regarding the 
affection as a divine visitation for their sins, sought to avert the wrath 
of God by exaggerated religious observances. John Wiclif, the first 
notable English opponent of the Papacy, wrote a book, The Last 
Age of the Church, in which he predicted the approaching end of the 
world. A queer sect known as the " Brotherhood of the Flagellants " 
(the " whippers ") was revived. They passed over to England from 
Hungary and Germany and went about from town to town scourging 
one another with iron-tipped scourges and chanting mournful hymns. 
" From the thighs to the heels they were enveloped in a linen cloth, 
the rest of the body stark naked, except the head, which was covered 
with a hood, marked with a red cross before and behind; at every 
third step they threw themselves on the ground in the shape of a cross, 
and the last one in the line rose, whipped his neighbor, so on till they 
had gone along the whole line." Multitudes on the Continent, in- 
cluding monks and priests, joined the ranks. In England the number 
was fewer, but their appearance is the forerunner of a religious unrest 
which soon spread widely. The Pope, who regarded such fanatical 
excitement as dangerous to established order, issued a bull, 20 October, 
1349, for their suppression. With the return of quieter times they 
gradually disappeared. Another manifestation of superstition was 
an outburst against the Jews, who were accused of causing the plague 
by poisoning wells and the air. Although many in authority, including 
the Pope, set their faces against it, the popular fury was only stayed 
after thousands had perished. Luckily, the expulsion of this unfortu- 
nate people by Edward I spared England from sharing in this disgrace. 

Social and Economic Effects. — The social and industrial effects 
of the Black. Death precipitated a crisis in English economic history. 
It is estimated that the country lost from a third to a half of its popu- 
lation. The number of laborers was so diminished that they began 
to demand excessive wages and the value of land fell steadily from 



200 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

lack of cultivation. " Sheep and cattle strayed through the fields 
and corn, and there was none who could drive them," harvests rotted 
on the ground, while, to make matters worse, a murrain among the 
cattle accompanied the plague. While some landlords remitted the 
rents of their tenants and actually reduced the service due from villeins 
so as to hold them on the land, others sought vainly to get their lands 
cultivated by resorting to all sorts of antiquated claims of service, 
or at least by claiming strictly such as were actually due. On 18 
June, 1349, the King issued a proclamation in which he ordained that, 
since laborers and servants either demanded excessive wages or spent 
their time in idleness or begging, all unemployed persons should be 
compelled to work at wages prevalent before the recent calamity. 
Penalties were fixed for those who refused, and also for those who 
offered higher wages or gave anything by way of charity to idle 
beggars. As an offset, it was provided that fish, flesh, and fowl 
should be sold at a reasonable price. The Ordinance proved inef- 
fective, and, in 135 1, Parliament reenacted its measures in a statute, 
the Statute of Laborers, one of a long series to follow. The laborers, 
however, were so " puffed up and quarrelsome " that they would not 
obey, and the landlords had to leave their crops ungathered or violate 
the law by paying increased rates. It must be said that the laws of 
supply and demand and the decreased purchasing power of money to 
some extent justify the laborers. The result of the new conditions 
was to change the whole system of farming. The great landlords 
ceased to farm their estates with the aid of stewards, and leased them 
to tenant cultivators or else turned them into sheep pastures. Still 
it should be emphasized that the Black Death only accentuated change, 
already in progress. The growth of manufactures, the spread of 
commerce, and the attraction of military service drew many from 
the land, and the landlords would have suffered had there been no 
plague. Laws to turn back the hands of the clock were unavailing. 

A Decade of Important Legislation. — Parliament, during the decade 
following the Black Death, was uncommonly active. In 135 1 it 
passed the celebrated Statute of Provisors, which declared invalid 
all appointments, or provisions made by the Pope to English benefices, 
and punished with imprisonment all who accepted such appointments. 
Two years later, 1353, the Statute of Praemunire 1 enacted — " at the 
grievous and clamorous complaint of the great men and commons of 
the realm " — that any one carrying suits to foreign courts should 
be liable to forfeiture of lands and chattels, imprisonment of person, 
and outlawry. The Pope and clergy, against whom these provisions 
are clearly aimed, are not mentioned in the Act. More than once 
reenacted, neither of the two above statutes were obeyed during the 
fourteenth century. The Act of Treasons, 1352, is important, as the 
first legislative attempt to define the crime, and, up to modern times, 

1 A corruption of the Latin prcemonere — to be forewarned. 



THE REIGN OF EDWARD III 201 

that definition has always formed the kernel of the law on the subject. 
Seven offenses were enumerated, including the compassing the death 
of the King or his consort or his heir, adhering to his enemies, slaying 
his Ministers or his judges, counterfeiting the Great Seal or the royal 
coins. Although the powers of the courts were thereby limited, they 
took occasion, from time to time, to extend the scope of the Act in 
cases where its definition proved inadequate. In 1363 the Chancellor 
opened Parliament with a speech in English. In the previous year 
it had been enacted that English should be the language of the law 
courts, for the reason that the " people have no knowledge nor under- 
standing of that which is said for or against them " — and that the 
court records should be in Latin. As a matter of fact, however, 
cases continued to be argued and reported in French till the eighteenth 
century ; the language of the statutes was French till Henry VII ; and 
Latin did not cease to be the language of writs, charters, and records 
until 1731. In 1362 it was enacted that no subsidy on wool should 
be laid without the consent of Parliament. This act renewed in 1371 
" marks a tendency to deprive the Crown by very definite legislation 
of its power of . . . raising money by direct evasion of the letter of 
the constitutional law." In this same year, 1362, the vexatious 
right of purveyance, or seizing goods for public necessity, was re- 
nounced except in the case of the King and Queen, and it was provided 
that goods so taken should be paid for in ready money. In the next 
year a sumptuary law regulated very minutely matters of diet and 
dress to prevent the impoverishment of the country exhausted by 
plague and war. If part of the people were intent on fighting and 
display, there was a class who were grappling with the realities of life. 
English Legislation relating to Ireland. The Statute of Kilkenny, 
1366. — Laws made during this period to deal with the situation in 
Ireland failed to allay the strife and confusion which prevailed there, 
and only awakened discontent. Edward I had valiantly but vainly 
sought to improve the administration. The native chiefs fought 
among themselves, the Anglo-Norman lords also were engaged in 
constant quarrels, while the two races fought each other. The old 
shire system had broken down. Beyond the Pale 1 the power of 
English officials and the power of the Irish Parliament was naught. 
The natives had shown their hatred of their nominal rulers by taking 
the side of Bruce in the time of Edward II, and even chose Edward, 
Robert's brother, to be their king in 1316. He was defeated and killed 
two years later, but the English feudal party were as far off as ever 
from subduing the country. The legislation of Edward III aimed 
to prevent absenteeism, to prevent the natives from holding office, 
and prevent intermarriage or association between the two peoples. 
The famous Statute of Kilkenny, 1366, dealt with the last of these 
problems most drastically. It not only forbade the English settlers 

1 The district under English control surrounding Dublin. 



202 



A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 



to intermarry with the Irish, but it prohibited them from using the 
Irish language or adopting their dress or manners. The Statute 
was never enforced, and the attempt to rule the country by a party 
solely attached to the English interests proved futile. _ 

Progress of the War. End of the Truce, 1355. — During the 
period when there was nominally a truce between England and France, 
from 1347 to 1355, more than one stirring engagement was recorded. 
In IS4Q the French attempted to recover Calais by bribing the Gov- 
ernor When the plot was reported to Edward, he prepared a force for 
its defense which he and the Black Prince accompanied in disguise. 
A body of French were admitted into Calais castle on the pretense 
that it was to be betrayed. After they had been overcome, Edward 
sallied forth at the head of his followers to dispose of those outside. 
" Raging like a wild boar," he fought a single combat with the bravest 
of the French knights that was " right pleasant to see." Then in the 
true fashion of chivalry he entertained all the knights at supper, 
giving his late opponent a chaplet of pearls from his own head. In 
1 -So Philip VI died, and " there were no tears shed by the nation 
Unfortunately for the French, his son John, who succeeded him, while 
personally brave and eager for martial distinction, had even less 
statesmanlike capacity than his father. In i 3 S5 war was renewed 
in real earnest. In July, 1356, the Black Prince, who had been in 
Aquitaine since the previous year, started from Bordeaux for a raid 
through central France. King John marched south to defend his 
threatened territories. Prince Edward made a vain effort to intercept 
him and the two marched south in a parallel direction, neither knowing 
exactly the position of the other. Finally, the French army reached 
the town of Poitiers, whither the Black Prince tracked them. 

The Battle of Poitiers, 16 September, 1356. — He took up a strong 
position on a rolling plateau, protected on the rear and flanks by 
a wood, a marsh, and a winding stream. In front lay a thick hedge 
behind a ditch and pierced only by a single country road so narrow 
that only four men could march abreast. The English force con- 
sisted of about 3000 men-at-arms, about the same number of archers, 
and a few hundred Gascon light-armed troops. As at Crecy the French 
outnumbered them about three to one, but had no opportunity to use 
their superior force. Lining the hedge and the thickets on either 
side with archers, Prince Edward awaited the advance of the enemy. 
Except for a small contingent of horse in the front line, the French 
men-at-arms were all dismounted. But mailed knights, however 
effective for defense, were not adapted for marching up a rough road 
and scrambling through bushes. Moreover, John had made the 
mistake of not covering their advance with archers and crossbowmen. 
Not only were their attacks repulsed, but the Black Prince sent a 
small force to attack them on the left rear. Then he led a charge 
down the hill, and, in the hand-to-hand conflict which ensued, fought 
himself " like a fell and cruel lion." King John, struggling manfully, 



THE REIGN OF EDWARD III 203 

was taken prisoner, together with his young son Philip. This capture, 
and the confirmation of the verdict of Crecy that the day of the mailed 
knight had passed were the chief results of the Battle of Poitiers. The 
Black Prince was able to make little immediate use of it in a military 
way. Too weak to attempt to capture the city whither most of the 
vanquished fled for refuge, he hurried on to Bordeaux with his booty 
and his more important prisoners. On 23 March, 1357, a truce was ar- 
ranged for two years, and in May John was taken a captive to London. 

Suffering and Disorder in France after Poitiers. — The condition of 
France after the defeat of Poitiers was deplorable. Oppressive taxes 
and debasement of the coinage to support the extravagance of the 
nobles and to pay the King's ransom, bore heavily on the exhausted 
land. Free companies of French and English soldiery roamed about 
the country, plundering and pillaging, " stripping naked those to 
whom the lords had left a shirt." The suffering and discontent mani- 
fested itself in a furious peasant rising known as the Jacquerie. 1 But 
the privileged classes were too much for the rude undisciplined bands 
whom they put down and massacred without mercy. " It needed not 
the English to destroy the country," wrote a French chronicler, 
" for in truth, the English, enemies of the kingdom, would not have 
done what the nobles did." The state of the country was worse than 
before. "Neither corn nor vegetables nor vines were cultivated; 
burnt houses and churches in ruins everywhere met the eye ; desolation 
universally prevailed, except in some isolated places where the peasants 
resisted the royal bandits. . . . Winter increased the suffering of the 
people ; the price of food became enormous, and famine raged through- 
out the land." On 24 March, 1359, King John, who had spent his cap- 
tivity pleasantly in the chase and tournament, signed a treaty of peace. 
Its terms, however, were such that the French regents and estates gen- 
eral preferred to leave their sovereign in captivity rather than accede. 

The Peace of Bretigny, 1360. — Another invasion led by Edward 
and his four sons failed to achieve any notable success. The French 
shut themselves up in their strong towns and castles, and it was prac- 
tically impossible to support the English army in the wasted country. 
Terms of peace were arranged at the little village of Bretigny in May, 
1360, and ratified at Calais in October. The treaty is known as the 
Treaty of Bretigny. It was tacitly understood that Edward should 
renounce his claims to the French throne. In return he received all 
of the ancient Aquitaine, 2 including Poitou and many smaller dis- 
tricts in the south; Ponthieu, controlling the mouth of the Somme, and 
Guines, the district in which Calais was situated, in the north. John's 
ransom was fixed at 3,000,000 crowns, a sum over eight times the ordi- 
nary revenue of England. One fifth was to be paid down, the remain- 
der in annual installments, the payment being guaranteed by hostages. 

1 From Jacques bonhomme, a contemptuous name by which the nobles desig- 
nated the peasant. 

2 It included Guyenne and Gascony. 



204 



A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 



The French renounced their alliance with the Scots and the English 
theirs with the Flemings. " Good brother France," said Edward, 
" you and I are now, thank God, of good accord." 

Such rejoicings proved premature. In spite of the sincere efforts of 
King John, the French nobles in the ceded districts stoutly resisted the 
transfer of their allegiance, and towns were even more stubborn. Some 
districts refused to submit at all. Mercenaries, composed of disorderly 
spirits from many lands, continued to live off the country where any- 
thing remained. One band, swooping down from the Rhine and the 
Low Countries, called themselves the Tard Venus (or " late comers ), 
" because they had not as yet much pillaged the kingdom, and did 
their best to make up for lost time. Moreover, the French were unable 
to pay the installments of John's ransom. When some of his hostages, 
including his son Louis, broke their parole, he returned to England, 
where he died in 1364. 

The Tide begins to turn against England. — Two years before, King 
Edward had erected Gascony and Guyenne into a separate principality, 
and conferred it upon the Black Prince. In view of the Prince s past 
successes and the disordered condition of France the prospects of the 
English seemed as bright as those of the French seemed dark ; but 
the tide was on the turn. John's successor, Charles V, though weak 
in body a scholar, a reformer of court manners, and an administrator 
rather than a warrior, was able to win back ground that his more mar- 
tial father had lost. " There never was a king who had less to do with 
arms " said Edward III, " yet there never was a king who gave me so 
much to do." Charles was greatly aided by Bertrand du Guesclm a 
Breton captain, ugly and quarrelsome, but wary and capable, who 
came to be recognized as the greatest general of his age. The new 
King and the Pope soon succeeded in involving Prince Edward in war 
in Spain with consequences so disastrous that he afterwards lamented 
to the Bishop of Burgos : "The devil has dragged me into mixing into 
the affairs of your kings." Well he might. He damaged his reputa- 
tion he contracted a disease which led to his premature death, he 
diverted English energies from France, and was compelled to lev}' taxes 
from his Gascon subjects which prepared them for rebellion and thus 
opened the way for the loss of his principality. The trouble in Spam 
arose over an attempt of Henry of Trastamara to oust his lawless and 
blood-thirsty half brother, Pedro the Cruel, from the throne of Castile. 
French and papal forces aided him in driving Pedro out of his kingdom. 
The Black Prince, to whom he fled, took up his cause in the teeth of 
the opposition of the Gascon lords and against the advice of his wisest 
English councilors. King Edward supported his son on the ground 
that he was bound to Pedro by treaties of alliance. By the aid of the 
English arms he was restored for a brief season, just long enough to 
show how faithless and unworthy he was. He was driven out again, 
taken prisoner by Henry's forces in March, 1369, and treacherously 
stabbed by his half brother in a quarrel. 



THE REIGN OF EDWARD III 205 

The Intrigues of Charles V in Aquitaine and the Renewal of the 
War. — Meantime, Charles V had taken advantage of the situation 
to make ready for war, and to secure the alliance of such of the Gascon 
nobles as were opposed to their ruler. His opportunity came when the 
Prince levied a tax of ten sous on every hearth to pay his mercenaries. 
Although the burden fell most heavily on the mass of the people, the 
nobles led the opposition, and appealed to the King of France. He had 
no right to interfere in the affairs of Aquitaine, yet he actually, 15 
January, 1369, summoned the Prince to Paris to answer the complaints 
of his own subjects. " I shall go to Paris," was the proud and indig- 
nant reply, " but it will be with my helmet on my head and 60,000 men 
in my train." Charles, in his desire to recover his French possessions, 
had scant regard for the law ; but he had one real grievance. This 
was the pillaging carried on by the English companies, which, although 
discountenanced by King Edward, continued apparently without 
check. Defied by the Black Prince in his attempted intervention, he 
seized Ponthieu, and, 29 April, 1369, sent the King of England a formal 
declaration of war, choosing, it is said, a scullion as a messenger. 
Edward replied by resuming the arms and title of the King of France. 

The English lose Ground steadily during the Remainder of Edward's 
Reign. — ■ The war which followed " never rose above a series of raids, 
skirmishes, and sieges." Edward III was premature'.y old, his good 
wife Philippa died on the 15th of August of this same year, 1369, and 
he fell more and more into the hands of Alice Perrers, an unworthy 
favorite to whom he was already inclined. The Black Prince, who had 
been for years bearing the burden of the fighting, was suffering from 
dropsy and growing steadily weaker. The English, in spite of a few 
successes, met with one reverse after another and continually lost 
ground. Many causes besides the declining capacity of Edward and 
his son contributed to this result. The English army had deteriorated 
from the fact that the depleted ranks of the archers, who had won the 
earlier battles, were filled by a motley throng of foreign auxiliaries, 
Germans, Flemings, and Gascons. Moreover, the French employed 
more and more a species of tactics that exhausted their adversaries. 
On the English approach they wasted the land round about and took 
refuge in a castle or walled town. On the other hand, Bertrand du 
Guesclin was constantly appearing in Aquitaine, attacking remote 
and ill-defended garrisons. He never stayed to face a relieving force, 
and wore out the defenders of the land in futile marches and pursuits. 
The last military feat of the Black Prince was the sack of Limoges, 
October, 1370. He was so weak that he had to be carried on a litter. 
In January of the following year his health was so completely shattered 
that his brother, John of Gaunt (so-called from Ghent, his birthplace), 
was chosen as his successor. John had already inclined his father the 
King to set up a court of appeal in Gascony to abate the taxes and to 
repeal the unfortunate hearth tax. These belated measures, however, 
had only weakened the authority of the Prince instead of conciliating 



2o6 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

his subjects. Bertrand du Guesclin, now Constable of France em- 
ployed his harassing methods to perfection on a wider scale. He hung 
on the flanks of invading armies, he annoyed them by petty surprises 
he wasted the lands on their line of march, and continued to avoid 
pitched battles. At length negotiations for peace were reopened, but 
both sides were so stiff-necked that nothing more than a truce resulted, 
which, by renewal, lasted till the end of the reign, when all that re- 
mained of the former vast conquests of the English were Bordeaux, 
Bayonne, Calais, and Brest. 

Increasing Discontent in England. The Good Parliament 1376. — 
Owing to the burden of taxation, the ill success of the war, and general 
maladministration, public discontent grew steadily. Proceedings in 
Parliament show that the Church was coming m for a share of the 
attacks In 1371 a lord, described as " more skillful than the rest, 
proposed that, in time of need, the goods of the clergy should be seized 
as the common property of the kingdom. 1 As yet however the chief 
opposition, led by the Black Prince, was directed against the court 
party, particularly John of Gaunt and Alice Perrers It came to a 
head in the " Good Parliament " which met in 1376. The session, 
lasting from 28 April until 6 July, was very important as an index 
of the popular excitement and the growing power of the Commons 
though the measures of reform that were undertaken scarcely survived 
the dissolution. The object of calling the Parliament was to obtain 
money for continuing the war; this gave an opportunity to assert 
again the principle that redress of grievances should precede supplies. 
The first step of the Commons was to secure a committee of twelve 
magnates — four bishops, four earls, and four barons — to assist 
them in their deliberations. Their next step was to choose as their 
leader Sir Peter de la Mare. 2 He demanded an audit of accounts, 
and proceeded to lay bare the iniquities of the King's counselors to 
whom he attributed the national poverty. Among the frauds which 
he enumerated was the custom of the courtiers of buying the King s 
debts at a low figure and then obtaining the full amount, or even more, 
from the treasury. John of Gaunt tried to avert the attacks of these 
"upstart hedge knights" by an adjournment, but when he was 
reminded that they were backed by the Black Prince and the citizens 
of London, he agreed to hear their further complaints and the remedies 
they might suggest. . 

The First Parliamentary Impeachments, 1376. — trie leaamg 
offenders were mentioned by name and brought to account. William, 
Lord Latimer, the King's Chamberlain, was accused of buying up debts, 
of extorting huge sums, of selling strong places to the enemy, and ot 
intercepting fines which should have been paid into the royal treasury. 

1 His speech is notable for a quaint comparison; he represented the Church as 
an owl dressed in feathers of other birds. On the approach of the hawk they asked 
back their gifts ; when the owl refused, they seized them by force. 

2 Sir Thomas Hungerford was the first to receive the title of Speaker in 137 7- 



THE REIGN OF EDWARD III 207 

Richard Lyons, a London merchant and former farmer of the customs, 
had been associated with him in various frauds ; on one occasion they 
had lent the King 20,000 marks and received back £20,000 ; they had 
forestalled the markets at ports and raised the price of foreign imports. 
On these charges they were impeached. This is notable as the begin- 
ning of impeachments, a process which consists of a trial by the House of 
Lords on the basis of an accusation brought by the Commons against a 
public official for a public offense. Both Latimer and Lyons were 
convicted. They made a vain attempt to obtain a pardon by bribing 
the King and the Black Prince, though the King accepted the money 
with the jest that he was but taking his own. They were sentenced to 
imprisonment and forfeiture. Latimer was released on bail and, in the 
long run, managed to elude the execution of his sentence after all. 

The Death of the Black Prince, 1376. — In the midst of the session 
the Black Prince died, 6 June, 1376. Only forty-five years old, he had 
outlived the period of his success as a general. He was a brave and 
dashing soldier, he had won brilliant victories ; but they were due 
rather to the blunders of his enemies and the efficiency of the English 
archers than to any ability of his as a tactician or strategist. His 
illness withdrew him from the French war in time to save his waning 
reputation, for it is unlikely that he would have proved equal to the 
combined wisdom of Charles V and du Guesclin. His barbarous raids 
and the cruel massacre at Limoges are dark blots on his character ; 
his chivalry was of the artificial type then prevalent, and was actuated 
by no real gentleness or humanity. Yet his patience in suffering and 
his manful fight against corruption and misgovernment, even if im- 
pelled by hostility against his brother, made him deservedly popular. 

The Reforms of the Good Parliament frustrated by John of Gaunt. 
— Although the reform party attempted some important work during 
the remaining weeks of the session, the work of the Good Parliament 
died with the Black Prince. His next brother, John of Gaunt, now 
gained the ascendancy, and caused the late Parliament to be declared 
no Parliament. A new one, which met 27 January, 1377, was 
wholly under his influence. This is the first of the " packed parlia- 
ments," so-called because composed largely of members pledged to do 
the will of the Government. The necessity of such an expedient is a 
striking evidence of the growing power of the Commons. Alice Perrers, 
driven from court when Latimer and Lyons were brought to account, 
was allowed to return, the acts against her and Lord Latimer were 
reversed, and a poll tax — " hitherto unheard of " — of a groat a head 
was imposed. 

Festivities for the New Prince of Wales, 1377. — A pleasing incident 
in this stormy political struggle was a grand Christmas feast held at the 
palace of Westminster, in 1376, by the old King, when Richard, son of 
the Black Prince and recently created Prince of Wales, was formally 
invested with the succession. It was King Edward's last appearance 
in public. On the Sunday before Candlemas (2 February) a body of 



2o8 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

London citizens prepared a quaint entertainment or " mummery " 
for the little Prince. Masked and disguised as knights and esquires, 
with others to represent the Emperor, Pope, and cardinals, they rode 
to Kensington Palace near Lambeth and played with him for rich 
gifts which they caused him to win by means of loaded dice. Then 
followed a mirthful feast and dancing. 

John Wiclif (d. 1384). — John of Gaunt, head of a corrupt court 
clique was opposed to clerical ascendancy, and in his struggle against 
it took to himself a curious ally. This was John Wiclif, the first 
English reformer. Born some time about 1324, in Yorkshire, Wiclif 
had passed most of his life at Oxford as a student and teacher of the- 
ology In course of time, however, he began to supplement his aca- 
demic by pastoral work ; he held various livings, the last of which was 
the rectory of Lutterworth, which he occupied from 1374 till his death. 
Also in 1374 he was appointed one of a royal commission to treat with 
papal legates at Bruges concerning disputes between the Crown and 
Gregory XI in the matter of clerical appointments. Here he came to 
know John of Gaunt. Finding that Wiclif had been for some time 
occupied in framing views on the relations between the spiritual and 
the temporal power of the Church, John undertook to make use of him 
in his battle against ecclesiastical influence in political affairs. His 
first appearance in politics was shortly before the meeting of the Good 
Parliament, when he published a treatise against the papal claim to 
collect arrears of the annual tribute promised by King John. No 
payment had been made since the accession of Edward III, and 
Wiclif was but voicing protests made in Parliament as early as 1366 
against its renewal. Convocation, which met with Parliament m the 
winter, determined to call the reformer to account, primarily to strike 
a blow at his champion. On 19 February, 1377, he appeared before 
the assembled bishops at St. Paul's, accompanied by Duke John and 
by Henry Percy, the Earl Marshal. The trial broke up, owing to a 
fierce quarrel between his notable supporters and William Courtenay, 
the Bishop of London, first because they pushed their way rudely 
through the crowd, and then because they insisted that their charge 
should sit down during the proceedings. The London mob who hated 
John and the Marshal, because of encroachments on the privileges ot 
the city, took the side of their bishop. The next day the uproar 
became so great that John of Gaunt had to flee. The enemies of 
Wiclif next applied to the Pope, who, 22 May, issued a series of bulls 
against him, directed to the University of Oxford, the Archbishop of 
Canterbury, and the Bishop of London, but they did not arrive till 
the beginning of the new reign. 

Death of Edward III, 1377. Inglorious End of his Reign. — Since 
the great Christmas feast of 1376 the old King had remained in retire- 
ment. When it was certain that the end was near, Alice Perrers stripped 
the rings from his fingers and fled. The courtiers about him followed 
suit, and Edward III, once the glory of his generation, passed away, 



THE REIGN OF EDWARD III 209 

21 June, in the sixty-fifth year of his age and the fifty-first of his reign, 
deserted except for a single priest, who remained out of compassion to 
minister the last offices of the Church. The pomp and circumstance, 
the chivalrous ideal, the strong personal power of the monarch had 
faded away before Edward's body passed to the grave. New forces, 
economic discontent, political opposition, and religious revolt, and the 
birth of a new literature were already struggling into being ; but how 
they grew and what they meant was not left for him to see. 

FOR ADDITIONAL READING 

Narrative. Ramsay, Genesis of Lancaster, I, chs. XI-XXIX; II, chs. I- VII. 
Vickers, England in the Later Middle Ages, chs. IX-XIII; Tout, Political History, 
chs. XV-XVIII. Stubbs, Constitutional History, II, ch. XVI. William Longman, 
The Life and Times of Edward III (2 vols., 1869). James Mackinnon, The History 
of Edward III (1900). C. H. Pearson, English History in the Fourteenth Century 
(1876). For a good brief account of the period see William Warburton, Edward 
III (1887). 

S. Armitage Smith, John of Gaunt (1904). R. P. Dunn-Pattison, The Black Prince 
(1910). Both scholarly biographies. G. M. Trevelyan, England in the Age of 
Wyclijfe (1899) gives an interesting account of political, social, and religious his- 
tory in the last years of Edward III and the early years of Richard II. There are 
various translations of Froissart's famous chronicle ; the best is that of Lord Berners 
(1523-1525), reprinted in Tudor Translations (1901), and there is a useful abridg- 
ment by G. C. Macaulay and another in Everyman's Library (1906). 

Selections from the sources. Adams and Stephens, nos. 56-83. 

THE KINGS OF FRANCE, 987-1380, AND THE CLAIM OF EDWARD III TO THE 

FRENCH CROWN 

Hugh Capet, 987-996 

I 
Robert I, 996-1031 

Henry I, 1031-1060 

I 
Philip I, 1060-1108 

I 
Louis VI, 1108-1137 

Louis VII, 1137-1180 

I 
Philip II (Augustus), 1180-1223 

I 
Louis VIII, 1223-1226 (invader of England, 1216) 

I 
(Saint) Louis IX, 1226-1270 

Philip III, 1270-1285 

I 



I I 

Philip IV (the Fair), 1285-1314 Charles of Valois 

I I 

J __ . ( . n 



Louis X, Philip V, Charles IV, Isabella, Philip VI, 

1314-1316 1316-1322 1322-1328 m. Edward II 1328-1350 

I I 

Edward III John II, 

1350-1364 



I 1 1 

John I, d. 1316 Joan, Queen of Navarre Charles V, 1364-1380 
I 
Charles the Bad 



CHAPTER XIII 

LIFE IN ENGLAND UNDER THE FIRST THREE EDWARDS, 

(1272-1377) 

Parliamentary Gains in the Fourteenth Century. — In the last 
decade of the thirteenth century the general principles had been deter- 
mined that the three estates of the realm should be represented in 
Parliament, and that all taxes, except those sanctioned by custom, 
should be granted by this body. It Was the problem of the fourteenth 
century to work out in detail these general principles, to determine, 
for instance, the form into which the representatives of the estates 
should organize themselves, to prevent the sovereign from evading in 
particular instances the general limitations placed upon the taxing 
power and to assert the rights of Parliament in legislation. The 
separation into two Houses and their success in preventing the King 
from collecting subsidies and tallages without their consent have 
already been considered. Other gains remain to be pointed out. In 1373 
Parliament began to grant the King tonnage and poundage. These 
were customs on wine and merchandise. For nearly three centuries 
they furnished an important supplement to tenths and fifteenths, 1 
the normal form of direct taxes, also granted by Parliament. In 1334 
the amount of one tenth and fifteenth was fixed at £39,000. The 
popular cry was that the King should " live of his own " and in mo- 
ments of stress apply to Parliament. Even in ordinary times, however, 
the regular Crown revenues did not suffice, and parliamentary grants 
to meet war and other special expenses were, as a rule, grudging and 
inadequate. It was by this tight hold on the pursestrings that many 
liberties and privileges were secured to the subject. While the 
King, after his immediate need was supplied, repudiated many con- 
cessions that were wrung from him, they nevertheless furnished valu- 
able precedents in future struggles. One great step in advance was 
the share which the Commons gained in making the laws. At first 
they had little or no initiative, they were only asked to give their 
consent to bills framed by the King and Council. Not infrequently, 
too, royal ordinances were issued which had the force of law without 
parliamentary sanction. But the subjects, either individually or 
collectively, enjoyed the right of presenting petitions. Gradually 
such petitions began to be framed and presented by their representa- 

1 So-called because, originally and usually, they consisted of a tenth of the rev- 
enues or chattels of burgesses and a fifteenth from the landholders of shires. 



ENGLAND UNDER THE FIRST THREE EDWARDS 211 

tives in Parliament. The advantage was twofold : action was con- 
certed, and Parliament could enforce its demands by its control over 
money grants. In 1339 the Commons tried the experiment of putting 
off the voting of supplies until the last day of the session, and by the 
beginning of the fifteenth century the practice had become fixed. 
Another important step was the successful assertion of the claim that 
answers to petitions should be enacted into law in the exact words in 
which they were originally presented. When the claim was finally 
recognized under Henry VI, the Commons had secured an initiative in 
legislation. Altogether, then, the fourteenth century was a time of 
great parliamentary advance. Parliament's form of organization was 
determined ; it had greatly curtailed the right of arbitrary taxation ; 
it had come to be consulted in public business ; it had claimed a voice 
in the appointment of Ministers and the right to call them to account ; 
it had deposed one King ; before the close of the century it deposed 
another and even established a new line of succession. In all this 
the Lords were not the sole leaders ; the Commons as well played a 
significant part. Later events were to show that most of the gains 
were premature, but they, nevertheless, contributed powerfully to the 
ultimate progress of the English Constitution. 

Trade and Industry. Passage from Local to Central Control. — 
The commercial and industrial advance of this period is equally note- 
worthy, in the growth of the wool trade, in English shipping, and in the 
remarkable development of the English cloth manufacture. Up to the 
time of Edward I regulation and control of trade were largely local, and 
merchants were hampered by vexatious restrictions. Privileged towns 
and local magnates levied tolls on all goods. bought and sold at markets 
and fairs, that entered city gates, that unloaded at wharves, or that 
passed along certain roads. Merchants of chartered boroughs, banded 
together in their gilds, enjoyed exclusive privileges of trading within 
their district. Regulations in force in London early in the thirteenth 
century show that the alien merchant had a hard time ; he had to live 
in the house of some citizen, he could only buy from those who had 
the freedom of the city, and could only sell to others than citizens on 
certain days, and was forbidden to engage in retail trade at all. Aside 
from certain royal enactments regulating the price of bread, ale, and 
cloth there was no central control whatever. Henry III encouraged 
Lombard and Provencal merchants to settle, and protected them in 
the evasion of local restrictions; but his reign was not a period of 
industrial or commercial enterprise. The regulations of Edward I, 
made " with the counsel and consent of the Commons of England," 
mark an epoch. The towns which had hitherto treated separately 
with the Crown were now united in Parliament to secure measures for 
their class as a whole. Edward " laid the foundations of a system of 
national regulation of commerce and industry," and by his work made 
it possible for his grandson to develop an international commerce. 
In 1275 he agreed with his Parliament to accept a fixed toll on wools, 



212 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

woolfells, leather, and upon wine. Similarly, in 1303, he made an 
agreement with the foreign merchants by which he gave up arbitrary 
exactions on imports and exports in return for fixed charges. He 
appointed officers, called " customers," to collect revenue and to put 
down smuggling, and to aid in this work he named certain towns, 
known as " staples," to which all trade in wool, the chief commodity 
of the kingdom, should be confined. In order to encourage and pro- 
tect those engaged in traffic he enacted better and more general police 
regulations, and, by the Statute of Merchants, provided security for 
creditors. Finally, he took measures for a purer and more reliable 
currency, and had tables set up at Dover, where all merchants and 
pilgrims should exchange the money they brought in for the coin of the 
realm. 

The Foreign Merchants and Foreign Trade. — Both Edward I 
and his grandson favored the Gascon merchants who imported wine 
and the Flemings who exported wool. While the expulsion of the Jews 
and the ruin of the Italians under the burden of Edward Ill's debts 
threw much business into the hands of the natives, and while great 
efforts were made to exclude foreigners from the English retail trade, 
the bulk of the foreign commerce was carried on by the latter till the 
reign of Richard II. There is much confusion and contradiction in 
the commercial legislation of the period of the three Edwards, owing 
to the fact that as yet no general theories on the subject had been 
evolved, and each measure enacted was largely experimental. The 
main aim, however, was to make exports dear and imports cheap 
rather than to build up English shipping and industry. 

The Wool Trade. — By the close of the thirteenth century England 
had come to be the great wool-producing country of Europe, with her 
chief market among the Flemish weavers. Accordingly, various at- 
tempts were made to fix the towns or staples where the wool should 
be sold. Sometimes they were in England, sometimes in the Low 
Countries, while for a short period in the reign trade was free and the 
staple towns were done away with altogether. In 1362 the staple 
was removed to Calais, where it remained, except for short intervals, 
till the town passed back to the French in 1558. The Hundred Years' 
War had its good and bad effects from the industrial standpoint. 
Among the bad, were heavy subsidies, seizure of ships and wool for 
the King's necessities, insecurity of travel, the ruin of the French 
markets, and the withdrawal of artisans from their craft. Among 
the good were the settling of skilled Flemish weavers in England, the 
capture of Calais which cleared the sea of pirates, and the royal needs 
which made the King pay some attention to the trading classes. 
Nevertheless, the export of wool was forbidden when the King wanted 
to control the market, and only encouraged when he wanted to collect 
customs. At times the export of various other commodities was pro- 
hibited in order to keep down the price in England. A curious ordi- 
nance of 1363 provides : " That no wines, corn, beer, animals, whether 






ENGLAND UNDER THE FIRST THREE EDWARDS 213 

flesh or fowl, horses, clergy, foreigners, or others" should be allowed to 
pass out of the kingdom without special license. In the case of wine 
the Gascon traders were encouraged in order that the King, the 
courtiers, and the nobility might buy as cheaply as possible. It was 
not till 1390 that any measures were taken to protect English shipping. 
The statute, which provided that merchants in England should freight 
only in English ships, was not observed. Thereupon the Commons in 
the following year petitioned that, since the navy was thus greatly 
impaired, goods shipped in a foreign vessel, when an English one was 
available, should be forfeited. The King made the petition into a 
statute ; but apparently it was not very effective. 

The Merchant Marine and the Navy. — The native shipper in the 
early part of the reign of Edward III had to contend against great 
obstacles. The foreigner and the. King's agent was greatly favored 
at his expense, and he was generally prohibited from exporting wool 
out of the country ; even when the staple was fixed at Calais, he could 
only, as a rule, take it across the Channel. Moreover, the North Sea 
was swarming with pirates, and the coast towns were frequently subject 
to hostile raids. Indeed, the bold seamen of the Cinque Ports, when 
not engaged in the royal service, often preyed on the commerce of their 
countrymen. But the sovereignty of the narrow seas asserted by 
Edward I was, for a time at least, made a reality by Edward III in 
consequence of his naval victories and the capture of Calais. For a 
while the seas were better policed than ever before. Piracy, however, 
did not altogether disappear. With the decline of Edward's vigor 
the navy fell into decay, and the English shipping and port towns be- 
gan once more to suffer. The reign of Richard II was even more dis- 
astrous from the naval and commercial point of view. The attempt 
to build up English shipping by navigation acts came to nothing. The 
ships of merchants were seized for the royal necessities, yet the navy 
was even more neglected than in the last years of Edward III. Dis- 
cipline was lax, trade was unprotected, and the country was in con- 
stant danger of invasion. The most brilliant achievements on the 
sea were due to the patriotism and gallantry of individuals. An 
interesting indication of the daring of English seamen is the legend of a 
voyage made toward the North Pole in 1360 by Nicholas of Lynn, a 
monk of Oxford, skilled in navigation and astronomy. The middle 
of the fourteenth century, too, marked the appearance of the famous 
Travels in Turkey, Tartary, Persia, India, Egypt, and the Holy 
Land, attributed to Sir John Mandeville. Some improvement began 
to be made in ship structure. Two masts became common, and the 
rudder was invented, though the more primitive steering paddle 
continued in use. Cannon, used almost from the beginning of the war, 
were a common part of the ship's armament before the close of the 
reign. 

Regulation of Native Industry and the Advent of New Industries. — 
Careful provision was made to prevent fraud in particular callings; 



2i 4 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

for instance, a royal proclamation of 1340 prohibited the London 
butchers from sewing the fat of good beef on joints of lean. In 1363 
merchants were required to deal in one sort of merchandise only, and 
handicraftmen to keep to one " mystery," or craft, except women who 
were engaged in such callings as brewing, baking, spinning, and the 
like. Edward's frequent prohibition of the export of wool did much 
to encourage the native manufacture. This he did in another way by 
encouraging the Flemish weavers to come over to exercise their craft 
and to teach others. There had been migrations from Flanders ever 
since the Norman Conquest, but, owing to the political and economic 
conditions in their native country, the weavers now came in such 
numbers as to mark a new epoch in the development of English cloth 
manufacture. It must have been an era in the lives of the newcomers 
to leave hard churlish masters and, a fare of moldy herring and cheese 
for a cordial welcome and good beef and mutton. 

Sumptuary Legislation. Regulation of the Coinage. — Edward III 
enacted various sumptuary laws which were aimed partly to protect 
native industries against foreign importations, partly to check extrav- 
agance and promote thrift. Needless to say, this legislation had 
reference to the lesser folk who had begun to imitate the upper classes 
in elaborate dress and costly meats, even before the temporary enrich- 
ment of the country from the loot of the French wars. Such excesses 
" sore grieved " the great men of the realm, who saw " evil therein " 
" as well to the souls as bodies." A most serious one in their eyes, no 
doubt, was that it impoverished the subjects so that they were " not 
able to aid themselves nor their liege lord in time of need." Sumptu- 
ary laws were as old as the Romans, and, as early as 1281, an ordi- 
nance regulating apparel had been passed in London. Edward's laws 
were frequent and far reaching. They regulated the amount and 
quality of food a man should eat, they forbade any but members of 
the royal family to wear cloth except of English manufacture, and 
regulated the apparel of every class in the community from the servant 
and the handicraftsman to the noble. Laws of Edward III, too, sup- 
plemented those of Edward I for the regulation of the coinage. Their 
main objects were to prevent debasement at home, the introduction of 
bad money from abroad, and the carrying of bullion out of the realm. 
Twenty ports were selected where good money and articles of plate 
brought from other countries might be exchanged for English coin. 
The face adopted on Edward's coins was a conventional one : it was 
not till Henry VII that any were struck that resemble the sovereign. 
One new coin, the noble, worth 6s. 8d., was introduced. 

The Gilds. — The artisan class in the fourteenth century seems to 
have been in a very prosperous state. To a considerable degree this 
was due to the protection of the Crown and Parliament, faulty and 
inadequate as it was. Concurrently with this central regulation, 
however, that of the local organizations survived to some extent. 
But the merchant gilds were gradually disappearing, either by merging 






ENGLAND UNDER THE FIRST THREE EDWARDS 215 

with the municipal organization or with the various crafts gilds. 
In this period London had some fifty separate mysteries. Division of 
labor was still highly developed. The bow maker could not make 
arrows ; the cordwainer made shoes, while the cobbler patched them. 
Each gild had its masters, its journeymen who worked by the day, and 
its apprentices who paid a sum of money and in return were taught the 
trade and supplied with food, drink, and clothing. Every craft had a 
court with elected officers to regulate trade disputes. In the craft as 
well as in the older merchant gilds the religious, benevolent, and social 
aspects were prominent. They had patron saints, processions on holy 
days, they provided money for masses for the souls of dead members, 
they maintained altar lights at the parish church, and often supported 
a chaplain. They relieved the poverty of their poorer brethren and 
their families, they contributed money for the marriage portion of the 
daughters of members or for sending them into nunneries. Finally, 
periodical feasts were an essential part of their organization. In a 
word, " the gild in its various forms supplied to the people of the four- 
teenth century local clubs, local trade unions, and local friendly 
societies." 

Ordinances against Usury. — A striking feature of medieval 
economics is the sentiment against " usury," as any lending of money 
at interest was called. An Ordinance of 1363 denounces it as a " false 
and abominable contract, under colour and cover of good and lawful 
trading," which " ruins the honour and soul of the agent, and sweeps 
away the goods and property of him who appears to be accommo- 
dated." To understand this attitude it must be borne in mind that 
business conditions were quite different from those of later times. 
There were no credit systems or banks in the modern sense. Money 
was seldom borrowed except for emergencies — to build a church or a 
monastery, to pay taxes suddenly imposed, to go on a pilgrimage or 
crusade, to fit out a military expedition. Rates were too high to make 
borrowing for commercial purposes profitable, and the usual practice 
for a man without capital who wanted to embark on a venture was to 
form a partnership with another to furnish the money and share the 
risk. The nearest approach to bankers were brokers who brought the 
borrowers and lenders together, and they are severely dealt with by the 
Ordinance of 1363. The medieval borrower could not see why, if he 
furnished security and paid his loan at the appointed time, he should 
give more than he had received to one who had incurred no risk. 
Should he cause his creditor inconvenience by failing to keep his 
agreement, then and then only was he prepared to pay interest. 
Money lending, then, was regarded as a barren employment of funds 
which the lender might otherwise invest in a partnership where he 
shared in the legitimate gains and risks. 

Agriculture. Increasing Substitution of Rents for Services. In- 
closures. — The tendency to commute the personal services of villein 
cultivators into money rents, already evident in the thirteenth cen- 



2i6 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

tury became marked in the fourteenth. Lords and bailiffs preferred 
to hire laborers rather than to depend upon unwilling service. More- 
over the pomp and ceremony of chivalry, the increasing luxury, and 
the demands of building called for ready money. More and more, too, 
sheep raising began to be substituted for tillage. This was due to two 
causes • to the widening market for wool both at home and abroad, 
and to the scarcity of labor after the Black Death. This resulted in 
" enclosing," so called from the means taken to prevent the sheep from 
straying. Both arable land and the old common fields were appro- 
priated by the lords for their purpose. As the population began to 
recover during the next two centuries enclosing began to be regarded 
as a hardship because it required much land and few laborers and 
took from the tillers of the soil their means of subsistence. 

Life of the People. Lawlessness. Justices of the Peace. — The 
population of England, probably not over 3,000,000 just before the 
Black Death, sank to less than 2,000,000 after the first visitation of 
the scourge. Conditions were still primitive when cows could be 
strangled by wolves in Lincolnshire. The state of the country was so 
lawless that merchants had to travel in large parties accompanied by 
armed horsemen for security. The woods were full of outlaws who 
robbed all who came their way, and even on occasion seized the King s 
judges and held them for ransom. Some were even bold enough to 
force their way into the law courts and overawe the justices. I he 
nobles, instead of aiding to put them down, often kept such ruffians 
in their pay and protected them, a custom which soon became wide- 
spread under the name of "livery and maintenance." 1 London 
itself was not free from disorders. It is evident from a law of 1332 
that it was a favorite amusement of boys to knock off the hats of 
pedestrians in the neighborhood of the palace of Westminster. One 
means of keeping order was the establishment of the justices of the 
peace in 1362, when they were empowered to hold four sessions a year, 
known as " quarter sessions," to try certain classes of cases less serious 
than those reserved for the King's judges. Descendants of the old 
custodians or keepers of the peace, already in 1344 any two or more 
had been intrusted with judicial functions. They were chosen from 
the best county families and from the borough magistrates and served 
without pay. Besides keeping the peace and trying smaller offenders, 
all the duties of local administration came to be loaded upon them, 
such as carrying out the Statutes of Laborers and the later Poor Laws. 
Punishments were barbarous, aiming at retribution and vengeance 
rather than prevention of crime. Prisoners were thrown, sometimes 
naked, into horrible dungeons, dark, damp, indescribably filthy, often 
partly filled with water and swarming with rats and vermin. I heir 

1 "Livery" comes from the provisions and clothes which were delivered as pay, 
and was later applied to the badge worn by such retainers, and has survived in 
the modern servants' uniforms. "Maintenance" came from the lord s custom 01 
"maintaining" or supporting the suits of his servants in court. 



ENGLAND UNDER THE FIRST THREE EDWARDS 217 

usual fare was moldy bread and stagnant water. Lesser offenders 
were put in the stocks, a heavy board with holes for the ankles, some- 
times for the neck and wrists as well, frequently with no other support 
for the unfortunate victim. Torture was common to make the 
accused confess, or, as in the case of the peine forte et dure, to make 
him submit to jury trial. The horrible practice of breaking on the 
wheel, where a man was stretched out and his limbs broken with an 
iron bar, was not unknown. Hanging was most common, and as 
towns and local lords had this right, gallows were often seen, gruesome 
spots on the landscape. In cases of treason a man was cut down 
while his body was still warm, and his bowels were drawn or taken 
' out and burned, and his body quartered. 

Lack of Individual Freedom. Training of Children. — What with 
royal regulation, town, and gild and church regulation, the individual 
had very little freedom. It was natural that children should not 
escape. " A child were better to be unborn," it was said, " than to 
be untaught," and numerous rhymed treatises were composed for their 
guidance. The boy was directed what to do from the time he got up 
in the morning till he went to bed at night, how he should dress, how 
he should eat ; how he should act on his way to school — he was to 
greet passers-by, not to throw stones at hogs and dogs, not to run 
away bird-nesting — and how he should act in school if he got there. 
Equally minute were the directions to girls ; some of the injunctions 
we should think rather out of place, such as those against attending 
cockfights and wrestling matches and against excessive drinking. 

Eating and Drinking and Recreations. — Eating and drinking were 
most immoderate, and only the open-air life and exercise made it 
possible for medieval English folk to digest the huge quantities they 
consumed. They had no tea or coffee and little fresh meat or vege- 
tables, now regarded as necessities. Their fare, however, was not 
coarse and simple. Medieval cookbooks and kitchen utensils show 
that there were all sorts of dishes highly spiced, complicated, and 
delicate. Nevertheless, the medieval Englishman relished many 
things that would hardly tempt the modern palate, such as hedge- 
hogs, swans, peacocks, rooks, porpoises, and sparrows. Fast days 
meant merely a change from meat to fish. Ale was the drink of the 
lower classes, while kings and nobles regaled themselves on costly 
wines from abroad. The monotony was varied by various elaborate 
concoctions such as mead and posset. Owing to defective means of 
lighting, meals were still very early. Considering the coarseness of the 
times and the heavy drinking, it is no wonder that many feasts were 
nothing more than carousals which broke up in fighting that some- 
times proved fatal. Yet there were many peaceful diversions: the 
tales of knights who had journeyed or fought in France or the Holy 
Land, songs of minstrels, feats of jugglers, and dancing. Then there 
were games too : dice ; tables, resembling our modern backgammon ; 
chess, learned first from the Saracens ; and cards. The latter were 



218 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

introduced in the fourteenth century, and from the process of marking 
them printing developed. For the younger and more active there were 
hoodman blind, forfeits, whipping the top, and ninepins, to mention 
a few which have survived. The chief resource of women was spin- 
ning, weaving, embroidery, and sewing, while the men devoted much of 
their time to hunting and hawking. Edward II and Edward III were 
particularly fond of the mummeries, which took the place of the theater 
in those days ; the mummers parading about in strange masks repre- 
senting lions, elephants, or dressed as bats and satyrs with men's 
heads. " Round tables " came to be a common accompaniment of 
the more elaborate tournaments. These were great feasts at a table 
arranged around the walls of the room, the guests sitting with their 
backs to the wall facing a central space, where the minstrels and servers 
stood. Chivalry was greatly fostered by the custom of sending young 
boys and girls to serve as pages or maids at Court or at the castles of 
great nobles. Here the page learned the code of gentleness and cour- 
tesy which were the ideal of the medieval knight. 

Warfare. — The two great innovations in the method of conduct- 
ing war under the Edwards were the long bow, and cannon with gun- 
powder. The former, first used in the Welsh and the Scotch wars of 
Edward I, won a European renown at Crecy and Poitiers. The fatal 
cloth-yard shaft could not only break up a charging squadron by killing 
or wounding the imperfectly protected horses, but it penetrated the 
joints of the horseman's armor or, if it struck fair, even the plate itself. 
In seeking to meet this danger by thickening the plate, the armor be- 
came so unwieldy as to incapacitate the wearer. An unhorsed knight 
could not rise without help, and often he was stifled by the sheer weight 
of his own defense. Gunpowder completed what the long bow had 
done to overthrow the old system. The assertion that cannons were 
used by the English at Crecy has not passed without question. The 
Black Prince had cannon on his northern raid, though he did not use 
them at Poitiers. Probably Edward III employed them at Calais, 
though it was some time before they became effective in sieges, and 
still longer before they played any part in field engagements. 

Travel, Kings, Nobles, Clergy, Merchants, and Minstrels. — In 
spite of the badness of roads and bridges there was much traveling in 
fourteenth-century England. The King, the nobles, and bishops, 
made stately progresses, accompanied by imposing retinues of horse- 
men, and, notwithstanding the statutes limiting purveyance, 1 dealt 
havoc with the goods of the lesser folk. At their approach people 
fled to hide their fowls and eggs and such other produce as their lords 
might seize. Merchants traveled about to buy and sell at the various 
fairs and staple towns, and abbots and monks journeyed from mon- 
astery to monastery on business connected with their orders. Most 
of the better sort rode on horseback. Luggage and goods too were 

1 The right of seizing goods for the royal necessities. 



ENGLAND UNDER THE FIRST THREE EDWARDS 219 

carried on horses and mules ; though great ladies were beginning to 
use litters and carriages, cumbersome and gorgeously ornamented. 
The mass of the people traveled on foot. There were peddlers who 
supplied the country folk, there were strolling players, minstrels, and 
jugglers. On great occasions the minstrels flocked together from 
every part of western Christendom. At the marriage of Edward I's 
daughter, for instance, no less than four hundred and twenty-six were 
present. Some, of course, were regularly attached to royal and 
baronial households, and in many cities were gilds or brotherhoods, 
formed for " well-ordered gaity," with rules for membership, singing 
contests, and processions. Most of the singers, however, were wan- 
dering vagabonds who combined tumbling and sleight-of-hand per- 
formances with minstrelsy. They were often newsmongers, spies, 
and stirrers-up of revolt. 

Beggars, Friars, and Pilgrims. — In addition there were hosts of 
beggars and wandering laborers whom the statutes failed to check. 
More numerous still were those who claimed to be servants of God 
and the Church. Even the hermits no longer sought solitary places ; 
but settled along frequented roads to ask alms of the passers-by. 
The strolling friars were as great a nuisance as any. Once they had 
rendered manful service in the care of the poor and the furthering of 
education ; but the majority had become lazy and corrupt. They 
thrust themselves as guests on the houses they passed, eating and 
drinking immoderately; they lowered their sacred calling by acting 
as vendors of news and small wares ; and encroached upon the parish 
priests by assuming the rights to confess members of their flocks. In 
spite of the denunciations of reformers and of ecclesiastical authorities 
who had no control over them, they continued undisturbed till the 
Reformation. Besides the friars there were the pardoners who acted 
as special agents of the Church for the remission of sins, which they 
sold for money, and who supported their claims by exhibiting curious 
relics of doubtful pedigree. The roads were also crowded with pil- 
grims on their way to or from some holy place. Their object was to 
perform a vow, to obtain answer to a prayer, or to visit the shrine of 
some famous saint. The two most popular shrines in England were 
those of St. Thomas at Canterbury, and of Our Lady of Walsingham, 
where there was a wondrous miracle-working statue of the Virgin. 
Many even went to Rome or the Holy Land. The professional pil- 
grim or palmer wore a special form of dress and carried a scrip for food 
and a bottle. Many inducements were offered him beside the hope 
of divine favor ; he was exempt from tolls, his person was protected, 
and he received free food and shelter along the road. In course of 
time others joined in pilgrimages from varying motives. " Some 
went like gypsies to a fair, to gather money ; some went for the pleas- 
ure of the journey, and the merriment of the road." Like other stroll- 
ers they were welcomed as bringers of news and letters. They told 
of the marvelous relics they had seen, such as a portion of the burning 



220 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

bush whence the Lord had appeared to Moses, one of the stones which 
slew St. Stephen, and many more. In spite of the superstition and 
trickery which they fostered, these pilgrimages were of immense value. 
They drew people together, broke down local prejudice, spread news 
and civilization, fostered commerce, and gave a holiday to many who 
would have got it in no other way. 

Accommodation for Travelers. — Travelers were accommodated in 
different ways. The King and his retinue might be billeted on the 
inhabitants of places along their road. Monasteries dispensed hos- 
pitality to all classes ; frequently they had a guest house outside the 
walls for the humbler folk. In many towns there were lodgings, the 
keepers of which were employed by the burghers to lure customers to 
them. In the country there were vacant buildings where merchants 
got shelter for the night, providing their own food and bedding ; such 
places were called " cold harbors." The inns were patronized chiefly 
by merchants. Although lumerous enough they were not overcom- 
fortable or clean. The 1 ndlords were not infrequently suspected of 
being in league with robbers, and, when not so* bad as that, were often 
guilty of trickery and extortion. A favorite device was to draw 
guests into ordering more than they had money to pay for and then 
to seize taeir baggage and clothes. The inns were favorite resorts for 
the less reputable classes who spent their time drinking, gossiping, and 
gaming. By the roadside and in the smaller villages were alehouses, 
advertised by a stake or a bush projecting over the door. They 
furnished (io lodging. Many were kept by women — " alewives " — 
who had;,, bad reputation for cheating both in money and measure. 
Under s\ iy h conditions hospitality was regarded as a great virtue, and 
was general, from the lord of the manor to the poorest cotter. Churl- 
ish and miserly persons who refused to take in travelers are held up 
to scorn in the tales of the time. 

Public Health, Medicine, and Surgery. — As in the past, lack of 
fresh food, unsanitary conditions, and inadequacy of transportation 
were the cause of famine and epidemics. In 13 15 heavy rains wrought 
such destruction with the harvest that great misery followed. The 
pressure of hunger was so great that not only horses and dogs, but, 
it is said, children were eaten, and felons in jail tore one another to 
pieces. In 1322 there was another visitation of famine and disease, 
when fifty-five poor persons in London were crushed to death in a 
scramble for food distributed at a rich man's funeral. All this oc- 
curred while the upper classes were living in luxury, though there 
was more splendor than comfort. Edward III dismissed his con- 
stable of the Tower because he had so neglected repairs that the rain 
came in on the bed of his sick Queen, and in 1357 when his dead mother 
was brought to London for burial, the streets had to be cleared of 
filth for the passage of the body. The Black Death, however, started 
a movement for better sanitation. An act was passed prohibiting 
the throwing of refuse and garbage in heaps outside the walls and in 



ENGLAND UNDER THE FIRST THREE EDWARDS 221 

the rivers. Whether effective or not, the water of the ditch about 
London was so little corrupted that it contained excellent fish in the 
time of Henry VIII. Up to the sixteenth century, however, scaven- 
gers were inspectors of nuisances, and the duties they now perform 
fell on the householders. Before the close of the century the plague 
came back at least six times, causing the greatest destruction and 
demoralization, and preventing the natural recovery from the devas- 
tation of 1348-1349. The science of medicine and surgery was still in 
a primitive state, though some progress was made during the century. 
Monks and Jews had been the first to practice the art of healing in 
England, deriving their knowledge from the ancients through the 
Byzantine Greeks. By the twelfth century the Arabian school, with 
its chief seats at Salerno and Montpellier, had come to supersede the 
Byzantine. After the expulsion of the Jews the bulk of the practice 
fell to the monks, in spite of prohibition of papal bulls. Prayers, 
ceremonies, visits to shrines, astrology, charms, and spells were the 
commonly accepted means for curing ills and were sometimes em- 
ployed as adjuncts by the practitioner. T%o famous names appear 
in the reign of Edward III : John of Gaddesden, the first English 
writer on medicine, and John of Burgoyne, supposed to be the original 
of Chaucer's physician. The incorporation of the Barber Surgeons 
as gilds at London and York toward the end of the century marked 
an era in surgery. 

Military and Domestic Architecture. — Castles, while they reached 
their highest degree of development in the time of the Edwards, came 
to be employed more and more exclusively as governrr atal and 
military fortresses. Curiously enough, by the time the art f building 
them had been perfected, the introduction of cannon and g npowder 
rendered them useless. Fortified manor houses largely replaced the 
old private castles. The causes making for this change were at work 
long before the new implements of war were generally adopted. 
Since the time of Stephen, the Crown had refused to tolerate private 
castles, except in rare instances, and had usually been strong enough 
to enforce its prohibitions. Moreover, the cessation of feudal warfare 
made them no longer necessary, and the upper classes preferred more 
comfortable dwelling places just strong enough to protect them against 
robbers and occasional disorders. They form a connecting link be- 
tween the strong gloomy castles of the feudal period and the country 
seats of the Elizabethan age built for beauty and comfort. These 
manor houses were bare and inconvenient according to modern 
standards. The buildings, consisting of the great hall, the chambers, 
the kitchen, the stables, and other outhouses, were attached so as to 
inclose a courtyard. By the thirteenth century it had become com- 
mon to have a room above the ground floor, which was called the solar 
and was approached by an outside stairway. Among the improve- 
ments of the fourteenth century were the increase of separate bed- 
rooms, the custom of inserting a fireplace at one or both ends of the 



222 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

hall in place of the old one in the center, and the replacing of holes in 
the wall covered by shutters with glass windows, at least in some cases. 

Ecclesiastical Architecture. — The prevailing style of church archi- 
tecture during the period of the three Edwards was the so-called 
" decorated," an elaboration of the pointed Gothic or early English. 
The new type is distinguished particularly by the ornateness of its 
window traceries. With all its warmth and richness one misses the 
dignified simplicity of the style which it displaced. The decorated 
style reached its perfection at Exeter, Wells, and York. The western 
front of York has been regarded as " one of the chief architectural 
glories " of England. In the reign of Edward III a new style began 
to appear, the perpendicular. Examples are to be found as early as 
1336; but the real period of transition did not come till the second 
half of the century. Gloucester cathedral, for instance, built not 
long after 1350, mingles both styles. During the fifteenth century 
the perpendicular became dominant. The chief reason for the 
change of fashion was that the decorated style had worked itself out 
by the very excesses of its elaboration, although the Statutes of 
Laborers were not without their influence. The law of 25 Edward III, 
which fixed the pay of master free masons at ^d. a day, tended, so far 
as it was observed, to reduce the number of skilled workmen or to 
drive them out of the country. The new perpendicular type was, 
in general, stiff, formal, and unadorned. It is best distinguished by 
its windows, the arch was flattened, and mullions, or divisions between 
the lights, were gradually lengthened until they extended from the 
sill to the arch, thus cutting through the flowing tracery. Gradually 
square windows replaced the round ones of the past, and square headed 
doors and square panels became the rule. Beautiful curves gave way 
to straight lines and angularity. Nevertheless, elements of beauty 
were not wholly lacking. William of Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester, 
1367-1404, the last of the great episcopal architects of the Middle 
Ages, in his chapels at Winchester and New College, Oxford, furnished 
" really noble specimens of this ignoble style." One of the notable 
features which did much to relieve the prosaic bareness was the magnif- 
icent roofs, both open timbered and vaulted. A splendid specimen of 
the' former is in Westminster Hall, while the fan vaulting of the chapel 
of Henry VII at Westminster Abbey is a glorious example of the 
latter. Another redeeming feature of the perpendicular style is its 
towers, even though they do not equal the spires which they replaced. 
The latest and most perfect example of these perpendicular towers is 
that of Magdalen at Oxford. Built early in the Tudor period, it stands 
" whispering . . . with ineffable charm . . . the last enchantments of 
the Middle Ages." Many parish churches, manor houses, and college 
halls which survive, while lacking in the unique beauty of the early 
English or Gothic architecture, are dignified and comfortable. 

Learning and Literature. The Universities. — Following the trend 
of the times, the universities became more and more national, and 



ENGLAND UNDER THE FIRST THREE EDWARDS 223 

English scholars ceased, in any considerable numbers, to migrate to 
the Continent. Cambridge was unable for centuries to rank with 
the older foundation of Oxford. Its situation was less central and 
more unhealthy, and it had fewer powerful protectors. Oxford, how- 
ever, had troubles of its own. The friction with the townsmen was 
intense, often leading to open fighting; the faculty were often at 
odds among themselves ; and the ill feeling between students from 
different parts of the country, particularly north and south, was so 
acute as to lead to frequent secessions. 1 The average number of 
students in the fourteenth century could not have been over 3000, 
although there are accounts of as many as 30,000. While the higher 
ranks were represented, the majority were from the lower walks of 
life. The poorest supported themselves by the work of their hands 
or even begged on occasion. Those who could afford it spent their 
vacation at the University in private study. The notable educational 
achievements of the century were the work of William of Wykeham. 
About 1373 he established at Winchester the preparatory school of 
St. Mary's, which became the model for Eton, Rugby, and the other 
famous so-called " public schools." His foundation at Oxford a few 
years later, known as New College, was the first where teaching by 
tutors inside the college, still the custom at Oxford, was tried. Below 
the universities there were, in connection with convents, grammar 
schools presided over by secular clerks. The convents received the 
fees and paid the teacher a stipend. The Inns of Court at London 
furnished training for the common lawyer. 

Literature : Chronicles and Romances. — History was still mainly 
in the hands of the monastic chroniclers; but the man who best 
voiced the chivalrous and martial ideals of the age of Edward III was 
Jean Froissart (1337-1410). A countryman of Edward's Queen, 
Phihppa, he came from Hainault to the English court in 1361 and 
was attached to the Queen's household till her death, when he went to 
Flanders. His Chronicle deals with the events in which England 
was concerned from 1325 to 1400. Although confused and inac- 
curate in his use of facts, and with no regard for the common people, 
he tells the story of the English feats in the Hundred Years' War 
with a richness and vividness of detail that has made his book a joy 
for all time. French metrical romances continued to be very popular. 
They told of the wanderings of knights, good and valiant, of their 
deeds of daring in overcoming giants and paynims, of their succoring 
ladies in distress, and of their service to religion. Legends which had 
clustered about the names of mighty men of old time, Alexander, 
Charlemagne, Brutus, and King Arthur, and the beautiful story of 
the search for the Holy Grail were among their chief subjects. All 
of them were worked over from French originals in the new English 
speech which was shaping itself during the thirteenth and fourteenth 

1 One to Stamford, in 1334, was so notable that, until 1827, every candidate for 
a degree had to swear that he would never lecture in that town. 



224 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

centuries. The most charming of them all, Sir Gawayne and the Green 
Knight, is the most purely English in its setting. By an unknown 
author, it relates the adventures of King Arthur's nephew, his en- 
counters, his temptations, and his ultimate triumph. It has been 
well called " the most delightful blossom of all pre-Shakespearean 
romance." . 

Religious Literature and Plays. Ballads. — Alongside the knightly 
romance there grew up a mass of religious literature, mostly in verse, 
lives of saints, sermons, books of instruction, and Scripture paraphrases. 
Some of these works aim to entertain as well as to instruct and edify. 
More popular still were the religious plays. The earliest were the 
miracle plays — which dramatized Bible stories and the wonders 
wrought by saints. Beginning in certain ceremonies in the Church 
on such feast days as Easter, the performances were soon transferred 
to the churchyard and then to the town square. By the fourteenth 
century they had passed from the hands of the priests to the gilds, 
which gave annual exhibitions on Corpus Christi day. Usually each 
gild had a cart, drawn by apprentices, with a stage erected upon it. 
These moving stages were known as " pageants." ' Each repre- 
sented one scene of the story, and the whole sequence was known as a 
cycle. Somewhat later appeared the morality plays, which dealt 
with the strife between good and evil rather than with theology. The 
fight of the seven deadly sins and of the seven opposite cardinal 
virtues for the possession of the human soul formed the theme for the 
earliest and best of these. Vice, greed, innocence, indeed all sorts 
of human traits, were personified. To these plays and to the royal 
pageants representing scenes from classic and medieval legend, such 
as the fight between St. George and the Dragon, may be traced the 
beginnings of the later drama. Christmas " mummings," too, were 
very popular, in which Old Father Christmas, Old King Cole, and the 
Merry Andrew came to be well-known figures. Among a mass of 
ballads the best known are those which relate the deeds of the legend- 
ary outlaw Robin Hood, who was supposed to have dwelt in Sher- 
wood Forest in the later twelfth century, protecting the poor and 
robbing their oppressors. His many adventures and those of Little 
John, Friar Tuck, and Maid Marian were also worked up into plays. 

Geoffrey Chaucer (1340-1400). — The great name in the litera- 
ture of the age, indeed one of the great names in that of the world, 
was that of Geoffrey Chaucer, " the father of English poetry." The 
son of a London vintner, he began life as a page in a princely house- 
hold. His residence at the English court, the most brilliant in Europe, 
his travels in many lands, his association with all sorts and conditions 
of men gave him rare opportunities, of which his genius made the 
fullest use. Chaucer's productive literary life has been divided into 
three periods: the French to 1372; the Italian from 1372 to 1385; 

1 From this original meaning the term came to be applied to the play and then 
to any imposing spectacle. 



ENGLAND UNDER THE FIRST THREE EDWARDS 225 

and the more original, which marks the ripe fruition of his work. 
During the first, he was under the spell of the old courtly romances, 
his chief model being the Roman de la Rose, a portion of which he 
translated into English, thereby helping to sow in the realm " the 
flowers of French poesy." His most important work of this period is 
the Death of Blanche the Duchess, wife of John of Gaunt (1369). 
A royal mission to Italy in 137 2-1373 marked a crisis in the poet's life, 
for it was then that he came into the world of the Renascence, that 
marvelous revival of learning and outburst of literary and artistic 
creations which came to birth on Italian soil. Here he learned to 
know the sublime vision of Dante, the exquisite poetic forms of 
Petrarch, and the tales of Boccaccio. It was the latter which may 
have determined the form of Chaucer's masterpiece, and furnished 
him with some of the stories which he included in it. The result of 
his Italian sojourn is seen in four works which he produced after his 
return : the Parliament of Fowls, probably in honor of the nuptials of 
young King Richard and Anne of Bohemia ; Troilus and Creseide, 
described as " the first analytical novel in the English language " ; 
the House of Fame, " a playful fantastic allegory" ; and the Legends 
of Code Women. In his third period came the crowning achievement 
of Chaucer's life, the Canterbury Tales, at once "a gallery of living por- 
traits of his time," and " an inclusive collection of almost all the types 
of narrative known to literature at the close of the Middle Ages." His 
plan was to tell the tales through the mouths of a body of pilgrims 
journeying from the Tabard Inn in Southwark to the shrine of Thomas 
Becket at Canterbury. The poet completed less than a quarter of his 
projected plan ; but he depicted the peculiarities of individuals repre- 
senting various walks of life, the knight, the friar, the nun, the franklin, 
the physician, the Oxford scholar, the merchant, the miller, and many 
more, with a fidelity, a vividness, and a humor unsurpassed by any 
writer before or since. But wonderful as is this mirror of the society 
and writing of his age Chaucer rendered still another incalculable 
service. He was not only " the father of English poetry," but " the 
father of literary English " as well. Writing in the tongue of the 
southeast midlands, he stamped that form upon written English to the 
very borders of Scotland and Wales. Thence it spread as England grew 
into an Empire, so that the speech and writing of a large part of the 
world's population owes more to Chaucer than to any other single man. 
John Gower(i325-i4o8)and " William Langland " (i330?-i400?). — 
John Gower, although his name was long linked with that of Chaucer, 
does not stand on the same plane with his great contemporary. His 
Vox Clamantis, containing an account of the Peasant Revolt in 1381 
and a severe denunciation of government and society of Richard II's 
time, is of the most historic interest. But the social unrest of this age 
and the outcry against the oppression, folly, and vices of the ruling 
classes is best voiced in the Vision. of William Concerning Piers the 
Plowman, sometimes attributed to William Langland. In the form of 



226 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

an allegory, written in a revival of the native alliterative verse, the 
Vision traces the exaltation of the common man, pictured as a simple 
rustic, until he becomes a mystical type of Christ. It lashes the sins 
of society and the individual, and preaches the gospel of man and the 
glory of work. In spite of its allegorical and abstract form, the de- 
scriptions are so concrete and vital that men and women seem to live 
and breathe before the reader. It may well have influenced Wiclif 
on the more personal, practical side of his work, framed the views and 
stimulated the opposition which was to break out in the Peasant 
Revolt. 

Wiclif s Views of Spiritual and Temporal Lordship. — While Piers 
Plowman aimed chiefly at men, Wiclif struck at a system. It was 
his work to mold the grievances against the Church and the 
Papacy into tangible form. By the removal of the Papacy to Avignon 
the popes had become so subservient to the French that thinking men 
had come to regard them with contempt. As papal exactions in- 
creased, both claims for money and in the matter of " provisions," 
Englishmen opposed them, not only because of the financial burden 
involved, but because of the growing national sentiment against an 
institution regarded as French. Hence the views which Wiclif devel- 
oped concerning spiritual and temporal lordship became very popular. 
He maintained that the Church should hold no property, because it 
hindered truly spiritual work. Therefore it was the duty of the 
State to take land and revenues which hampered the Church in the 
performance of its proper duties. Lordship depended on grace, 
which a man forfeited by sin, and the rank of a man in the eyes of his 
fellow men depended upon his rank in the eyes of God. This doctrine 
of lordship applied even in the case of the Pope ; if unrighteous or 
unworthy, he lost his right to rule ; and his decrees, if against the will 
of God, were of no binding force. Moreover, Wiclif struck a blow at 
the hierarchy by declaring that even a simple priest could administer 
any sacrament of the Church. 

The Development of his Views, particularly after 1378. — The 
papal bulls framed against him, in May, 1377, arrived in England in 
August. Although his protector, John of Gaunt, had been out of power 
since the death of Edward III, Wiclif was recognized as the national 
champion and was protected by the Queen Mother, widow of the 
Black Prince. When Parliament met in the autumn he was consulted 
on the question as to whether, when the kingdom was in danger of 
invasion, it could refuse, even against a papal order, to send money 
out of the realm. His reply was that the Pope could only ask for 
money as alms or charity, and, since charity begins at home, it would 
be folly to obey in the present juncture. Early in 1378 he was brought 
before the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London, acting 
as papal commissioners at Lambeth. Their hands were tied, for the 
Queen Mother serit a message forbidding them to pass sentence on 
him. Furthermore, a body of London citizens, accompanied by a dis- 



ENGLAND UNDER THE FIRST THREE EDWARDS 227 

orderly rabble, appeared menacingly before the archiepiscopal palace. 
The upshot was a simple request from his judges that Wiclif desist 
from discussing the points enumerated in bulls. As the defender 
of national independence against the Papacy and as the champion 
of the State movement against the power and wealth of the Church, 
Wiclif had been supported by all the laity high and low. In this very 
year, 1378, he was led by the Great Schism to advance far beyond his 
original position, to an attack against at least two of the essential 
bases of the Church. Gregory XI had moved back to Rome from 
Avignon, and, on his death, two rival popes were elected, Urban 
VI by the Roman party, and Clement VII by the French. The 
resulting struggle, which rent the Church in twain, led Wiclif to 
question the authority of the Papacy altogether. Nor did he stop 
with attacking the Church's form of government, but proceeded to 
strike a blow at her central dogma, that of transubstantiation. Ac- 
cording to the orthodox belief on this point, the bread and wine used 
in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper were transformed by the con- 
secrating words of the priest into the very body and blood of Christ. 
From the point of view of medieval " realist " philosophers the 
doctrine was more explicable than it might seem to a modern Prot- 
estant ; in their minds the reality or substance of a thing was not the 
visible attributes which could be seen, touched, and handled, but an 
inner, invisible essence. That was what was believed to change. 
Two good reasons explain why the Church fostered the belief in tran- 
substantiation. It emphasized the human side of Christ, which cer- 
tain of the early sects denied ; and it exalted the priesthood, who were 
held in higher reverence from their ability to perform the miracle. It 
was to combat the sacerdotal power that Wiclif framed his view. He 
did not go so far as some of the later Protestants and deny the Real 
Presence altogether. He maintained that after consecration the 
bread and wine did not cease to exist, but that the body and blood of 
Christ came and dwelt in them. In other words, for transubstantiation 
he substituted consubstantiation. 

Last Years and Death. — His doctrines, now too extreme for many, 
were condemned in 1380 at Oxford, and again in 1382 at London. 
He, in both cases, was spared, though after the second condemnation 
his followers were persecuted rigorously. He spent his last years in 
peaceful retirement. It was during this time that he wrote nearly all 
of his English works and revised his Latin works ; they fill together 
nearly thirty printed volumes. He died in 1384. In 1428, in accord- 
ance with a decree of the Council of Constance passed in 141 5, his 
remains were dug up, burned, and cast into a neighboring brook. 
" Thus," in the quaint language of the seventeenth-century writer 
Fuller, " this brook hath conveyed his ashes into Avon, Avon into 
Severn, Severn into the narrow seas, they into the main ocean. And 
thus the ashes of Wiclif are the emblem of his doctrine, which now 
is dispersed the world over." 



228 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

The Two Channels of Wiclif's Teaching. — Some years before his 
death Wiclif had devised two agencies to spread his teaching among 
the humbler folk. One was his " poor preachers," a body of men 
sent out, staff in hand and clad in coarse russet gowns, to preach the 
simple truths of the gospel. Those who accepted his teachings came 
to be known as Lollards. Although they often differed from their 
master and even from one another, they generally opposed the tem- 
poral power of the Church, the authority of the Pope, transubstantia- 
tion, religious orders, pilgrimages, image worship, and many other 
doctrines and practices of the Church of Rome. As an organized sect 
they did not long survive Wiclif's death. They were accused of social- 
ism and held responsible for the Peasant Revolt ; their doctrines 
shocked the orthodox ; and the lowly character of their following ex- 
cited the contempt of the great. Nevertheless, their work lived after 
them. They struck the first mortal blow at the Church of Rome in 
England, and they infused a spirit of earnestness into English life 
which reached its fruition in the Puritan Revolution nearly three 
centuries later. The followers of Richard's Queen carried their 
teachings to Bohemia, and John Hus, the forerunner of Martin Luther, 
felt their influence. Wiclif's second agency was the translation of the 
Bible, which he projected and supervised, and assisted to carry out, 
though the bulk of the work was done by his associate, Nicholas of 
Hereford. After Wiclif's death the work was revised and reissued in 
complete form by John Purvey. Although not a stylist and although 
none of his controversial treatises are works of art, Wiclif's achieve- 
ments in spreading the Bible among the people exerted an influence 
which entitle him to be called the " father of English prose." * By 
suppressing the Bible the Government not only arrested the progress 
of the new religious thought, but the growth of English prose as well. 

England a National State. — In the wars against France, in the 
struggle to control its own commerce and to develop native industries, 
in the struggle against the power of Rome, in the rise of a purely Eng- 
lish literature, one great fact is evident : England had become a nation. 
As the barons who fought selfishly against royal despotism and the 
exploitation of their country by foreigners had unconsciously prepared 
the way for a constitutional monarchy, so they had, again unwittingly, 
taken the first steps to awaken a national spirit which first came to a 
full, conscious realization in the England of Edward III. 

FOR ADDITIONAL READING 

Constitutional. Stubbs, Constitutional History, II, ch. XVII ; III, chs. XX, XXI; 
the two latter covering both the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The develop- 
ment of Parliament under the first three Edwards is treated in White, Making of the 
English Constitution, pt. Ill, ch. Ill; Taylor, Origin and Growth, I, bk. Ill, ch. I; 
Taswell-Langmead, ch. VIII; Wakeman and Hassall, Constitutional Essays. 
ch. IV; and Medley, Manual, chs. IV-VI. 

1 Thus he contributed to further the work of the poet Chaucer. 



ENGLAND UNDER THE FIRST THREE EDWARDS 229 

Social, industrial, and intellectual conditions. Traill, Social England, II, chs. V, 
VI. Cunningham, English Industry and Commerce, I, bk. III. Ashley, English 
Economic History, II. J. E. T. Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices (6 vols., 
1866-1887), and his Six Centuries of Work and Wages (1890), based upon it, are 
both valuable but not to be relied upon implicitly. Jessopp, Coming of the Friars, 
chs. IV, V. Prothero, English Farming, ch. II. E. L. Cutts, Scenes arid Characters 
in the Middle Ages (1872). Jusserand, English Wayfaring Life in the Middle Ages 
(2d ed., 1899). Bateson, Mediceval England, pt. III. Wright, Homes of Other Days. 
Tout, Political History, ch. XIX. R. L. Poole, Illustrations of the History of Medice- 
val Thought (1884). Taine, English Literature, I, bk. I, ch. III. Moody and Lovett, 
ch. III. Cambridge History of Literature, I, II. Jusserand, Literary History, I. 
E. K. Chambers, The Medieval Stage (1903). 

For the Black Death, see Gasquet, The Great Pestilence (1893), and Charles Creigh- 
ton, History of Epidemics in Britain, a.d. 664-1866 (2 vols., 1891-1894). 

The Church. Wakeman, Church of England, ch. VIII. W. W. Capes, Historv 
of the English Church, ch. I-VII, XI-XVII. J. Lechler, John Wiclif and his English 
Precursors (Eng. tr., 2 vols. 1878, 1 vol. 1884). • • 



CHAPTER XIV 

RICHARD II (1377-1399). THE END OF THE PLANTAGENET 

DYNASTY 

A Boy King. Unsatisfactory State of the Country. — On 16 July, 
1377, a boy of ten, " Richard of Bordeaux," son of the Black Prince, 
was crowned King of England. The reign began with a prospect of 
conciliation between contending factions. John of Gaunt with- 
drew from politics, and a Council of twelve, representing the court and 
opposition parties, was chosen to govern the kingdom, while the guar- 
dianship of the King's person was intrusted to his mother, a gentle, 
kindly woman. Nevertheless, " William Langland " had prophesied 
truly that " where the cat is a kitten, the kingdom is full miserable." 
The pestilence and the long war had thinned the population and bur- 
dened the country with heavy taxes. The English possessions in 
France had been reduced to marsh-girdled Calais and a portion of 
Aquitaine with a long frontier in constant peril from the energetic 
Bertrand du Guesclin. During the dotage of Edward III the suprem- 
acy of the Channel had been lost and the coast was left exposed to 
French attacks. Bands of armed men roamed through the land, 
plundering and disturbing the peace. Wearing the badge or livery of 
some great lord and protected or maintained by him in suits at law, 
they defied all attempts to bring them to justice. In the face of 
suffering, danger, and disorder the Commons viewed with increasing 
resentment the luxury at court. 

The Poll Taxes of 1379 and 1380. — The first Parliament of the 
reign, which met in October, 1377, was able to obtain important con- 
cessions : it was allowed to replace certain Lancastrian 1 members of 
the Council by men of its own choice ; it was agreed that " no Act made 
in Parliament should be repealed save by the consent of Parliament " ; 
it was given the right to appoint the great officers of State and to choose 
two treasurers to oversee expenditures of money grants. In 1380 the 
Council was abolished, a new set of ministers appointed, and the King 
put under the Earl of Warwick as guardian and tutor. Nevertheless, 
the Government continued ineffective and unpopular. Its war meas- 
ures were particularly unsuccessful. In order to meet the expenses 
which they nevertheless involved, poll taxes were devised. The first, 
levied in 1379, had the merit of being graduated according to wealth — 
from John of Gaunt, who was to pay ten marks to laborers and villeins 

1 Adherents of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, uncle of King Richard, and 
opposed to the party of Richard's late father, the Black Prince. 

230 






THE END OF THE PLANTAGENET DYNASTY 231 

assessed for 4^. In the following year a new assessment was imposed 
at a rate of three groats on every person in the realm save beggars. 
Although it was arranged that in the separate townships the rich should 
pay proportionately more than the poor, the burden fell heavily on the 
lower classes, causing great " dismay and woe," and furnishing the 
occasion for a revolt which had been brewing for years. 

Conditions leading to the Peasant Revolt. — The country was 
seething with discontent, social and industrial as well as political. 
The peasantry were infuriated at the attempts made since the Black 
Death to enforce or rake up old villein services. More widespread 
still was the opposition to the Statutes of Laborers which aimed to 
fix the rate of wages. In the towns, the lesser folk chafed at the 
selfish, arbitrary policy of the ruling bodies. In the majority of cases 
municipal governments had passed into the hands of little oligarchies 
who levied taxes, imposed fines, and, in short, governed solely in their 
own interests with a total disregard of their unprivileged fellow- 
townsmen. Another grievance was the restrictive gild regulation 
which bore with peculiar harshness on the unskilled laborers in pre- 
venting them from passing from one employment to another. In 
London and one or two other great towns combinations of journey- 
men — forerunners of the modern trades unions — were formed 
against their masters, but those lower in the scale had no such organiza- 
tion. There was bitter feeling, too, against alien merchants and manu- 
facturers whom the natives looked upon as interlopers. There were 
many other uneasy and discontented elements. Bands of armed 
men, released from the war and disinclined to work, were ready to 
share in any disturbance from which they might profit. Fugitive 
villeins, idlers, and criminals swelled the throng. Then there were 
the extremists among the followers of Wiclif, though he himself had 
not sanctioned force. A " mad priest," John Ball, went about teach- 
ing that goods should be held in common and the distinction between 
lord and serf wiped away. A rhyme attributed to him was very popu- 
lar : " When Adam delved and Eve span, who was then the gentle- 
man? " The poll tax, received with "great grudging and many a 
bitter curse," was the spark that fired the train. The burden in 
itself was enough, but the Government made matters worse if possible. 
When the local collectors sent in false returns to spare the poor, royal 
commissioners were delegated to extort the utmost farthing. 

The Peasant Revolt, 1381. — Although the chief centers of dis- 
turbance were in the south and east, the revolt broke out nearly 
simultaneously in almost every part of the country. The unity of 
rising, however, was not prompted by any unity of purpose, and the 
name " Peasant Revolt," by which it was commonly known, is 
misleading in view of the various classes that took part in it. In Kent, 
for example, where no villenage existed, the chief grievances were 
the poll tax and the maladministration. The plan of the insurgents 
there was to kill all lords and gentlemen and great Churchmen, to burn 



23 2 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

tax rolls and title deeds, to secure possession of the King, and to take 
the government into their own hands. The last installment of the 
poll tax was one due on Whitsunday, 1381. All through the spring 
" quaint rhymes " passed through the country signed " Jack the 
Miller," " Jack Trewman," and the like. One famous one read : 
" John Ball greeteth you all, and doth for to understand he hath rung 
your bell. Now right and might, will and skill. God speed every 

cede." 

Outbreak in Essex and Kent. The March on London. — I he 

first outbreak occurred in Essex, late in May, when certain men of 
Brentwood stoned one of the royal tax commissioners out of the vil- 
lage. When the Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas was sent 
down to punish the rioters, he was seized and forced to swear that he 
would never hold another such session. They let him go, but beat 
to death three clerks and beheaded three jurors. Within a few days 
the Kentishmen rose, seized Rochester Castle, and chose as leader one 
Wat Teghler, or Tyler, an obscure adventurer of ready wit and sharp 
tongue. Rapidly swelling in numbers, the rioters started for Lon- 
don, burning houses of royal officials, lawyers, and unpopular land- 
lords as they proceeded. On their way through Canterbury they 
released John Ball, whom the Archbishop had imprisoned for his 
inflammatory utterances. On the evening of 12 June they encamped 
on Blackheath, whence parties issued forth and burned the King's 
Bench and Marshalsea prisons, and Lambeth, the Archbishop's palace. 
The same night the Essex insurgents, who had been busy destroying 
court and manorial rolls, reached Mile End, thus threatening London 
from the north and east. The little King and his councilors were in 
the Tower, and the mayor and the aldermen were at the Guildhall, 
trembling with indecision. The next morning John Ball preached a 
fiery sermon, declaring that in the beginning all men were equal, that 
the wicked had reduced them to servitude, and that the time had come 
to shake off the yoke. In response to the request of the insurgents 
that, as loyal subjects, they wanted to lay their grievances before him, 
the King came down the river in his barge to meet them ; but at the 
sight of the disorderly rabble on the banks his timid councilors forced 
him to turn back. Then Wat Tyler marched against London Bridge, 
traitors lowered the draw, and the mob streamed into the city. With 
wise moderation they spared the property of all except their chief 
enemies. Among the places which fell victim to their rage were the 
Savoy, John of Gaunt's palace, and the lawyers' quarters in the 
Temple. " It was marvelous to see how even the most aged and 
infirm of them (the lawyers) scrambled off with the agility of rats or 
evil spirits." 

The Conference at Mile End. — On the morning of the 14th, the 
King rode out to meet the rebels at Mile End, a favorite recreation 
ground northeast of the city walls. A boy of fourteen, one can believe 
that he entered the howling mob asa" lamb among wolves." How- 



THE END OF THE PLANTAGENET DYNASTY 233 

ever, they received him joyfully on bended knees, crying : " Welcome, 
our Lord King Richard, an it please you we desire no other King than 
you." Then, through Wat Tyler, they asked that all traitors might be 
put to death and that the King would grant the petition that they were 
about to present. Richard heard it article by article and granted 
everything. Their chief demands were : abolition of serfdom ; full 
pardon to all insurgents ; the right of manumitted serfs to buy and 
sell freely; rents of lands freed from villenage should not exceed 
four pence an acre ; and thai, no one should serve another, but of his 
own free will and for wages mutually agreed upon. Further, Richard 
should acknowledge that he had been ill advised, and henceforth he 
would be directed by his people, and that all who had been imprisoned 
in consequence of the Statutes of Laborers and other oppressive legisla- 
tion since 1349, should be released. Of course, the King could make 
no such sweeping changes in the laws without the consent of Parlia- 
ment, and, though the concessions were proclaimed in all the shires, 
the Council determined to revoke them at the first favorable oppor- 
tunity. 

Excesses of the Rioters. Murder of Wat Tyler. — In spite of the 
royal concessions, Wat Tyler led a band of rioters from the conference 
and sought out and cruelly murdered Simon Sudbury, the Archbishop 
of Canterbury, together with a few others whom they specially hated. 
They fixed the heads of Sudbury and Hales, the Treasurer, on pikes, 
bore them around the city, and set them on London Bridge. Fortu- 
nately for John of Gaunt he was abroad. Satisfied with what Richard 
had granted them, " the simple and honest folk " departed to their 
homes. The extremists, however, the criminal, and the disorderly, 
to the number of thirty thousand, remained and made the night hide- 
ous with slaughter, plundering, and burning. More than two hundred 
lives were lost in their carnival of blood and fire. The Council made 
one more effort the next day to placate Wat Tyler with new conces- 
sions. A meeting was arranged at Smithfield, the site of the cattle 
markets north of the city. Tyler was allowed to ask what he would, 
to which Richard replied that the commons should have all he could 
possibly grant " saving the regalities of the Crown." The rebel 
leader was then ordered to ride away, but was surrounded and cut 
down so promptly that it seemed as if the whole thing had been 
planned. Directly they realized what had happened, the insurgents 
began to draw their bows. At this critical moment, so the story goes, 
little Richard showed himself a worthy son of the Black Prince. 
Speeding toward them and waving them back, he cried : " Sirs, will 
you shoot your King ? I will be your chief and captain ; you shall 
have from me all that you seek." Pointing to the open meadows to the 
north, he ordered them to meet him there. The Lord Mayor, taking 
advantage of the delay, hastened to the city and rallied the citizens who 
had begun to recover from the terror of the night before. They 
marched to the support of the King who had kept the rioters quietly 



234 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

encased in parley all the while. Thus reenforced he was more than 
a match c/th babble demoralized by the loss of their chief . Yet he 
I™ wise enough to let them depart in peace, though he ordered Tyler, 
head to be fixed on London Bridge in place of Sudbury s Met by his 
mother on hTs triumphal return to the city he cried, "Rejoice and 
^rat God; for to-day I have recovered my heritage that was lost, 

^utrJsln of ^Revolt. Results. -The backbone of the re- 
JanceTn Tendon was broken. Kent submitted without fighting. 
The Essex insurgents demanded the confirmation of Mile End con- 
Sons but K?ng Richard led an army against 1 ^nd put tijem 
down declaring, regardless of his promises: Villeins ye are still, 
nnd^illeins ve shall remain." About a hundred of the rebels were 
tried and ^pufo death, among them John Ball. Outside of Kent and 
E sex dsings in East Anglia caused the most trouble ; those in other 
partTof thf country were scattered and were suppressed without diffi- 
culty though it wis September before the last embers of the confla- 
gration were stamped out. Parliament met in November. All the 
Kin? "piSni es were revoked; but a general amnesty, excepting 
almost two hundred names, was proclaimed; a new Chancellor and 
Tr™ ureTwere appointed; and the royal household was remodeled. 
Encouraged by the crushing defeat of the rebels and the reactionary 
aSe of Parliament many lords not only reasserted their rights 
SS tightened the bonds. It was the growing interest in sheep farming 
and the custom of leasehold farming that made for the gradual aboli- 
tion of v U nage. The revolt of 1381 led to no startling changes but 
ttS notable J the first great struggle of labor agamst captaL Lflc 
Wiclif 's movement it was crushed for the time ; but both were to as 
sert themselves in the centuries to come -Richard 

Richard and his Councilors, and Parliament. — In 1382 Kicnara, 
th^nly^fteen years old, was married to Anne of Bohemia. Ami- 
l h branra y ccom P lisLd, she 'exercised the best of influences over her 
young husband during the twelve years of her married h e^ In ^sp te 
of the courage and address that Richard had displayed at Snuthheld, 
Parliament "persisted in keeping him in leading ; strings His ju- 
ration had been very defective, awaking in him a love of refinement 
Sd hmnr SSier than of work. The self-seeking among the cour- 
£s X Grounded him flattered him with exalted notions of the 
^ £wSTand urged him to throw off the parbam^ g yoke. 
The two men who enjoyed his chief confidence were Robert de Vere, 
Earl of Oxford and Michael de la Pole. The former was certainly 
n ^ upstaTfor his family was one of the oldest in England but his 
merite were small in proportion to the offices and honors which the 
Kng showered upon iSm. De la Pole on the other hand be onged to 
a mercantile family, and had served Edward III long and faitiifuU> as 
a diplomat and general. His aim was to make peace with France and 
to restore order by strengthening the royal authority. This policy 



THE END OF THE PLANTAGENET DYNASTY 235 

brought him into conflict with Parliament, with the Earl of Arundel — 
an arrogant and selfish noble recently associated with him as tutor 
to the King — and with Thomas of Woodstock, one of the King's 
uncles, who was seeking to get the management of affairs into his 
own hands. The struggle with France dragged languidly and fitfully. 
Parliament would neither grant money for an adequate expedition led 
by the King in person, nor would they accept peace on the French 
terms. In the summer of 1383 the Bishop of Norwich was allowed 
to head a motley force on a so-called " crusade " to Flanders. Osten- 
sibly to support Urban VI against the French candidate Clement VII, 
it was really backed by the commercial interests with a view of aiding 
the burghers of Ghent in another revolt against the Count of Flanders. 
Owing to the prompt intervention of the French King, the revolt proved 
abortive, and Norwich's poor array were driven out of the country. 
In the year following, a truce between England and France was ar- 
ranged for nine months. 

The Breach between the King and the Opposition, 1384-1386. — 
About this time Richard began to assert himself and to manifest his 
fiery and headstrong temper. He gave the lie to Arundel, he broke 
with his uncles, John of Gaunt and Thomas of Woodstock, and he 
indulged in furious gusts of passion, throwing his hat and boots out 
of the window on one occasion, and slapping the face of the Arch- 
bishop of Canterbury on another. He rejected contemptuously the 
demands of the Commons to control his expenditures and to be con- 
sulted in the choice of ministers. He increased the powers and rev- 
enues of de Vere, and created him successively Marquis of Dublin 
and Duke of Ireland. De la Pole he rewarded with the earldom of 
Suffolk. Violent as he was, it was natural that he should have chafed 
under the restraint to which he had been subjected and should have 
sought to throw it off by strengthening his friends. And it must be 
said that the baronial party were not striving for reform of abuses. 
In 1386 John of Gaunt started for a war against Castile. This made 
matters worse instead of better ; for it left the leadership of the oppo- 
sition to Thomas of Woodstock, recently created Duke of Gloucester. 
In the face of a threatened attack from France, Parliament met in 
October, 1386, and demanded the dismissal of his chief ministers before 
they would grant supplies. Richard declared that : "He would 
not remove the meanest scullion from his kitchen at their bidding." 
Thereupon they threatened him with an imaginary statute permitting 
Parliament to depose a King who should cleave to evil councilors. 
The allusion to the fate of Edward II was so pointed that Richard 
dared resist no longer. Suffolk was dismissed from the office of Chan- 
cellor and impeached. Though the charges against him — of subvert- 
ing the laws, defying Parliament, and filling his pockets with public 
funds — could not be sustained, he was sentenced to imprisonment, 
a victim of the evil conditions of the times and the malice of his 
enemies. 



236 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

The Council of Eleven, 1386. The Lords Appellant, 1387. — The 
victorious opposition proceeded to appoint a Council of eleven, headed 
by Gloucester and Arundel, to control the royal household and the 
government of the realm for a year. The King, however, as soon as 
Parliament dissolved, released Suffolk, and declared that he would not 
be bound by anything in the late session which affected his liberties 
or prerogatives. Moreover, he secured from the judges an opinion 
that the appointment of the Council was against the ancient rights of 
the Crown, that the King alone could dismiss ministers, and that 
Parliament had no right to impeach without his consent. Indeed, 
they went so far as to declare that all who were responsible for the 
recent acts in Parliament were guilty of high treason. Meantime, both 
parties had been preparing for war. Gloucester and Arundel were 
far more successful in securing a following than their King. Among 
their new adherents were the Earl of Warwick, and somewhat later, 
Henry, Earl of Derby, John of Gaunt's heir, and Thomas Mowbray, 
Earl o'f Nottingham. On 14 November, 1387, they " appealed of," 
or charged with treason five of the royal favorites, including Suffolk 
and de Vere. 1 Richard, seeing that resistance was useless, advised 
his friends to save themselves, and they fled in all directions. De 
Vere attempted to march on London with such forces as he could 
gather, but was intercepted and defeated at Radcot Bridge, on the 
upper Thames, 20 December, 1387. De Vere himself managed to 
escape in a fog. 

The Merciless Parliament, 1388. — In February, 1388, a new Par- 
liament met. They ordered the arrest of the judges who had signed 
the opinion in favor of the King, and the "Lords Appellant " repeated 
their original appeal against the royal favorites, supporting it by thirty- 
nine formal charges. These were, in substance : that the accused had 
conspired to estrange the King from his proper councilors ; that they 
had raised an armed force ; and had sought to massacre their oppo- 
nents in Parliament. Suffolk and de Vere were beyond reach and died 
in exile, the former in 1389, the latter in 1392. Two of the remaining 
three were executed. In addition, Parliament proceeded to sentence 
to death or exile a number of others whose only crime was their faithful 
support of King Richard. It is for this that it got the name, " Merci- 
less Parliament." The leaders enriched themselves with the offices 
and estates of their fallen enemies, while the Lords Appellant, who had 
been preaching economy all along, actually wrung a grant of £20,000 
from Parliament for their services. With the appointment of minis- 
ters from their own party and a Council to control the King their vic- 
tory seemed complete. 

Richard recovers Control, 1389, and rules well for Eight Years. — 
Less than a year of the new regime was enough to show the country 
that it was far from being an improvement over the old. Richard saw 

1 The accusing lords were known as the "Lords Appellant." 



THE END OF THE PLANTAGENET DYNASTY 237 

that his time was come. Entering the Council one day in May, 1389, 
he suddenly asked his uncle Gloucester how old he was. When told 
that he was twenty-three, he declared that he was old enough to choose 
his own ministers. Thereupon, he took over the government into his 
own hands. He was wise enough, however, not to put in office any 
of his old favorites or to recall any of the exiles. He even promised 
to take no vengeance against the members of the Merciless Parlia- 
ment, and for eight years he ruled as a constitutional and popular 
king. 

Important Legislation, 1391-1303- — The early part of the period 
was fruitful in important legislation. In 1391 a new Statute of Pro- 
visors was passed which reenacted the famous measure of 135 1 and 
imposed still heavier penalties on those who received from Rome any 
benefice or reservation of a benefice at the expense of the rightful 
patron. Commoners who violated the statute were liable to the pen- 
alties of treason, prelates to exile and the loss of their temporal posses- 
sions, while lay lords incurred the penalty of forfeiture. In the same 
year a statute was passed against livery and maintenance which pro- 
hibited the promoting of other men's quarrels and forbade the grant- 
ing of badges or livery to large bands of retainers. In 1393 a new- 
Statute of Praemunire imposed forfeiture of goods as a penalty for ob- 
taining bulls or other instruments from Rome. Other measures im- 
proved or confirmed laws of Edward III for the benefit of trade. 

Richard in Ireland, i394"i395- — In 1394 Richard went to Ireland, 
the first king to visit the country since the time of John. There was 
much to demand his attention, for conditions were growing steadily 
worse. The " Pale " had shrunk to a small bit of country about 
Dublin, and the other districts under English rule "were mere patches," 
cut off from it by native tribes who were constantly in revolt. In 
spite of the Statute of Kilkenny many of the original English settlers 
lived like the native Irish and their leaders ruled as independent tribal 
chiefs. Richard, accompanied by a large army, landed at Watcrford, 
whence he marched to Dublin. The Anglo-Irish and the Irish chiefs 
as well, thinking they could resume their old courses again after his 
departure readily made their submission. He sought at once to 
dazzle them by his splendor and to attach them by his generosity. 
He published an amnesty for all past treasons both of the Englishry 
and the Irishry, he acknowledged that the harshness and corruption 
of his officials had caused much of the rebellion and disorder of the 
past, and took steps to reform the judiciary and general administra- 
tion of the country. Meantime events had already occurred which 
paved the way for the great crisis of his reign. 

Richard's Attempt to resume Absolute Power, 1396. — In June, 
1394, some months before his departure for Ireland, the death of 
Queen Anne deprived the King of a wise councilor and a gentle advo- 
cate of peace. It was the occasion, moreover, of a quarrel with 
Arundel, whose behavior at the funeral in Westminster Abbey so in- 



238 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

furiated Richard that, unmindful of the place and the occasion, he 
struck him in the face with a wand. In consequence, Arundel, who 
had been reconciled with the King, again took sides against him when 
the time came. In 1396, after a series of short truces, peace for thirty 
years was made with France, and in November of the same year Rich- 
ard married Isabella, the seven-year-old daughter of Charles VI. From 
the moment of this French alliance Richard began to throw aside all 
the caution which had sustained him in his position since 1389, to 
indulge in the wildest extravagance and to nourish the most unre- 
strained ambitions. He thirsted again for absolute power, and even 
cherished the hope that he might succeed the brother of his late Queen 
as Emperor of the Germans. He increased the magnificence of his 
court, filled it with Frenchmen, borrowed money right and left, and 
resorted to all sorts of irregular and oppressive means to support his 
growing lavishness. 

Haxey's Case, 1397. Richard's Attack on the Lords Appellant. — 
When Parliament met, in January, 1397, a " Bill of Complaints " 
was introduced, attacking the incompetence of the administration and 
the abuses of the royal household. Richard, in a fury, demanded that 
the Commons produce the traitor who had framed the bill. Bowing 
before his wrath, they gave the name of Sir Thomas Haxey and humbly 
excused themselves for their part in the matter. Though Haxey was 
later released, the incident is an early and important case of royal in- 
terference with parliamentary liberty. Suspecting that Gloucester, 
Arundel, and Warwick, three Lords Appellant, were plotting against 
him, he had them seized and " appealed " them of treason for their 
acts of 1387-1388. This was in a Parliament, packed in the royal 
interest, which met in September. All of them were speedily dis- 
posed of. Gloucester was shipped off to Calais and met his death on 
the way. It was reported that he died of disease, though there is little 
doubt that he was murdered by royal order. Arundel was tried and 
executed. Warwick by tears and confession saved his life, but had to 
submit to forfeiture and exile. Richard rewarded his supporters with 
unsparing hand. No less than five dukes and one marquis and four 
earls were created. Among them were two of the old Lords Appellant, 
his former opponents. John of Gaunt's son, Henry, Earl of Derby, 
became Duke of Hereford, and the Earl of Nottingham became Duke 
of Norfolk. London was seething with excitement. It was believed 
that miracles were wrought at Arundel's tomb, and Richard so feared 
his shade that he dared not go to bed without a guard of three hundred 
knights. Before he allowed the members of Parliament to separate, 
he made them take an oath at the shrine of St. Edward to maintain 
all the acts of the session. 

Parliament of Shrewsbury, 1398. Richard's Absolutism at its 
Height. — The next year a new session was held at Shrewsbury. 
Overawed by an armed force, measures were passed in the short 
space of four days that made Richard practically absolute. The acts 



THE END OF THE PLANTAGENET DYNASTY 239 

of the " Merciless Parliament " were annulled ; a subsidy on wool was 
granted him for life ; and, to crown all, this subservient body agreed 
to delegate its authority to a commission of eighteen for hearing peti- 
tions and transacting all undetermined business. To make his vic- 
tory sure Richard obtained papal letters censuring all who should seek 
to reverse what the " Great Parliament " had done. He seemed 
justified in his boast that he had crushed his enemies, not only " at 
the bark of the tree but at the root." Inflated by soothsayers, who 
foretold that he would become Emperor and the greatest monarch in 
the world, he offended his subjects by the wildest statements. " The 
laws were in his mouth and in his breast," he declared, " not in any 
statute books," and " the lives and lands of his subjects were his own, 
to be dealt with according to his good pleasure, despite all legal 
forms." But the day of his overthrow was not far distant. 

Richard alienates Henry of Lancester and continues in his Mad 
Course. — A quarrel between Hereford and Norfolk indirectly fur- 
nished the occasion for the final catastrophe. They appeared armed 
and equipped to fight the matter out when, 18 September, 1398, 
Richard intervened and exiled them both, Hereford for ten years and 
Norfolk for a " hundred wynter." By this action he furnished his 
cousin Henry of Hereford, who stood next but one in the line of suc- 
cession, with a grievance which helped him to gain a party of sym- 
pathizers and lead a movement against a capricious despot. Richard's 
foolhardiness during the next few months almost passes belief. He 
not only increased his exactions, but he accused whole counties of 
treason, he' browbeat judges, and imprisoned hosts of persons on the 
slightest pretext. To cap his folly he took occasion on the death, in 
^oo, 0I John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, to seize the enormous 
estates of the family. This was in defiance of a promise to Henry 
that his rights of inheritance would be in no wise diminished by his 
banishment. Indeed, he went further and declared his cousin exiled 
for life. 

The Landing of Henry of Lancaster at Ravenspur, 4 July, 1399. — 
Having thus wronged his rival beyond endurance and fanned the 
anger of his subjects to a white heat, Richard departed for Ireland 
to chastise a rebel chief who had broken into the Pale and slain the 
Lord Lieutenant. While he was thus occupied, Henry of Lancaster 
landed, 4 July, 1399, at Ravenspur in Yorkshire. His following was 
small, but half of England had sent assurances that they were prepared 
to take up his cause. Solemnly he declared that he was no traitor 
aiming at the throne ; but that he came only to recover the heritage of 
his father, John of Gaunt, and to drive away the " King's mischievous 
councilors and ministers." Directly he heard the news Richard 
hastened back from Ireland, but his kingdom was practically lost 
before his arrival and almost no one would fight for him. At length, 
in despair, he consented to surrender and even to abdicate on condition 
that his life should be spared and that the followers who had stood 



240 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

by him should be given a safe conduct. He was taken a prisoner to 
London. On i September he entered the city, amid the hoots of 
the multitude, riding a little hackney and clothed in a plain black 
gown. 

The " Abdication " and Deposition of Richard, 1399. — A Parlia- 
ment was summoned, in his name, to meet on the 30th. Before it 
came together he had read before Lancaster and other witnesses in the 
Tower, where he was held prisoner, a document in which he declared 
himself, " insufficient and useless," and unworthy to reign. It was a 
dismal proceeding, but he bore the ordeal tranquilly and even cheer- 
fully. This abdication was next read before Parliament, together 
with a list of thirty articles setting forth at length the acts by which 
Richard had violated the Constitution and oppressed individuals. 
They included levying civil war, raising arbitrary taxes, and forced 
loans, alienating the royal estates, imprisonment of subjects without 
trial, forcing the Parliament of Shrewsbury to delegate its authority 
to an illegal commission and extending the royal prerogative beyond 
reasonable limits. Among the particular charges enumerated were 
the murder of Gloucester and the banishment and disinheriting of 
Henry of Lancaster. After the articles had been recited both Houses 
voted that " for the greater security and tranquillity of the nation and 
the good of the realm " Richard should be deposed. 

Henry of Lancaster succeeds to the Throne. A Parliamentary 
Dynasty. — Thereupon, Henry of Lancaster rose and claimed the 
vacant throne " as by the right of blood coming of King Henry, and 
through that right that God of His Grace hath sent me, with the help 
of my kin and my friends to recover it, the which realm was in pain 
to be undone, for default of goverance and undoing the laws." He 
thus based his claim on two grounds, right of descent from Henry III 
and right of conquest. In going back to Henry III he avoided a diffi- 
culty. The Earl of March was heir presumptive, since his grandfather 
had married Philippa, daughter of Lionel, Duke Clarence, second son 
of Edward III. Henry by blood was one degree removed, from the 
line of descent, since his father, John of Gaunt, was a younger brother 
of Lionel. He might have argued that the claims of the Earl of 
March were weakened by the fact that he was descended from Edward 
through a female, but he did not press that point. In going back to 
Henry III he was impliedly making use of a rumor spread by his fol- 
lowers that Edmund of Lancaster, the founder of his mother's house, 
was really the eldest son of Henry III, whom Edward I had supplanted. 
In any event, Henry's claim of descent was merely a pretext. His 
second claim was the decisive one. Parliament chose him because, as 
the ablest male of the royal house, he had overcome a king who had 
defied the laws and oppressed the subject. The title of the new Lan- 
castrian house was then a parliamentary one. In the end it had to 
give way to the older rival line which it had supplanted ; but its ac- 
cession was of the deepest constitutional significance. It confirmed 



THE END OF THE PLANT AGENET DYNASTY 241 

a precedent that kings could be deposed for misrule and established 
a new one that Parliament could choose a successor not necessarily 
the next in blood. The fact that, as elective kings, the Lancastrians 
made a bargain to govern in accord with the will of Parliament was 
also of the profoundest importance. 

End of Richard. Final Estimate. — Richard was passed on from 
one castle to another and, in February, 1400, he was reported dead. 
According to some accounts, he declined food on hearing that a rising 
in his favor had failed and pined away. More likely he was starved to 
death by his captors. He was totally unfitted by youthful training and 
natural disposition for his royal duties. At certain crises he showed 
courage, firmness, energy, and capacity ; but he was naturally indo- 
lent and pleasure-loving, and fond of pomp and show ; moreover, he 
was subject to sudden gusts of passion, he was revengeful, and bent on 
absolute power. All this counteracted such merits as he possessed. 
His heritage from his grandfather had been a heavy one, " debt, un- 
lucky wars, popular discontent " ; but he lived that down and ruled 
for years as a constitutional and popular king. Then he suddenly 
plunged into a mad career of violence against his enemies, extravagance, 
" vain boasting," " and freakish tyranny." His wrongs to Lancaster 
merely furnished the occasion and the leader to overthrow him. 

FOR ADDITIONAL READING 

Narrative. Ramsay, The Genesis of Lancaster, II, chs. VIII ff. Vickers, England 
in the Later Middle Ages, chs. XIV-XVI. Oman, Political History (1906), chs. I-VI ; 
a good clear account, but marred by many inaccuracies of detail; there is a full 
bibliography, pp. 497-512. For the Peasant Revolt see Oman, The Great Revolt 
of 1 38 1 (1906); and G. Kriehn, "Studies in the Sources of the Social Revolt ol 
1381," American Historical Review, VII, 254-285, 458-484. 

Selections from the sources. Adams and Stephens, nos. 84-103. 



CHAPTER XV 

THE HOUSE OF LANCASTER IN THE ASCENDANT, AND "THE 
CONSTITUTIONAL EXPERIMENT" IN GOVERNMENT. HENRY 
IV (1399-1413); HENRY V (1413-1422) 

The Lancastrian Period. Its Constitutional Importance. — In 

1399 a new branch of the old Plantagenet House began to rule. Rep- 
resented by three Henrys, father, son, and grandson, it occupied the 
throne for over sixty years. It was a period of wars at home and 
abroad, lightened by picturesque incidents, but, in general, dreary 
and inglorious. After a brief moment of transcendent triumph against 
her ancient enemy France, England had to retire discomfited from the 
struggle, retaining practically nothing but Calais from her former vast 
possessions across the Channel. With the country torn by struggles 
of contending factions of the nobles, aflame with popular discontent, 
weakened in resources of men and money, the last of the line, a " pious 
weakling," had to give way to a rival claimant, Edward of York. Yet 
this half century is notable for something more than the rise and fall 
of a royal family. Its real significance lies in the fact that Parliament 
put this family on the throne, and exercised control over the affairs 
of the kingdom all through the reigns of Henry IV, Henry V, and well 
into the reign of Henry VI. Privileges which had been only occa- 
sionally asserted under previous kings were now recognized, exercised, 
and extended. The parliamentary experiment proved premature. 
Nevertheless, the lesson was a valuable one which was not forgotten. 
When, in the seventeenth century, Parliament again asserted itself, 
it was the system prevailing under the Lancastrian which it sought to 
restore. 

Henry IV, 1399-1413. Promising Beginning of his Reign. — The 
reign of Henry IV opened full of promise. He was welcomed by all 
classes, he was related to most of the great barons of the kingdom, 
he was in close alliance with the Church and clergy, he was reputed 
rich, for he held the treasure which Richard II had forfeited his throne 
to amass, and he possessed six earldoms, including the vast estates 
of Lancaster, in his own right, and he had four strong sons to preserve 
the line of his succession. He had declared that he would " govern 
not by his own voluntary purpose and singular opinion," but " by 
common council and consent." He was anointed with a miraculous 
oil which, as legend told, had been presented to St. Thomas Becket 

242 



THE HOUSE OF LANCASTER 243 

during his exile and which his maternal grandfather, Duke Henry, had 
brought to England. He was hailed as the one whom the fabled 
prophet Merlin had foretold would " recall the scattered flocks to 
their lost pastures." 

Character and Problems. — Henry, sometimes known as Henry of 
Bolingbroke from the place of his birth, was in his thirty-third year. 
Although of " mean stature," he was strongly built, and, as a young 
man, he had been distinguished for his skill in knightly exercises. 
His life had been a stirring one, he had taken part with the Teutonic 
Knights in a crusade in remote Prussia, and had traveled as far as the 
Holy City of Jerusalem. He had joined the Lords Appellant in their 
movement against Richard, but had become reconciled to the King 
through his father's influence, and had only taken up arms again when 
deprived of his birthright. He was brave, active, temperate, and by 
nature merciful, though hot-tempered withal. Unfortunately, the 
bitter experiences of his later years made him suspicious, calculating, 
and politic, and, when goaded by resistance and rebellion, cruel in re- 
taliation. Not a good soldier, he was a careful administrator and wise 
statesman, knowing when to stand firm and when to yield to his Parlia- 
ment. In spite of his seeming popularity and his apparent wealth, 
his position was insecure and trying. His title might be taken away 
by those who gave it, and there were such demands upon his resources 
that he was always in debt : there were fleets and garrisons to main- 
tain, wars to wage, and rewards to distribute to his supporters. It was 
estimated in the third year of his reign that his annual revenue 
amounted to barely more than two thirds the sum necessary to meet 
expenses. The French refused to recognize the new sovereign and 
coveted the English possessions on their soil. Scotland was restless, 
and Wales soon broke out into revolt. In addition, Henry was teased 
by his Parliaments and harassed by risings of the disaffected ; he was 
the prey of factions ; attempts were made on his life ; and his last 
years were darkened by attempts of his son to supplant him, by the 
pains of illness, and by stings of conscience over his usurpation. 
Shakespeare could make him say with truth : " Uneasy lies the head 
that wears a crown." 

The Beginning of a Welsh Revolt under Glendower, 1400. — Early 
in the first year of his reign certain of the earls who had been deprived 
of lands and titles formed a plot to seize King Henry at a " mumming " 
and tournament which he had planned to hold on Twelfth Night at 
Windsor. The plot failed. Richard, whom they had designed to re- 
store, ceased to live soon after, and many of his supporters were exe- 
cuted. Henry ordered a thousand masses for the soul of his rival. 
France stirred up the Scots, and the King was obliged to lead an expe- 
dition against them in which he accomplished little. On his way back 
he had to turn aside to deal with a more dangerous movement in Wales. 
The leader was Owen Glendower, a Welsh squire who had studied law 
in the courts of Westminster. He was a learned and cultivated 



244 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

gentleman, so versed in the ancient prophecies of the native bards 
that he was held to be a wizard who could even walk invisible when he 
chose. He was stung to action by his failure to obtain redress from 
the King against a grasping neighbor who had been encroaching on 
his lands. When he took arms to right wrongs, he found that his 
countrymen were prepared to follow him. Added to the national re- 
sentment against English rule there .was bitter discontent against the 
oppression of the English justices, the arrogance of the Lords Marchers, 
and the greedy exaction of the bailiffs. Welsh students in England 
flocked home to fight under the banners of Owen Glendower. Year 
after year English armies marched against him, but though they 
destroyed many lives and much property, Owen always eluded them. 
He framed an ambitious plan to exterminate the English tongue and 
to set up a great Celtic empire. To that end he negotiated with Irish 
chiefs, with the King of Scotland, and with a number of English barons. 
He assumed the title of " Our most dread Sovereign Prince." He 
schemed to set the young Earl of March, Richard's heir, on the throne ; 
he schemed with France, and he schemed with the Pope. All his 
designs failed, his great confederacy, which he sought to bring to a 
head in 1403, was crushed, and an attempt to lead a French invasion 
into England was given up, partly because the Welsh could not supply 
provisions to maintain it. For years Glendower lived as an outlaw, 
a local terror to the Lords Marchers, until his death, in 1415, finally 
put an end to all chance of Welsh independence. Under Henry V 
the more uneasy of his countrymen found vent for their energies in 
the French wars, and during the Wars of the Roses they supported first 
the Yorkists and then the Lancastrians. They helped in 1485 to put 
Henry Tudor on the throne, and under his son, Walts was completely 
incorporated into England. But the common people still dreamed that 
Owen Glendower only slept and would finally awake to deliver them 
from the English yoke. 

The Rising of the Percies, 1403. — In the early stages of his revolt 
he had counted on the Percies who ruled in the north with almost 
kingly power. Henry, the elder, Earl of Northumberland, with his 
brother, the Earl of Worcester, and his fiery son, Sir Henry, known as 
" Hotspur," had aided to put the King on the throne. They were 
richly rewarded and had been intrusted with the defense of the Scotch 
and Welsh borders. In spite of scanty supplies from the royal purse 
they executed their duties effectively and inflicted a crushing defeat 
on an army of Scotch invaders in 1402. The result, however, was a 
deadly quarrel between the Percies and their sovereign over the pay- 
ment of expenses incurred and the disposal of the prisoners. In a 
stormy interview with Hotspur, King Henry drew his dagger, called 
him traitor, and, it is said, even struck him. Hotspur, " intolerant 
of the shadow of a slight," proceeded to organize a rebellion. He 
opened communications with Glendower, and marched an army to 
join his Welsh ally on the upper Severn. To draw supporters to his 



THE HOUSE OF LANCASTER 245 

cause he issued a proclamation in which he charged his sovereign with 
having broken his promise made in 1399 when he came to seek his 
inheritance, with usurping the crown and murdering Richard. Hastily 
levying an army in the midland shires, the King marched to the Welsh 
border, and, 20 July, 1403, attacked his enemies at Shrewsbury before 
they could effect a junction with Glendower. Ably assisted by his 
fifteen-year-old son, the Prince of Wales, he overcame and routed the 
rebel forces. Hotspur was killed. The Earl of Northumberland, who 
had been raising an army in Yorkshire, disbanded it on the news of 
the royal victory and begged for pardon. The King foolishly let him 
off with a short imprisonment. 

Archbishop Scrope's Rising, 1405. — In 1405 Northumberland 
united with a number of great lords in another rising. Chief among 
them was Richard Scrope, Archbishop of York, who desired reforms 
in the administration. Many complaints were raised against King 
Henry, and a free Parliament was demanded, before which grievances 
might be laid. Deceived by fair promises made by the royal generals, 
Scrope surrendered, and, against his better judgment, Henry allowed 
him to be tried and sentenced to death. He was beheaded 8 June. 
The Archbishop gained a greater victory through his execution than his 
plots. He was venerated as a martyr who had perished in trying to 
deliver his people from oppression, and many attributed the sickness, 
which made Henry's last days a burden, to his laying violent hands on 
a servant of God. However that may be, he suffered bitterly from 
pangs of remorse. 

The Last Risings of Northumberland, 1408. — The old Earl of 
Northumberland persisted in his efforts to unseat the King. In 1406 
he passed from Scotland into Wales and made an agreement with 
Glendower for dividing England and Wales between themselves and 
the Earl of March, Richard's lineal heir. This done, he departed for 
Paris. One piece of good fortune happened to King Henry at this 
time. English privateers captured James of Scotland, whom his dying 
father was sending to the court of France to be educated. " The 
Scots," exclaimed Henry, mirthfully, " might have sent me the lad to 
teach and train, for I know French well enough." For seventeen 
years the royal captive was held as a hostage. He was well taught, 
became a prince of rare accomplishments, and a poet of no mean 
note. In 1408 the unquiet and slippery Earl of Northumberland, who 
had again returned to Scotland, led another raid across the Border, 
but he was defeated and slain. England had no occasion to fight 
another battle on her own soil for forty years. 

Henry's Last Years, 1408-1412. — Henry was now supreme. 
Owing to the efficient campaigns of his son, Prince Hal, the Welsh 
from this time ceased to be dangerous. The King of Scotland was his 
prisoner. France, under a King subject to frequent fits of insanity — • 
Charles VI, 1380-142 2 — and torn by strife between two parties, one 
led by the house of Orleans, the other by the house of Burgundy, was 



246 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

only too glad to keep peace. 1 Yet Henry's last years were not happy. 
His sufferings rendered him at times unconscious and frequently in- 
capacitated him from transacting business. In consequence, the 
government passed more and more into the hands of his son, Prince 
Hal, supported by the ambitious and wary Beauforts, 2 who were egging 
him on to secure the crown. By the autumn of 141 2 the King's periods 
of insensibility were more and more frequent. Remorse, too, weighed 
heavily upon him for the death of Richard II, the execution of Scrope, 
and his own usurpation. For the first two he had done penance ; 
the last, he told his confessor, he was powerless to alter because of 
his children. As he lay dying he sent for his son, forgave him for the 
grief which the young man's impatience to secure the royal power 
had caused, and gave him a father's blessing. He died at nightfall 
20 March, 1413. 

Constitutional and Parliamentary Gains. — It is from the con- 
stitutional point of view that the reign is most significant, for, owing 
to Henry's necessities, Parliament secured the dominance in public 
affairs which they retained during the greater part of the Lancastrian 
period. In successive sessions they established the principle that 
redress of grievances should precede supply, that moneys should be 
voted only on the last day of the session after their petitions had been 
answered. They asserted successfully the right of freedom of debate. 
They scolded the King for the " unthriftiness " of his government, for 
the disorders of the administration ; and — often with scant justice — 
they cut down or revised his expenditures. In 1404 they fixed the 
custom of granting moneys to " treasurers for war " appointed by 
themselves, and made the King publish the names of his councilors. 
In 1406 we find them demanding redress of " good and abundant 
grievance " and telling their sovereign that his household was com- 
posed not of " valiant and sufficient men but of rascalry." This same 
year they appointed a commission to audit all public accounts. They 
went even further : they suggested plans for the national defense and 
the conduct of wars outside the land. They forced the King to agree 
that he would do nothing without the consent of a continual council 
of their own choosing. Had this scheme remained permanent the 
present Cabinet system would have been anticipated by many cen- 
turies. In 1407 they secured recognition of the important principle 
that money grants should originate in the Commons, receive the as- 
sent of the Lords, and be reported through their Speaker. 

Measures against the Lollards. — Parliament, too, passed cruel 
and searching acts against the Lollards, though the initiative came 

1 Indeed, the English were strong enough to take the aggressive and to send two 
expeditions, in 141 1 and 141 2, respectively, to meddle in the French affairs. The 
second was bought off by the mad King who had an interval of sanity, and united 
the contending factions for a brief interval. 

2 There were three brothers, sons of John of Gaunt by his third wife Katherine 
Swynford — John, Henry, and Thomas, who took their family name from Beaufort, 
John of Gaunt's castle in Anjou where they were born. 



THE HOUSE OF LANCASTER 247 

from the clergy and the King. Henry IV, from policy, and his son, 
from conviction, were both very orthodox. In 1401 the impor- 
tant Statute de hceretico comburendo was enacted, providing that 
impenitent heretics, after conviction by ecclesiastical courts, 
should be handed over to the lay authorities to be burned, " in 
order to strike terror into the minds of others." After this 
statute had been framed, but before it went into operation, William 
Sawtre, the first Lollard martyr, perished in the flames. He was 
burned under the common law. In 1406, at the special instance of 
Prince Henry and the lords spiritual and temporal, another act was 
passed against the Lollards. They were accused of denying rights of 
property, of spreading the rumor that Richard was still alive, and of 
preparing men's minds for rebellion ; and all who were detected teach- 
ing or defending any Lollard doctrine were to be arrested as public 
enemies. In 1409 Archbishop Arundel, probably the instigator of the 
previous acts, issued a series of constitutions condemning the doc- 
trines of Wiclif , forbidding the translation of the Bible without author- 
ity, and prohibiting all discussion upon points determined by the 
Church. In 1386 Richard had suppressed a measure introduced by 
the Lollards urging the reformation and disendowment of the Church 
and condemning many of its practices and doctrines. Two more 
notable attempts on the wealth of the Church were made in Parliament 
in the reign of Henry IV. In 1404 a bill to appropriate the revenues 
of the clergy to the needs of the State for one year was introduced and 
failed to pass. The Parliament of 1410 contained, we are told, an 
" execrable crowd of Lollard knights," " true satellites of Pontius 
Pilate." They showed their anticlerical feeling in a petition that the 
enactment against heretics might be softened, and in proposals for the 
complete disendowment of the Church. The King refused to listen 
and Prince Henry " openly reprobated their malice, and bade them 
never for the future, dare to put such stuff together." Parliament 
was progressive in politics, in religion the orthodox party was in the 
majority. The King identified himself with both tendencies. 

Henry V, 1413-1422. Accession and Character. — Henry V, when 
he succeeded his father, was nearly twenty-six years old. His first 
act was to go to a holy man who dwelt near Westminster Abbey, to 
frankly confess his sins, and ask for absolution. The promises that he 
then made he lived up to during the remainder of his short and busy 
life. He was crowned on a snowy April day, which some interpreted 
to augur a stormy reign, others to mark the end of a winter of discon- 
tent and confusion. He had already distinguished himself in the 
Welsh wars, he had fought bravely at Shrewsbury, and he had con- 
siderable experience in government. In spite of all this, his youth had 
been wild and boisterous. His accession changed him into another 
man, " studying," we are told, " to be honest, grave, and modest," and 
he acquired the reputation of " being the most virtuous and prudent 
of all the princes reigning in his time." He excelled in outdoor sports, 



24 8 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

such as wrestling, leaping, running, casting great iron bars and heavy 
stones. He kept a fondness for these and for books and music even 
after he became engrossed in his work as a warrior, diplomatist, and 
administrator. He was rigid in his attachment to the Church, and 
most strict in the performance of his religious duties. He has been 
blamed for his relentless persecution of heretics, but he believed with 
the best minds of the age that such persons should be made to recant 
for their own salvation, or disposed of to prevent them from contami- 
nating others. Moreover, the Lollards menaced the social order which 
he supported, joined in conspiracies against him, and leagued with his 
enemies the Welsh and the Scotch. He lived in a grim age, and when 
he awoke to his responsibilities he was impatient to acquire the royal 
power that he might grapple with the problems that he felt himself 
capable of mastering. His appearance indicated his character, his 
thin lips, his square jaw, his slight muscular frame. He was hardy, 
frugal, cautious, alert, and active, devoid of geniality and gentleness, 
a man to follow and obey, not to love. 

Henry and the War with France. — It was from his exploits in the 
struggle against France that Henry V achieved his greatest fame. 
War was then regarded as " the highest and noblest work of kings " ; 
his great-grandfather and his great-uncle had won a name for their 
house and for their country which had been lost by subsequent 
inaction and defeat, and great possessions which had once been 
England's had passed into the hands of the enemy. To recover Eng- 
lish prestige and to regain territory which he believed to be rightfully 
his, Henry renewed the war with France. He had another motive as 
well, to unite his subjects in a common undertaking. He accomplished 
all that he set out to do. He allied himself with almost every power 
of western Christendom, he not only made himself supreme in France, 
but the first monarch in Europe. He even dreamed of leading a new 
crusade to recover the Holy Land and stay the advance of the Turks. 
At home, where his father had to struggle with inadequate supplies 
and discontent, he enjoyed an ample revenue, and awakened a genuine 
national enthusiasm. It should be said for him, too, that while he 
was stern and even harsh toward all who resisted him, he was just and 
merciful to those who accepted his authority. He forbade plundering, 
and violence toward women and churchmen, and punished those who 
disobeyed. But his success rested on foundations that could not 
prove lasting, on his personal capacity and popularity, and the weak 
condition of France. She was bound to rise from the degradation to 
which he had reduced her and to drive out the conqueror so soon as a 
ruler succeeded less able than Henry himself. In the long run the 
result was to exhaust and demoralize England and to contribute to the 
downfall of the house of Lancaster. 

Henry V and the Lollards. Oldcastle's Rising, 1413-1414. — Next 
to the war with France, the most pressing problem which confronted 
Henry V was what attitude he should adopt toward the Lollards 



THE HOUSE OF LANCASTER 249 

While his father, in order to conciliate the Church, had persecuted a 
few heretics of the lesser sort, he had spared those of position and in- 
fluence and even employed them in the royal service. The Lollard 
leader was Sir John Oldcastle. He was a learned and accomplished 
gentleman who had served in the French and Welsh wars and who had 
obtained a seat in the House of Lords by his marriage with Lady 
Cobham. Under the more orthodox regime he was tried for holding 
heretical opinions, and, after the King had sought in vain to make him 
recant, he was imprisoned in the Tower. On 19 October, 141 3, he es- 
caped, and planned a great Lollard rising and the seizure of his sover- 
eign. Henry, with great promptitude, scattered the insurgents as they 
were assembling in St. Giles' fields, northwest of the city. Some were 
slain, many were captured. Of the prisoners, thirty were hanged as 
traitors, seven were burned as heretics, and thirty-two were fined and 
imprisoned. Oldcastle again escaped, and for three years he wandered 
about, a proscribed outlaw, intriguing with the King's enemies. Late 
in 141 7 he was captured in Wales and taken to London, where he was 
hanged and his body burned. The failure at St. Giles marked the 
death of Lollardy as a political and social force. Early in 1414 Parlia- 
ment replied to the recent demonstration by another heresy act, which 
provided that any of the King's officers might seize suspected persons 
and hand them over to the Church courts for trial. In the same 
session an act was passed authorizing the King to confiscate the prop- 
erty of alien priories, that is, of monastic houses in England subject to 
the jurisdiction of a foreign abbot. This was solely a political measure 
to prevent their revenues from going to France. Henry showed his 
piety by devoting what he acquired to two religious foundations of his 
own, Sion and Sheen. Another important measure of this Parliament 
enacted that petitions should be enrolled on the statute book in the 
exact language in which they were framed. Provision was also made 
for the King's brothers. Thomas was confirmed in his title of Duke 
of Clarence; John and Humphrey were created, respectively, Dukes 
of Bedford and Gloucester. 

Henry resumes the War with France, 1414. — ■ Although the peace 
with France did not expire till February, 141 5, Henry took advantage 
of the condition of Charles VI and the strife between the Burgundian 
and Orleanist factions not only to intervene again in French affairs, 
but to regain the position of Edward III at the height of his triumph. 
In the spring of 1414 the Orleanists, led by the Count of Armagnac, 
were on top and controlled the King. So Henry made a treaty with 
John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy, and 31 May sent ambassadors 
to demand from Charles VI the " restitution of his ancient rights " 
in France, by which he meant to include not only all the lands ceded 
oy the treaty of Bretigny, but the Crown of France. He sent instruc- 
tions, however, to yield on the latter point on condition that the French 
King's daughter Katherine be given to him in marriage, that all terri- 
tories which English kings or queens had ever possessed or claimed 



25 o A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

since Henry II should be ceded to him, and that he should be recog- 
nized as feudal superior over Flanders. While he later lowered his 
demands somewhat, he was bent on war and would not listen to the 
liberal terms offered by the French because they fell short of what it 
was impossible for them to concede. According to an ancient story, 
it was during the course of these negotiations that the French Dauphin 
sent him a barrel of tennis balls as more fitting for him to play with 
than to undertake a war with France. . - 

The Invasion of France, 1415. — After months of preparation Henry 
was nearly ready to embark when he was delayed by a plot to put the 
Earl of March on the throne during his absence. It was disclosed by 
the Earl of March himself. The King only lingered to make examples 
of some of the chief conspirators and then set sail for France, 10 August, 
141 < His army consisted of about 2000 men at arms, 6000 archers, 
and forty peers, including three royal dukes and two bishops. While 
the English had hitherto been content with mere plundering raids, 
Henry came prepared systematically to conquer Normandy. He 
selected Harfleur, on the north bank of the Seine, as a base, and be- 
sieged it for five weeks before the burghers opened the gates. Owing 
to the coldness of the season and the fact that nearly half his army 
were sick, he decided to attempt no more sieges, but to march overland 
to Calais He had two aims in view : to overawe the country and, 
possibly, to tempt the enemy to battle. In this latter design he was 
successful. When he reached the Somme, the waters of which were 
much swollen by the autumn rains, he found the opposite bank strongly 
guarded by the vanguard of the French army. He was obliged to 
march a long way inland before he could effect a passage. At Agin- 
court, halfway along the road to Calais, the French army, swelled by 
reinforcements until it outnumbered Henry's three or four fold, as- 
sembled to block his advance. He cheered a doubting follower with 
the reflection that " God Almighty is able with this humble few to 
conquer the many if he so please," and prepared for battle. _ 

Agincourt, 25 October, 1415. — The English, in spite of their small 
numbers, had a great advantage. The plowed fields on either side 
of the road impeded the movements of the heavily armed Irencn, and 
the English archers, further protected from the charges of the enemy 
by rows of sharpened stakes, hastily driven into the ground, shot 
deadly clouds of arrows into the densely packed ranks of the enemy. 
Having reduced their enemies to confusion, they issued forth and com- 
pleted the destruction with their axes and clubs loaded with lead. 
After two or three hours of hard fighting the English were completely 
victorious, with a loss of little more than 100, while the death roll 
of the French numbered not far from 6000. Among the prisoners 
was Charles, Duke of Orleans, who was taken to England where he 
remained a captive for twenty-five years. The next day Henry 
resumed his march to Calais, whence in November he sailed back to 
England. He had executed a daring feat, and won a remarkable 



THE HOUSE OF LANCASTER 251 

victory ; but the only fruit of his costly expedition was the capture 
of Harfleur. 

The Emperor Sigismund visits England, 1416. — It was almost two 
years before Henry led another expedition across the Channel, but 
the interval was filled with busy preparations. In May, 1416, an 
august visitor arrived, Sigismund, Emperor of the Germans. He was 
seeking by means of the Council of Constance (1414-1418) to restore 
unity to distracted Christendom, by healing the Great Schism, repress- 
ing heresy, and reforming the Church. John Huss, the Bohemian 
reformer, had been burned, the doctrines of Wiclif had been condemned, 
but the papal question was still unsettled ; for one of the opposing 
claimants — there had been three since 1409 — obstinately refused 
to abdicate. Sigismund hoped to induce England and France to sink 
their differences and join in the common work. Henry, who had 
entertained him with splendid feasts and tournaments, was unwilling 
to grant terms which the French would accept, and the Emperor 
finally agreed before his departure in August to recognize him as King 
of France and to assist him in asserting his claims. The Imperial aid, 
however, never went further than promises. 

Henry's Second Expedition to France, 1417. — On 23 July, 1417, 
Henry sailed on his second expedition to France, with an army twice 
the size of his first. It is said that the ordinances which he framed 
for its governance laid the foundation of much of the later maritime, 
military, and even international law. He spent more than a year in 
reducing the strong places of Normandy. Rouen offered the most 
obstinate resistance, and held out from 29 July, 1418, to 19 January, 
1419. Henry entered into negotiations with both the Orleanists and 
the Burgundians ; but since he still insisted on impossible terms the 
two factions patched up a peace " to resist the damnable enterprises 
of our ancient enemies, the English." But the Dauphin, Charles, 
a boy of sixteen, under the thumb of the Orleanists, used this agreement 
merely as a decoy for the destruction of the Burgundian leader. John 
the Fearless was lured to "a conference at Montereau and slain as he 
was kneeling to do homage to his royal cousin. The result of this 
base crime was to throw the Burgundian party into the arms of the 
English, and to make effective resistance out of the question. In the 
following spring, Charles VI, who was momentarily lucid, and " bore 
himself prudently enough and like a king," Isabella, his consort, and 
Philip the Good, the new Duke of Burgundy, concluded with the King 
of England the Treaty of Troyes, which was signed 21 May, 1420. 
By the terms of this " very marvelous and shameful treaty," Henry V 
was recognized as heir of the King of France and Regent, he was to 
marry the Princess Katherine, and " Charles, who calls himself the 
Dauphin," was formally disinherited " for his enormous crimes." 
Henry, who spent the next few months in reducing Orleanist strong- 
holds, marred his triumph by steadily increasing cruelty and arro- 
gance. He deliberately put prisoners to death to terrify those still 



25 2 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

in arms, and, on his entry into Paris in December, he alienated the 
citizens by his overbearing manners. Late in the same month he re- 
turned to England after an absence of three and a half years, but in 
the few months that he remained in the country he devoted more time 
to pageants and progresses than to affairs of state. 

Henry's Third and Final Expedition to France, 1421-1422. — In 
March, i42i,his brother, the Duke of Clarence, who was carrying on 
war against the Dauphin's forces in Maine and Anjou, was defeated 
and slain. In consequence of this disaster the King departed, 10 June, 
142 1, on his third and final expedition. The burdens of these succes- 
sive campaigns were at last beginning to be felt, and the " grievous 
exactions " imposed to meet the expenses of this last enterprise were 
accompanied by " numerous and smothered curses." Having chased 
the Dauphin south of the Loire, Henry occupied himself in reducing 
the few strongholds which still held out in the neighborhood of Pans ; 
but the strain and hardship of the winter were too much for his already 
overtaxed strength. In July he was obliged to take to his bed, and he 
died 31 August, 1422. Before his death he made arrangements for 
carrying on the government during the minority of his infant son, 
born to him 6 December, 142 1. He appointed his brother, John of 
Bedford, Governor of Normandy and Regent of France, and Humphrey 
of Gloucester, his younger brother, Regent of England. The guard- 
ianship of his child he intrusted to his uncle, the Duke of Exeter, and 
two other noblemen. These arrangements proved no more stable 
than his conquest of France. The glamor of his military achievements 
must not blind us to the fact that Henry V had plunged his country 
into a war in which permanent success was hopeless, and which was 
largely responsible for the disorders and confusion in which his royal 
line went down to destruction. 

FOR ADDITIONAL READING 

Mainly narrative. Ramsav, Lancaster and York (2 vols., 1892) , I, chs. I-XXI, pays 
particular attention to military and financial history. Oman, Political History, 
chs VII-XI. Vickers, England in the Later Middle Ages, chs. XVI-XX. btubbs, 
Constitutional History, II, ch. XVIII. J. H. Wylie, History of England under 
Henry IV (4 vols., 1884-1898) is a scholarly, exhaustive study of the reign. L. L. 
Kingsford, Henry V (1901) is a good brief biography. 

Constitutional. Taylor, Origin and Growth, I, bk. Ill, ch. II, sees. 1-5. J. t. 
Baldwin, The King's Council in England during the Middle Ages (1913) 1S the author- 
ity on the subject. 

Selections from the sources. Adams and Stephens, nos. 104-118. 



THE HOUSE OF LANCASTER 



253 



THE HOUSES OF YORK AND LANCASTER 
Edward III, 1327-1377 



Lionel, 
Duke of Clarence 
(2d son), d. 1368 



Edmund, 

Duke of York 

(4th son), d. 1401 



Philippa 
d. 1381 



Edmund Mortimer, 
Earl of March 
(great-grand- 
son of Roger 
Mortimer, who 
was executed 
1330) 



Elizabeth, 
m. Henry 
Hotspur 



Roger, 

Earl of March, 

killed 1398 



Henry V, 

1413-1422 



Henry VI, 

1422-1461 



Edmund, 

Earl of March, 

d. 1424 



Anne = 



John of Gaunt = Blanche of Lancaster 
(3d son), 
d. 1399 

Henry IV, 
1 399-1 413 

I 

1 1 1 

Thomas, John, Humphrey, 

Duke of Duke of Duke of 

Clarence, Bedford, Gloucester, 

killed 1421 d. 1435 d. 1446 



Richard, 

Earl of Cambridge, 

executed 1415 



Richard, Duke of York, 
killed at Wakefield, 1460 



Edward, 

Duke of York 

(elder son), 

killed at Agincourt, 1415 



Edward IV, 
1461-1483 



George, Duke of Clarence, 
executed 1478 



Richard III, 
1483-^485 



Edward V, Richard, Duke of York, 

1483 believed to have been murdered 

in the Tower, 1483 



Elizabeth = Henry VII 



THE KINGS OF FRANCE AND DUKES OF BURGUNDY 
John II, 1350-1364 



Charles V, 1364-1380 



Charles VI, 

1380-1422 

I 

Charles VII, 

1422-1461 

I 
Louis XI, 
1461-1483 

Charles VIII, 



Louis of Orleans, 

murdered, 1407 

I 

Charles, Duke of Orleans, 

captured at Agincourt 

grandfather of 

Louis XII, 

1498-1515 



Philip, Duke of Burgundy, 
d. 1404 

I 

John, Duke of Burgundy, 

murdered, 1419, 

at Montereau 

I 

Philip, Duke of Burgundy, 

d. 1467 

Charles (the Bold), 

Duke of Burgundy, 

d. 1477. 

m. Margaret, 

sister of Edward IV 



THE BEAUFORTS AND THE TUDORS 
John of Gaunt = Katharine Swynford 



John, Earl of Somerset, d. 1410 



Henry, Cardinal Beaufort, d. 1447 



Katherine of France =Owen Tudor 



Edmund Tudor 
Earl of Richmond 



John, duke of 
Somerset, d. 1444 



I 
= Margaret 



Henry VII, 

1485-1509 



CHAPTER XVI 
THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF LANCASTER. HENRY VI (1422-1461) 

The Council and the Parliament set aside the Will of Henry V. — 

There was the greatest difference imaginable between the two brothers 
to whom Henry V in his will had intrusted the government of England 
and France. Bedford was a serious, high-minded man, unselfish in 
his devotion to public duty, while Gloucester, clever and cultivated, 
the patron of scholars, and at the same time master of the arts which 
please the people, was ambitious, self-seeking, and unprincipled. 
He was always stirring up dissension at home and abroad ; indeed, 
his uneasy scheming contributed in no small degree to prepare the 
way for the later downfall of his nephew. Distrusting him from the 
start, the Council and Parliament, led by his uncle, Henry Beaufort, 
Bishop of Winchester, set aside the will of the late King and declared 
Bedford protector of the realm, though they allowed Humphrey to 
act in that capacity during his elder brother's absence. As a matter 
of fact, however, the real powers of government were exercised by 
the Council which was nominated by Parliament. 

Bedford's Problems in France, 1422-1424. — On 21 October, 1422, 
the poor mad King Charles VI (Le Bien Aime) followed Henry V 
to the grave. The party of the Dauphin at once proclaimed him King 
as Charles VII, while the English party proclaimed little Henry. 
France was exhausted and demoralized, and Charles, weak and pleasure- 
loving, the tool of worthless and ruffianly councilors, seemed totally 
unequal to the great task imposed upon him. Slowly, however, na- 
tional sentiment was gathering against the foreign conquerors who had 
brought so much misery upon the land. Moreover, Bedford, who 
had great capacity in war and diplomacy, and who sought to rule 
with justice and moderation, was greatly hampered by his meddlesome 
brother, who nearly broke up the Burgundian alliance. Humphrey 
married Jacquelaine, Countess of Hainault and Holland, the divorced 
wife of the Duke of Brabant. In October of 1424 he crossed over to 
Calais, bent on recovering his wife's inheritance of Hainault. This 
brought him into conflict with Philip of Burgundy, who was cousin 
of the Duke of Brabant. Determined to retain the Hainault lands 
in his family, Philip opened negotiations with Charles VII. Hum- 
phrey proved inefficient and unsuccessful, he deserted his wife for her 
lady-in-waiting, Eleanor Cobham, and returned to England. Jacque- 
laine fell into the hands of the Burgundians, and Bedford was able to 
pacify Duke Philip. 

254 









THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF LANCASTER 255 

Quarrel between Humphrey and Henry Beaufort. — Gloucester 
was as troublesome in England as he was abroad. He attached the 
people to his side by arts which won for him the name " Good Duke 
Humphrey," and sought to undermine his uncle, Henry Beaufort, 
by accusing him of aiming to seize the King and rule without the 
Council. Affairs reached such a state that Bedford had to leave his 
work in France and spend a year in England to avert civil war. Hav- 
ing effected a reconciliation and secured a promise from his brother 
that " he would be ruled and governed by the lords and Council " 
and do nothing without their consent, he returned to France early in 
1427. Beaufort started at the same time on a crusade against the 
Hussites. On reaching France he unwisely accepted the office of 
cardinal legate. Humphrey was able to make good use of this with 
the antipapal party, and profited by the absence of his brother and 
uncle to renew his claims to authority against the Council. 

The Siege of Orleans, October, 1428, to April, 1429. Jeanne D'Arc. 
— In the late summer of 1428 Bedford sent an army against Orleans, 
the chief stronghold which acknowledged Charles VII. Having 
failed to take the town by assault, the English determined to reduce 
it by famine, and a siege began which lasted from October, 1428, to 
April, 1429. For the French the outlook was of the gloomiest. Their 
armies had been driven off the field, the English were everywhere 
in possession, the treasury was empty, Charles' council was torn by 
intrigues, and the more despairing even advised him to retire to 
Spain or Scotland. Suddenly, 6 March, 1429, a simple maid, barely 
turned seventeen, appeared before the French King at Chinon, in- 
spired, she told the doubting and astonished court, by a divine com- 
mission to relieve the sorely pressed Orleans and to lead her royal 

t master to Rheims to be crowned. Jeanne D'Arc was a peasant girl 
of Domremy, a village on the borderland between Champagne 
and Lorraine. Always a devout and imaginative child, she had 
begun about her thirteenth year to see visions of saints and angels, 
and to hear mysterious voices which at length directed her to 
go forth and save France. Securing the half-willing support of 
the commander of a neighboring garrison, she put on a man's 
doublet and hose, mounted a horse, and rode straight to Chinon. 
She easily singled out the King from a group of courtiers, among whom 
he sought to hide himself, and in a secret interview told him things 
that made him trust her mission. In a suit of plain armor, girt with 
a " miraculous, holy sword," with a white banner borne before 
her on which was painted a figure of Christ between two angels, the 
"Maid of God " marched to raise the siege of Orleans. Making her 

I way past the English, she so inspired the garrison that they soon put 
the besiegers to flight, and defeated the forces sent to support them. 
Her advent discouraged the English " in marvelous wise." To the 
French she was a God-given deliverer ; to Bedford " a disciple and 
limb of the fiend . . . that used false enchantments and sorcery." 



256 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

Charles at Rheims and Henry at Westminster crowned Kings of 
France, 1429. — Having raised the siege of Orleans, Jeanne D'Arc 
performed the second part of her mission by leading Charles to Rheims. 
He was crowned 17 July, 1429, whereat she fell at his feet weeping 
for joy. The coronation marked the height of her meteoric achieve- 
ment. From now on voices ceased to guide her, she became dis- 
couraged by opposition of the royal councilors, " she had fulfilled 
her task," she said, and she wished that the Lord " would take her 
back to her father's sheep." Nevertheless, she advised an immediate 
advance on Paris and demanded that Burgundy make peace with his 
King. The Duke refused to comply, a belated and ill-considered 
attack -on the city was repulsed, and the self-seeking courtiers were 
able to recover their ascendancy over the feeble-minded Charles. As 
a reply to the coronation at Rheims, Henry, although not eight years 
old, was crowned at Westminster on the 8th of November. The 
little King during the ceremony "beheld the people all about sadly 
and wisely," and behaved with " great humility and devotion." 

Jeanne D'Arc captured, tried, and burned, 1430 1431. — In May, 
1430, Jeanne D'Arc, while attempting to defend the fortress of Com- 
piegne, was captured by the Burgundians. The Duke sold her to 
the English ; she was taken to Rouen and brought to trial in February 
of the following year, before a court presided over by the Bishop of ' 
Beauvais, in whose diocese she had been captured. In vain she pro- 
tested that " she had done nothing save by the command of God," and 
that, " if she saw the faggots laid and the torch ready, she could say 
nothing else." For three months she was bullied and ill treated by 
judges and jailers to whom her simple courage and transparent honesty 
made no appeal. Finally, worn out by suffering and brutal usage, 
she was forced to declare that " her voices were delusions and that 
she had sinned in putting on men's clothes and going to war." On 
29 May, 143 1 , she was burned in the market place at Rouen. Bedford's 
animosity can be understood if not excused, for Jeanne was an enemy 
of his cause. The French clergy and the doctors of the University 
of Paris made a sad exhibition of short-sighted bigotry, but Charles 
VII cut the sorriest figure of all, for he made no attempt to deliver 
this heroic maiden whose only crime was to fight for her King 
and her country. But France was startled from its lethargy, and 
the " Maid of God " had been in her grave scarcely more than 
twenty years before her countrymen had driven the English from 
the land. 

Death of Bedford, 1435. — For the moment Bedford seemed 
triumphant. In December, 1431, Henry was taken to Paris and 
crowned ; but one reverse after another followed, far from balanced 
by occasional gains. Burgundy began to draw off from the English 
alliance. In 1433 Bedford was obliged again to cross over to England, 
where he remained for more than a year in a vain effort to keep his 
brother Humphrey quiet and to restore " restful rule and governance." 



THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF LANCASTER 257 

In the summer of 1435 the English rejected terms of peace offered 
at a Congress at Arras by which King Henry might have retained 
Normandy and Guyenne on condition of yielding the other territories 
held by the troops and giving up his claim to the crown of France. 
On 15 September, a few days after the English envoys withdrew 
from the Congress, John, Duke of Bedford, died at the age of forty- 
eight, worn out by his arduous duties. Burgundy now finally went 
over to the French side. Bedford's death was an irreparable loss to 
the English. Many stout and experienced generals still remained, 
such as the Earl of Warwick, and Lord Talbot, later Earl of Shrews- 
bury, and young men of promise, chief among them, Richard, Duke of 
York, and Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury. But the high ideals 
and lofty statesmanlike conceptions which Bedford had labored to 
realize perished with him. 

England loses Ground in France. Struggle between the War and 
the Peace Parties. — The English continued to fight with stubborn 
courage and persistency, but they steadily lost ground. Gloucester, 
free from his brother's restraint, led the war party, while his uncle, the 
Cardinal, led those who favored peace. In 1437 the King began to 
disregard Parliament in his appointments of councilors, and the 
Privy Council came to be more and more the prey of court factions. 
In November of this year the French King once more entered Paris 
which his forces had recovered the previous year. In 1441 an event 
happened which lost the Duke of Gloucester such influence as he 
still possessed in the English councils. Eleanor Cobham, whom he 
had married some years before, was arrested, together with an astrol- 
oger and a woman commonly known as the Witch of Eye, on charges 
of sorcery. They were accused of reading the stars to determine the 
life of the young King, and then of endeavoring to destroy him by 
melting a waxen image made in his likeness over a slow fire. Her 
accomplices were put to death, and the Duchess Eleanor was made to 
do penance by walking barefoot for three days about the city, robed 
in a sheet and bearing a candle in her hand, and she was sentenced to 
imprisonment for life. The offenses charged against her would seem 
absurd in modern times ; but the motive which lay back of them 
was serious. She was doubtless guilty of aiming to secure the succes- 
sion of her husband who was Henry's next heir in the Lancastrian 
line. Gloucester, who lacked courage to take any part in the affair, 
had to yield to his rivals, the Beauforts, and, aside from obstructing 
them whenever he could, spent most of the remaining six years of 
his life collecting books and posing as a patron of learning. 

Henry's Marriage to Margaret of Anjou, 1444. — As Cardinal 
Beaufort was growing old, the conduct of affairs fell more and more 
into the hands of his nephew Edmund, successively Earl and Duke 
of Somerset, and of William de la Pole, Earl and finally Duke of 
Suffolk, a grandson of Richard II's old minister. In 1444 Suffolk was 
sent over to France to obtain peace. He negotiated a marriage be- 



258 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

tween King Henry and Margaret of Anjou, niece of Charles VII. But 
the best he could secure was a truce at the cost of ceding Maine 
and Anjou, by an agreement which he did not dare to make public. 
Margaret, a handsome, well-grown girl of fifteen, directly the opposite 
of her pious, kindly, and weak consort, arrived in England in the 
spring of 1445. The sacrifices which her marriage involved, her 
French origin, and her decidedly French sympathies, made her un- 
popular almost from the start. Then she joined the Beaufort-Suffolk 
faction against Gloucester's old party soon to be led by the House 
of York, a House destined within less than twenty years to secure the 
crown. Margaret fought with a furious courage and energy, which 
excites the admiration ; but her high-handedness, her greediness, and 
her brutality contributed one of the many causes leading to the down- 
fall of the Lancastrians. 

Richard, Duke of York. His Claim to the Throne, — Richard, Duke 
of York, who came to the front about this time as the leader of the party 
opposed to the Queen, derived his dukedom, through his father, from 
one of the younger sons of Edward III. From his mother he in- 
herited a claim to the crown itself. By blood his title was better 
than that of King Henry, since he was descended from Lionel, Duke 
of Clarence, an elder brother of John of Gaunt. Parliament, however, 
had declared for the younger line, which had the further advantage 
of unbroken descent through males. Richard was a " cautious, ret- 
icent, and resolute " man, who had already distinguished himself 
as Regent of France. In spite of his political activity, it was some 
years before he asserted his claims to the throne; indeed, he might 
never have done so, but for Henry's inability and misfortunes. 

The Impeachment of Suffolk, 1450. — When the news of the 
cession of Maine and Anjou became known, a storm of abuse descended 
on the head of Suffolk. Nevertheless, his policy, humiliating as it 
seemed, had something to be said for it. Realizing that England could 
not hope to retain her hold on the whole of France, he doubtless hoped 
by timely concessions to save Normandy and Guyenne. But the 
French troops in Maine and Anjou were freed for service elsewhere, 
and Somerset, who went over as lieutenant general in 1448, was rash, 
and either incompetent or exceedingly unlucky. One strong place 
after another was torn from his grasp, until by the summer of 1450 
the French had recovered the whole of Normandy. Suffolk, in the 
meantime, had paid the penalty for trie losses across the Channel 
and for the mismanagement of affairs at home. The infuriated Eng- 
lish could see no reason for their continued ill success but treason. 
Early in the year charges of impeachment were framed against him. 
Waiving a trial by his peers, he threw himself on the King's mercy. 
Henry ordered him to absent himself from the kingdom for five years. 
On his way abroad his ship was intercepted by a fleet of a half dozen 
vessels ; Suffolk was seized and beheaded. Just who were his enemies 
was never known. 



THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF LANCASTER 259 

Jack Cade's Rebellion, 1450. — ■ The popular discontent against the 
feebleness of the government was manifested in a rising known as 
" Jack Cade's Rebellion," which broke out in Kent and Sussex in May, 
1450, and lasted for six weeks. The grievances complained of were 
mainly political : the losses in France, the miscarriage of justice, the 
wasting of the King's treasure, and the shelving of York who had been 
sent in 1447 as Lord Lieutenant to Ireland. The insurgents demanded 
administrative reforms and a change of ministers. One social griev- 
ance alone was mentioned, — the Statute of Laborers, — and this was 
probably to attract the lower classes. Who the leader was who 
called himself Jack Cade is unknown. He posed as a member of the 
House of Mortimer ; he may have been a tool of the anti-Suffolk 
faction or a mere adventurer. His followers occupied London, put to 
death some of the officials, and sacked the houses of the leading citizens. 
The propertied classes at length roused themselves, drove the in- 
surgents from the City, and by false promises of pardon induced them 
to disband. Cade was killed in struggling against arrest, many of 
those who had risen with him were executed, and various scattered 
revolts were crushed. Henry, however, aggravated the discontent by 
receiving Somerset with favor and making him Constable of England. 

The Return of Richard of York, 1450. — In September Richard 
returned from Ireland, " posing ... as the saviour of England from 
anarchy, and the avenger of Normandy." While as yet he went no 
further than to demand reform of abuses, his royal descent made him 
a natural object of fear to those in power. Not a general, statesman, 
or administrator of marked ability, he was welcomed as a popular 
champion in consequence of his opposition to the unlucky and unpopu- 
lar Somerset. Much against the will of the rival party Henry was 
forced to receive him. He promised never again to exclude him from 
the Council, and to call a Parliament. When Parliament met, both 
York and Somerset appeared with enormous retinues, and London 
was filled with armed men. Henry refused to banish Somerset, or 
even to deprive him of office, and when Thomas Yonge, a member 
from Bristol, proposed that the Duke of York should be declared heir 
to the throne, Parliament was dissolved by royal command and 
Yonge put in the Tower. This proposal was the first intimation of 
the dynastic struggle between the Lancastrians and the Yorkists, 
known as the War of the Roses, — a name not strictly correct, however, 
for while the white rose was the symbol of the Yorkist, the red rose 
was not a Lancastrian symbol. 1 Actual war did not break out till 
1455. Although the question of the succession came to be the most 
prominent issue, other causes contributed to bring it forward and to 
determine the final result : Henry's incapacity ; the masterful, in- 
triguing character of his wife ; the ill-success of the war ; the acute 
financial situation ; the discontent and disorder throughout the land ; 

1 It was first used by Henry Tudor at Bosworth in 1485. 



2 6o A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

the King's refusal to listen to Parliament, especially in the retention 
of Somerset ; and the jealousies of the great nobles who ranged them- 
selves on the side of Somerset and Yorkist families, respectively. 

The Critical Year 1453. End of the Hundred Years' War. — The 
year 1453 witnessed events of the greatest consequence. After con- 
quering Normandy the French had turned their armies into Guyenne. 
The Gascons clung to the English with intense loyalty, and with their 
aid, stout John Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, a veteran of sixty-five 
years, managed for a time, not only to hold back the invaders, but 
even to recover lost ground. In July, however, he was cut down 
bravely fighting at the battle of Castillon. In October, Bordeaux 
finally yielded, and the Hundred Years' War was over. The im- 
possible task of conquering France, begun by Edward III and revived 
so brilliantly by Henry V, was at length abandoned, and England re- 
tired from the contest retaining only Calais of her former broad 
territories across the Channel. Meantime, in August, the King was 
suddenly bereft of his faculties. He lost his reason, his memory, and 
even his power of motion, he had to be fed with a spoon and lifted 
from his chair to his bed. For sixteen months he continued in this 
helpless state. The way seemed clear for Richard as the nearest 
heir ; but his chances of succeeding peacefully and of right were 
quickly dashed by the news that Margaret, 13 October, had given 
birth to a son. Although the Queen kept the King's condition secret 
for some time, and although Richard was not invited to the council 
finally summoned to consider the regency, he managed to get control. 
In December an inquiry was made into the administration of Somerset 
at home and abroad, with the result that he was put into the Tower, 
though no attempt was made to bring him to trial. Parliament met, 
attended by the supporters of each party in arms ; Margaret's little 
son was created Prince of Wales, but Richard was declared " Protec- 
tor and Defender of the Realm " with all the powers of Regent. Dur- 
ing his term of power he acted with great moderation, refraining from 
punishing his enemies, though he strengthened himself by putting his 
friends in power. 

Beginning of the War of the Roses, 1455. — When all seemed going 
well the King's recovery of his reason on Christmas Day, 1454, reopened 
the old strife. Richard and his supporters were removed from office, 
and Somerset was released and returned to favor. The Yorkists 
submitted to all this and retired quietly to their estates, but when a 
council was summoned to provide " for the safety of the King's person 
against his enemies," Richard gathered an armed following and marched 
toward London. Professing his loyalty to the King, he stated that he 
and his kinsmen were coming as " true and loyal liegemen," and that 
they only demanded an audience with their sovereign to convince him 
of the " sinister, fraudulent, and malicious labors and reports of their 
enemies." In addition, however, they demanded the arrest of certain 
councilors of the opposite party. But they were refused a hearing, and, 




4 West 3 Longitude 2 from 1 Greenwich East 1 



BORMAY 4 CQ.,E.NbR'S,N.Y. 



THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF LANCASTER 261 

2 1 May, 1455, Somerset marched from the City with the King and a great 
following of lords. The two armies met in the ancient monastic town of 
St. Albans. Henry rejected a final attempt at negotiations on the part 
of his adversaries with one of the few flashes of anger which he ever 
showed in his life. "By the faith that I owe to St. Edward and the 
crown of England," he cried, " I will destroy them every mother's 
son." The encounter which followed was little more than a street 
fight, but it was big in consequences, for it opened the War of the 
Roses. The Duke of Somerset was killed and the King was taken 
prisoner. The Queen now came forward as the head of the royal 
party. The civil war thus begun was waged intermittently for fifteen 
years, until Henry was put to death and Margaret driven from the 
realm. 

A Period of Outward Calm, 1455-1459. — The " ill-day of St. 
Albans," however, was followed by more than four years of com- 
parative peace. The Yorkists remained dominant in the Council 
until October of 1456, during a part of which period Richard again 
acted as Protector, while the King suffered from a second attack of 
insanity. On Henry's recovery he voluntarily laid down his office, 
nor did he protest when his supporters were removed from Council. 
But his moderation and the pacific temper of King Henry were only 
able to postpone, not to arrest, a recurrence of conflict. Hatreds 
were bitter, private feuds were waged unsuppressed, and both sides 
were preparing to take arms. The people complained that the King 
was in debt, though he " held no household nor maintained no 
wars," yet they refused the supplies to enable him to maintain a 
household or to keep out of debt. The Queen and her friends were 
accused of accumulating " riches innumerable." Her jointure was 
no doubt large ; but for years she had of necessity been surrendering 
a good part of it for royal expenses. Unpopular as she was already, 
Margaret made herself more so by courting the aid of France and 
Scotland. 

The Reopening of the War, 1459. The Yorkists in Exile. — By 
the summer of 1459 both parties were again arrayed in ■ ms. Queen 
Margaret struck the first blow. In September she adv • need with an 
army to intercept the Earl of Salisbury, who was n xrching from 
Yorkshire to join Duke Richard at Ludlow in Shropshire. Salisbury 
succeeded in eluding the royal army and in scattering a levy of Lan- 
castrians from Cheshire who attacked him at Blore Heath on the 
22d. Although he and his son, the Earl of Warwick, managed to 
join Duke Richard, the united Yorkist forces were still too small to 
think of fighting the army of the Queen. They first drew back into 
the Welsh Marches, and, then, when they received none of the rein- 
forcements on which they had counted, they became panic-stricken. 
Most of them either disbanded or deserted to the enemy. Richard 
fled to Ireland, while his son Edward, Earl of March, together with 
Salisbury and Warwick, risked a wild ride through a hostile country, 



262 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

and crossed over to Calais in a little fishing smack. The victorious 
royalists called a Parliament which they filled with Lancastrian sup- 
porters and passed an act of attainder against the Duke of York and 
his more prominent followers. Henry, however, reserved the right 
of pardon and actually spared some who fell into his hands. Mar- 
garet at the head of affairs made no profit from her victory. She took 
no effective measures to guard against future attacks, and the govern- 
ment continued as weak and ineffective as ever. The King, led by a 
" covetous Council," counted for little, and " owed more than he was 
worth." More and more in the face of poverty, disorder, and selfish 
faction the hearts of the people were turned to the leaders in exile 
who might bring them relief. 

The Return of the Yorkists, 1460. Richard's Defeat and Death 
at Wakefield, 1460. — In June, 1460, Warwick, Salisbury, and the Earl 
of March landed in Kent. The Duke of York, who had secured a 
strong following in Ireland, was in communication with them and 
had planned a simultaneous invasion from the west. The invaders 
issued a manifesto in which they set forth their grievances and the 
distempers of the realm. Joined by the Archbishop of Canterbury 
and a large following of Kentishmen, the three Earls entered London, 
2 July. Reenforced by musters that came streaming in from every 
side they passed north. Henry, who had been holding a Council at 
Coventry, advanced to meet them and was defeated and taken prisoner 
at Northampton. But the Queen who had been rousing the northern 
lords was still at large with her son. Instead of hunting her down and 
crushing the remaining forces who had risen for her in the north 
country, Warwick returned to London, where he busied himself putting 
his supporters in office and making ready for the arrival of the Duke 
of York. Richard landed in Lancashire, 2 September. Thence he 
proceeded slowly to London in royal state. Parliament had already 
been opened before his arrival. He " challenged and claimed the 
realm and crown of England as heir of Richard II," and installed him- 
self by force in the-royal apartments. His claim to assume the crown 
at once was not acceptable to the lords, to the judges, nor even to 
his faithful champion Warwick. However, late in October, a com- 
promise was arranged by which Henry was to remain King for life 
and Richard was to be recognized as his heir. This arrangement, 
to which Henry gave his consent " for the further eschewing of Chris- 
tian blood," was ratified by Parliament. Meanwhile, Margaret, 
after distressing hardships and harrowing adventures, had mustered a 
strong force north of the Humber. Richard, underestimating her 
strength, marched against her with a small army and was defeated 
and slain at the battle of Wakefield, 29 December, 1460. His head 
was cut off, crowned with a crown of gold paper and set up over the 
south gate of the city of York. Salisbury, who was taken prisoner, 
was beheaded the next day. They and the lords who fell in battle 
or perished by the executioner's ax were to be pitilessly revenged. 



THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF LANCASTER 263 

" The war which had begun as a struggle to vindicate constitutional 
liberties, degenerated after 1460 into a mere blood feud between two 
reckless factions." 

Warwick, the Kingmaker. — On the death of Richard of York and the 
Earl of Salisbury, Salisbury's son, Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, 
became the recognized leader of the Yorkist party ; for Richard's son, 
Edward, Earl of March, a youth of eighteen, was as yet distinguished 
for nothing save his strength, his beauty, and the great bravery which 
he had displayed at the battle of Northampton. Warwick was not a 
man of preeminent abilities either as a statesman or general and his 
personal courage was not above question ; but he was a skilled diploma- 
tist and a ready speaker. His energy was tireless, he was wise and court- 
eous, true to his friends and relentless against his enemies. Through 
the marriage of his aunt to the late Duke of York he was first cousin 
to Edward and he was the greatest landowner in England ; he kept a 
vast band of retainers, and dispensed lavish hospitality. His chief 
power, however, lay in his ability to secure the trust both of the lords 
and the people. He was regarded as the leader of the party of reform 
and good government and had strengthened his hold on the popular 
confidence by resisting his uncle's efforts to snatch the crown from 
Henry of Lancaster., Yet the historian Hume very appropriately 
styled him " the last of the barons " ; for he was the last representative 
of that class of great noble families to exercise almost royal powers 
and powerfully to influence English destiny by force of arms. He 
was not above the ambitions of his class, and the cry of reform 
which he raised and the movement which he led was really to secure 
more power for himself and his house. For that reason he ingra- 
tiated himself with the people by fair promises, and for that reason 
he made and sought to unmake a king. When Edward later refused 
to do his bidding he plunged the country again into civil war and made 
common cause with all his old enemies. 

Edward becomes King of England, 4 March, 1461. — After Richard's 
defeat and death, Margaret marched south to release her husband ; 
her army, however, alienated any possible supporters along the line 
of march by ruthless plundering, pillaging, and sacking of towns. 
While Warwick undertook to defend London, Edward set himself 
to watch the Welsh Lancastrians, whom he met and defeated at Mor- 
timer's Cross, 13 February, 1461. Thence he set out to join Warwick ; 
but before he could effect his purpose his cousin had met with a crush- 
ing defeat. He had drawn up his army to await the approach of 
Queen Margaret's forces but was completely surprised at St. Albans, 
and, either owing to his own blundering or to treachery, was out- 
manceuvered and overwhelmingly defeated, 17 February, 1461. 1 
Henry was rescued from his enemies. Owing to his persuasions, for 
he was anxious to avoid more pillaging and bloodshed, Margaret 

1 At this second battle of St. Albans hand firearms were used for the first time in 
English history. 



264 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

did not march at once on London. While she was negotiating for 
its capitulation, Warwick and Edward, who had at length joined 
forces, pressed into the City and seized the fruits of her victory. 
Edward was declared King by a mass meeting of the citizens and the 
Yorkist lords. Though he was not legally elected, he took his seat 
on the throne at Westminster, 4 March, 146 1, with the crown on his 
head and the scepter in his hand, and received the homage of the 
magnates. 

FOR ADDITIONAL READING 

Ramsay, I, chs. XXII-XXXIII ; II, chs. I-XVI ; Vickers, chs. XXI-XXIII ; and 
Oman, XII-XVI, treat the narrative history of the period. Kriehn, The English 
Rising of 1450 (1892) throws new light on Cade's Rebellion. K. H. Vickers, 
Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester (1907) is a full and scholarly account. 

Selections from the sources. Adams and Stephens, nos. 1 19-128. 



CHAPTER XVII 

THE HOUSE OF YORK. EDWARD IV (1461-1483) ; EDWARD V (1483) ; 
RICHARD III (1483-1485) 

Causes of the Triumph of the Yorkist Line. — Margaret's army was 
so discouraged that she was obliged to retreat northward. Edward 
and Warwick started in pursuit. They overtook her near Towton 
on the high road to York, and, 29 March, overcame the Lancastrian 
forces in a bloody battle fought in a blinding snowstorm. The fugi- 
tive King and Queen fled across the Border " full of sorrow and heavi- 
ness." After making a detour to the north to prevent any prospect of 
a Scottish invasion, Edward returned to London, leaving Warwick 
to watch the enemy. On 28 June, 1461, the victorious King was for- 
mally crowned at Westminster, and forthwith showered titles, offices, 
and estates upon his relatives and followers. He made his brothers, 
George and Richard, Dukes of Clarence and Gloucester, respectively. 
The Yorkist line had at length displaced its Lancastrian rival. 
Henry IV had come in as the champion of constitutional government 
against a capricious tyrant, and Henry V had made himself a national 
hero by his brilliant successes against France. But the constitutional 
scheme had broken down and the war had ended in failure. Henry VI 
was a pious kindly puppet dominated by an energetic and masterful 
wife from the enemies' camp. Hated from her very entrance into 
the country, she had chosen to support unpopular ministers whose 
incompetence accelerated the final expulsion of the English from 
France. In the struggle with York, who sought to oust the 
unpopular ministers, she set herself in opposition to a party that, 
whatever its motives, posed as the party of reform. She had 
sought the aid of the French, the Irish, and the Scotch, and she 
had led a northern army against the capital of the realm, and allowed 
it to plunder the rich cities of the south. The people, exhausted and 
weary of disorder at home and disgusted at the losses in France, 
eagerly accepted a change in hopes of better things. Poor Henry 
had to give way to a stronger and more spirited ruler. 

Personal Traits of the New King. — Edward Plantagenet was 
described as the handsomest prince in Europe. Three inches over 
six feet tall, he must have been a striking figure, and in battle he was 
the equal of any two men. He was jovial, hearty, and familiar with 
all sorts and conditions of people. On one occasion, when he was 
exacting gifts from his subjects, a city dame gave £20. Edward 
thanked her with a loving kiss and she doubled the amount. He loved 

265 



266 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

hunting, fine clothes, pageants, and banquets. He was naturally 
indolent, and, therefore, prone to trust to others. But there were 
opposite sides to his nature. He had a streak of thrift which pre- 
vented him from running into reckless extravagance. Moreover, 
he kept his coffers filled by profitable trading on his own account and 
by heavy exactions. By the order which he sought to maintain and by 
his care for trade and commerce, he not only made the country more 
capable of paying what he demanded, but raised the general level of 
prosperity. At crises, too, he could rouse himself and act with great 
decision and vigor. As time went on his worst qualities became more 
pronounced ; his love of pleasure turned to viciousness and dissipa- 
tion ; he became cruel, bloodthirsty and extortionate. He died at forty, 
worn out by self-indulgence. Yet he helped to draw the country from 
the poverty and confusion in which he found it and his cruelty can be 
excused partly by the state of the times, by the men and the problems 
with which he had to deal. He was a moderate patron of art, archi- 
tecture, and letters, and gave sparingly to religious houses. But he 
was, after all, a splendid animal, good natured when he was contented 
or enjoying himself, cunning, brave ; but capable of great ferocity, 
and lacking altogether in moral sense. 

The Attainder of the Leading Lancastrians. — Although Parlia- 
ment was to meet in July, 1461, the country was still in such a state of 
confusion that members were afraid to travel, and the Houses did not 
assemble till November. Edward was recognized as the rightful heir 
of the realm. Henry, the " usurping heir of John of Gaunt," his wife, 
his son, and over a hundred of the Lancastrian party, including fourteen 
lords, were attainted of treason. But, owing to the completeness of 
the Yorkist victory and to the moderation of the Nevilles, there were 
few executions. Defeated in England, the undaunted Margaret 
strove with feverish energy to draw Scotland and France into her 
quarrel ; but, although she was able to keep the northern border astir, 
she lost rather than gained by her tactics ; for many Englishmen were 
alienated from her- cause by her appeal to their national enemies. Yet 
it was not till 1464 that Edward was fully master of England. 

Edward's Estrangement from Warwick, 1464. — At the very 
moment when his position seemed assured he took a step which es- 
tranged him from Warwick to whom he owed more than to any other 
man. In September, 1464, he announced his marriage to Elizabeth, 
widow of Sir John Grey, and daughter of Richard Woodville. Her 
connections were wholly Lancastrian ; indeed, her mother had married 
for her first husband the Duke of Bedford, the celebrated uncle of 
Henry VI. Edward was apparently weary of the domination of the 
Nevilles, and, with his customary easy good nature, he seems to have 
yielded to his infatuation for Elizabeth, who was beautiful, and am- 
bitious for the advancement of her family. At any rate, he began to 
heap gifts, favors, and offices on her relatives, and to neglect his former 
friends and advisers. The marriage gave rise to all sorts of dissension. 



THE HOUSE OF YORK 267 

It not only created new rivals for Warwick, but it proved a serious 
obstacle to his foreign policy. His aim was to forge alliances with 
France, and possibly Burgundy, and to marry Edward to a foreign 
princess. He had all but completed arrangements for a match with 
the sister of the Queen of France when his plans were discredited and 
baffled by the astounding news. For the moment he swallowed his 
wrath. Louis XI, too, who had succeeded his father Charles VII 
in 146 1, was obliged to overlook the slight ; for he was threatened by 
a conspiracy headed by Charles, son of the reigning Duke of Burgundy, 
and some of the most powerful of the French nobility — " The League 
of the Public Weal." Therefore, he agreed to*a truce, to give no aid 
to Margaret, and to expel all Lancastrian exiles from France, on con- 
dition that Edward withhold all aid from his enemies. 

King Henry again a Prisoner, 1465. — Meantime, the Scots had 
also concluded a truce with England, and poor Henry, deprived of 
this asylum, had been lurking in one after another of the Lancastrian 
strongholds in the wild hill country between Yorkshire and Lancashire. 
In July, 1465, he was betrayed by one of his entertainers and taken 
to London. For five years he was kept a prisoner in the tower, 
" dirty, sickly, ill-dressed, neglected " ; but indifferent to the loss of 
his earthly kingdom so long as he was allowed the comfort of the 
sacraments. Nor was he really abused ; for Edward was anxious to 
keep him alive as a hostage while his son, the Prince was at large. 

Breach with Warwick and threatened War with France, 1467. — 
The growing estrangement between Edward and Warwick came to a 
final breach in 1467, when Edward betrothed his sister Margaret to 
Charles of Burgundy against Warwick's wishes, removed the latter's 
brother, Archbishop Neville, from the Chancellorship, and treated with 
marked coldness ambassadors sent from France on Warwick's repre- 
sentation. The Earl departed from court in a fury and busied him- 
self in organizing his kinsmen and supporters for a revolt when the 
time should be ripe. Even yet, however, he was ready for reconcilia- 
tion; but Edward was bent on war with France, and announced his 
intention to lead an army across the seas to recover what had been 
lost under the late King. Louis XI at once resumed his alliance with 
Margaret of Anjou, recalled the Lancastrian exiles, and kept Edward 
so busy dealing with plots that he had no time to think of invasions. 
Louis succeeded, moreover, in bribing Charles of Burgundy to make 
a truce. 

Robin of Redesdale's Rising, 1469. — Warwick now saw his chance. 
At his instigation, the Neville adherents and other discontented per- 
sons rose in Yorkshire under a leader who called himself Robin of 
Redesdale. The army sent to put them down was defeated, and Ed- 
ward himself was taken prisoner soon after the battle. Thus England 
was in the curious situation of having two Kings, both in captivity. 
On the eve of the rising, Warwick himself had hurried across the 
Channel, taking with him the Duke of Clarence, Edward's brother 



268 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

and possible heir, a weak, vain, and faithless boy of twenty, whom 
he bound to his cause by marrying him to his eldest daughter, Isabella 
Neville. Returning to England, after the victory of the northern 
insurgents, Warwick put his leading enemies to death, secured par- 
dons for himself and Clarence, released the King, and resumed his 
old position as leading councilor of the House of York. 

Edward IV driven out of England. Release of Henry VI, 1470. — 
Edward submitted to the dictation of Warwick less than a year. 
Early in 1470 a Lancastrian rising in Lincolnshire gave him a chance 
to raise a great levy. Marching to the scene of revolt, he defeated 
the insurgents in a battle known as Lose-coat-field from the fact that 
they drew off their tabards to flee more quickly. With a victorious 
armed force at his back he proclaimed Clarence and Warwick as 
traitors. Hotly pursued, they took refuge in France, where Louis XI 
succeeded in reconciling Warwick to his lifelong enemy, Margaret of 
Anjou. The Earl married his second daughter Ann to Margaret's 
son, Prince Edward, and they sealed the compact by an oath sworn on 
a fragment of the true cross. Supported by the French King, Warwick 
landed on the south coast of England ; the Nevilles rose again in the 
north, and, deserted by the bulk of his forces, King Edward fled to 
Holland in October. Warwick marched to London and released Henry 
from the Tower. But the bewildered, demented King, like a " mere 
shadow on the wall," meekly assented to all that the Earl, who made 
himself lieutenant of the kingdom, was pleased to do. The Lancas- 
trian victory was marked by only one notable execution, that of 
Edward's constable, John Tiptoft, " the butcher Earl of Worcester"; 
also famous, strangely enough, as the greatest patron of learning of 
his day. The people looked on with apathy, for they saw " little 
to choose from between the weak government of Henry and the strong 
government of Edward " ; they had looked for prosperity and peace, 
" but it came not, but one battle after another, and much trouble 
and great loss of goods." The majority, however, accepted Warwick 
because he seemed the stronger. But London resisted, under the 
lead of the merchants, who were attached to Edward because he owed 
them money, and because of their interest in the Flemish trade. 

The Return of Edward and the Defeat of the Lancastrians at 
Tewkesbury, 1471. — A combination between Warwick and Louis XI 
against Burgundy forced Charles actively to support King Edward. 
He furnished him with ships, money, and men, and, thus equipped, 
Edward landed at Ravenspur, the very spot where Henry of Boling- 
broke had landed seventy years before. His brother, " false, fleeting, 
perjured Clarence," went over to his side, and Warwick did not feel 
strong enough to intercept his march to London. Gradually, however, 
the Earl rallied his supporters round him. Edward, after he had 
secured the City and made King Henry again a prisoner, marched 
forth against him. The two armies met on Easter Sunday, 14 April, 
1471, at Barnet, a little town eleven miles north of London. War- 



THE HOUSE OF YORK 269 

wick's forces were defeated, and he was slain as he attempted to flee. 
The very afternoon of Edward's victory, Margaret and the Prince 
landed at Weymouth in Dorset. In spite of the disaster of Barnet 
she pressed on up the Severn valley, hoping to gather recruits and to 
join her supporters in Wales. Edward hastened west and came up 
with her at Tewkesbury. There a battle was fought on 4 May ; the 
Lancastrian army was overwhelmingly defeated ; Margaret was taken 
prisoner ; and Prince Edward either killed as he sought to escape, or, 
according to another account, brought before the King and slain by 
his orders. After the battle several of the Lancastrian leaders were 
put to death by royal command. On 21 May Edward reached 
London in triumph, and within a few hours Henry was dead. It 
was given out that he had died " of pure displeasure and melancholy," 
but there is little doubt that he was murdered, and that Edward and 
his brother Richard of Gloucester were responsible for the deed. 

Character of Henry VI. — Henry VI was one of the most gentle and 
well meaning, and, perhaps, the most unfortunate King who ever 
reigned in England. He inherited the weakly physique of the Lan- 
castrians and the mental debility of his maternal grandfather, Charles 
VI. Well educated and deeply versed in Scriptures, he sought to live 
as a pious recluse. He cared little for amusements, and, despising 
pomp, extravagance, and brilliant array, he dressed by preference in 
the sober colors of the London citizen. On one occasion he gave his 
State robes to a begging abbot. Liberal to a fault, he wasted his 
revenue in foolish presents, and was so merciful that he hated to 
punish even thieves and murderers. He sought to inspire a higher 
standard of morality in the royal household, and he was a generous 
patron of learning and letters. King's College, Cambridge, and the 
famous school of Eton were his foundations. He took the keenest 
interest in his Eton boys, to whom he never tired of giving presents 
and good advice. While he might have ruled a quiet people in quiet 
times, he had not a single qualification for ruling in the situation in 
which he was thrown. He was faithfully devoted to his wife, who con- 
tributed to his undoing. Indeed, he was ever the puppet of stronger 
natures, and his weak mind broke down under the strain of the disorders 
of his kingdom that he was unable to avert. Pure, honest, merciful, 
and wholly deserving a more happy fate, he was long worshiped in 
the north country as a saint and martyr. 

Edward's Rule after Tewkesbury. — Edward had shown remark- 
able generalship in his last two campaigns, and his restoration had 
been due almost solely to his own efforts. That helps to account for 
the extortion and cruelty which followed his victory. " The 
rich were hanged by the purse and the poor by the neck," while none 
dared oppose him. After having spent a large part of the confiscations 
wrung from his vanquished enemies, he called a Parliament and 
declared his intention of renewing war on France. His object was at 
once to get money and to divert his subjects from domestic discord. 



270 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

The war, however, was delayed for a while on account of the insta- 
bility of his ally, Charles of Burgundy. In the meantime, Edward 
used all the money of Parliament that he could get his hands on, and, 
in addition, exacted " benevolences" — grants supposed to be volun- 
tary, but usually forced from the unwilling subject. Nevertheless, 
the King, if he was extravagant and extortionate, was careful enough 
not to exceed his revenues, and politic enough to pay his bills. 

Edward's Expedition to France and the Treaty of Pecquiny, 1475. — 
In 1474 a treaty was concluded with Burgundy by which Charles under- 
took to assist Edward to recover his " rightful inheritance " of Nor- 
mandy and Guyenne, and also the crown of France from the " usurper 
Louis." In return, Edward was to lead an army of not less than 10,000 
men across the Channel, and to cede to Charles, "free from all superi- 
ority," certain frontier lands which the Duke held in fief from the 
French King. It is doubtful if Edward ever had any more serious 
intention than to raise large grants from his subjects for the ex- 
pedition, and then to force Louis XI to buy him off by grants of 
money or territory. At any rate, when he landed at Calais with an 
army of nearly 15,000 men, the largest that had ever left the shores of 
England, he found that Charles was not able to render him any assist- 
ance. The French troops were massed in force beyond the Somme ; 
but Louis was willing to treat. The two Kings met on the bridge 
of Pecquiny, near Amiens, separated from one another by a grating 
of trellis work. Louis agreed to pay down to Edward 75,000 gold 
crowns with an annual pension of 50,000 in addition. A truce of 
seven years was arranged and a league of amity during life, each King 
binding himself to assist the other against his rebellious subjects. 
Margaret of Anjou was released on payment of a ransom of 50,000 
crowns. She died poor and lonely in 1482. Charles the Bold failed 
in his design of reviving the ancient Burgundian kingdom, and, in 
January, 1477, after a repulse at Nancy, his dead body was found 
naked in a frozen ditch. The astute and unheroic Louis XI had 
triumphed over his two adversaries. He had bought off one, the 
other owed his end to his own blind fury. 

Attainder and Execution of Clarence, 1478. — The Duke of Clarence 
was constantly involved in quarrels with his brother the King and 
his brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester. His trouble with Richard 
began over the division of the lands of the Earl of Warwick, both of 
the brothers having married daughters of the " king-maker." In conse- 
quence, they became irreconcilable enemies. Edward had never trusted 
him after his attempted treachery of 1469-1471, and, as the years 
went on, various causes of friction developed. On his wife's death, 
in 1476, Clarence sought to marry Mary, the heiress of Charles the 
Bold. When Edward blocked the project, Clarence declared that his 
late wife and infant son had been poisoned, and had the accused con- 
demned and executed on his own authority, and, moreover, he was 
rash enough to denounce the royal justice on account of the execution 



THE HOUSE OF YORK 271 

of two of his own followers for treason and sorcery. In 1478 he was 
seized and thrown into the Tower, and an act of attainder was 
passed in a subservient Parliament, accusing him of spreading scan- 
dalous tales about the King, of compassing his death by necromancy, 
and of plotting an armed rebellion. Sentence was passed on him 
by a Court of Peers presided over by a High Steward. Worthless and 
false as Clarence was, his trial was a mere travesty on justice. Shortly 
after his condemnation he perished in the Tower, no one knows how. 
The common story is that he was drowned in a butt of Malmsey wine. 
Although it rid him of a troublesome rival, the tragic fate of Clarence 
seems to have embittered the remainder of Edward's life. When 
asked to pardon a criminal, he would burst out, " O unfortunate 
brother, for whose life not one creature would make intercession ! " 
Edward's Last Years. — After his peace with France he gave him- 
self over more and more to his ease and pleasure, though he still kept 
a sharp eye on his revenues and was rigorous in the execution of jus- 
tice. His confiscations, his French pension, and his private trading 
ventures, particularly in wool, made him practically independent of 
Parliament. Indeed, he was able to lend money to subjects in whom 
he had confidence. The export of gold and silver coin, bullion and 
plate was forbidden without royal license. Alien merchants were 
obliged to invest their gains from imports in English commodities. To 
keep up the practice of archery, unlawful games were forbidden, 
among them dice, quoits, football, and ninepins or skittles. In- 
formers were encouraged by dividing among them the proceeds of 
fines. The severe administration of the laws, though employed as a 
means of swelling the revenues, was necessary after the weakness and 
disorder which had prevailed so long. Edward was too wise, however, 
to damage his popularity by systematic oppression, and to the last 
he was a favorite with the people of London and the other great towns. 
His reign, beginning with violence and oppression, ended in peace and 
quiet. One of his main aims was to establish his dynasty by foreign 
alliances and marriages. In this he failed, partly because European 
sovereigns regarded him " as somewhat of an outlaw." The dowager 
Duchess of Burgundy was Edward's sister, but her daughter Mary 
married Maximilian, who succeeded as Emperor of the Germans in 
1493, an d the English King went no further with them than to negotiate 
a commercial alliance for a hundred years, providing for unrestricted 
trade on payment of " ancient dues and customs and no others." 
His Burgundian policy, however, was determined chiefly by his desire 
to preserve friendship with Louis XI, partly because he wanted to 
retain his French pension, and partly because he wanted to reestablish 
the English overlordship over Scotland and recover Berwick which 
Margaret had surrendered in 1461. James III — devoted to architec- 
ture, music, and astrology — cared little for affairs of State and was 
quite incompetent to govern, while a strong party, headed by his exiled 
brother, the Duke of Albany, was intriguing against him. So in 1483 



272 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

Edward agreed to set Albany on the throne, if he would do homage, re- 
store Berwick, and marry the third daughter of the English King. 
Gloucester and Albany led an expedition against Berwick and cap- 
tured it ; but the latter came to terms with his brother, and for the 
time gave up his pretensions to the throne. Louis XI, too, repudiated 
the agreement which he had made to marry the Dauphin to Edward's 
eldest daughter, Elizabeth, and pledged him instead to Margaret 
of Brittany, daughter of Maximilian. Edward's rage at Louis' 
treachery was a fatal shock to his constitution already undermined 
by debauchery. He had summoned a Parliament and was making great 
preparations for revenge when death put an end to his plans, 9 April, 
1483. His own excesses and the turbulence and treachery with which 
he was called upon to deal had warped his character, and blasted the 
fair prospects of his reign. His premature death marked the begin- 
ning of the end of the house of York. 

Nominal reign of Edward V, 9 April to 25 June, 1483. — Edward 
left two little sons, the eldest of whom was not yet thirteen years old. 
The few short weeks during which this unhappy boy Edward was 
nominally King were merely a scramble for supremacy between the 
relatives of his Queen Mother and his uncle Richard, who had been in- 
trusted with the care of the King and kingdom. On the news of the 
death of Edward IV, the little Prince had been taken from Ludlow, 
under the care of his maternal uncle, Lord Rivers, and his half brother, 
Sir Richard Grey. Richard, who was in Yorkshire, hastened to in- 
tercept the royal party, sefzed Rivers and Grey, sent them off as 
prisoners to Pomfret Castle, and with the utmost professions of loyalty, 
conducted his young charge to London. They arrived on the day 
fixed for coronation, 4 May; Richard was proclaimed Protector by 
the Council and Edward was lodged in the royal apartments in the 
Tower. Queen Elizabeth, who had been scheming to make herself 
Regent, at once took sanctuary in Westminster Abbey with her 
daughter and her other son Richard, Duke of York. 

Richard of Gloucester, his Character and Policy. — Gloucester, 
while pretending to secure his position as Protector, was really aiming 
to make himself King. Born in 1452, he had grown up in troublous 
times. His father had been killed before he was nine years old. He 
had served his brother faithfully as a general and administrator. 
He had shared his brief exile in 1470, and as a lad of eighteen had 
fought valiantly at Barnet and Tewkesbury. He was suspected of 
the murder of Henry's son, of Henry himself, and of procuring the 
death of his own brother Clarence. Still, if these charges be true, 
he had acted primarily as the agent of the King in revenging enemies 
of the Crown. Edward had rewarded him liberally with offices of 
honor and trust ; but, while the King was idle and dissipated, Richard 
was sober and industrious. Had his brother lived he would doubtless 
have continued as his trustworthy right-hand man. His opposition 
was first excited by the design of the Queen's family ; but when he 



THE HOUSE OF YORK 273 

saw a chance to make himself King, he was unable to resist the temp- 
tation, and hesitated at no fraud or bloodshed to attain his end. 
Doubtless, however, he intended, once he got to power, to rule as a 
strong, just monarch. 

Richard proclaimed King, 25 June, 1483. — He bribed all the sup- 
porters he could, and set out to dispose of all persons of influence whom 
he could not win over. On 13 June he appeared at the Tower with 
an armed force and, working himself into a pretended rage, he accused 
the Queen and her party of working spells upon him. By way of 
proof he bared his left arm, all shrunk and withered, and displayed 
it as their work, although it had been so since boyhood. On the 
ground that Lord Hastings hesitated to believe him, he had him 
beheaded without form of trial. On the 16th, he terrified the Queen 
into sending Richard to join his brother in the Tower. He spread 
charges that the late King's marriage had been illegal and that his 
sons had no right to rule. On 25 June an assembly of the represent- 
atives of the three estates of the realm, which met in place of the 
Parliament summoned in the name of Edward IV, offered the crown 
to Richard. In a strange petition they denounced the character and 
administration of the late Sovereign, and exalted Richard's princely 
virtues, praying that " after great clouds . . . the sun of justice 
and grace may shine upon us." Accepting with a show of reluctance, 
he was proclaimed King the next day and crowned 6 July. 

Richard's Crimes undo his Attempts to win his Subjects. — Once 
on the throne, Richard sought by various means to make himself 
popular: he went on a progress soon after his coronation, he helped the 
poor, he issued proclamations to suppress immorality, he ordered the 
judges to judge justly, and he even refused gifts from London and 
other towns, saying he would rather have the hearts of his subjects 
than their money. But he undid any possible effects of his good works 
by ruthless bloodshed. On the very day that he accepted the crown 
Lord Rivers and Sir Richard Grey were put to death in far-off Yorkshire 
after the barest pretense of a trial, while, shortly after, Richard sent 
Sir James Tyrell, a trusted henchman, with orders to kill the two innocent 
little princes in the Tower. It is probable that Tyrell, assisted by a 
groom and one of the keepers, smothered them while they slept. 1 The 
destruction of these two harmless lads caused all right-thinking men 
to turn from Richard with loathing, while it gave others a handle to 
turn against him when the fitting time came. Henry Stafford, Duke 
of Buckingham, a descendant of the youngest son of Edward III, 
who had up to this time been his most slavish adherent, was soon in 
communication with Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, the male 
representative of the Lancastrians who had taken refuge in France, 
and placed himself at the head of a great combination to overthrow 

1 Two skeletons discovered in 1674 may not have been those of Edward and his 
brother; but attempts to prove that they survived the reign of Richard III and 
were put to death by his successor have not been generally accepted. 
T 



274 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

the usurper. Great floods, however, disarranged Buckingham's plans ; 
he was captured at Salisbury and put to death, while Richard re- 
mained on the throne for two more years. He continued his vain 
efforts to win the hearts of his subjects and to secure himself against 
his enemies. He worked to do away with extortion, to reform justice, 
and to promote trade. In a Parliament of 1484 he abolished the hated 
benevolences of which his brother had made such use ; but the neces- 
sities of military preparation forced him to counteract this measure by 
levying large loans. As a means of securing his title he planned to 
marry his niece Elizabeth ; but the murmuring of the people obliged him 
to renounce this unnatural project. Nobody resisted him, but he could 
trust no one, and he lived in constant disquiet and alarm. When he 
went abroad his hand was always on his dagger, and his rest at night 
was constantly broken by the remembrance of his " abominable 
deeds." In vain, when the hour of danger came, did he call on his 
subjects " like good and true Englishmen " to " endeavor themselves 
in defense of their wives, children, goods, and inheritances." 

The Landing of Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, 1485. — Mean- 
time, Henry Tudor, having secured supplies of men and money in 
France, issued a manifesto to his English supporters against the " un- 
natural tyrant who bore rule over them." With the way thus pre- 
pared, he crossed the Channel and landed at Milford Haven, 7 August, 
1485. On touching the shore he kneeled down and recited the 43d 
Psalm : " Judge me O God, plead my cause against an ungodly 
nation." Then he " kissed the ground meekly," crossed himself, 
rose, and, in the name of God and St. George, ordered his men to set 
forward. Calling on all true subjects to support him as he went, he 
marched eastward to the Severn. Richard was at Northampton, 
which he had chosen as a central point whence he could march readily 
in any direction. Although in " great agony and doubt," he pre- 
tended to receive the news of Henry's landing with great satisfaction, 
declaring that he " feared him little." Advancing westward, he met 
the invaders at Bosworth near Leicester. Supporters had been flock- 
ing steadily to join Richmond; the forces of Richard, on the other 
hand, were lukewarm and suspected of treason. 

The Battle of Bosworth, 22 August, 1485. — While he trusted in his 
own energy, valor, and military skill, Richard, haunted by dismal fore- 
bodings, passed a sleepless night and appeared haggard and pallid on 
the morning of the fray. Yet he addressed his captains in a fiery 
speech, contrasting their courage and prowess with those of their foes, 
whom he scornfully pictured as thieves, traitors, beggarly faint- 
hearted fellows. He would triumph, he declared, " by glorious victory 
or suffer death for immortal fame." Henry's speech was equally 
stirring. He came, he said, to vindicate justice and avenge murder 
against a tyrant whose forces served him from fear rather than love, 
and who at the test would prove friends rather than adversaries. 
And so the event proved. Lord Stanley went to Henry's side, and the 



THE HOUSE OF YORK 275 

Earl of Westmoreland withdrew his troops and remained an idle 
spectator. Richard fought manfully, he slew Henry's standard bearer, 
and sought to engage Henry himself in a hand-to-hand encounter. 
Wearing his crown on his head, he cried, "I will die King of England." 
Deserted and surrounded by his enemies, shouting " treason ! trea- 
son ! " he struggled until he fell pierced by deadly wounds. His 
battered crown was found hidden in a hawthorn bush, and was 
placed on the head of the victorious Earl of Richmond by Lord Stanley, 
while the troops hailed him as Henry VII. Richard's body, covered 
with dirt and gore, stripped perfectly naked, with a halter about the 
neck, was strapped across a horse's back. With the head and arms 
dangling on one side and the legs on the other, it was borne to Leicester. 
After being exposed to the people for two days to prove that he was 
really dead, the corpse was buried in the Abbey of Grey Friars. 

Estimate of Richard. — The bloody usurper had sold his life with a 
heroic courage that commanded the admiration of even his enemies. 
In aftertimes men pictured him as a monster in body and mind, a 
dwarf with a fiend's face, a crooked back, and a withered arm. As to 
his appearance, this is a violent distortion of the truth. He was below 
average height, his left shoulder was lower than his right, and his left 
arm somewhat withered ; but he was well-knit and active, in battle 
more than a match for men of heavier and more imposing frame. His 
face was long and lean, his expression joyless and nervous, yet cer- 
tainly not forbidding like that of a hardened villain. While naturally 
calculating and distrustful, he could be very engaging. He was liberal 
in gifts, particularly to the Church, though that may have been mainly 
to ease his. conscience and to stand well before men. There is no doubt 
that he aimed to be a just and merciful ruler ; but the crimes by which 
he had forced his way to power brought their final punishment. His 
defeat at the two hours' Bosworth fight marked the downfall of the 
house of York. 

Reasons for the Failure of the Lancastrian and Yorkist Dynasties. — 
Richard's usurpation merely hastened a crisis that seemed inevitable. 
Events had made it evident that neither of the rival dynasties was 
fitted to rule. The situation under Henry VI had shown that England 
was not ready for the liberties fostered by his father and grandfather. 
On the other hand, the rule of Edward and Richard had shown that 
the country had outgrown the age when it would submit to violence 
and despotism. The Lancastrian Henrys, particularly the first two, 
had done much for England. They had nurtured parliamentary gov- 
ernment, protected trade, maintained universities, made far-reaching 
alliances, and increased English prestige abroad. But wars, famine, 
pestilence, and, chiefest of all, want of governance, administrative 
feebleness, destroyed the last of the line. The Crown was constantly 
in need of money ; the treasury was always low ; peace was not well 
kept nor the laws effectively executed. Individual life and property 
were never secure ; robbery, riot, and factional strife kept the country 



276 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

in continual turmoil. The remedies sought — more power to Parlia- 
ment, remodeling the Council and reforming statutes — proved of no 
avail. A strong hand was necessary, and the dynasty that had failed 
to govern perforce ceased to rule. That was why Henry VI was set 
aside ; otherwise his adversaries would never have established their 
title, nearer in descent though they were. The Yorkists' rule, though 
stronger, failed to remedy the evils, to secure peace, or to inspire 
national confidence. The perversion of justice, robbery, violence 
and factional struggles were still rife. A new man and a new policy 
were needed. As Henry VII united the dynastic claims of the two 
Houses so he combined their policies. Observing the forms of con- 
stitutional liberty accepted by the Lancastrians, he ruled with a 
strong hand like the Yorkists. What the country wanted most was 
peace and prosperity under rulers who could keep order. The line 
of Henry VII gave them that. It erected a new absolutism, but an 
absolutism based on popularity. This new absolutism prevailed until 
the country had recovered from exhaustion, emancipated itself from 
the bonds of the Middle Ages, and was prepared to make use of the 
liberty which it had at an earlier time prematurely acquired. It has 
been said that the result of the struggle between Lancaster and York 
was to arrest the progress of English freedom for more than a century. 
At its beginning Parliament had established freedom from arbitrary 
taxation, legislation, and imprisonment, and the responsibility of even 
the highest servants of the Crown to itself and the law. From the 
time of Edward IV parliamentary life was checked, suspended, or 
turned into a mere form. The legislative powers were usurped by the 
royal Council, parliamentary taxation gave way to forced loans and 
benevolences, personal liberty was encroached on by a searching spy 
system and arbitrary imprisonment, justice was degraded by bills of 
attainder, by the extension of the powers of the Council, by the sub- 
servience of judges and the coercion of juries. It took a revolution in 
the seventeenth century to recover from the Crown what had been 
recognized and observed in the early part of the fifteenth. 

FOR ADDITIONAL READING 

Ramsay, II, chs. XVI ff.; Vickers, chs. XXIV-XXV; Oman, chs. XVII-XX; 
and Stubbs, III, ch. XVIII, all deal in more or less detail with the period covered by 
this chapter. The Paston Letters, 1422-1509 (6 vols., 1904) throw a flood of light 
on the public life of the fifteenth century, and the introduction by the editor, James 
Gairdner, is a valuable commentary. C. R. Markham, in " Richard III : A Doubtful 
Verdict Reviewed," English Historical Review, VI, 250-283, 806-813, took the 
ground that Henry VII, rather than Richard III, was the murderer of the sons of 
Edward IV ; but his contention was effectually answered by James Gairdner, "Did 
Henry VII murder the Princes?" English Historical Review, VI, 444-464, 813-815. 
Gairdner, Life and Reign of Richard III (1898) is the best account of the reign. 

The constitutional aspects of the period are dealt with in Stubbs, III, chs. XIX- 
XXI; Taylor, Origin and Growth, I, bk. Ill, ch. II, sees. 6-10; Wakeman and 
Hassall, Constitutional Essays, ch. V ; Taswell-Langmead, ch. IX. 

Selections from the sources. Adams and Stephens, nos. 129-133. 



THE HOUSE OF YORK 277 

THE WOODVILLES AND COURTENAYS 

Richard Woodville, 
created Earl Rivers 



fi = Ed 



Anthony, Earl Rivers, Elizabeth = Edward IV 

executed, 1483 



Edward V Elizabeth, Katharine, 

m. Henry VII m. Sir Wm. Courtenay 

Henry, Marquis of 

Exeter; executed, 1538 

! 

Edward Courtenay 






CHAPTER XVIII 

THE BEGINNING OF THE TUDOR ABSOLUTISM. HENRY VII 

(1485-1509) 

The New Absolutism. — The victory of Henry Tudor brought 
England peace and a strong settled government which endured for 
over a century. During the same period, however, the growth of 
parliamentary power was checked. The revival of absolutism, the 
renewed triumph of the royal power over opposing forces, was due to 
two causes — to the personal character of the Tudor sovereigns, and 
to the situation of the country. The three notable rulers of this line, 
Henry VII, Henry VIII, and Elizabeth, were alike in many ways; 
possessed of unbounded courage, physical and moral, they were also 
keen politicians in discerning the needs and temper of the people. 
Because they possessed force and discretion they were able usually to 
get things done as they wished. When they saw that a measure was 
going to be resisted, they drew back. But their wishes and those of 
their subjects were in most respects the same. So they were absolute, 
not because they had a standing army, or any other of the common 
props of absolutism, but because they were popular, they were needed. 
Henry VII, founder of the line, was extortionate, but he was frugal 
and politic, moral, and generally upright. He fostered trade and 
industry ; he maintained peace abroad and order at home, and kept 
the country out of debt. In consequence, he left a strong central 
government, a large treasure, and a people attached to the Crown. 
But there was another side to the question. The power of the mon- 
archy depended largely upon his relations to the political classes of the 
realm, the nobles, the clergy, and the commons. The nobles were no 
longer in a position seriously to menace the Crown. Since the intro- 
duction of the longbow, and more particularly of gunpowder, their 
armor had ceased to be invulnerable, and their castles were not im- 
pregnable against cannon. Moreover, the strain of the Hundred 
Years' War and the Wars of the Roses l had reduced their numbers 
and their wealth, and made them more and more dependent on the 
increasingly prosperous middle class with whom they had discredited 
themselves by their turbulence, extravagance, and self-seeking. The 
Church, too, was losing the assured position it had once held. It had 
indeed survived the attacks of Wiclif and the Lollards, and the 

1 It is no longer believed that the bulk of the nobility were killed off in the Wars 
of the Roses. 

278 



THE BEGINNING OF THE TUDOR ABSOLUTISM 279 

Reformation was still a generation off; but its influence had been 
threatened, and covetous eyes had been more than once cast on its 
vast wealth. While it still retained a strong hold on the lesser folk, 
they counted for little, and it had to look to the monarchy for support. 
The commons, the middle classes in town and country, busy in accumu- 
lating material resources, wanted peace and protection rather than 
liberty. 1 As the nobles and the Church were unable, so the commons 
were unwilling to oppose the new Tudor absolutism in which they saw 
a friend and protector. Parliament had been developed as a weapon, 
first by the nobles and then by the Lancastrians. The Tudors were 
minded to call it very infrequently or to make it the trusty servant of 
their policies. In this Parliament was generally content to acquiesce. 

Henry's Problems. — Henry VII, then, was a strong, wise, cautious 
man who found himself in a situation most favorable for the reestab- 
lishment of the royal power on a secure basis. He was confronted by 
many problems, and he dealt with them prudently and skillfully. He 
had to establish his title, to dispose of rival claimants, to suppress 
disorder, t<3 come to terms with Scotland, to settle conditions in Ireland, 
and to secure England's position abroad. Each of these problems 
must be considered in turn. 

Henry's Means of securing His Title. — Henry's first need was to 
secure his title. He could base his claim to rule on right of conquest ; 
but he might have to yield to any one who could gather an army 
strong enough to drive him out. His claim by descent had at least a 
color of legitimacy. He was the nearest male representative of the 
Lancastrian line. Through his mother, Margaret Beaufort, he traced 
his descent from John of Gaunt and Katherine Swynford. But the 
legitimacy of the Beauforts was not above question, while the line 
had been barred from the succession during the reign of Henry IV. 
Moreover, Henry derived his claim from a female. So, quite wisely, he 
secured from Parliament in 1485 an act vesting the royal inheritance 
in his person and the heirs of his body without stating any reasons. 
This done, he married, early in i486, Elizabeth, the eldest daughter of 
Edward IV, thus uniting, in the person of any children born to them, 
the claims of the two rival Houses. His next step was to secure from 
the Pope in the same year a bull recognizing his title. Finally, to 
remove all fear from the minds of his supporters, he made Parliament 
pass an act in 1495 that it was no treason to obey a de facto King. 

Royal Pretenders. Lambert Simnel, 1487. — There were, however, 
male representatives of the Yorkist line still alive, and many doubted 
whether the young sons of Edward IV were actually dead. Naturally, 
the enemies of Henry VII were glad to make use of such opportunities 
to rise against him. In 1487 they put forward one Lambert Simnel, 
son of an Oxford organ maker, as the Earl of Warwick, son of the Duke 

\ In Shakespeare's King John, produced in the reign of Elizabeth, Magna Carta, 
which Englishmen came to regard as the foundation of popular liberty, is not even 
mentioned. 



2 8o A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

of Clarence, although the real Earl was a prisoner in the Tower. 
Simnel was conveyed to Ireland, where the sentiment was strongly 
Yorkist. There he was crowned King, and there a body of supporters 
gathered, including some of the English nobility and a force of German 
mercenaries sent over by Margaret, widow of Charles the Bold and 
sister of Edward IV and Richard III. Landing on the coast of 
Lancaster, the invaders marched southeast. But " the snowball 
did not gather as it went," because " it was an odious thing for the 
people of England to have a King brought to them upon the shoulders 
of the Dutch." They were met by the royal forces at Stoke in Lin- 
colnshire and defeated. The Yorkist nobles were mostly killed or 
disappeared. The mock king was made a turnspit in the royal kitchen, 
and was later promoted to the position of a royal falconer. 

Perkin Warbeck, 1492-1499. — Another pretender bothered the 
King for nearly eight years. This was Perkin Warbeck, son of a 
boatman of Tournay, put forward as Richard, Duke of York. He 
received support in Ireland, in Flanders, and in Scotland, and after 
two previous unsuccessful attempts at invasion he landed, August, 
1497, in southwest England. The King's army, however, was too 
much for him. When an attempt to take Exeter miscarried, his cour- 
age failed. He took sanctuary in the Abbey of Beaulieu, where he 
gave himself up and was taken thence to the Tower. In November, 
1499, after an unsuccessful attempt to escape, he was hanged, drawn, 
and quartered. A few days later, the Earl of Warwick, the last of the 
Yorkist princes, having been seduced into a plot by those who hoped 
to profit by his death, ended a fifteen years' imprisonment by following 
Warbeck to the grave. 

Henry's Exactions in Consequence of the Plots. — Henry VII 
turned most of the plots and risings against him to his own advantage. 
Refraining so far as possible from shedding blood, he contented him- 
self with the safer and more profitable method of levying fines on those 
implicated. This was only one of his many devices to fill his coffers. 
Another very familiar one is known as " Morton's Fork," because its 
invention was attributed to his Chancellor, Thomas Morton. 1 Accord- 
ing to this device persons who lived in great -magnificence were forced 
to yield large sums on the ground of their manifest wealth, while 
those who lived plainly were subjected to equal burdens on the ground 
of their supposed savings. The royal extortion increased as the years 
went on, and two of Henry's agents, Empson and Dudley, were so 
generally hated that they were described, over a century later, as 
" caterpillars of the commonwealth." 

The Court of Star Chamber, 1487. — Neither the Lancastrians nor 
the Yorkists had been able to suppress disorder. Great nobles still 
had large bands of retainers who wore their badge or livery and who 
bullied and plundered their weaker neighbors at will. It was impossi- 

1 More likely Richard Foxe, Bishop of Winchester, was the author. 



THE BEGINNING OF THE TUDOR ABSOLUTISM 281 

ble to punish any of them if they were caught, because their powerful 
patrons appeared at the county courts with hordes of their fellows, 
and " maintained " their cause by terrifying judge, jury, and prosecu- 
tors. Statutes of " livery and maintenance " had been directed in 
vain against this abuse. In 1487 Henry VII devised a new expedient. 
Selecting certain great officers of State from the Privy Council, together 
with two judges, he gave them a special jurisdiction, not only over 
livery and maintenance, but over misconduct of sheriffs, over riots and 
unlawful assemblies. They constituted a court known as the Star 
Chamber, probably because of the Camera Stellata, where the meetings 
were held. Since it sat in London and had very summary jurisdiction, 
it was able to act more effectively than any of the existing courts. 
Later, more and more members were added, till it came to be a judicial 
session of the whole Privy Council plus two judges. It continued to 
act long after the original need for it had passed away, and was used 
by the later Tudors and the first two Stuarts as an engine of oppres- 
sion, political and ecclesiastical. It was suppressed in 1641. 

The Irish Situation. Poynings's Law, 1494. — Ireland was a serious 
problem. The only place where the English possessed a shadow of 
authority was in the Pale. Attempts to prevent the Anglo-Irish lords 
from identifying themselves with the natives had proved futile. 
The most powerful family of them all, the Fitzgeralds, or " Geraldines," 
whose head was Gerald, Earl of Kildare, Lord Deputy since the time 
of Edward IV, were passionate Yorkists. The Earl had supported 
Simnel and had been accused of abetting Warbeck on the latter's 
first appearance in Ireland in 149 1. In spite of his declaration that he 
had never lent his aid to " the French lad," Kildare was deprived of his 
office in 1492. Two years later, Henry sent over Sir Edward Poynings 
and a body of English officials and judges with the object of establish- 
ing and extending English rule. The new Deputy secured the passage 
of the celebrated " Poynings's Law," providing that no Parliament 
should meet or pass any act without the consent of the King in Council, 
and that all English statutes should be in force in Ireland. Although 
these enactments put a check on Irish legislation, they had the merit 
of protecting the colonists against the arbitrariness of the English 
officials. In 1496 the Earl of Kildare, who had in the meantime 
been seized and put in the Tower of London, was released and sent back 
as Lord Deputy. His audacity had appealed to the King. He said 
he had burned the cathedral of Cashel because the Bishop was inside. 
" All Ireland cannot rule him," said the Bishop of Meath. " Then," 
replied the King, " he is meet to rule all Ireland." So the " great 
Earl " continued to hold office till his death in 1513. 

Henry's Foreign Policy. The Peace of Etaples, 1492. — The 
economical and peace-loving Henry sought to avoid war and to secure 
his relation to other countries by marriages and treaties. Maximilian 
and Ferdinand of Aragon were anxious to prevent the growth of the 
French power. Charles VIII, who had succeeded Louis XI in 1483, 



282 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

was aiming to annex Brittany, a purpose which he effected in 1491 by 
marrying Anne, who had fallen heir to the Duchy. Henry, in alliance 
with Maximilian and Ferdinand, led an army across the Channel the 
following year, but his aim was to threaten, not to fight. So, 3 Novem- 
ber, 1492, he signed a peace at Etaples, by which the French agreed to 
pay him 620,000 crowns due him from Anne for the defense of her 
heritage, together with 125,000 crowns for two years' arrears of the 
pension which Louis XI had promised to pay Edward IV. Each 
King agreed not to assist the enemies of the other. If Henry gave up 
Maximilian and Ferdinand, Charles, on his part, could not shelter 
rebels against the King of England. Therefore Perkin Warbeck, who 
was then in France, had to take himself off to the Netherlands. Finan- 
cially, Henry was a twofold gainer : he had collected large sums from 
his subjects to make war and he had been paid by the French King to 
keep peace. This profitable and prosaic ending of Henry's one and 
only foreign war was bitterly resented by many of his subjects. 

The Scotch Marriage Alliance, 1502. — The vigorous and active 
but licentious and unstable James IV, King of Scotland since 1488, had 
caused much trouble by taking up the cause of Perkin Warbeck. 
Henry sought to meet danger from this quarter by marrying James to 
his little daughter Margaret. On 7 August, 1502, the wedding took 
place at Edinburgh, the gayest and most splendid the poor northern 
capital had ever witnessed. In years to come many wars and rumors 
of wars followed; but only a century elapsed before a descendant 
of this marriage became King of England. The far-sighted Henry 
had foreseen such an event, but had sagely predicted that if it came to 
pass, the greater would draw the less. And so it proved. 

The Marriage Alliance with Spain. — Meantime, 15 November, 
1 501, Henry had married his eldest son Arthur to Catharine, daughter 
of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile, those celebrated mon- 
archs who sent Columbus on his voyages of discovery to our western 
world. Spain was at this time the leading power in Christendom. 
Not only had she discovered lands of fabulous wealth, but she had 
driven the Moors out of Granada, and had gained brilliant victories in 
Italy, the battle ground of western Europe. Henry drove a hard 
bargain by which he secured for his heir a substantial marriage portion 
of 200,000 crowns, half of which was to be paid immediately after the 
ceremony. He boasted with justice that by his alliances he had 
built a wall of brass around his kingdom. Arthur, however, died less 
than six months after his marriage, and before the second half of the 
marriage portion had been paid. Henry was determined not to give 
it up, and since his own wife had died recently, he even proposed to 
marry his daughter-in-law himself. At another time he entertained a 
project of marrying her sister, the crazy Joanna, whose mental condi- 
tion made no difference to him, for she was heiress to the vast and rich 
Spanish dominions. Joanna subsequently fell to Philip, the son of 
Maximilian, and eventually Catharine was betrothed to Henry's 



THE BEGINNING OF THE TUDOR ABSOLUTISM 283 

second son, the future Henry VIII. A papal dispensation was ob- 
tained for this purpose, since it was against the law of the Church 
for a man to marry his deceased brother's widow. The marriage did 
not take place until six months after the younger Henry's accession. 
These matrimonial schemes of the old King are of a piece with the 
increasing sordidness of the later years of his rule ; after the death of 
his wife Elizabeth and his best councilors, he became more and more 
despotic and more and more greedy. 

The Transition from the Medieval to the Modern World. — Never- 
theless, England owes a deep debt of gratitude to this thrifty and 
sagacious ruler, in a period of transition when she was leaving the 
medieval and entering the modern world. New tendencies were in 
the making, but the rags of the old had not been altogether discarded. 
These diverse characteristics are manifest both in the King and his age. 
Henry, plain, businesslike, and unheroic, absorbed in amassing 
treasure and avoiding war, was the direct contrast of the medieval 
knight ; but on the other hand, he chose Churchmen for councilors, 
went on pilgrimages, and founded religious houses with true medieval 
piety. He gave John Cabot a patent to search for a northwest pas- 
sage, but he contributed to a papal crusade against the Turks. He 
negotiated free trade treaties, but he also enacted a law against usury. 
English ships began to make their way to the New World, but it was not 
till the reign of Henry's granddaughter that England became a great 
sea power. Certain men, known as the " Oxford Reformers," began 
to teach the New Learning which had flourished in Italy for over a 
century ; but its effect was not realized in the separation of England 
from Rome till the time of Henry VIII. The old fighting nobility 
had been crushed, but the new nobility of wealth had not yet risen. 
In international affairs a new policy — balance of power — was just 
emerging ; but it had not yet developed into a fixed principle. 

State of the Country. Agriculture. — It is easy to exaggerate the 
misery as it is easy to exaggerate the prosperity of the laboring classes 
of the fifteenth century. Agriculture, once the basis of England's 
livelihood, was certainly in a backward state. No improved methods 
were introduced from the time of the Peasant Revolt till after the 
Reformation. The soil was exhausted, for draining and fertilizing 
were little practiced, and artificial grass and clover were unknown. 
Hop growing, later so profitable, was not general until after the Ref- 
ormation. 1 

Cattle could not be kept over the winter to any extent ; for turnips, 
later used for fodder, had not yet been introduced. Oxen were still 
used as draft animals ; they were cheaper than horses to feed, and 
their flesh could be eaten when they were killed. 

1 Though according to a familiar couplet : 

"Turkies, hops, reformation, and beer 
Came into England all in one year." 



284 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

Causes for Lack of Agricultural Progress. — Many things contrib- 
uted to retard the progress of agriculture. Owing to the scarcity of 
labor, caused by the Black Death and other plagues, the great land- 
owners had ceased to take a personal interest in the cultivation of their 
estates and leased them to tenant farmers. Then the wars, foreign 
and civil, had further drained the population and discouraged and 
unsettled the surviving cultivators. Also, the monasteries, which had 
once taken the lead in clearing the wastes, building roads, and improv- 
ing tillage, had fallen off in wealth and energy. The increasing bare- 
ness of the soil, the scarcity of labor, and the growing demand for wool 
turned a steadily increasing number to sheep raising. Both common 
pastures and tenant holdings were enclosed for grazing lands. As 
sheep raising became more and more profitable, more and more farms 
were taken. This caused great hardship as the population began to 
recover again. Great outcry was made, and laws were passed to check 
the practice, — e.g. in 1436, 1463, and 1488, — but without avail, 
and a chaplain of Henry VIII complained that " where hath been many 
houses and churches to the honour of God, now you shall find nothing 
but shepe-cotes and stables to the ruin of man." Nor did enactments 
to encourage the exportation of corn so as to raise the price (1436), 
and to prevent import until the cost was so high as to cause hardship 
(1463), materially help the situation. It was not until decades later, 
after the laborers, driven from the soil, had found a new occupation in 
manufacturing and a new demand arose for food to supply them, that 
agricultural prosperity revived. 

Condition of the Agricultural Laborer. The Dark Side. — The 
condition of the lower classes would seem insupportable now. Their 
homes were mere hovels with walls of clay and reeds, with floors of 
mud strewn with rushes. Fires were built in a cleared space in the 
middle of the floor, and the smoke escaped through the door or a hole 
in the roof after half choking the occupants. It is small wonder that 
even women left these " dark, cheerless, and unhealthy dwellings " to 
seek company and diversion in the neighboring alehouse. Tea, 
coffee, and wheaten bread were luxuries yet undreamed of. We are 
told, however, that meat, beer, house rent, and fuel were cheap, and 
foreigners were struck by the quantities of meat consumed by the 
English. But they saw only the tables of the gentry, the city folk, 
and the inns. The remote rural classes seem to have lived largely 
on peas, beans, and suchlike food in summer, while the salt meat and 
fish consumed in winter, together with bad air, lack of drainage, and 
stagnant water, were fruitful sources of all manner of ills, such as 
scurvy, scrofula, and typhoid. The lot of the poorer classes in towns 
was just as bad. The plague still continued its ravages l ; infant 

1 A new form of disease, known as the sweating sickness, came in in 1485, brought, 
it is supposed, by the invading troops of Henry VII. It was marked by alternate 
chills and fever and profuse perspiration, and its action was so rapid that the 
patient either died or recovered within twenty-four hours. Unlike the plague, it 



THE BEGINNING OF THE TUDOR ABSOLUTISM 285 

mortality was appalling, and it has been estimated that " as large a 
number of persons now live to seventy years as lived to forty " in 
the year 1500. Each little community still lived, for the most part, 
isolated and self-sufficing, making its own clothes and providing its 
own food. Roads were foul and miry during a greater part of the year, 
and infested by thieves. Bridges were few and badly kept, and those 
who controlled river commerce were opposed to their increase. This 
lack of means of communication accounts for many of the famines 
and was another cause for retarding the progress of agriculture. No 
one cared to raise a surplus which could not easily be transported for 
sale. 

The Brighter Features. — Yet there are some rays of light in the 
prevailing darkness. Even the lower classes were better off than 
they had been in the previous century, and better off than their neigh- 
bors in France. ' The monks were easy landlords who seldom pressed 
for their rent from poor tenants, and sometimes even remitted it alto- 
gether in the hard seasons, and a number of the lay landlords seem 
to have followed the monastic example. The small farmers or yeomen 
were reasonably prosperous. One such was the father of Hugh Lati- 
mer, a famous bishop and preacher of the Reformation period. He 
was able to keep arms and armor and a horse for the king's service, to 
send his children to school, to dispense hospitality, and even to give 
alms to the poor. Moreover, there was a chance for peasants to rise 
from their lowly station by avenues other than the Church. For 
instance, a son of Clement Paston, a small freeholder, some say a 
bondman, who rode his horse barebacked to the mill and drove his 
own cart to market, rose to be a judge of Common Pleas. Indeed, 
the family went on growing in wealth and prosperity till they attained 
the earldom of Yarmouth in the seventeenth century. Owing to a grow- 
ing jealousy of prosperous leaseholders, the franchise was, in 1430, 
restricted to the forty shilling freeholders, while, in 1463 and 1482, 
Statutes of Apparel were passed in order to check extravagance and 
pretentiousness among the lower classes. Still, the laborer's lot was, 
on the whole, a hard one. He might have a piece of ground to till and 
a share in a common pasture while the rich were not so far above him 
as now ; but, what with irregular work, poor food, unhealthy homes, 
wars, riot, famine, and pestilence, he was ever so much worse off than 
i he would be to-day. 

The Nobles. — The nobility lived in barbarous state and rude 
magnificence with huge bands of household men. The Earl of War- 
wick, for example, had six hundred liveried servants in his train, 
I and the flesh of six entire oxen was sometimes consumed at a 
, single meal. Visitors, always welcome, often carried off meat from 
the table. The Duke of Buckingham, who had rentals in seventeen 
counties, frequently entertained more than two hundred guests at 

attacked chiefly the wealthier, well-fed classes. It is no longer heard of, at least 
under that name, after the next reign. 



286 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

breakfast or dinner. When a nobleman passed through a parish, 
bells were rung, caps were doffed in reverence ; indeed, even in great 
towns, burghers and journeymen flocked to see them as they stalked 
or rode along the streets. We hear of one clothed in a scarlet robe 
twelve yards wide with sleeves trimmed with costly fur hanging to the 
ground, which were held up by servants to prevent their dragging 
through the mud and filth. The leading nobles kept courts like 
princes, with " great idle routs" to wait upon them, to fight for them, 
and to provide pastime. Yet most of them had been living from hand 
to mouth for a long time on the produce of their estates and their 
plunder from war. Their silks, satins, furs, jewels, and plate repre- 
sented an immense but unproductive capital. They were often hard 
put to it for ready money, and borrowed in all directions. When 
t hey could not longer carry their debts, their fine things were scattered 
and sold. The Tudors cut down their retinues and excluded them 
from their council, but the advent of peace and new conditions made 
their decline inevitable. Constant war, which no longer yielded 
plunder, had contributed, with their pageantry, their magnificent dress, 
and their enormous households, to cripple their "resources. Living 
isolated on their country estates, they rarely possessed sufficient 
knowledge or training to participate in public business. In conse- 
quence, with no wars to occupy them any longer, they devoted 
themselves to dress, cards, and dice, and steadily declined, not only 
in wealth, but in character and physical vigor. A new age was 
dawning in the later fifteenth century. Wealth increased, though 
in uneven distribution ; while the agricultural laborers were badly off 
and the nobility were going to the wall, other classes were rising — 
the landed gentry, the commercial, and the industrial. 

The Middle Class. — The middle classes grew steadily better off, 
and many a yeoman and merchant became a landed gentleman. A 
new aristocracy arose — of energy and skill, of material prosperity. 
Possessed of lands and fine raiment, the new men were hard to dis- 
tinguish from the old whom in a measure they were supplanting. 
" Sometime, afar men might lords know by their array from other folk, 
now a man might stand or muse a long throw which is which." The 
rich merchant princes kept houses of great magnificence. William 
Cominges, who had once entertained Edward IV at Bristol, had tiled 
floors, bay windows of richly stained glass, embroidered hangings, 
and stores of plate and glass. There was, however, more pomp and 
show than real comfort. Great houses had rarely more than two 
or three beds, and bare benches and window seats generally did duty 
for chairs. The most significant fact, however, was what all these 
signs of wealth indicated. As a result of a great industrial revolution 
a new class was coming to be a power in politics and society.' 

Distribution of Population and Industry. — The total population of 
England at the end of the fifteenth century has been estimated at 
2,500,000, not much .over a third of present-day London. The pro- 



. THE BEGINNING OF THE TUDOR ABSOLUTISM 287 

portion of urban to rural was about one to twelve, although perhaps a 
fifth were engaged in industrial pursuits. In spite of a steady influx of 
laborers to the towns, London did not in all likelihood contain over 
50,000 inhabitants, and there were probably not ten communities 
larger than a small modern country town, with an average population 
of less than 10,000. Bristol ranked second to the capital in wealth 
and importance. Middlesex, in which London was situated, was the 
richest county ; Oxford was second, owing to its productive pasture 
lands ; Norfolk, from its manufactures and its trade with Flanders, 
ranked third. The poorest communities were in the north, though 
the west Riding of Yorkshire, as a wool-producing district, was forging 
ahead. 

The Gilds and Their Decline. — England's chief industry was the 
raising of wool and its manufacture into cloth. Cloth making was 
still mainly in the hands of the gilds, who, moreover, had come to 
furnish their own materials, formerly provided by the monasteries and 
landlords acting as capitalists. With their royal or municipal charters 
these gilds still had a practical monopoly of trade and industry. Em- 
ployed since the time of Edward I as agents in regulating the economic 
activities of the land, they had done much to keep up the standard 
of work and to prevent unfair competition ; but various indications 
show that they were on the decline. They became entangled in fre- 
quent and acute struggles with the municipal organizations, where 
the two were not identical. They were accused by the journeymen 
of oppression, of extravagance and pageantry and feasting, and they 
stifled even healthy competition. Henry VII, therefore, sought to 
check the evils involved in the overgreat powers which they exer- 
cised. In 1503 an act was passed preventing them from making any 
new laws or ordinances concerning prices of wares until they had been 
approved of by the Lord Chancellor or other royal officials. Thus a 
check was imposed on the very bodies employed as agents of the 
Crown. More than this, the whole gild system was on the eve of 
downfall. Old medieval combinations everywhere were giving place 
to new ones ; the New Learning and the Reformation which fol- 
lowed in its train were to dissolve old traditions ; and the gild system 
I was destined to go the way of feudal survivals, the monasteries, and 
the universal Papacy. 

The Domestic System. — In the case of the gilds, however, the 
most particular cause for their downfall was the fact that their organi- 
zation was too narrow and exclusive to meet the needs of the widening 
markets. So merchants began to send wool to farmers and villagers 
I to be worked up into cloth. The " domestic system," as it was 
I called, began to be employed in the fifteenth century, grew steadily 
through the two following, and only gave way to the factory system 
in the eighteenth and nineteenth. The domestic system had the two- 
fold advantage of more adequately supplying the growing demand 
for cloth, and of opening a new field of occupation for the agricultural 



288 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

laborers and small farmers, suffering from the substitution of sheep 
raising for tillage. 

Money Lending and Coinage. — The growth of English capital 
was still handicapped by the survival of the medieval notion that all 
lending at interest was usurious and wrong. So late as the third 
year of Henry VII an act was passed which declared " usurious bar- 
gains " to be null and void, and provided that the lenders should be 
heavily fined, and then still further punished for their soul's good by 
the Church authorities. This reign, on the other hand, marks the 
beginning of modern coinage. The shilling, formerly a measure of 
value, first appeared as a real silver coin. The gold sovereign, too, 
dates from this time, and the head of the King began to be a genuine 
likeness. Business, both commerical and financial, was, by the close 
of the reign of Henry VII, in the hands of Englishmen. Edward I 
had expelled the Jews, and Edward III had ruined his Lombard and 
Tuscan creditors. Foreign trade, nevertheless, remained chiefly 
in the hands of German, Flemish, Spanish, French, and Italian mer- 
chants all through the Yorkist period. Under Henry VII, however, 
native merchants largely superseded foreigners, while even aliens 
who had once been welcomed to teach continental handicrafts were 
jealously excluded. 

Trade and Commerce. "Mercantilism." — The fifteenth-century 
sovereigns continued to regulate commerce, though with an object 
quite different from that of their predecessors. The new policy, while 
it did not originate with him, was most effectively and extensively 
carried out by Henry VII. The aim of Edward III had been, in 
general, to encourage the foreigner in the interests of the consumer 
at the expense of native producers and merchants. Under Richard II 
the policy was initiated of building up native trade and industry, of 
developing English shipping, and of accumulating treasure in the 
realm by excess of exports over imports. This often meant higher 
prices to the consumer. Money, however, came to be regarded as 
the sole source of wealth, and English control of commerce and indus- 
try as a matter of prime importance. If concessions were from time 
to time made to foreigners, it was only to secure some reciprocal advan- 
tage. The new policy — money is wealth, sell more than you buy to 
preserve a " balance of trade " and so bring treasure into the realm, 
develop resources at the expense of cheapness, aim at power rather 
than plenty — was called " mercantilism," and resembles the modern 
doctrine of protection. 

Measures to encourage English Shipping, Richard II to Henry VIII. 
— The Navigation Act of Richard II was followed by another in 1463, 
limited, however, to three years. At the opening of the reign of Henry 
VII there was great complaint of the decay of English shipping and 
the lack of employment of English mariners. In consequence, the 
King took effective measures. He offered bounties for large ships, he 
prohibited foreigners exporting wool to the Netherlands, and, in 1489, 



THE BEGINNING OF THE TUDOR ABSOLUTISM 289 

passed an act that wines and woad from Gascony must be imported 
in English ships, manned by English sailors. While he enforced these 
provisions, they became practically non-operative under Henry VIII 
through licenses of exemption. Toward the close of the reign, how- 
ever, a new Navigation Act was passed (1540) for the " maintenance 
of the English shipping." 

Measures for protecting English Manufactures. — As early as the 
reigns of Edward IV and Richard measures were taken for the pro- 
tection of textile industries and of hardware goods, harnesses, and 
saddlery. Henry VII carried on the same policy, and strove to en- 
courage the manufacture of wool and to develop English capital by 
discouraging the importation of luxuries and the export of gold. His 
Chancellor Morton directed Parliament to set the people on " works 
and handicrafts " in order " that the realm might subsist of itself " and 
so stop the draining of " our treasure for manufactures." And, in the 
nineteenth year of the reign, an act was passed prohibiting the import 
of silks wrought in forms that the English were beginning to manufac- 
ture. The English Merchants of the Staple still exported a large 
amount of raw wool ; but English artisans were not only supplying 
most of the home demand for cloth, but furnishing a large amount for 
markets abroad. The cloth export was largely in the hands of the 
Merchant Adventurers, who, during the sixteenth century, gradually 
came to supplant the Staplers, as the export of wool declined and that 
of cloth increased. 

The Intercursus Magnus, 1496. — While efforts were thus made to 
encourage English shipping and manufactures, commerical treaties 
were made with various foreign countries, with France, Prussia, Den- 
mark, Castile, Portugal, and the Mediterranean cities. The most 
important of them all was concluded with the Netherlands in 1496. 
By the " Great Intercourse " the merchants of the respective coun- 
tries were to have the unrestricted right of buying and selling at rates 
of duty which had prevailed when intercourse was freest. Rights of 
fishing were to be free as well. Each country was to aid the other 
against pirates and not to harbor each other's rebels. Ten years 
later, Philip of Burgundy, on his way to Castile, was blown ashore on 
the coast of Dorset by violent winds. He visited the English King at 
Windsor, on which occasion Henry secured large concessions for the 
sale of English woolens in Philip's dominions. On the revolt of the 
Netherlands and the sack of Antwerp, London became the greatest 
trading center in the western world. 

England and the New World. The Cabots. — The capture of 
Constantinople by the Turks, which resulted in the blocking of the 
overland trade routes to India and China, led to the search for an 
ocean route to those regions, a search which resulted in the discovery of 
America, and, ultimately, in the supremacy of the Atlantic seaboard 
states over the Italian cities of the Mediterranean. Among the 
former, England did not take an assured position till the reign of 



2 go A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

Elizabeth, and her supremacy as a World Power was not established till 
the eighteenth century. None of the medieval explorers were Eng- 
lishmen. Norsemen, Spaniards, Portuguese, Dutch, and French had 
all won distinction before England entered the field. Christopher 
Columbus, however, sent his brother Bartholomew to lay his project 
before Henry VII, but he was captured by pirates and retarded by 
other reverses, so that when he at length presented himself before the 
King, although he obtained a favorable hearing, it was too late. But 
Henry, 5 March, 1495, issued a patent to John Cabot and his three 
sons, Venetians residing in Bristol, to sail forth in search of a north- 
west passage, and for the discovery and annexation of heathen lands. 
In May, 1497, they started on their first voyage. Sailing north so 
far that they found " monstrous great lumps of ice swimming in the 
sea and continual daylight," they reached what was probably the coast 
of Labrador, and brought home " three islanders dressed in skins," 
whom they presented to the King. They made two or three subse- 
quent voyages, exploring the coast southward, possibly as far as 
Florida. In the early years of the sixteenth century English ships 
went in increasing numbers to the fishing grounds off Newfoundland. 
Such were the beginnings of England's share in the discovery of the 
north continent of America, a continent which she was afterwards to 
dominate. 

The Literature of the Fifteenth Century. — The transitional char- 
acter of the age is manifest in the literature and learning. The foreign 
wars, the domestic turmoil, and the absorption of the best minds in 
material pursuits were unfavorable to literary or scholarly productive- 
ness. Chaucer was the model throughout the fifteenth century ; not 
only, however, were his imitators — chief among them John Lydgate 
(1372-1451) — men of infinitely lesser gifts, but they chose to fashion 
their work after his earlier French and medieval rather than his 
maturer and more distinctively English form. The " one great oasis " 
in this period so dry and barren of literary creation is Sir Thomas 
Malory's Morte d' Arthur, finished in 1470. It relates the glorious 
and stirring adventures of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round 
Table in simple but mobile and graphic language. Scholars value it 
as one of the earliest examples of worthy English prose, while the 
stories which it preserves have been a source of delight for those who 
prize beautiful lessons of knightly courtesy and daring. Sir John 
Fortescue (1394-1476), Chief Justice of the King's Bench, an adherent 
of the Lancastrians who afterwards made his peace with Edward IV, 
wrote various works on the constitution and laws of England. Sir 
Thomas Littleton (1402-1481), author of the famous Tenures, ranks 
among the half dozen greatest legal authorities that England has 
produced. 

Caxton and the Introduction of Printing into England, 1476. — The 
English language and literature are immeasurably indebted to William 
Caxton, who, by introducing the art of printing into England in 1476, 






THE BEGINNING OF THE TUDOR ABSOLUTISM 291 

first brought books within easy reach of the common man. Even so 
early as the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries a primitive form of print- 
ing had been in use. Letters were cut on a block of wood, inked, and 
stamped on paper ; but it was only with the invention of movable 
type that the real revolution began. The inventor was probably 
John Gutenberg (1400-1481) of Mainz, who seems to have printed 
his first book about the middle of the century. Caxton, who spent 
many years in Flanders, learned the art at Cologne, practiced it at 
Bruges, and brought it thence to his native land. Besides printing 
proclamations and other works of immediate use he busied himself 
as an editor and translator. He printed all the important English 
poetry of the preceding century, the works of Chaucer, Gower, and 
Lydgate, as well as chronicles and tales, with some editorial care, and 
rendered selected classical works into English. His influence sup- 
plemented Chaucer's, in helping to make the dialect of London the 
literary language of all England and by reducing it to print gave it not 
only extent of circulation, but also permanence. 

Education. — During the fifteenth century a number of new col- 
leges were added both at Oxford and at Cambridge. From the time 
of the Black Death, however, to the age of Henry VII the universi- 
ties were on the decline. This has been attributed to various reasons : 
to the shrinkage in agricultural profits by which they were supported ; 
to the fact that the medieval scholastic philosophy was worn out ; 
and that since the failure of the Lollard movement there had been 
no other vivifying influence ; to the papal custom of filling English 
church offices with Italians, which turned English students from 
theology to the more promising field of law ; and, finally, to the 
Wars of the Roses, so disturbing to leisurely, scholarly speculation. 
With restoration of peace and prosperity, a change came, the influence 
of the Renascence began to make itself felt, and before the close of 
the century we find in the so-called " Oxford reformers " a group of 
famous scholars perhaps unequaled in the history of the University 
before or since. 

Death and Estimate of Henry VII, 1509. — Henry VII died 21 
April, 1509, at the age of fifty-two. Unusually intelligent from his 
boyhood, he was carefully educated in spite of the rough times in 
which he grew to manhood, while his exile gave him a schooling of 
another sort. He was called " the Solomon of England," and was 
regarded as one of the wisest princes of his time. While strong and 
graceful and handsome, he is described as " reverend and like a 
Churchman " in appearance. He called to his councils plain able 
men and none of the ostentatious, swaggering nobility. Determined 
to rule rather than to be ruled, he had no court favorites. He kept 
his hand on everything, sought information from every quarter, and 
made careful notes of all sorts of business, " especially touching per- 
sons : as whom to employ, whom to reward, whom to enquire of, whom 
to beware of, . . . what were the factions and the like." He was 



292 



A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 



pious, free from arrogance, but not over-refined (according to modern 
standards). If he was unheroic, calculating, and greedy, he answered 
the needs of the age, he put an end to discord, he raised England to a 
high place in the councils of Europe, he furthered shipping, com- 
merce, and industry, and handed on to his son, not only a great treas- 
ure, but a rich heritage of popularity as well. 

FOR ADDITIONAL READING 

Narrative. H. A. L. Fisher, Political History of England, 1 485-1 547 (1906), chs. 
I-IV; a scholarly work, brilliantly written. A. D. Innes, England under the Tudors 
(1905) chs. I— III. Cambridge Modem History (1903), ch. XIV. This cooperative 
work in 14 vols, contains a number of chapters on England. There are annotated 
bibliographies in Fisher, pp. 484-496, and Innes, pp. 446-456, and there is in the 
Cambridge Modem History a list of authorities without comments, pp. 770-772. 

Legal and constitutional. Maitland, English Constitutional History, period II. 
Taylor, II, bk. IV, ch. II. Taswell-Langmead, ch. X. Maitland, English Law and 
the Renaissance (1901). Henry Hallam, English Constitutional History (3 vols., 
1855), I, ch. I; dry and to some degree out of date, but still indispensable for the 
period from 1485 to 1760. 

Biography. Francis Bacon, History of the Reign of Henry VII (1621, in Spedding 
and Ellis' edition of Bacon's works, vol. VI, 1861). James Gairdner, Henry VII 
(1889) ; a good brief account. 

Conditions, social, industrial, and intellectual. Traill, Social England, II, chs. VII, 
VIII. W. Denton, Life in the Fifteenth Century (1888). Alice S. Green, Town Life 
in the Fifteenth Century (2 vols., 1894). A. Abram, English Life and Manners in the 
Middle Ages (1913). Fisher, ch. VI, "The Dawn of the English Renaissance"; 
Innes, ch. IV. Vickers, Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, chs. IX, X, "The Italian 
Renaissance in England" and "The Revolution in English Scholarship." Creigh- 
ton, "The Early Renaissance in England," in Historical Lectures, pp. 188-212. 
F. A. Gasquet, The Eve of the Reformation in England (1899) from the Roman Catho- 
lic standpoint. Stubbs, Lectures on Medieval and Modem History; two scholarly 
and brilliant lectures, XV, XVI, on "The Reign of Henry VII." F. Seebohm, 
The Oxford Reformers (1877). Cunningham, English Industry and Commerce, I, bk. 
V. Prothero, English Farming, ch. III. 

The Church. Wakeman, chs. VIII, IX, X ; Capes, chs. XI-XVII. 

Selections from the sources. Adams and Stephens, nos. 134-140. 



THE HOUSE OF TUDOR 
Henry VII, 1485-1509 = Elizabeth of York, 



great-great-grandson 
of John of Gaunt, by 
his mother, Margaret 
Beaufort 



Arthur, 
d. 1502 



Henry VIII, 
IS09-IS47 



Mary, 
1553-1558 



Elizabeth, 
1 5 58- 1 603 



Margaret, 
m. James IV 
of Scotland 



Edward VI, 
I547-IS53 



daughter of 
Edward IV 



Mary = (1) Louis XII of France, 
d. 1515 
(2) Charles Brandon, 
Duke of Suffolk 



THE BEGINNING OF THE TUDOR ABSOLUTISM 293 

KINGS OF SCOTLAND, 1370-1603 

Robert II, 13 70- 1390 

I 

Robert III, 1390-1406 Robert, Duke of Albany, 

I d. 1420 

James I = Jane Beaufort 
1406-1437 I 

James II, 1437-1460 

I 
James III, 1460-1488 

I 
(1) James IV = Margaret Tudor = Earl of Angus 
1488-1513 I 

James V, Margaret = Earl of Lenox 

1513-1542 I 

I J J 

Mary, Queen of Scots ■= Lord Damley, Charles, 

1542-1567 f murdered 1567 Earl of Lenox 

I I 

James VI of Scotland Arabella Stuart 

and I of England 
1567-1625 



CHAPTER XIX 

THE FIRST YEARS OF HENRY VIII (1509-1529) AND THE EVE OF 
THE SEPARATION FROM ROME 

The Beginning of a New Reign, 1509. — Henry, eighth of the name, 
became King of England, 22 April, 1509. The new reign began with 
the happiest prospects. Crabbed age had made way to youthful 
ardor and enthusiasm ; for the new ruler was barely eighteen. Enter- 
ing into the reward of his father's labors, he found a full treasury, a 
secure title, and a body of subjects attached to the Crown 'from self- 
interest, and he enjoyed as well a personal popularity, based on ad- 
miration and affection. He soon exhausted the treasure which he 
inherited ; but without an independent revenue, without a standing 
army, and without openly violating constitutional forms, he was able 
to work his will, to wrench the Church of England free from the juris- 
diction of the Pope, to set himself up as ecclesiastical head, and to 
end his days as an absolute king. But many years were to elapse 
before Henry's subjects were to realize what a masterful man he was. 
At first he appeared to be only a big, athletic, pleasure-seeking boy, 
intent on softening the rigors of his father's government. Thus, he 
issued a general pardon, excepting only a few; he released many 
Crown debtors ; and he had Empson and Dudley imprisoned and 
beheaded. In the case of the two latter, however, he disclosed a 
foretaste of his future methods. They were disposed of on a charge 
of treason, an offense of which, in spite of their manifold oppression, 
they were innocent. 

The Personal Qualities of the New King. — The young Henry 
was described as the handsomest prince in Europe, and was vain of 
his looks too. He was tall, strong, and well-proportioned ; his eyes 
were gray, his hair and beard auburn, and his complexion fair and 
ruddy. Altogether, in his youth he was a striking contrast to the 
huge, bloated figure of mature manhood. He excelled in strength 
and skill in the use of the long bow, in wrestling, in tennis, and in 
tilting, and in hunting he could tire eight or ten horses in a day. 
Like most of his line he was both accomplished and learned. Not 
only did he keep a band of musicians constantly about the court, but 
he performed excellently himself on the organ, the lute, and the 
harpsichord, and even tried his hand as a composer. His anthem, 
" O Lord, the maker of all thyng," is still rendered in English churches. 

294 



THE FIRST YEARS OF HENRY VIII 295 

He spoke Latin, French, and Spanish, and understood Italian, and, 
according to the testimony of his tutor, had a " remarkable docility 
for mathematics." Theology, too, was a subject to which he gave 
much attention. In 1 521, he published a book against Luther, The 
Defense of the Seven Sacraments. It was this work that earned for 
English sovereigns the title " Defender of the Faith," a title which 
they still bear. Others may have had a hand in the Defense and in 
his other compositions ; but there is little doubt that he thought for 
himself and expressed his ideas with terseness and vigor. After mak- 
ing all discounts for inevitable exaggeration in the contemporary 
accounts of his beauty and talents, the admiration and hope which he 
inspired in Englishmen and foreigners alike must rest on some founda- 
tion. " Love for the King," wrote the Venetian ambassador in the 
early years of the reign, " is universal with all who see him, for his 
Highness does not seem a person of this world, but one descended from 
heaven." The heavens might " laugh," the " earth exult," and all 
things be full of mirth at his coming, yet more and more the mailed 
fist was to appear from under the velvet glove. In 15 13 he caused 
the Earl of Suffolk, an enemy of the Tudor house, to be executed, and, 
in 1 52 1, the Duke of Buckingham, a possible claimant to the throne. 
But these are scattered instances of later ruthlessness. " If a lion 
knew his own strength," said More, destined to be a victim of royal 
policy, ." hard were it for any man to hold him." Until his passions 
and his political ambitions called forth that strength, Henry occupied 
himself mainly with masks and revels, fine clothes, dancing and 
music, hunting and birding, and the excitement of war and diplomacy. 
Foreign Affairs. Henry enters the Holy League, 151 1. — The cool 
and cautious policy of Henry VII had only just begun to recover for 
England the foreign prestige which she had lost amid the disasters 
that followed the death of Henry V. At the beginning of the reign of 
Henry VIII the leading continental sovereigns were all men of years 
and experience. Ferdinand, King of Aragon, Regent of Castile, and 
King of Naples and Sicily, was fifty-seven ; Maximilian, Emperor of 
the Germans (1493-1519) was fifty ; Louis XII, King of France (1498- 
1515) was forty-seven; and the warlike Pope Julius II (1503-1513) 
was sixty-six. Henry made his appearance in European politics by 
joining, in 1511, the Holy League formed by Julius for the purpose of 
expelling the French King from Italy, where he had obtained a danger- 
ous ascendancy. Ferdinand, the astutest l of the papal allies, deter- 
mined to use the high-spirited and ambitious Henry for his own de- 
signs. So, when in May, 151 2, an English force was sent under the 
Marquis of Dorset to cooperate with a Spanish force in an attack on 
Guyenne, he sent no contingents, but instead profited by the diversion 
against the French to conquer the little kingdom of Navarre, which 
.he had long coveted. Thus deserted, Dorset's expedition, badly 

1 Once accused of cheating a brother sovereign twice; he cried, "He lies! I 
cheated him three times." 



2g6 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

equipped at best, returned home in August, having accomplished 
nothing. This dismal failure was partially counterbalanced by the 
gallant and brilliant work of the English fleet under Lord Admiral 
Howard, who, however, lost his life, the following spring, in a foolhardy 

attack on Brest. 

Henry's Successes in Flanders. Defeat of the Scots at Flodden, 
lS i 3 . — Henry, anxious to restore the English prestige by a memo- 
rable victory, led in person a large army across to Calais in 1513. Pro- 
ceeding with all the pomp and magnificence of a royal progress, he 
overcame the French forces, 16 August, at Guinegate in an engage- 
ment known as the " Battle of the Spurs " from the panic of the 
enemies' horsemen. He followed up his victory by the capture of 
two fortified towns, Therouanne and Tournay. Before the fall of 
the latter the English at home had won a great victory on the north 
In spite of the marriage between James IV and Margaret, the Scotch 
had clung to the French alliance. Moreover, Margaret was at odds 
with her brother over some jewels which she claimed for her dowry, 
while border forays, together with the summary chastisement of some 
Scotch pirates, fomented the ill-feeling. So, taking advantage of 
Henry's absence, the Scotch King yielded to the entreaties of Louis XII 
and led an army across the border in August. Queen Catharine 
promptly hurried levies to the threatened district and placed the 
Earl of Surrey, a veteran of nearly seventy, in command. On 9 Sep- 
tember 1 513, he overcame the invaders at Flodden, the last great 
border 'battle in English history. James fell, " riddled with arrows 
and gashed with bows and bills." The Scottish nobility and gentry 
who perished are commemorated in the beautiful song, " The Flowers 
of the Forest." . 

Henry turns from Ferdinand to France. — Before his return in 
October, 1513, Henry concluded a treaty with Ferdinand and Maxi- 
milian for a joint invasion of France the following year. _ Yet all the 
while they were busy making their own terms with their professed 
enemy Louis. When Henry discovered the treachery of his allies, 
he declared that he saw no faith in the world, and, in August, 1514, 
made a treaty of his own with France, an alliance which he confirmed 
two months later by marrying his young and beautiful sister to the 
elderly and gouty Louis. The French King, however, died the fol- 
lowing January, whereupon Mary secretly married Charles Brandon, 
the Duke of Suffolk, who was sent to bring her home. It was a love 
match on both sides ; for Suffolk was a vigorous and valiant knight. 
Henry, angry for the moment, forgave them in the end, and later 
devised the throne, in case of the death of his own children without 
issue, to the heirs of his favorite sister. 

The Rise of Thomas Wolsey (i475?-i53<>). — The triumph of 
Henry's arms and diplomacy at this time was due chiefly to one re- 
markable man, Thomas Wolsey, who was destined for over a decade 
to shape England's policy abroad, and to be the leading figure in 



THE FIRST YEARS OF HENRY VIII 297 

Church and State at home. The son of a wool merchant or grazier ' 
of Ipswich, he was educated for the Church. In 1506 he entered the 
royal service in which his extraordinary talents and industry brought 
him rapidly to the front. He was admitted to the Council in 151 1, 
and to him fell the work of organizing and equipping the expeditions 
of 1512-1513; likewise, it was he who negotiated the peace and the 
French marriage of 1 5 14. All sorts of offices and honors were showered 
upon him. In 15 14 he was made Archbishop of York, in 151 5 Car- 
dinal and Lord Chancellor, and in 15 18 papal legate a latere. But 
these were only the most important of the many positions, ecclesias- 
tical and secular, which he held. His income was enormous and came 
from manifold sources; he received, for example, revenues from 
France, Spain, and the Emperor, all of whom sought his favor. He 
built Hampton Court Palace and York House ; he founded Cardinal's 
College (later Christ Church) at Oxford, and projected a grammar 
school for boys at Ipswich. 

His Pomp and Dominating Influence. — He was described as the 
" proudest prelate that ever breathed," and he lived in magnificent 
state. He had a household of five hundred men, including noble- 
men, gentlemen, " singing men," clerks, and grooms. His servants 
were attired in rich crimson livery. It was necessary to pass through 
eight rooms, all hung with gorgeous tapestries, to reach his audience 
chamber. He kept a bountiful table for rich and poor alike and 
dispensed charity at his gates. Great noblemen waited on him at 
royal feasts, and on great occasions when he said mass brought water 
to wash his hands. When he walked out, two crosses of silver were 
borne before him by two of the " tallest and comeliest priests in the 
realm." During the period of his ascendancy only one Parliament 
was held, and Henry gave him a free hand in all matters domestic 
and foreign. He was regarded as king by the ambassadors of the time, 
carrying himself so high that they preferred to neglect Henry rather 
than the Cardinal, lest he should resent the precedence accorded to 
his sovereign. He was certainly " lofty and sour to them that loved 
him not." Once, at least, he laid violent hands on a papal nuncio ; 
at another time he confined the Imperial ambassador to his house 
and intercepted all his correspondence, while, besides, he used the 
power of the State against his own countrymen who aroused his 
jealousy. One can readily understand that he was " feared by all, 
loved by few or by none at all." Although he did somewhat reform 
the Church by suppressing a few of the smaller monasteries, his aim 
was primarily to get money for his educational foundations. Indeed, 
his own life was quite the opposite of that of a truly spiritual pastor. 
He was lax in visiting his dioceses, though he once applied for a general 
legatine power for that purpose ; he did not preach ; he rarely said 
mass; and he was a pluralist to an extent unusual even for those 

1 Not of a butcher, as was once believed. 



2g8 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

times He was interested in the New Learning which was making 
its way into England ; but his engrossing occupations prevented him 
from taking a very active part in its promotion. If he was mild in 
his treatment of those who opposed the teachings of the ancient 
Church his attitude was due to contempt and indifference rather than 
to any 'deeply grounded principles of toleration. Yet he had great 
and preeminent qualities. He was thoroughly devoted to his master s 
interests, he was just, except where his personal enemies were con- 
cerned and a good friend to the poor, among whom he enjoyed a 
repute'" seven times more than if he were Pope." His learning and 
abilities were vast and his industry prodigious. As an administrator 
he was most effective, and as a diplomat he played a leading role. 
His ambition was to be the arbitrator of Christendom But his suc- 
cess in this field can best be estimated after a survey of the events in 
which he was concerned. . 

Wolsey's Treaty of Universal Peace, 1518. —Louis XII was suc- 
ceeded by Francis I, a brilliant and ambitious, but dissipated and un- 
scrupulous young man of twenty. Having an hereditary claim on 
Milan, he was bent on the conquest of northern Italy, and m Sep- 
tember ISIS, he gained a decisive victory at Mangnano. This vic- 
tory aroused the jealousy of the English, who likewise resented French 
aid to the anti-English party in Scotland. Without breaking openly 
with France, Wolsey sent subsidies to the Emperor to pay Swiss 
mercenaries in checking Francis. But Maximilian failed to accom- 
plish anything, while the English designs were revealed. Suddenly, 
5f Tanuary 156, the veteran intriguer Ferdinand died, and the crown 
^ ipain passld'to his grandson Charts, ruler of the Netherlands 
and prospective heir to the Hapsburg dominions. Since France lay 
between the Netherlands and Spain, Charles found it necessary to 
court her alliance until he secured his power and deve oped his re- 
sources But, in 1 518, Wolsey succeeded in including England, * ranee, 
Spain, the Empire, and the Papacy in a treaty of universal peace 
The contracting powers agreed to undertake a crusade against the 
Turkish Sultan Selim I, who had annexed Syria, Palestine, and Egypt , 
the English restored Tournay in return for a large sum ; and the 
French consented to detain Albany, who had been declared Regent and 
heir to the throne of Scotland by the party opposed to Margaret. 
The treaty seemed a great triumph, and London, where it was con- 
cluded, was regarded for the moment as the center of European 
diplomacy. The permanent result on the balance of power however 
was almost nothing. No crusade was undertaken, Albany was 
destined to cause trouble in Scotland for years to come while 
an event soon occurred which set the three great Powers by the 



ears 



The Struggle for the Imperial Crown. The Election of Charles, 
lS io. - On 19 January, 1519, the gay, needy, and erratic old adven- 
turer Emperor Maximilian, died. Francis set himself up as a can- 



THE FIRST YEARS OF HENRY VIII 299 

didate and showered gold upon the electors. Henry, too, made his 
bid. The prize, however, went to Charles of Spain, who was elected, 
28 June, 1 5 19. Henry, who as a mere boy had been drawn into the 
whirl of European politics to match his wits and strength against 
veterans, was now, at twenty-eight, the Nestor of the three monarchs 
who had in their hands the destinies of European Christendom. 
The Emperor-elect was a youth of nineteen, cold, reserved, sickly, 
at once irresolute and obstinate, the champion of the Church. The 
vast dominions which he ruled and his claim to his recently acquired 
office, long a perquisite of the Hapsburgs, had come to him through 
a succession of notable marriages. In 1477 his grandfather Maxi- 
milian, then heir to the Austrian possessions, had married Mary, 
daughter of Charles the Bold, from whom she inherited the Nether- 
lands and a claim on Burgundy. Philip the Fair, son of Maximilian 
and Mary, married the mad Joanna of Castile, heiress to the Spanish 
lands of Ferdinand and Isabella and to claims on Naples and Sicily. 
Charles was born of the marriage of Philip and Joanna. In addition 
to his great inheritance his recent election placed him at the head of 
the mass of states which made up the German Empire, and gave him 
a claim on Milan as a fief of that Empire. 

The Rivalry of Charles and Francis. — The kingdom of Francis, 
if smaller, was more compact, while the German portion of Charles' 
Empire was greatly weakened by the opposition of such leading states 
as Saxony, Brandenburg, and Hesse, who took the side of the great 
Protestant reformer, Martin Luther, partly on religious grounds, 
partly because they wished to make themselves independent of Im- 
perial as well as papal control. For over a quarter of a century Charles 
V and Francis I struggled for the balance of power in western Europe. 
At first, various reasons inclined England to support the Emperor. 
As ruler of the Netherlands he controlled the chief market for Eng- 
lish wool ; then he was the nephew of Catharine, consort of Henry VIII, 

; who retained for some years an influence over her husband, and, finally, 
because Charles had a voice in swaying papal elections. Wolsey was 
anxious to be Pope, possibly as a means of reforming the existing Church 
system, but more especially to strengthen the hands of himself and 

! his master in foreign affairs. 

Henry and Wolsey ally with the Emperor, 1520. — The universal 

i peace sworn at London was still nominally in force, and Francis was 
anxious to cement it, so far as England and France were concerned, 
by a personal interview with Henry. The two Kings met, 7 June, 
1520, in a valley between Guisnes and Ardres, not far from Calais, the 
celebrated Field of Cloth of Gold. It was a final outburst of medieval 
splendor. The buildings, the costumes, and everything connected 
with the meeting were superb. For nearly three weeks the two mon- 
archs and their wives held interviews, feasts, jousts, and attended 
solemn masses. But no substantial result followed. Late in May, 
before crossing the Channel, Henry had received a visit from Charles V 



3 oo A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

on his way from Spain to Flanders, and at Canterbury the two sover- 
eigns arranged a treaty of alliance which was concluded in later inter- 
views at Gravelines and Calais, after the magnificent fooling at the 
Field of Cloth of Gold was over. When the inevitable war broke out 
between Francis and Charles, England was on the side of the Emperor. 
Wolsey's idea was to crush France, but did he not foresee that an all- 
powerful Emperor would be as dangerous to the balance of power as 
an all-powerful King of France ? The events of the next years were 
to show. 

Just a week after England had bound herself to the Imperial cause, 
Leo X died, December, 1521. In spite of promises which the Emperor 
had made at Canterbury, the Cardinals chose, not Wolsey, but Charles' 
old tutor, Adrian of Utrecht, " a homely Flemish monk," well-meaning, 
but frail in health, narrow-minded, and wholly unfit for the position. 
Even after this Charles visited Henry again in June, 1522, in conse- 
quence of which visit Surrey, the eldest son o'f the victor at Flodden, 
was sent to ravage the French coast. The only result was a further 
drain on English men and money and increased loss and suffering for 
the French peasantry. 

The Parliament of 1523. — Need of supply forced Henry for the 
first time in eight years to call a Parliament. It met 15 April with 
Sir Thomas More as Speaker. Wolsey appeared and demanded sub- 
sidies amounting to £800,000 to be levied by an assessment of 4s. in 
the pound on every man's land and goods. The demand was stoutly 
resisted. Wolsey determined to visit them again and to harangue 
them on their duties. After some discussion, More recommended 
that he be admitted " in all his pomp, with his maces, his pillars, his 
poleaxes, his crosses, his hat, and his great seal too." The members, 
however, refused to debate in his presence. Upon the Cardinal's 
remonstrating, the Speaker, on his knees, explained that it was against 
the custom of the House to debate before strangers, and Wolsey had 
to leave in confusion. At length about half of the sum asked for was 
voted. With this partial grant supplemented by a tax from the 
clergy, Henry and Wolsey undertook to carry out a scheme arranged 
with the Emperor and the Duke of Bourbon, Constable of France, for 
the dismemberment of the kingdom of Francis. Charles was to re- 
cover Burgundy, Henry the title of King of France and the old Eng- 
lish possessions across the Channel, while Bourbon was to be rewarded 
with certain of the southern provinces. An English expedition was 
sent out under the Duke of Suffolk in the late summer of 1523, but it 
failed to accomplish anything, because the Emperor, opposing Henry's 
plan of campaign, failed to furnish the requisite support. Moreover, 
when the death of Adrian VI, 14 September, left the Papacy vacant, 
Charles again played Wolsey false by throwing the weight of his in- 
fluence to secure the election of Giulio de Medici, cousin of the late 
Leo X, a reserved, irresolute man whom he thought would do his 
bidding. 






THE FIRST YEARS OF HENRY VIII 301 

The Emperor Triumphant. The "Amicable Loan," 1525. — The 

new Pope, however, who took the name of Clement VII, formed a 
league with Francis I, with Venice and other Italian states, to drive 
the Emperor, who had recently recovered Milan, out of northern 
Italy. It was always the papal policy to combine against the domi- 
nant power in the peninsula. The Imperial army was too strong for 
him; 24 February, 1525, they defeated the French while they were 
besieging Pavia, and took Francis prisoner. In spite of recent re- 
buffs, Henry at once prepared to join the Emperor in dismembering 
the realms of the vanquished. In order to supply the necessary funds, 
Wolsey devised a loan of a sixth from lay and a fourth from ecclesias- 
tical property. The " amicable loan," as it was called, was in reality 
a tax ; for it was assessed by royal commissioners, and men were to 
be forced to pay. Resistance was stubborn and widespread. " There 
was sore grudging and murmuring among the people " of Kent, where 
one squire declared, " if people should give their goods by a commis- 
sion, then it would be worse than the taxes of France, and England 
should be bond, not free." In the eastern counties opposition was 
even more bitter. The weavers of Suffolk rose in arms, and when 
the Duke of Norfolk asked who was their captain, one elderly man 
replied : " Forsooth his name is Poverty, for he and his cousin Neces- 
sity have brought us to this doing." On promising submission and 
asking for mercy they were pardoned. In London, where a benevo- 
lence was demanded in place of the loan, the Lord Mayor declared that 
it would cost him his life if he agreed to such a grant. In the face of 
such manifestations from his subjects, Henry, with true Tudor in- 
sight, gave way. Wolsey, who had only acted by his master's com- 
mand, bore the brunt of the unpopularity. 

England withdraws from the European War, 1525. The Preparation 
for the Separation from Rome. — In August a truce was arranged 
with France, and it was nearly twenty years before another English 
army crossed the Channel. This change of policy was due partly 
to failure to obtain supplies, partly to prevent the now triumphant 
Emperor from " climbing any higher." He had taken the French 
King prisoner to Madrid, and by a treaty, concluded 14 January, 1526, 
agreed to release him only on condition that Francis surrender Bur- 
gundy and withdraw from Italy. Encouraged by the attitude of 
England, Francis, once he was free, repudiated the treaty of Madrid 
on the ground that its terms had been extorted from him by com- 
pulsion. Clement VII then formed with him and various of the 
Italian states a new Holy League, 22 May, 1526. Charles' response 
was to send, May, 1527, an Imperial army under Bourbon into Italy, 
which seized and sacked Rome and besieged the Pope in the Castle of 
St. Angelo. These events were to exert a profound influence on the 
course of English history ; for Henry was just on the point of seeking 
papal aid in obtaining a divorce from Catharine of Aragon. Since' 
she was aunt of Charles V, the timid and shifty Clement VII, even 



3 o2 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

had he wished, was in no position to grant the request of the English 
King while he was cooped up a prisoner by an Imperial army. 1 he 
result was that Henry, after futile efforts to gain his point by negotia- 
tion threw off the papal authority and made himself head oi the 
English Church. Yet, while his motives were personal and political, 
he would have been unable to accomplish his purpose if he had not 
found himself in a peculiarly strong position, and if the nation had 
not been in a measure prepared for the change. He was strong in 
the weakness of barons and the Church, and in the support of the 
middle class who dominated the Commons, and whose material in- 
terests were dependent on royal favor. Moreover, many forces were 
working against the old ecclesiastical order. For one thing a new 
intellectual spirit was making its way into the country, bound in the 
long run to shake the basis of an authoritative tradition. Also, there 
was much in the existing Church system open to attack: its vast 
possessions, its burdensome taxation, and the extensive jurisdiction 
which it exercised. While the mass of the common people were still 
under the authority of their priests, and had shown no open hostility 
to ancient beliefs and practices, the Lollard tradition had not wholly 
died out, and their social and industrial condition filled them with a 
real if vague discontent. So they were ready, as they had been for a 
century or two, to welcome any change that promised relief. 

The New Learning, or Renascence. — Already in the reign of Henry 
VII the effects of that wonderful intellectual and spiritual movement 
known as the " Renascence " had penetrated into England, the 
word means literally " re-birth," and is applied to the revival of 
classical learning which began in Italy in the fourteenth century and 
reached its height in the sixteenth. All through the Middle Ages 
clerks had studied certain Latin authors l simply as a means of train- 
in^ in language and methods of argumentation, not for any human or 
lit?rar V interest. The men of the Renascence began to study them 
for their own sake, and the Greek authors as well. The movement 
although it had begun more than a century earlier, received a great 
impetus from the capture of Constantinople by the Turks in i 4 53, 
which resulted in driving Greek scholars westward, chiefly to Italy, 
bringing their manuscripts with them and spreading their learning. 
The revival of learning and literature brought with it a new spirit, a 
new attitude toward life. The medieval man, at least m ideal, 
was mainly concerned with things above and beyond this existence, 
with God and his Church, and the hereafter. The prevailing prin- 
ciple was received authority ; the individual was bound by or absorbed 
into one or more great systems, outside of which his thoughts and 
actions had no play. His theology and philosophy were fettered by 
the traditions of the Schoolmen. His religious life was comprehended 
in the universal Church under the headship of the Pope. If a monk, 

1 And Aristotle in Latin translations. 



THE FIRST YEARS OF HENRY VIII 303 

he was bound by the rules of his order ; if he tilled the soil, he was 
enchained by the feudal system ; if an artisan, his industrial activity 
was cramped by the gild organization. The dominant art — church 
building — was a collective, not an individual art. With the Renas- 
cence came a revival of interest in this life, with all its joy and beauty, 
for itself alone. A new ideal, fitly called " humanism," arose. The 
humanists who followed it broke away from the medieval, received 
authority ; they shook themselves free from the once-accepted systems, 
they were impelled by a novel spirit of curiosity, by an irresistible 
impulse to assert their individualism. As time went on this humanism, 
this curiosity, this individualism manifested itself in all fields : in litera- 
ture, in art, in science, in religion. 

Its Manifestations and Achievements. — Boccaccio, Chaucer, and 
those who followed told tales of real men and women. Painters and 
sculptors arose who drew and fashioned beautiful human forms. 
Columbus, Cabot, and Vasco da Gama sought new trade routes to 
enrich the world, and discovered and explored unknown seas and un- 
known lands. Copernicus overthrew the old Ptolemaic astronomy, 
accepted for more than twelve centuries, and made it known that the 
earth was not the center of the universe, but only a member of a vast 
planetary system that revolved about the sun. Finally, the New 
Learning furnished Martin Luther with the means by which he could 
put the papal claims to the test of Scripture as well as of the practices 
of the primitive Church. In Italy, however, the attitude of the New 
Learning to the Church was contemptuous and indifferent rather than 
hostile. The Italian humanists were pagans, unreligious rather than 
irreligious. Moreover, their hands were stayed from attacking the 
existing system because most of them drew their living from ecclesias- 
tical revenues. More than one Pope of the fifteenth century was a 
disciple of the New Learning, and so was Leo X (1513-1517), the Pope 
with whom Luther first came in conflict. Even the great Florentine 
reformer Savonarola struck, not at the Church organization, but at 
its abuses and the men whom he regarded as responsible for them. 
The only attack on the claims of the Church coming out of Italy dur- 
ing this period was that of Lorenzo Valla, directed against the " Forged 
Donation of Constantine " in 1440. 

Its Slow Penetration into England. — In the northern lands the 
interest in the New Learning was primarily religious. This was par- 
ticularly the case in England, where, however, the new movement 
penetrated very slowly. England was far removed from the center 
of things ; it was torn by wars, and its interests were mainly in mate- 
rial progress. Chaucer had visited Italy, and the result was manifest 
in much of his later work. A few of the fifteenth century nobles were 
patrons of the New Learning, chief among them Humphrey of Glouces- 
ter, Henry's unstable and turbulent uncle, who made the first 
considerable contribution of books to the Bodleian Library at Oxford. 
John Tiptoft of Worcester, the " Butcher Earl," traveled and studied 



304 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

in Italy, and "when he was executed, it was said that " the ax at one 
blow cut off more learning than was left in the heads of the surviving 
nobility." Earl Rivers, brother of Elizabeth Woodville, was another 
of the small band. Also, some lesser men went to Italy and an oc- 
casional Italian came to England. On the whole, however, the re- 
sults of the Italian Renascence in England were most scanty before 
the advent of the Tudors. 

The Oxford Reformers. — The real influence began with the Oxford 
Reformers who took up the study of Greek mainly as a means of be- 
coming more closely acquainted with the origins of the Church and 
the sources of the Christian faith. Far back in the thirteenth century 
Grosseteste and Roger Bacon had known Greek ; but the knowledge 
had practically died with them. The first man in this period to re- 
vive it was William Selling, of All Soul's, Oxford, who went to Italy 
and brought back Greek manuscripts. He later became a Benedic- 
tine monk and Prior of Christ Church, Canterbury. Greek lectures 
at Oxford were initiated by William Grocyn (1446-1519). He exer- 
cised a strong influence on the men of his time, though his only written 
remains consist of an epigram on a lady who once threw a snowball 
at him. Grocyn was soon joined by Thomas Linacre (1460- 15 24). 
Inspired by Selling, Linacre journeyed to Italy, studied philosophy at 
the famous Platonic Academy founded by the Medicis at Florence, 
and took the degree of doctor of medicine at Padua. After lecturing 
for a time at Oxford, he became a physician to Henry VIII. He 
translated Galen into English, and helped to found the College of 
Physicians in London. John Colet (1466-1519), the son of a rich 
London merchant, applied himself to study for the purpose of under- 
standing the Bible better. He devoted the whole force of his fervid 
personality to raising the standards of scholarship and life of his time, 
and was unsparing in his denunciation of the worldliness and greed 
of the Church and clergy. When he was later made dean of St. Paul's, 
he set an example of simplicity by wearing a plain black gown instead 
of the gorgeous robes of his predecessors. 

Erasmus (1465-1536). — Erasmus, who visited England for the 
first time in 1498-1499, was unstinted in his praises of the Oxford 
group. This spare, alert little Dutchman became himself the best- 
known scholar of his time. Brought up a monk, he had rebelled 
against the narrow and petty life of his convent and became a wanderer. 
At Paris he accepted the invitation of a young English nobleman to 
visit Oxford, because in his poverty he despaired of ever getting to 
Italy to study Greek. While not strikingly original, or overprofound, 
or exact in his learning, Erasmus exercised a deep and widespread 
influence on the reformation of society, religions, moral and intellec- 
tual. He attacked the monks and he attacked the scholastic theolo- 
gians, whom he measured by the standards of the Bible and of rational 
thinking and learning. He fought for the abolition of glaring abuses 
and superstitious observances, for the limitation of papal power by 



THE FIRST YEARS OF HENRY VIII 305 

general councils, and, above all, he worked for the wider diffusion of 
education. In 151 1 he published his Praise of Folly, a famous satire 
in which he scored the men and tendencies of the age by means of an 
oration delivered by Folly, dressed in her cap and bells, to her fellow 
fools. Later, he contemplated retirement " from a world which is 
everywhere rotten," where " ecclesiastical hypocrites rule in the court 
of princes," where " the Pope and Kings count the people not as men, 
but as cattle in the market." Yet Erasmus was no mere scolder. 
In his way he labored to help dispel the corruption and ignorance at 
which he railed. He wrote a stirring devotional manual, the Enchirid- 
ion Militis Christiani (the manual of a Christian soldier), and he 
prepared an edition of the New Testament in Greek with a Latin 
translation in parallel columns which was used as a source for later 
English and German renderings of the Gospel. Constantly struggling 
against ill health and poverty, vain, sensitive, and prone to flatter 
those from whom he might obtain preferment, he was a curious com- 
bination of boldness in speech and of timidity in action. And his 
attack was aimed rather at abuses in the administration of the Church 
than at the system. Nevertheless, he forged weapons for more un- 
compromising fighters : " He laid the egg of the Reformation and 
Luther hatched it." 

Thomas More (1478-1535). — Doubtless the most charming of the 
Oxford set was Thomas More, whose intense piety was brightened by 
his warm affections, and his cheerful, merry wit. The pupil of Grocyn 
and Linacre and the friend of Colet and Erasmus, he once thought of 
studying for the priesthood, but finally chose the law and public life. 
He served the State on foreign embassies, in Parliament, and as Lord 
Chancellor. While he always courageously opposed absolutism, he 
was for many years a trusted and intimate associate of his sovereign. 
A reformer of lofty ideals, the growth of Protestantism and the radical 
measures accompanying the separation from Rome appalled him, he 
became a persecutor of heretics, and finally lost his life for opposing 
Henry's will. 

His Utopia, 1516. — More's greatest work is his Utopia l which ap- 
peared in Latin in 15 16 and was first published. in an English trans- 
lation thirty-five years later. In the form of a satire it contrasts 
the conditions of the time with those on an imaginary island, an ideal 
commonwealth which, the author pretends, was described to him by 
a sailor whom he met at Antwerp. The evils of contemporary Eng- 
land are exposed with unsparing hand : the poverty of the laboring 
classes, beasts of burden for the idle and luxurious rich ; the licentious- 
ness and greed of those in high places ; the burden of inclosures ; the 
cruelty of the criminal law ; and the readiness of princes to engage 
in war. In Utopia, on the contrary, all goods were in common, and 
every one was obliged to work. Meals were taken in common halls, 

1 Meaning, literally, "no place." 



3 o6 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

though each house was separate, with its own garden and its own 
supply of fresh water. A public system of education was provided 
for all, male and female alike, and work was limited to six hours a 
day to leave time for the study of art, literature, and science. The 
welfare of the community was the aim to which every individual 
must give way. Crime was punished for prevention and reformation 
rather than for retribution. There were to be no wars except for self- 
defense, an ideal not yet realized. The Utopian sovereign was " re- 
movable on mere suspicion of a design to enslave his people." Here, 
'More took a position which he maintained through life ; for he was 
always a loyal supporter of Parliament against royal despotism. 
In his religious views he was not so consistent. Religion in Utopia 
was founded on nature and reason ; the suffering of pain and dis- 
comfort for its own sake was denounced and was only extolled when 
it served the good of the whole. Toleration was provided for every 
form of belief and worship : there was a common public worship in 
which all participated ; but each family was allowed to have its own 
private form as well. This ideal combination of religious unity and 
liberty of conscience, however, proved impossible for a man of More's 
intense nature in the unsettled times which followed. 

English Patrons of the New Learning. — Chief among the patrons 
of the New Learning in high places was Archbishop Warham of 
Canterbury. In spite of his absorption in affairs of Church and 
State his house was freely open to scholars and his purse to the needy 
among them. . He was a special patron of Erasmus, and delightful 
bits of their correspondence survive. When his protege was pining 
on sour beer and unsavory fare at Cambridge, he sent him a purse 
containing fifty angels, 1 expressing, with proper episcopal wit, a wish 
that there might be thirty legions of them. Wolsey, so far as his 
absorbing administrative duties would permit, was interested in the 
new educational movement. Henry, too, showed his zeal for scholar- 
ship by assembling many of the Oxford set about him. Erasmus 
states that his court was an example to Christendom for learning 
and piety, and resembled a museum more than a court. He sought to 
promote instruction. among the clergy and defended the Greek party 
at Oxford against their opponents of the old school known as the 
" Trojans." Nor did he neglect his own studies, employing his 
intervals of leisure in reading and scholastic disputation, which latter, 
according to Erasmus, he conducted " with remarkable courtesy and 
unruffled temper." 

Conservatism of the New Learning in its Early Stages. — As yet, 
however, the New Learning was confined to the small circle at Oxford 
and at court. The attitude of the nobility was doubtless voiced 
by one of its number who declared : "By the body of God I would 
sooner have my son hanged than a bookworm. It is a gentleman's 

1 An angel was a gold coin worth from 6 to 10s. It got its name from the figure of 
the archangel Michael stamped upon it. 



THE FIRST YEARS OF HENRY VIII 307 

calling to be able to blow the horn to hunt and to hawk. He should 
leave learning to the clodhoppers." Moreover, the Oxford Re- 
formers were essentially religious in their interests, and, however 
sharply they might tilt against its abuses, they were all sincerely 
attached to the ancient Church, which they only desired to restore 
to its primitive purity. Nevertheless, they prepared the way for 
the great transformation soon to sweep over the country. Governor 
Berkeley of Virginia, in a report to the Home Government in 1670, 
took occasion to say : " Learning has brought disobedience and heresy 
and sects into the world and printing has divulged them. . . . God 
keep us from both." The studies which the Oxford Reformers 
fostered were bound to produce a critical spirit, to lead to a probing 
of the foundations on which the old established order rested. Henry, 
himself, was the soul of orthodoxy, and, until his purposes were crossed, 
a stanch supporter of the Papacy. He was very pious, hearing mass 
daily even when he hunted ; he was diligent in attending sermons, 
and was generous in almsgiving. One of his chief aims in entering 
the Holy League was to help the Pope, and, besides the title " De- 
fender of the Faith," he received other marks of papal favor, for ex- 
ample, the Golden Rose in 15 10, and the sword and cap of maintenance 
in 1 5 13. Yet signs are not wanting in his earlier years of the attitude 
he was one day to assume. In 151 5, during a discussion concerning 
the respective limits of lay and clerical jurisdiction he declared : 
" Kings of England have never had any superior but God alone. 
Know well, therefore, that we will ever maintain the right of our 
Crown and of our temporal jurisdiction." But it was more than a 
decade after this before the crisis came. 

The Church at the Eve of the Reformation and the Lutheran 
Attack. — The Church still possessed many elements of strength. In 
England it had 30,000 clergymen, 8000 parish churches, and about 
a fifth of the national wealth, and, in spite of their misery and dis- 
content, it still held the masses, partly by sentiment and devotion, 
partly by superstition and force. But among the middle classes 
religious feeling was steadily giving way to material interests, the 
monasteries were on the decline, and the popes of the time were far 
from being true shepherds of their flocks. In 151 7 Martin Luther 
struck the first mortal blow at the dominant system by posting his 
thesis at Wittenberg, in which he denied the papal power of remitting 
sin for money payments. He then proceeded to develop his revolu- 
tionary view of justification by faith, in which he maintained that 
the salvation of the individual depended upon his own attitude to 
God and not on works prescribed by the Church. In 1522 Luther 
completed his translation of the New Testament, and twelve 
years later the whole Bible was given to the German people in their 
native tongue. Luther's work was supplemented by that of Zwingli 
in Switzerland, acting at first independently, and then in opposition 
to the German reformer. Lutheran and Zwinglian tracts were 



3 o8 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

launched into England, though for a long time their effect was slight. 
At first the momentous results of Luther's attack on the Papacy 
were not foreseen. Before this time there had been quarrels between 
kings and popes and they had ended in compromise. Reformers 
like Wiclif and Hus had struck at the Church and had been suppressed. 
Reformers within the Church had risen, such as St. Francis and his 
followers, and, after doing a glorious work, had lapsed into supineness 
and even worse. General councils had failed to capture the papal 
stronghold ; grave abuses still existed and grew ; masses and pardons 
were sold ; saints and images were worshiped by the ignorant ; 
and the clergy, even if the stories of their immorality and vice were 
exaggerated by interested agents of temporal rulers and Protestant 
zealots, were unquestionably lax and worldly. It was just because 
these conditions persisted at the time of the great intellectual revival 
that Luther's and Henry's hands were strengthened. Conditions 
peculiar to each country contributed to the final result : in Germany 
the desire of the leading states to shake themselves free from the 
Emperor, in England the royal absolutism on which the prosperity 
of the most influential class depended. Neither Henry nor Luther 
would have prevailed but for a conjunction of causes which showed 
that the time was ripe for separation. 

The Origin of the Divorce. — It was not till 1527 that the question 
of Henry's divorce, which precipitated the crisis in England, began to 
be openly discussed. In 1503, when Julius II issued the dispensation 
authorizing the Prince's marriage with the widow of his deceased 
brother Arthur, some doubt was expressed as to whether the Pope 
was not exceeding his powers. A little later Henry, at his father's 
instance, protested against a contract which was made for him 
while he was under age, but this was merely a political move to hold 
the door open for an alliance that might prove more advantageous. 
A few months after his accession, the young King married Catharine, 
and, though she was six years older than her husband, they lived 
happily together for many years. From 1510-1518 six or seven 
children were born to them ; but of these only one, the Princess Mary, 
survived. The death of a little son, together with the treachery of 
Ferdinand, may have temporarily inclined Henry to break with 
Catharine. If he ever thought of such a thing he soon gave it up, 
and took no step in that direction till about 1525. By that time 
there was little hope that Catharine would bear any more children. 
Moreover, that date marked his break with Charles, whose relation- 
ship to Henry's Queen had doubtless told in her favor, if Henry had 
cherished any previous thoughts of putting her away. 

Reasons for the Divorce. — The triumph of the imperial arms in 
Italy in 1527 convinced France and England that they could not 
be too closely united. So, as a means of binding the alliance formed 
two years before, proposals were made to marry the Princess Mary 
to a member of the French royal house. According to Henry, queries 



THE FIRST YEARS OF HENRY VIII 309 

raised as to this daughter's legitimacy by the Bishop of Tarbes during 
these negotiations strengthened doubts which he himself had long 
entertained as to the validity of his marriage. Most likely it was 
the need for a male heir which really set the King's thoughts working 
in this direction. During the previous century England had been 
torn asunder by a bloody war of succession, and one pretext for ex- 
cluding the Yorkists had been the fact of their descent through the 
female line. Only once since the Conquest had a woman * claimed 
the crown, and the result had been nineteen years of anarchy. Later 
experience was to show that under the rule of a woman England 
would enjoy a security and achieve glories, equaling if not surpassing, 
those under her greatest kings. From the standpoint of the past, 
however, the prospect seemed hopeless. If a future queen remained 
unmarried, her death without an heir would invite civil war, while 
the same result seemed likely to follow if she married a subject. On 
the other hand, marriage with a foreign prince would drag the country 
into all manner of European wars and might mean absorption into one 
or another of the great continental kingdoms. Another considera- 
tion seems to have weighed heavily with Henry when his thoughts 
came to center upon it. He began to ask himself why the male heir 
so necessary to his dynasty and the State was denied him. Why had 
all his children except a puny girl been taken away from him in their 
infancy? In all else he was so great, so glorious, and so fortunate: 
he was a leader in the councils of Europe ; the champion of the Pope ; 
the Defender of the Faith. Since this great boon alone was withheld, 
he persuaded himself, that it must be because God was pointing a 
warning against the sinfulness of his uncanonical marriage. Such 
was the state of affairs when he fell violently in love with Anne 
Boleyn, a dark-haired, bright-eyed girl who came to court in 1522, 
after having served for three years as maid of honor to the Queen of 
France. Just when he determined to marry her is uncertain. It 
is at least likely that it was after he determined to break with Catharine, 
and that his passion for Anne rather strengthened his determination 
than caused it. 2 

The Opening of the Divorce Proceedings, 1527. — At any rate, in 
May, 1527, Wolsey, after an understanding with the King, summoned 
him to appear before his legatine court to answer to a charge of living 
in pretended marriage with his late brother's wife. It was soon 
evident that Catharine would be very stiff and obstinate, and so the 
case was referred to the Pope for authority. It was feared that if the 
Queen appealed, Clement might reverse the decision, or if he referred 
it to a legate for further inquiry he would not choose Wolsey, once he 
had committed himself to an opinion. For these reasons, Wolsey 

1 Matilda, daughter of Henry I. 

2 There is no evidence for Henry's attachment to Anne before the divorce pro- 
ceedings opened in 1527. He had shown favors to the Boleyn family, but these 
can be explained by an earlier attachment to Anne's sister Mary. 



3io A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

thought it better to act with the papal sanction from the beginning. 
He realized that his very existence depended upon his bringing the 
affair to a successful issue. Yet, while he strove with might and main 
to secure the divorce, his plan was that Henry should marry, not 
Anne, but Renee, the daughter of Louis XII. In August, 1527, while 
he was in France on diplomatic business, the King's " secret matter " 
leaked out. Thereupon, since the Pope was still a prisoner, Wolsey 
made an effort to convoke the College of Cardinals at Avignon, to be 
made temporary president, and thus to settle the case. The cardinals, 
however, refused to fall in with the plan. 

Henry's Application to the Pope, 1527. The Legatine Commission. 
— Meantime in September, Henry, who had determined to marry 
Anne Boleyn, sent, without consulting Wolsey, an agent of his own, 
one Dr. Knight, to procure from the Pope a commission to nullify 
his marriage with Catharine and a dispensation to marry Anne. The 
wily Italian diplomats of the Curia hoodwinked Knight by granting 
a document that proved to be worthless. Henry turned again to 
Wolsey and, in February, 1528, they sent new agents to Rome. Since 
France had for the moment gained the upper hand in Italy, the Pope 
was induced to intrust Wolsey and Cardinal Campeggio with legatine 
powers to try the case in England. Nevertheless, he still feared the 
Emperor, a! 1 had no inclination to declare invalid the act of a pred- 
ecessor. So he instructed Campeggio to try to divert the King from 
his purpose, and, failing in that, to urge the Queen to enter a nunnery. 
Only as a last resort was he to allow the trial to proceed. At the same 
time, Clement sent assurances to Charles V that nothing would be 
done to the detriment of Catharine, and that the whole case would 
finally be referred to Rome. 

The Trial of Queen Catharine, 1529. — Campeggio, delayed by gout, 
probably " diplomatic gout," traveled so slowly that he only arrived 
in England in October, 1528. By that time the Emperor had re- 
covered his supremacy. Henry was so fixed in his determination 
that Campeggio reported that he did not believe that " an angel 
from heaven " would be able to move him. Catharine was equally 
inflexible. She told the legates that she was truly married, that she 
was resolved to live and die in the state of matrimony to which God 
had called her, and that, though she were torn limb from limb, she 
would never alter her opinion. After a winter of negotiations and 
wrangling, during the course of which Henry threatened to join the 
Lutheran sect, Campeggio had to consent to a trial. The court was 
opened at Blackfriars, 31 May, 1529, though the King and Queen were 
not cited to appear till 18 June. Whatever the royal motives or State 
necessities may have been, Catharine's situation was pitiful, and she 
showed the courage of a noble and injured woman. She protested 
against the competence of the court. When it met to consider her 
protest she kneeled at her husband's feet, pleading to him as a poor 
woman and a stranger without friends or good counsel. " She took 



THE FIRST YEARS OF HENRY VIII 311 

God to witness that for twenty years she had been a true, humble, 
and obedient wife," whose marriage had been arranged by two " wise 
and excellent kings," and thought lawful by learned men. She begged 
him to consider her honor, his daughter's, and his own. Though 
Henry raised her up and seemed much touched by her appeal, the 
legates denied her protest, and the case went on without her. On 
23 July, after a series of fruitless sessions, Campeggio, using as a 
pretext the custom of the Roman Curia which did not sit during the 
hot Italian summer, adjourned the hearings till 1 October. By that 
time Clement VII had called the case to Rome, and all hope of securing 
his sanction was passed. 

The Fall of Wolsey, 1529. — Henry now saw that the only way to 
gain his end was to settle the matter in his own courts. Moreover, 
he had for some time determined to take over all power into his own 
hands. So Wolsey — whose splendor eclipsed his own, who had ruled 
as more than king, who had advised the futile appeal to the Pope — 
was sacrificed to the royal wrath and to the new royal policy. He 
fell from his high place amidst the rejoicings of all classes. The 
courtiers were jealous of the man whom the King had delighted to 
honor, and resented the power he held, as well as the way he exercised 
it. The monks were embittered by his attacks on their establish- 
ments, while the secular clergy and the laity grudged tht taxes which 
his public policy involved. The trading classes were soured by his 
recent French alliance, which threatened their trade in the Nether- 
lands. The Londoners expressed the hope that he would be sent to 
the Tower, and the clothiers of Kent even proposed to set him adrift 
in an open boat with holes bored in it. 

His Death, 1530. — Early in October, 1529, the Cardinal was 
charged with praemunire, under the old statutes of 1353 and 1393, 
on the ground that he had exercised legatine powers contrary to law, 
quite regardless of the fact that he had done this not only with the 
King's knowledge and consent but in an attempt to further the royal 
interests. The Great Seal was taken from him and given to Sir 
Thomas More, and Wolsey himself was ordered to retire to Esher, 
a_ manor belonging to the see of Winchester, one of the various 
bishoprics which had been awarded to him during his ascendancy. 
His submission was absolute. He had already given over Hampton 
Court Palace, and now he executed a deed acknowledging himself 
guilty of praemunire, and requesting the King to take over all his 
temporal possessions. When Henry on his departure to Esher sent 
him a gracious message and a gold jeweled ring, he jumped from his 
mule, like a young man " kneeled down in the dirt upon his knees, 
holding up his hands for joy," and tore the laces off his cap to bare 
his head. Offices, lands, practically everything that had once been 
his, were taken from him; a bill of attainder was even introduced 
into Parliament which met in November, 1529, but after passing 
through the Lords was defeated in the Commons. Subsequently 



3 i2 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

the archbishopric of York, together with a small sum of money, was 
restored to him and he was ordered to his diocese to get him out of 
the way. There his hospitality, his devoutness, and his faithful 
discharge of his pastoral duties won him many friends. But early 
in November, 1530, doubtless because of his growing popularity, the 
Cardinal was arrested on a charge of treasonable correspondence 
with the French ambassador, though he had merely sought the latter's 
aid in trying to get Francis I to intercede for him with Henry. On 
his way to London, Wolsey, much broken in health since his disgrace, 
was taken with his final illness, and had to stop at Leicester Abbey. 
" I am come to leave my bones among you," he said to the abbot, and 
there he died on St. Andrew's Eve, 29 November. 

With a small army and navy, solely by his diplomatic skill and a 
not overlarge expenditure of money, he had gained for England a 
leading place in the councils of Europe. It may be questioned 
whether the country was the gainer ; for it took resources and energy 
which might better have been devoted to pressing problems at home 
— the pacification of Ireland, the reduction of Scotland, the care of 
the poor, the reform of the Church, and the diffusion of education. 
Moreover, the Emperor made use of the English hostility to France 
to establish his own supremacy on the Continent. Yet, some time 
before that happened, Wolsey had seen the wisdom of shifting over 
to the side of France, and was prevented by Henry, who in the mean- 
time had come to assert himself, from breaking off the Imperial 
alliance until it was too late. Then came the failure to secure the 
papal sanction to the divorce. Still, in whatever Wolsey accomplished 
and in whatever he failed to accomplish there is no question of his 
devotion to Henry's interests. His last words are the best com- 
mentary on his life work : " If I had served my God," he said as he 
lay dying, " as diligently as I have done the King, He would not have 
given me over in my gray hairs." 



FOR ADDITIONAL READING 

Narrative. Fisher, Political History, chs. VI-XI. Innes, England under the 
Tudors, chs. tf-VII. Cambridge Modern History, II, ch. XIII. (pp. 789-794 for a 
list of authorities). John Lingard, History of England, (1st ed., 1819-1830, reprint 
of 1902, 10 vols.), IV, chs. VI-VIII; the authority on the Reformation from the 
moderate Roman Catholic point of view. J. S. Brewer, The Reign of Henry VIII 
(2 vols., 1884) ; reprinted from his introductions to the Letters and Papers of the Reign 
of Henry VIII. Creighton, Cardinal Wolsey (1888) is a good brief account of this 
part of the reign, but overfavorable to Wolsey. G. Cavendish, Life (written in 
1557, first published in 1815, and available in many editions) is a beautiful tribute 
by a faithful follower. E. L. Taunton, Thomas Wolsey, Legate and Reformer (1902) 
is an estimate mainly of Wolsey's ecclesiastical work from the Roman Catholic 
standpoint. A. F. Pollard, Henry VIII (1905), chs. I- VII; the most recent and 
scholarly biography, rather favorable to Henry. 






THE FIRST YEARS OF HENRY VIII 313 

THE STAFFORDS 

Edmund = Anne, daughter of Thomas, Duke of 
fifth Earl of I Gloucester, fifth son of Edward III 
Stafford 

Humphrey, 
created Duke of Buckingham, 
killed at Northampton, 1460 

Humphrey, 

Earl of Stafford, 

killed at St. Albans, 1455 

I 

Henry, 

Duke of Buckingham, 

beheaded, 1483 

Edward, 

Duke of Buckingham, 

beheaded, 1521 



CHAPTER XX 
HENRY VIII AND THE SEPARATION FROM ROME (1529-1547) 

Thomas Cranmer (1489-1556). — Although Henry appointed More 
Chancellor and called the Dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk to office, 
he now made use of .two new men as his chief councilors. One was 
Thomas Cranmer, a young Cambridge divine who gained the royal 
ear by an opinion, expressed in the summer of 1529, that the question 
of the validity of the marriage be submitted to the learned men of 
the universities of Europe, and that, if they decided against it, the 
case might be settled in the King's own courts. Cranmer was taken 
into the royal service and rose to be Archbishop of Canterbury. To 
him we owe the lofty and beautiful language of the Book of Common 
Prayer, and he had a large share in shaping the articles of faith for 
the Church of England. He was a gentle, holy, and scholarly man, 
but he was too timid and cautious to fill the duties of his high office 
with vigor and independence, especially under a master so self-willed 
as Henry VIII. 

Thomas Cromwell (i48s?-i54o). — The other was Thomas Crom- 
well, who for ten years acted as Henry's right-hand man, and sug- 
gested most of the fertile expedients for increasing the royal power 
and swelling the royal revenue. The son, it is said, of a Putney 
blacksmith, Cromwell was born about 1485, and as a youth was forced 
to leave England under a cloud. After spending his early years as 
a soldier and trader in Italy and Flanders, he returned to his native 
land, where he set up as a scrivener 1 and merchant. Wolsey, recogniz- 
ing his ability, made him his secretary and chief agent in suppressing 
the smaller monasteries. He amply repaid the Cardinal's trust by 
his effective efforts in securing the defeat of the bill of attainder in 
1529. This devotion to his fallen master really advanced his own 
interests, for Henry shrewdly concluded that such faithfulness would 
be invaluable in the royal service. Really, Cromwell had been 
fighting to save himself; he had been the Cardinal's main instru- 
ment in the matters charged against him, and so stood a chance of 
sharing in his master's punishment. Cromwell advised the King to 
settle the divorce in his own courts by another means than that 
advocated by Cranmer ; namely, by discarding the authority of the 
Pope and declaring himself supreme head of the Church of England. 
Adopting the views of Machiavelli's Prince, the new councilor 

1 A combination of lawyer and money lender. 
3i4 



THE SEPARATION FROM ROME 315 

argued that it should be the aim of the State to execute the will of the 
ruler. Henry ultimately went to the lengths which he advised. 
Cromwell rose steadily : he was made a member of the Council, royal 
secretary, and, at length, Vicegerent in ecclesiastical affairs. He 
possessed all the qualities requisite for the work intrusted to him. 
He was affable and witty, he had a wide knowledge of men and affairs, 
extraordinary business skill, and was thoroughly unscrupulous. 
While he took the extreme Protestant side, apparently he had no real 
religious feeling, for he left money in his will for masses for his soul 
and died professing himself a true Catholic. Indispensable as he was 
to the King, he maintained his position only by extreme servility and 
patience under insult. " The King," it is recorded in one period 
of his career, " beknaveth him twice a week and sometimes knocketh 
him about the pate," yet he would " come out into the great chamber 
. . . with as merry a countenance as though he might rule all the 
roost." Only great rewards and unusual buoyancy could withstand 
such abuse. 

The Reformation Parliament, 1529-1536. — By way of reply to 
the papal revocation of the divorce suit to Rome, Henry, 9 August, 
1529, summoned a Parliament to meet, 3 November. Clement VII, 
by citing the King of England to appear in Italy which was under 
Imperial domination, played into the hands of his opponent, since 
he thereby aroused English national sentiment. By calling Parlia- 
ment Henry " opened the floodgates of antipapal and antisacerdotal 
sentiment which Wolsey had kept shut." Combining force and 
management, he carried through a series of measures which, beginning 
with a design of forcing the Pope's hand, culminated in annihilating 
his authority in England. The manipulation consisted in bringing 
to expression sentiments against clerical privileges and exactions 
which hitherto had not been widely or openly voiced. The work 
of the " Reformation Parliament," extending over seven years, is, 
with one possible exception, the most notable in English history. 
Besides putting Henry in place of the Pope as head of the English 
Church, it increased vastly the royal powers. It decreed the dis- 
solution of the monasteries, which not only greatly augmented the 
royal revenue, but reduced the spiritual party in the House of Lords 
and bound a large class to the Reformation. It deprived the clergy 
of independent powers of legislation in Convocation, and broke the 
power of the bishops by making them practically nominees of_ the 
Crown. Nor was Parliament as subservient as it seems at first sight. 
It indorsed the royal will in legislation against the Church and clergy 
because it suited the interest and inclination of the majority. In 
more than one case, however, especially those touching the pocket 
of the subject, it stood out against the royal dictation. Contrary to 
the policy of Wolsey, Henry and Cromwell made use oi Parliament 
constantly to give their measures an appearance of national sanction. 
Thus, while Parliament appeared to be a mere register of the royal 



3 i6 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

will, it was gaining invaluable experience and accumulating prece- 
dents for an increasing share in public business. The result was seen 
under sovereigns less strong and less popular than Henry VIII. In 
other ways, too, the work of the Reformation Parliament was far- 
reaching in its effects. By handing over the monastic lands to the 
lesser gentry and merchants it fostered a class who, while bound to 
the Tudors by ties of gratitude, would grow to be the destroyers of 
the absolutism of their successors. Furthermore, Henry and his 
Parliament, by breaking the spell of the ancient traditional Church, 
started forces of opposition, which, not content with mere separation 
from Rome, came in the course of a century to assert successfully 
the principle that the Reformation should be moral and religious as 
well as political, and that extremer forms of Protestantism than 
those provided for in the Church established by law should receive 
recognition. 

Parliament storms the Outworks, 1529. — In the very first session, 
probably at the instigation of Henry and Cromwell, a number of 
grievances against the clergy were introduced : against excessive 
mortuaries l ; against extreme charges for the probate of wills 2 ; 
against the custom of employing priests as surveyors and stewards 
to bishops and abbots ; against monasteries that kept tanneries, 
that bought and sold woolen cloth and other merchandise ; against 
clerical non-residence and pluralities. Although the bishops " frowned 
and grunted," and one protested that Parliament sought the " goods 
and not the good of the Church," bills were passed mitigating these 
abuses. • This was the result of an understanding between the King 
and the laity that he would help them against the clergy, if they 
would help him against the Pope. The outworks of the clerical 
position had been successfully stormed. 

The Divorce referred to the Universities, 1530. — Following Cram- 
mer's suggestion, the " King's matter " was referred to the uni- 
versities. The opinions returned had little to do with the merits 
of the case. It required manipulation to secure a scant majority 
at Oxford and Cambridge. Five of the French universities, under 
the influence of Francis, also declared for Henry, while in Italy 
decisions were largely determined by the bribery and influence which 
the respective parties of King and Emperor were able to exert. Spain 
was, of course, for Catharine, and the King gained no ground in Ger- 
many. 

Henry's Persecution of Heretics. — Henry still posed as the 
orthodox Defender of the Faith. Only occasionally, as a means of 
putting pressure on the Pope or Emperor, did he make any advances 
to the Lutherans and other opponents of the old doctrines. From 
1528 to 1532 more than sixty heretics were compelled to abjure, and 
during a period slightly longer, nine were burned and three hanged 

1 Fees claimed by the priest on the death of a parishioner. 

2 The registering and testing of the authenticity of wills. 



THE SEPARATION FROM ROME 317 

in chains. Some were proceeded against for circulating a recent ver- 
sion of the New Testament in English. In 1533 John Frith, a learned 
scholar, suffered at the stake for declaring that belief in purgatory 
and transubstantiation were not necessary to the Christian faith. 

The Restrictions of the Powers of Convocation, 1531, and the 
" Submission of the Clergy," 1532. — Meantime, Henry, who in 
1529 had given the clergy a foretaste of what they might expect, 
proceeded to a more direct attack. At the meeting of Convocation, 
in 1 53 1, he threatened the whole body with the penalties of praemunire 
for having submitted to Wolsey's legatine jurisdiction. As the price 
for pardon from forfeiture and imprisonment they were obliged to 
grant him £118,000, and to acknowledge him as their Supreme Head 
" so far as the law of Christ allows." Even with this qualifying 
clause, the proposal was received gloomily. " Whoever is silent," 
said the Archbishop Warham, " seems to consent." " Then we are 
all silent," was the reply, and the measure was carried. It was 
necessary to make as much capital as possible out of the hostility 
to the clergy ; for the attack on Catharine was unpopular, because 
she was personally loved and because her divorce might involve war 
with Charles. This would mean war taxes and, possibly, the closing 
of Flemish markets to English trade. Nevertheless, the King went 
ahead undaunted, counting much on the Emperor's fear of Francis 
and of his Lutheran subjects as well as on the fact that the Flemings 
were as dependent on England as England was on them. In the 
session of 1532 a petition was introduced into Parliament complain- 
ing of other clerical abuses : their powers of legislation ; the excessive 
fees and the wide jurisdiction of their courts ; and their unjust ad- 
ministration. Again Convocation had to yield, and, by the " sub- 
mission of the clergy," they agreed to make no new laws without 
royal consent, and to submit the existing ecclesiastical laws to a com- 
mittee of clergy and laity for revision. This was too much for Sir 
Thomas More, who resigned the chancellorship the next day. 

Act of Annates, 1532. Henry's Marriage to Anne, 1533. — Also in 
the session of 1532 Parliament passed an act providing that annates 
or first fruits 1 should no longer be paid to the Pope. For the time 
being Henry refrained from enforcing the Act, 2 preferring to hold it 
as a weapon over the Pope's head. On 25 January, 1533, he was 
secretly married to Anne Boleyn, and, in February, he made Cranmer 
Archbishop of Canterbury in succession to Warham, who had died 
the previous August. Henry's aim was to employ the new Primate 
to declare against the validity of his first marriage and for the legal- 
ity of his second. Papal recognition of the appointment, however, 
was necessary in order for the decision to carry weight. By threat- 
ening to withhold annates, Henry secured the requisite bulls. This 
done, he strengthened his hand by two more important enactments. 

1 The first year's revenues of a church living. 2 He ratified it 9 July, 1533. 



318 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

The Act of Appeals. " Divorce " of Catharine, 1533. — By the Act of 

Appeals, Parliament provided that all spiritual cases should be 
finally determined within the King's jurisdiction and not elsewhere, 
and Convocation was forced to declare that Henry's marriage with 
Catharine was against divine law. Thus fortified, Cranmer, in 
a court held in Dunstable, at which Catharine refused to appear, 
pronounced the final sentence which deprived her of her position as 
Queen, 23 April, 1533. Her rival Anne was crowned 1 June. In 
September a child was born, but to the infinite disappointment of 
the King it proved to be a girl. Yet the little Elizabeth, despised 
by her father and pronounced illegitimate by the whole Catholic 
world, grew up to rule England during one of the most glorious epochs 
in her history. The Pope's reply to the marriage and coronation of 
Anne was to draw up a bull of excommunication against the royal 
couple, 1 and at Easter of the following year to issue a formal decision 
that Catharine was Henry's lawful wife and that he should take her back. 
But, some time before, Henry had declared that if the Pope launched 
ten thousand excommunications he would not care a straw for them. 
The Memorable Sessions of 1534. — In the year 1534 Parliament 
held two memorable sessions and passed a series of acts by which the 
authority of the Pope in England was completely abolished and that 
of the King set up in its place. (1) The Act of Annates was confirmed 
and extended. By the new Act, among other things, the election of 
bishops and abbots was virtually vested in the Crown. The deans 
and chapters of cathedrals and the monks of monasteries still went 
through the form ; but as they prayed for guidance, it came to them 
in a royal letter naming the candidate. (2) Another act forbade the 
payment of Peter's Pence and all other pensions and fees to Rome. 
The right of the Pope to issue licenses and dispensations was trans- 
ferred to the Archbishop of Canterbury ; no clerk was to pay any more 
money, nor take any oath to the Bishop of Rome ; and no abbey or 
monastery was to be visited by his authority or his agents. (3) A 
third act confirmed the Submission of the Clergy of 1532, and re- 
affirmed the Act of Appeals by providing that appeals in ecclesiastical 
causes should go from the Church courts to the King in Chancery. 2 
(4) Finally, an Act of Succession settled the succession to the throne 
on the heirs of Henry by Anne Boleyn. It was declared high treason 
to slander their marriage, " by writing, print, deed, or act," and an 
oath was imposed on all subjects to observe the whole contents of 
the Statute upon pain of misprision of treason. 3 Parliament ad- 
journed 30 March. 

1 The excommunication was drawn up 11 July, 1533; it was eventually dated 
August, 1535, and published in December, 1538. A bull of deposition drawn up in 
1535 was never published. 

2 A court known as the High Court of Delegates came to be summoned from 
time to time to deal with special cases of appeal. It was superseded in 1833 by 
the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. 

3 Complicity involving penalties less severe than those visited on the main of- 
fenders. 



THE SEPARATION FROM ROME 319 

Executions under the Act of Succession, 1534. " The Nun of 
Kent." — During the summer, commissioners went about administer- 
ing the oath of succession, and many who withstood the royal will 
paid dearly, even with their lives. Some, however, were put to death 
en other grounds. The first to suffer was Elizabeth Barton, " the 
Nun of Kent "; she was a poor servant girl, who, in 1525, after a 
serious illness, had come suddenly into fame by falling into trances, 
when she saw visions and foretold the future. Crowds flocked to her 
to learn their fate in this life and the life to come. If in her hysterical 
mania she deceived herself and others, she meant to do good, seeking 
to turn those who came to her from worldly to heavenly things. In 
an evil moment she was drawn into the King's affair, and led to 
declare against his treatment of Catharine, and to prophesy his speedy 
death. She was lodged in the Tower, a confession of fraud was ex- 
torted from her, a bill of attainder was drawn up, and 20 April, 1534, 
she and five companions were put to death at Tyburn. 

Imprisonment of More and Fisher. — Among those included in 
the attainder were More and Fisher, the saintly Bishop of Rochester. 
More had had some conversation with the " Nun," though in the end 
he had pronounced her a " false, deceiving hypocrite," yet, while 
he was prepared to accept loyally any constitutional arrangements 
which Henry chose to make as a temporal ruler, he could not bring 
himself to believe that the treatment of Catharine was right, or that 
as a Catholic, he could give his sanction to the renunciation of papal 
authority. Henry was determined not to allow a subject of More's 
position to hold such views, because of the encouragement it might 
offer to others. It would, so he argued, gravely menace the system 
he was constructing so laboriously, and might lead even to civil war 
and foreign invasion. Hence, he made up his mind to cram his policy 
down the ex-Chancellor's throat or to destroy him. For the moment, 
however, after More had been allowed to speak privately in his own 
defense, his name was withdrawn from the bill. Fisher, who had 
accepted the Nun's revelations, though he heard nothing that was 
concealed from the King, was convicted of misprision of treason and 
sentenced to a fine of £300. The next step was to make More and 
Fisher take the oath of succession. Although they were willing to 
accept the line of succession as regulated in the act, they refused the 
oath because it repudiated the primacy of the Pope and involved an 
acknowledgment that the marriage of Henry and Catharine had 
been unlawful from the first and that the Princess Mary was 
illegitimate. For their refusal both were sent to the Tower. 

Proceedings against the Friars and the Carthusian Monks. — 
The royal commissioners for imposing the oath also busied themselves 
silencing preachers, both papal and Lutheran. Partly from terror and 
partly because the bulk of the laity were on the royal side, the King's 
orders were generally obeyed by the secular and some of the regular 
clergy. The only unanimous resistance came from the friars, and 



3 2o A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

17 June, two cartloads were driven to the Tower. The Observants ' 
at Richmond and Greenwich refused flatly to take the oath, which 
offered an excuse for suppressing the Order throughout England. 
Their houses were seized, and such of their members as had not already 
been imprisoned were distributed among various monasteries, loaded 
in chains, and subjected to other harsh treatment. The Bridgettine 
Monks of Sion and the Carthusians in London, whose foundation 
was more familiarly known as the " Charterhouse " were equally 
obstinate. The latter were a little community of devoted men who, 
in the heart of the City, lived in quiet contemplation, and were famed 
for their sanctity and self-denial. While they had not openly opposed 
the divorce, it was only after considerable persuasion and pressure 
that they were induced to take the oath. This gained them only 
a short respite. Their prior, John Houghton, a man of noble birth, 
of refined taste, and rare personal charm, foresaw what was in store 
for them. " Our hour " he told his little band, " is not yet come." 

Henry Supreme Head of the Church in England, 1534- 1535. — 
On 3 November, the Parliament of 1534 reassembled to resume its 
work of completing the separation from Rome, and of transferring 
the control of ecclesiastical affairs from the Pope to the King. First, 
an act was passed declaring Henry " Supreme Head of the Church of 
England," this time without the qualification made by Convocation 
in 1 53 1. A new Treason Act imposed the death penalty on any one 
who called the King a " heretic, schismatic, tyrant, infidel, or usurper " ; 
the Act of Succession was reenforced by defining precisely the terms of 
the accompanying oath ; and an Act of Attainder was drawn up against 
More and Fisher for refusing to take the oath, which had not hitherto 
been framed in statutory form. On 15 January, 1535, the new title 
of Supreme Head was incorporated into the royal title by letter patent. 
Henry was now absolute ruler over Church as well as State in his own 
land. He said that three things especially satisfied him in what had 
been accomplished ; the increase of his revenue, the union of his 
kingdom, and peace of conscience in having thrown off subjection 
to Rome. But all that he had done and acquired only whetted his 
appetite for more. 

The Executions of Houghton, Reynolds, More, and Fisher, 1535. — 
Houghton, together with two other Carthusian priors, and Dr. Rey- 
nolds of the monastery of Sion, who refused a new oath tendered 
them under the Acts of Supremacy and Succession, were executed 
4 May, 1535, with barbarous cruelty. Reynolds was bold enough 
to declare at his trial that " all good men in the kingdom were on his 
side, while many who professed the King's side did so merely from fear 
or hope." Their unflinching courage, and the French King's refusal 
to repudiate the Pope, sealed the fate of More and Fisher. More, 
confronted with the Act of Supremacy, declined to accept or deny it ; 

1 They were the Franciscans of the stricter branch. 



THE SEPARATION FROM ROME 321 

for, he declared, it was like a two-edged sword, " if he said it were 
good, he would imperil his soul, if he said contrary to the Statute, it 
was death to the body." Yet he professed himself a faithful subject : 
" I say no harm, I think no harm ; but I wish everybody good. And 
if this be not enough to keep a man alive ... I long not to live." 
Although Fisher was old and broken in health, the case against him 
was clearer. He had fought Catharine's cause valiantly in the legatine 
court ; he would not accept the Act of Supreme Head ; and, to crown 
all, the new Pope, Paul III, created him a cardinal. When the news 
reached Henry he cried in a burst of wrath : " Let the Pope send him 
a hat when he will ; but I will provide that ... he shall wear it on 
his shoulders; for head he shall have none." Fisher was beheaded, 
22 June, at Tower Hill. Removing his haircloth shirt and donning 
his best apparel as if for a wedding ceremony, he ascended the scaffold 
joyfully: " he spoke to the people boldly, telling them to be loving 
and obedient to the King, who was good by nature, but had been 
deceived in this matter," and said he died contentedly for the honor 
of God and the Holy See. More followed him to the grave 6 July. 
At his last examination he denounced the Act of Supreme Head as 
contrary to the laws of God and the Holy Church, a violation of Magna 
Carta and the coronation oath. When he was reproached by the 
Chancellor for setting up his opinion against that of all the nobles 
and bishops of the realm, he flashed back : "for one bishop of your 
opinion I have a hundred saints for mine, and for one Parliament of 
yours, and God knows what kind, I have all the general councils for 
a thousand years." As he reached the steps of the scaffold he said 
to the lieutenant, " I pray thee see me safely up, and for my coming 
down let me shift for myself." With his dying words he prayed God 
to send the King good counsel. 

The Death of Catharine, 8 January, 1536. — More and Fisher 
died martyrs to their faith, which was grounded on the tradition of 
ages and the universal beliefs of Christendom. In Henry's opinion 
they merited death because they defied his authority, thereby threaten- 
ing the stability of the system he had set up and the unity of his 
kingdom. The executions sent a shock through Catholic Europe and 
put an end to the last hope of a settlement with the Pope. On Crom- 
well's advice Henry sought an alliance with the Lutheran princes 
ranged against the Emperor. It came to nothing, for they would 
only agree on condition that he accept the Augsburg Confession, 1 
whereas Henry, " being a king reckoned somewhat learned," accord- 
ing to his own description of himself, insisted upon settling the faith 
of England in his own way. Notwithstanding, the articles of faith, 
soon to be issued by royal command, show distinct traces of Lutheran 
influence. Ever since her unmerited disgrace Catharine had been 
living in retirement under the title of " Princess Dowager of Wales." 

1 The Lutheran Confession of Faith presented to the Emperor at the Diet of 
Augsburg, 1539. 



322 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

Death finally released the poor Queen from her unhappiness, 8 
January, 1536. It is now believed that she died from cancer of the 
heart, but the event was so welcome to Henry that many have 
suspected that she was poisoned. " God be praised ! " cried the King 
when he heard the news, and the next day he appeared at a ball with 
a white feather in his hat, and clad from head to foot in festive yellow. 
The Condition of the Monasteries on the Eve of their Dissolution. 
— Having made himself supreme head of Church as well as State, 
Henry's next step was to secure resources to maintain his absolutism, 
and by a judicious distribution of bribes to guard against a return 
to the old order. A way was discovered in the dissolution of the mon- 
asteries, which offered the further attraction of crushing a class which 
contained the most determined opponents of the royal policy. These 
were the real reasons for the step, suggested, no doubt, by the resource- 
ful Cromwell, who boasted that he would make his King 'the richest 
prince in Christendom. On 21 January, 1535, he received a com- 
mission as; Vicar-General and Vicegerent to hold a general visitation 
of all the churches and monastic and collegiate bodies in the realm. 
The King and his supporters represented to Parliament that they 
were proceeding against the monasteries because of the " slothful 
and ungodly lives " led by the inmates. This, however, was largely 
a pretext, and the charges brought forward to support it were doubt- 
less greatly exaggerated ; moreover, the manner in which the work 
was carried out cannot be justified. On the other hand, the condition 
of the monasteries was such as to lend at least a color of justice to 
the movement against them. Formerly they had been the pioneers 
in husbandry, felling the forests, draining the marshes, and cultivating 
the waste places, or, in the case of the Cistercians, in sheep raising. 
They had served as inns for travelers, as depositories for articles of 
value ; they had cared for the poor, and had fostered learning and 
education. But they no longer filled the place which they had in the 
past. Their agricultural methods were antiquated, and they no 
longer drew from the capital in their possession the returns which 
might be expected from efficient management. Their method of 
promiscuous giving tended to nourish poverty rather than to check 
it, while their scholastic and educational methods were quite out of 
date. As their influence declined, the merchant and agricultural 
classes began more and more to hunger after their vast wealth. All 
through the fifteenth century their numbers had fallen off steadily. 
From 1399 to 1509 only eight houses of religion and seventy houses 
of learning and charity 1 had been founded. Of twelve hundred 
monasteries established since the introduction of Roman Catholicism 
into England hardly more than half had survived into the reign of 
Henry VIII. Further, religious orders had been subject to inter- 
mittent attacks on the part of the temporal power from a period as 

l I.e., colleges, schools, and hospitals. 



THE SEPARATION FROM ROME 323 

early as the reign of Edward II, when twenty-three preceptories of 
the Knights Templars were destroyed. The pious Henry V, as a blow 
against France, suppressed the alien priories. In 1506, when Bishop 
Foxe of Winchester was thinking of making monastic endowments, 
a brother bishop declared that " the monks have already more than 
they are like to keep," and Wolsey's dissolution of some of the smaller 
monasteries followed not many years after. The extent of the 
monastic wealth was doubtless exaggerated. According to some 
accounts the monks owned at least a quarter of the realm, but more 
sober and reliable estimates put it at about one tenth. 1 

Cromwell's Monastic Visitors, 1535-1536. — In July, 1535, visitors 
appointed by Cromwell began their rounds. Armed with articles 
of inquiry, they hurried from house to house, asking all sorts of ques- 
tions about revenues and debts, about relics, pilgrimages, supersti- 
tions, and immoralities. They were an ambitious, greedy, and un- 
scrupulous set, chiefly concerned with securing the sort of information 
that would suit their purpose. The letters and reports or " comperts " 
which they sent to the Vicegerent seem to have been based upon the 
scantiest as well as the most partial investigation ; for they feared to 
lose any time lest the monks might seize the opportunity to dispose 
of their plate and jewels. By no means all the houses were visited ; 
but enough to frame a case for Parliament. Besides the articles of 
inquiry the visitors carried with them a series of injunctions which 
they were authorized to impose upon the monasteries which they 
visited. Some were obviously designed to destroy the communities 
against which they should be enforced. Monks were not only to 
accept, but to teach royal supremacy and repudiation of papal claims ; 
they were forbidden to leave their grounds and buildings, which 
made the management of their distant estates impossible ; and they 
were ordered to spy on and report their disobedient superiors, thus 
subverting all discipline. Some of the injunctions, however, provided 
for salutary reforms. Victuals were not to be distributed to sturdy 
and idle beggars ; tables were to be " not over sumptuous, and full 
of delicate and strange dishes, but honestly furnished with common 
meats" ; reading and study of the Scriptures was enjoined ; and each 
house was to maintain a monk or two at the universities to better 
prepare him to teach and preach the word of God. 

The Act Suppressing the Smaller Monasteries, 1536. — ■ When 
Parliament met, 4 February, 1536, popular feeling in the City was 
inflamed by means of sermons, caricatures, and pamphlets. Cran- 
mer declared at Paul's Cross that the destruction of the monasteries 
would relieve the people of a great burden of taxation. It is stated 
that " when the enormities were first read in Parliament House they 
were so great and abominable that there was nothing but ' down 
with them,' " and an act was carried suppressing all monastic houses 

1 The total ecclesiastical revenue has been computed at £320,000; of this about 
£150,000 was monastic. 



3 2 4 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

with an income under £200 a year or with less than twelve inmates. 1 
Commissions composed of local gentry, appointed to wind up the 
affairs of the houses denounced by Cromwell's agents, testified to the 
fair character of many. Nevertheless, aside from biased reports 
of the visitors and the charges in contemporary satires and ballads, 
the correspondence of men high in the Church testifies that there was 
much ne.ed of reform. It might have been well, too, for economic 
reasons, to suppress or consolidate the smaller and poorer houses, 
but it seems very strange to have drawn the line between virtue and 
vice at £200 a year or at groups of twelve. There is a story that 
Henry resorted to great pressure to carry the measure, that he sum- 
moned the Commons before him and announced that he would have 
the passage of the bill or some of their heads. In the Upper House 
one speaker referring to the smaller houses said : " These were the 
thorns, but the great abbots were the petrified old oaks and they must 
follow." This prophecy was soon realized. 

In accordance with the Act some 376 monasteries were dissolved. 
A portion of their inmates went into larger houses, others were provided 
with pensions. By paying large sums of money a few houses were 
allowed to continue for a time. As near as can be estimated, about 
2000 monks and nuns were dispossessed, and of servants, farm 
laborers, and others dependent upon them, perhaps four times as 
many more were affected. Aside from lands and buildings, money, 
plate, and jewels, as well as the proceeds of the sale of lead, bells, 
cattle, and furniture, passed into the King's hands. For dealing with 
all this property a special court known as the Court of Augmenta- 
tions was created. The smaller monasteries having been disposed of, 
Oxford and Cambridge were next visited, measures were framed 
against the old learning, and others were adopted to encourage the 
study of Greek and Hebrew. 

The Execution of Anne Boleyn, 1536. — On 14 April, 1536, the 
Reformation Parliament, after nearly seven years of epoch-making 
legislation, was dissolved. Within a month, that " principal nurse of 
all heresies," the woman about which so many of its measures centered, 
had been put to death. Even before the decease of her unhappy 
rival, Anne had begun to lose the King's affection. She was light and 
frivolous, to be sure ; but her worst offenses were her unpopularity and 
her failure to give birth to a male heir. Early in May, charges were 
brought against her so monstrous that Cranmer expressed himself 
as " clean amazed " at them. After condemnation by a body of 
peers summoned by the King her marriage was dissolved by an ecclesi- 

1 Besides the comperts, later writers speak of a famous "Black Book," contain- 
ing the results of the visitors' findings, which was laid before Parliament. Accord- 
ing to the Protestant writers of Elizabeth's reign it was destroyed during the Catho- 
lic reaction under Queen Mary, while historians of the opposite party have insisted 
that it was disposed of earlier, because it contained charges that could not be sub- 
stantiated. There is no good evidence that such a book ever existed. 



THE SEPARATION FROM ROME 325 

astical court presided over by the Archbishop of Canterbury. On 
the 19th, Anne was beheaded. Submissive to the law, accusing no 
one, she met her death cheerfully and courageously. Yet, in spite 
of her melancholy end, she had been so arrogant during her ascendancy 
that few regretted her fate. On that very 19 May, Cranmer issued 
a dispensation permitting the King to marry Jane Seymour. The 
wedding took place on the 30th. A week later a new Parliament 
packed in the King's interest met. Anne's daughter was declared 
illegitimate, and the succession settled upon Henry's issue by his new 
marriage. 

Need for a Doctrinal Settlement. — As yet the King had been too 
much occupied with other business to undertake any doctrinal settle- 
ment. Religious belief was in a state of ferment. An extreme Prot- 
estant wing was forming, favored by leaders like Cranmer and Bishop 
Latimer of Worcester, the greatest preacher of his day. Extremists 
were giving vent to the most extravagant views. One said that 
goods should be in common, another that priests and churches were 
unnecessary, another that the singing the service was but " roaring, 
howling, whining, juggling," while still another declared that it was 
of no more use to pray to the saints than to hurl a stone against the 
wind. These streams, unless they were dammed at once, threatened 
to swell into an irresistible torrent of anarchy. On the other hand, 
the Catholics were raising their heads once more. In June, 1536, 
a book against the King, entitled Liber de Unitate Ecclesia, arrived in 
England. It was written by Reginald Pole, a grandson of the Yorkist 
Duke of Clarence. Once a favorite of Henry's and educated at the 
royal expense, he had broken with him and had taken refuge in Italy, 
where he was busy striving to unite the Catholic powers against his 
former sovereign. 

The Ten Articles " for Establishing Christian Quietness," 1536. — 
Convocation, which met 9 June, 1536, contained two well-defined 
parties, a conservative and a reactionary. With a view to establish- 
ing order, Henry caused a body of articles to be introduced, adopted, 
and imposed on the whole country. Five dealt with matters of faith, 
which, it was stated, were ordained of God, and hence necessary to 
salvation ; five dealt with matters instituted by the Church, which 
were to be observed, though not essential to salvation. In the first 
group were all the things contained in the Bible and the Three Creeds l ; 
together with three of the seven sacraments : baptism, penance, and 
the Holy Eucharist. 2 Confession and the Real Presence were defined 
as essential elements of the two latter, respectively. Luther's doctrine 

1 The three fundamental creeds of the Christian Church were the Apostles', the 
Nicene, and the Athanasian. 

2 A sacrament was defined as an outward and visible sign of an inward and 
spiritual grace. The seven which the Roman Catholic Church had adopted were : 
baptism, confirmation, the eucharist, penance, ordination, marriage, and extreme 
unction. 






326 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

of justification by faith was also included in this first group. Passing 
to the second group, images, though they were not to be worshiped, 
were declared allowable, as " lively aids to faith." Honor and prayers 
to saints were permitted, though they were not to receive the honor 
due to God. Rites and ceremonies, such as the use of holy water, 
vestments, and candles, were continued. Prayers for departed souls 
were also retained as a good and charitable custom ; but the claim of 
the Church of Rome to deliver souls from purgatory was rejected. 
As a supplement to the articles, royal injunctions were issued which 
suppressed pilgrimages, curtailed the excessive number of holy days, 
and forbade the worship of images and relics. Many of the latter 
were destroyed, partly to weaken the hold of the ancient Church over 
superstitious minds, and partly to swell the Crown revenues. Yet 
Henry still aimed to preserve the Catholic faith, merely purged of what 
he regarded as glaring immoralities. He repealed the act of Henry IV, 
de hceretico comburendo, because it gave too much power to the bishops, 
but he reenacted the measures of Richard II and Henry V which made 
heresy an offense at common law. Nor were his recent changes as 
radical as they seemed. Leaders in the Church, Pole, for example, 
accepted justification by faith, while worship of images and pil- 
grimages to shrines had long been discontinued by many devout and 
orthodox men. Moreover, although he borrowed from the Augsburg 
Confession, Henry refused to swallow it whole. 

The Pilgrimage of Grace, and its Causes, 1536. — The recent 
changes, however, produced a serious revolt in the North Country. 
There the people, much under the influence of the priests and nobles, 
clung to the old forms, and their natural hostility to innovations was 
fanned into flame by the dispossessed monks who wandered about, 
pouring complaints into their willing ears. The primary cause of 
the " Pilgrimage of Grace," as it is generally called, was religious; 
but political and social factors contributed to make the rising a com- 
plex and general manifestation of discontent. That is why the move- 
ment was so widespread and why it failed to hold together for any 
length of time. All classes had grievances. The nobles were jealous 
of the leading part played by the commons in the Reformation Parlia- 
ment and of the preference given to " base-born councilors " like 
Cromwell. The country gentry were especially aggrieved at the dis- 
possession of the monks, to whom they were indebted for jovial 
hospitality and for the education of their children. Another grievance 
which the gentry felt with particular keenness was the Statute of 
Uses, just passed. In those days the law did not permit the devising 
of lands by will, and it had been the custom to evade this restriction 
by leaving them to the " use " of another. The statute of 1536 — 
aimed against this practice — worked a great hardship to the land- 
owner, for it prevented him from providing for his younger sons or 
from raising money by mortgages hitherto secured by the use of his 
lands. Other grievances weighed heavily upon the small free- 



THE SEPARATION FROM ROME 327 

holders and leaseholders : statutes against the abuse of enclosures 
were less effectively enforced in the north than elsewhere, while a 
recent enactment removed to Westminster cases which had been 
formerly tried in the northern courts. In an area so generally dis- 
affected it needed only sparks to kindle a flame. These came from 
three commissions which were making their rounds in the late summer 
of 1536. One was collecting the second portion of a subsidy voted in 
1534. Another was enforcing a series of religious injunctions issued 
by Cromwell, and examining the character and competence of the 
parish clergy. The third was supervising the dissolution of the mon- 
asteries. All sorts of rumors were afloat. It was said that Cromwell, 
who was planning the excellent system of parish registers which 
England owes to him, was about to impose a tax on every baptism, 
wedding, and funeral, and even that he meditated the destruction of 
all parish churches. 

The Lincolnshire Rising. — The outbreak occurred at Louth in 
Lincolnshire on Sunday, 1 October. From there the revolt spread ; 
bells were rung, beacon lights were kindled, priests, monks, and com- 
mons joined together, and soon the whole neighboring district was 
in arms. The royal representatives were seized and forced to take 
an oath to be true to the King, Church, and Commonwealth, while 
rich men and knights were made to join the cause by threats of hang- 
ing. The objects of the insurgents were stated in a petition sent to 
the King. It demanded that : (1) Religious houses be restored ; 
(2) the subsidy be remitted ; (3) the clergy pay no more tenths and 
first fruits to the Crown ; (4) the Statute of Uses be repealed ; (5) vil- 
lein blood be removed from the Privy Council ; (6) that the " heretic 
bishops " Cranmer and Latimer should be deprived and punished. 
The chancellor of the Bishop of Lincoln was clubbed to death, and one 
or two men were hanged ; but, on the whole, the rising was astonish- 
ingly free from violence. Within a week, an army of 40,000 assembled 
at Lincoln under a linen banner inscribed with the five wounds of 
Christ, a chalice with the host, a plow, and a horse. At Lincoln 
they received the royal answer to their demands. It was utterly 
uncompromising and scornfully denounced the presumption shown 
by a rude and ignorant people in dictating the policy of the realm. 
Meantime, the inactivity of the rebels, due to unwilling leaders, 
had given the shire levies under the Earl of Shrewsbury and a royal 
army under Suffolk time to assemble. The ill-organized rebel force 
was compelled to disperse. In spite of Henry's bloody orders to the 
contrary, Suffolk was wisely merciful, and the Lincolnshire rising 
cost no more than the lives of forty-six of the leaders. 

The Northern Rising under Robert Aske. — By this time, however, 
the rising had spread to Yorkshire, under the leadership of Robert 
Aske, who had been caught in the toils of the rebellion while passing 
through Lincoln on his way to London. On the King's denial of the 
Lincolnshire petition he fled across the Trent and becam" the heart 






328 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

and soul of .the movement. Cumberland and Westmoreland cast in 
their lot with Yorkshire, and erelong most of the great northern 
families were represented in the insurgent ranks. Aske, whose forces 
had swelled to nearly 40,000 men, took a position a short distance north 
of Doncaster which was held by an army of less than 10,000 under 
the Duke of Norfolk. Realizing the hopelessness of his position, 
Norfolk finally promised a pardon for all and a free Parliament if the 
rebel leader would disband his forces. Henry regarded the conces- 
sion as a humiliating surrender, and when certain rash spirits, in spite 
of the opposition of Aske, started a new rising, he made it a pretext 
for a bloody reprisal. Aske, together with a few of the other rebel 
leaders, was seized and placed in the Tower. Notwithstanding their 
efforts in subduing the recent outbreak, they were tried and con- 
victed of treason. Aske was hanged in chains at York, and many 
more were either hanged or beheaded. One permanent result of the 
Northern Rebellion was the establishment of a new court, " The 
President and Council of the North." Primarily for maintaining 
order in the tumultuous border counties, it gradually absorbed much 
other business and came to be a great engine of oppression. 

The Dissolution of the Larger Monasteries, 1536-1530. — Many 
of the abbots in the disturbed districts were attainted of treason, and 
by a great stretch of the law their houses were suppressed. The pro- 
cess, thus facilitated by the part which the monks took in the rising, 
went on until not a single religious house remained in England. 
Henry had no legal right to the larger monastic houses, especially 
those not involved in the rebellion. So he employed through his 
agents the method of " voluntary surrender." Those heads who 
consented to yield were promised pensions and other rewards, while 
such benefits were withheld from those who proved " wilful and 
obstinate." Thus, chiefly during the years 1538 and 1539, some 
150 monasteries and 50 convents of women were surrendered into 
the royal hands. During the autumn of 1538 and the spring of the 
following year the English friars were destroyed. 1 Parliament in 
1539 dealt the final blow by passing an act vesting in Henry and his 
heirs all the monasteries which had already or should surrender for 
the future. The abbots of Reading, Colchester, and Glastonbury 
were executed for pretended treason. With the surrender of Waltham, 
23 March, 1540, the last of the abbeys fell victim to the royal rapacity 
and the irresistible assertion of supremacy, though the pretext that 
their inmates led " slothful and ungodly lives " was still insisted on. 

The War on Ecclesiastical Frauds and Shrines. — In order to make 
the proceedings acceptable to the people that did not share in the 
spoils, efforts were made to reach out and expose frauds and decep- 
tions. A famous opportunity was found in the " Rood 2 of Grace " at 

1 The leading orders were : the Franciscans, the Dominicans, the Austins, and 
the Carmelites. They had about 200 houses and 1800 members. 

2 A rood is a cross or crucifix. 



THE SEPARATION FROM ROME 329 

Boxley in Kent. It consisted of a figure on a cross which had amazed 
and edified thousands by moving its eyes and lips. It was discovered 
that the miraculous effects were produced by concealed wires. Al- 
though its use had apparently been discontinued for some time, the 
rood was taken up to London and exhibited to the populace. So, 
too, a phial at the abbey of Hailes containing a substance purporting 
to be Christ's blood was found to be only colored gum. A great 
wooden image, called Darvell Gadarn and supposed to possess mar- 
velous powers, was taken from Wales to Smithfield and used to burn 
Friar Forest, a former confessor of Catharine, who had clung to his 
papal beliefs. During the same year in which all this was done, 1538, 
war was waged on shrines, 1 partly to shatter belief in their wonderful 
properties, and partly for the sake of booty. The papal world was 
shocked in proportion to the swelling of the royal coffers by the 
spoliation of the shrine of St. Thomas Becket at Canterbury, whence 
wagon loads of gold, silver, and precious stones and richly embroid- 
ered vestments were carried off, while the bones and relics of the 
Saint were contemptuously burned. 

The Results of the Dissolution of the Monasteries. — It has been 
estimated that over 8000 monks, canons, and friars were dispossessed, 
while at least ten times that number of dependents were affected. 
The annual value of property secured seems to have been from 
£150,000 to £200,000. Of this only about £45,000 was retained by 
the King, the rest was either appropriated for public purposes or 
given or sold to royal supporters. The melting value of the gold and 
silver was probably about £85,000. Altogether, what with proceeds 
of sales and annual revenues, the King secured, exclusive of vestments, 
ecclesiastical furniture, and jewels, close to £1,500,000, an amount equal 
in the present day to almost £15,000,000. Of the property thus 
acquired, some was given in pensions to the dispossessed monks, 
a very small proportion, however, of what had been taken from them ; 
some was devoted to the erection of six new bishoprics, 2 and some 
was applied to coast defenses. But the greater part went to certain 
favored nobles and gentry. In this way some of the best known of 
the present English families — the Russells, Dukes of Bedford, and 
the Cavendishes, Dukes of Devonshire — started on their upward 
road. The purpose and effect of the King's seeming generosity was 
to ensure the permanence of the separation from Rome; for men 
gorged with church plunder would never return to the fold. An- 
other result of the dissolution was to weaken the spiritual power of 
the House of Lords, since the bishops were no longer reenforced by 
abbots and priors. Finally, the economic and social situation was 
profoundly affected. A further impulse to enclosures was given, 

1 A shrine is a tomb above ground containing the bones of a saint or other sacred 
person. At present there are only two in England, one of St. Alban in his cathe- 
dral in that city, one of Edward the Confessor in Westminster Abbey. 

2 Five of which exist to-day. 



33o A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

and the State was forced to give more attention than would have been 
immediately necessary to the subjects of education and poor relief. 
Although the monasteries had outlived their usefulness and had 
ceased to make the best use of their resources, the method employed 
by Henry and his agents to suppress them was marked by great 
cruelty and injustice, and caused much suffering to innocent people. 

The Translation of the Bible into English. — In spite of Henry's 
attachment to old forms, something was done with his sanction 
toward breaking down ecclesiastical exclusiveness by putting the 
Bible and portions of the service into English. In Anglo-Saxon times 
parts of the Scripture had been done into English. Mainly through 
Wiclif's efforts a complete version had appeared toward the end of 
the fourteenth century. The Wiclif Bible, however, failed to meet 
the needs of the Englishmen of Henry VIII s day, and so was not 
reprinted. Its language was scarcely intelligible to the masses; 
it was based on the old Latin Vulgate, 1 and was associated in the minds 
of the authorities with the Lollard heresy. William Tyndale of 
Cambridge was the first to take up the work anew. He began with 
the New Testament, basing his translation on the Greek text of 
Erasmus. Owing to his extreme Protestant views he was obliged 
to leave England in the midst of his work. He wandered about the 
Continent, visited Luther at Wittenberg, and finally brought out his 
translation at Worms in 1525, whence copies were secretly introduced 
into England during the following year. While at work in the Nether- 
lands on the Old Testament, Tyndale was seized by order of Charles 
and strangled and burned as a heretic. In 1536 Cromwell issued 
injunctions that a Bible in Latin or English should be placed in the 
choirs of all parish churches for every one to read. The first version 
to receive authorization was that of Cromwell's friend Miles Cover- 
dale, published at Zurich in 1535. It was a rendering, not from 
original texts, but from German and Latin, and was not well enough 
done to give general satisfaction. Then appeared the so-called 
" Matthews's Bible," 2 which incorporated Tyndale's work so far as 
it was completed, and which was sold with authority. Revised in 
1 538, and commonly known as the" Great Bible," it was first appointed 
to be read in churches and became the standard edition. From the 
fact that Cranmer wrote the prefaces to some of the editions it fre- 
quently bears his name. The placing of the Bible before the people 
in their own tongue had a profound effect. It opened to them a 
wonderful literature expressed in language of unequaled beauty and 
strength, and first enabled them to compare the religion founded by 
Christ and his Apostles with that of their own day. A trace of re- 
action, characteristic of Henry's conservatism, appeared in an act 

1 The Latin version prepared by Jerome in the fourth century and authorized 
by the Church of Rome. 

2 From "Thomas Matthews," who dedicated it to the King; supposed to be 
John Rogers, a Protestant martyr of Mary's reign. 



THE SEPARATION FROM ROME 331 

of Parliament of 1542, which forbade the perusal of the Bible to 
" women, laborers, and uneducated persons." One translation after 
another followed until the celebrated King James version of 161 1, 
which was exclusively used in England till the recent " Revised 
Version " appeared. 1 

The King's Primer, 1545. — The English Book of Common Prayer, 
the authorized form of worship in the Church of England, dates from 
Edward VI ; but portions of the service were translated into English 
in the time of Henry VIII. The old Latin form was not contained 
in a single book : the prayers for the various hours of the day were in 
the Breviary, the order for celebrating mass in the Missal, and other 
services, such as baptism, in the Book of Occasional Offices. Even 
before the Reformation, manuals of private devotion, called " Primers," 
were current in England. With the beginning of the breach with 
Rome these manuals began to multiply. Finally an edition, much 
revised and supplemented, appeared in 1545. It was known as the 
King's Primer, and comprised the Creed, the Ten Commandments, 
the Lord's Prayer, the Collects, the Canticles, and the Litany. 

The Six Articles, 1539. — Yet, while Henry could issue articles 
tinged with Lutheranism, while he could reform or abolish what he 
regarded as abuses in the Romish system, and give his subjects the 
Bible and portions of the service in their native tongue, he was too 
orthodox and conservative to permit any decided departures toward 
Protestantism. The extravagance of the extremists so soon as they 
received the slightest encouragement served to strengthen his an- 
tipathy to innovation. This explains the passage, in 1539, 2 of an act 
for " abolishing diversity of opinion in certain articles concerning 
Christian religion," which marks a decided reaction from the position 
taken in 1536. The act commonly known as " The Six Articles," 
or " The Whip with Six Strings," affirmed that: (1) after consecra- 
tion of the elements in the Holy Eucharist, the bread and wine dis- 
appeared and the body and blood of Christ entered in their place ; 
(2) communion in both kinds was not essential to salvation ; (3) by 
the law of God priests could not marry ; (4) monastic vows must be 
observed ; (5) private masses should be continued, for their godly 
consolation and benefits, and as agreeable to God's law ; (6) auricular 
confession was expedient and should be retained. The penalty for 
denying the first article, i.e. the doctrine of transubstantiation, was 
death by burning with forfeiture of goods. In the case of the other 
five, the penalty for the first offense was forfeiture and imprison- 
ment during the King's pleasure, for the second offense death as a 
felon. 

Birth of Prince Edward, 1537. — In October, 1537, a male heir, 
the future Edward VI, had been born to Henry. Jane Seymour's 

1 The New Testament appeared in 1880, the Old in 1886. 

2 It is reported that in the course of the debate Henry went to the House of Lords 
in person, and "confounded them all with God's learning." 



332 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

death a few weeks later left the King free to marry a new wife. The 
situation was critical, for Charles and Francis were discussing an 
alliance which came to a head the following year in a ten years' truce. 
In order to forestall the combination, the English negotiated with 
each power in turn for a matrimonial alliance. Neither came to any- 
thing, and England was menaced with invasion from without and with 
plots from within. Pole was most active in stirring up the latter, 
and his family suffered the consequences. His elder brother, Lord 
Montague, and his cousin, the Marquis of Exeter, were put to death 
in December, 1538, and his mother, the Countess of Salisbury, 
was disposed of two years later. 

Henry's Marriage to Anne of Cleves, and the Fall of Cromwell, 
1540. — Henry's failure to ally himself either with France or the 
Emperor, induced him to listen to Cromwell, who advocated a Prot- 
estant marriage and a league with the Protestant princes. The bride 
selected was Anne, daughter of the Duke of Cleves. She was a plain, 
meek creature, quite lacking in grace and accomplishments. The 
famous Holbein was dispatched to paint her portrait, and, it is said, 
at a hint from Cromwell produced most flattering results. Moreover, 
the Vicegerent and the courtiers sent to arrange the match were 
lavish in praising her charms. Unhappily for all concerned, Henry 
committed himself on these representations, and the marriage treaty 
was signed 6 October, 1539. Anne came to England, and the King was 
disillusioned at first sight ; " he became very sorrowful and amazed," 
and returned to his palace at Greenwich " very sad and pensive." 
He declared that " if he knew as much then as he knew now, she would 
never have come within the realm," but he saw nothing for it, except 
to go on with the marriage. To make matters worse, nothing came 
of the projected alliance. Cromwell, who had already served his 
turn, paid the penalty with his head. He was arrested 10 June, 1540, 
and a bill of attainder was framed against him. He was charged with 
favoring Protestants, obtaining money by bribery and extortion, and 
usurping royal powers. No doubt all this was true ; but, as in the 
case of Wolsey, his main fault was that, by miscarriage of his policy, 
he had incurred the royal displeasure. He was executed 28 July, 154c 

Henry Divorced from Anne, and Marriage to Catharine Howard, 
1540. — Henry, with his great power and ingenuity, found it easy to 
get rid of Anne. On the strength of various pretexts, chief among 
them the fact that she was precontracted to the Duke of Lorraine's 
son, the obedient Convocation pronounced the marriage null and void. 
Anne was amply provided for, and it was reported in August, the 
month following the divorce, that " she is as joyous as ever and wears 
a new dress every day." Parliament now besought the King " for the 
good of his people to marry again." He chose Catharine Howard, a 
niece of the Duke of Norfolk. Marrying her secretly on the very 
day of Cromwell's execution, he openly acknowledged her as Queen 
a month later. Catharine had a winning countenance, but was ill- 



THE SEPARATION FROM ROME 333 

educated, and of questionable morals. Scarcely more than a year had 
passed when charges of grave misconduct were brought against her. 
She was executed, 14 February, 1542, on Tower Hill, where Anne 
Boleyn had suffered six years before. 

Henry's Designs on Scotland. — In June, 1542, Francis I, who was 
ambitious to recover Milan and the French ascendancy in Italy, broke 
off his treaty with the Emperor and declared war. Henry seized the 
opportunity, which he had long coveted, to make an effort to extend 
his sway over Scotland. The death of James IV at Flodden in 1513 
had left the country a prey to another of those long minorities which 
.had been its bane for a century. James had selected Margaret for 
Regent and guardian of his infant heir. The truculent estates re- 
pudiated her and chose the Duke of Albany, cousin of the late King. 1 
At length, after an arduous struggle between the two, Albany left the 
country in 1524, never to return. Then the uneasy Margaret began 
to quarrel with her second husband, Archibald Douglas, Earl of 
Angus. In 1528, however, James V, at the age of sixteen, made him- 
self master of the distracted kingdom and sought to restore peace. 
To that end, he put down the Highland chiefs and the Lowland earls, 
while, as a counterpoise to these turbulent elements, he sought alli- 
ance with the Church and strengthened the clergy with increased 
powers and privileges. This, and the fact that he clung to the French 
alliance, marrying two French wives 2 in succession, kept him at swords 
points with his uncle, Henry VIII, to whom he attributed designs of 
fostering disorders along the border and broils among the nobility. 
Twice, once in 1536 and again in 1541, Henry proposed a conference 
.at York; but James, fearing that his uncle planned to kidnap him, 
evaded the meeting each time. The second evasion gave Henry a 
good pretext for assuming hostilities. He had plenty of others as 
well. David Beaton, high in James's favor, had been made a cardinal, 
with a view of executing the bull of deposition still hanging over 
Henry ; James had intrigued both with Charles and Francis ; he had 
welcomed refugees from the Pilgrimage of Grace ; and , finally, the 
Scotch had defeated a border raid at Halidon Rig which the English 
were burning to avenge. Such was the situation when the turn of 
affairs on the Continent gave Henry his chance to strike. 

So in October, 1542, the Duke of Norfolk led an invasion across the 
eastern border. But the transport and equipment was bad, and the 
expedition, after some harrying and burning, turned homeward. The 
Scotch King retaliated by throwing a force, under Oliver Sinclair, across 
the western border. Through the bungling of its leaders it got en- 
tangled in Sol way Moss and was defeated, 24 November, 1542, with 
heavy loss. James V, heartbroken at the news, died less than a month 
afterwards, leaving a week-old baby as his heir. She is known to 

1 He was a grandson of James II. 

2 His first wife was Madeleine, daughter of Francis I. She died in 1537. James 
then married Mary of Lorraine, daughter of the Duke of Guise. 






334 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

history as Mary, Queen of Scots. James feared that her birth marked 
the end of his line. " It came with a lass, and it will go with a lass," 
he said sadly when it was reported to him. Encouraged by the victory, 
Henry asserted the English sovereignty over Scotland in stronger 
terms than ever, and proposed to bind the two countries by marrying 
Edward and Mary when they came of age. A treaty was arranged 
at Greenwich, though his proposal that Mary be sent to England as 
a hostage was rejected by the Scots. In general, they opposed the 
idea of absorption by England, while a strong party still clung to the 
French alliance. At length this French party, headed by Cardinal 
Beaton, gained possession of the Queen Mother and the little Princess, 
crowned Mary as Queen, and assembled a parliament which annulled 
the recent marriage treaty. 

War with France, 1543-1546. — To prevent this French Catholic 
party from securing aid from across the Channel, Henry concluded a 
treaty with Charles V, and plunged into war with France. It was 
agreed that neither the Emperor nor the King should make a separate 
peace with their common enemy, and that they should join forces and 
march on Paris. Henry crossed over to Calais in July, 1544, at the head 
of an English force, but, against the wishes of his ally, he stopped 
on his way south to besiege Boulogne, which surrendered 14 September, 
1544. Five days later, Charles, unable to arrange terms to which the 
English King would agree, concluded a separate peace. Freed from 
her ancient enemy in the rear, France sent a fleet to attack the English 
coast, while the Scots, stung to madness by an invasion under Hert- 
ford, 1 which burned Leith and sacked Edinburgh, massed on the 
border, and threatened to inundate the north. Henry's subjects rallied' 
valiantly to his support, and the French fleet, twice repulsed off the 
Isle of Wight, and much thinned by plague, were obliged to return home 
August, 1545. Hertford averted the danger from the border by lead- 
ing another expedition into Scotland. At length in June, 1546, Henry 
and Francis made peace. Boulogne was to remain in English hands 
for eight years, after which it was to be restored to France for a large 
indemnity. Scotland was not included in the peace. In his relations 
with that country Henry, who had shown himself neither tactful 
enough to. conciliate nor strong enough to coerce, left a serious prob- 
lem to his successors. 

Relations with Ireland. — The King's Irish policy proved in the long 
run to be no more successful. The petty chiefs outside the Pale 
fought constantly among themselves, but were united in their hostility 
to English rule. The impenetrable forests, the trackless bogs, and the 
wild inhabitants whose names belonged rather to " devouring giants 
than to Christian subjects," would have made conquest and a military 
occupation well-nigh impossible. Henry, unable to maintain an army, 
preferred "sober ways, politic drifts, and amiable persuasion." Kil- 

1 Edward Seymour, Earl of Hertford, brother of Henry's third wife, was the 
leading general in the kingdom at this time. 



THE SEPARATION FROM ROME 335 

dare, the Lord Deputy, kept the country in order so long as he lived. 
When he died, 15 13, his son Gerald, the ninth earl, succeeded him in 
office. After being twice called to account he was seized in 1534, 
taken to England, and thrown into the Tower. On a rumor of his 
death his son " Silken Thomas," l a big, irresponsible boy, broke out 
in revolt ; Dublin Castle was besieged and the Archbishop foully 
murdered. In October Skeffington came over as Deputy ; but it was 
only under his successor, Lord Leonard Grey (153 5-1 540) , that Thomas 
made his submission. On 3 February, 1537, the rebel Earl was hanged 
with five of his uncles, leaving a small child to represent the line. 
Grey sought to carry out Henry's policy of conciliation ; but, accused 
of arrogance toward the English officials and of favoring the Irish, 
he was recalled in 1540, attainted, and executed. Next came Sir 
Anthony St. Leger, who seemed more successful for the time being. 
In 1 541 Henry took the title King of Ireland, 2 and, one by one, the chiefs 
agreed to acknowledge him as sovereign and head of the Church ; to 
hold their lands of him for an annual rent ; to renounce all illegal ex- 
actions ; and to serve the royal army. 

Peace seemed now established, and at St. Leger's departure, in 1546, 
powerful earls dwelling as far apart as Tyrone of Ulster and Desmond 
of Munster testified : " We confess there lives not any one in Ireland, 
were he of the age of Nestor, who has seen the country in a more peace- 
ful state." These fair hopes, however, proved delusive. Not many 
years were to elapse before Ireland was again seething in rebellion, 
and for this Henry was partly to blame. His fatal mistake was that 
in conciliating the chiefs he thought to bind the clans, whereas he 
really antagonized the latter bodies by bribing their leaders with lands 
claimed by the tribes as a whole. So it was in his religious arrange- 
ments. Henry might bribe the chiefs to abjure the Pope and con- 
sent to dissolution of the monasteries by handing them a share of the 
spoils ; but the lesser folk, who saw the shrines and relics demolished, 
the pilgrimages suppressed, the sacred buildings defaced, and the 
familiar Latin replaced by the alien English service, were bound to 
nourish sullen resentment. Thus Henry ruthlessly disregarded the 
customs of the centuries and trampled upon the superstitions and 
sentiments of Irishmen. Moreover, men like Archbishop Browne 
aimed rather at establishing English ascendancy and accumulating 
wealth and power than at advancing the cause of religion. The prac- 
tice of Henry's daughters, Mary and Elizabeth, of appropriating Irish 
lands for English and Scotch settlers, further widened the breach, 
and thus prepared the way for the labors of Jesuit missionaries and 
the intrigues of the Pope and the Catholic monarchs, which culminated 
in dangerous revolts in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. 

Henry's Closing Years. — After the passing of Cromwell Henry acted 
as his own Chief Minister. In spite of " marvelous excess in eating 

1 So-called from the silken fringe about his helmet. 

2 Chiefly because the ancient title of Lord of Ireland was a papal creation. 



336 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

and drinking," of increasing bulk, and of an ulcer on his leg which 
caused him intense pain, he was constantly occupied and watchful. 
In the King's Book in 1543, he set forth " a true and perfect doctrine 
for all his people," and he insisted that the Church system which he 
had defined and organized should be strictly obeyed. Nevertheless, 
the penalties attached to the Six Articles served mainly as a ferocious 
warning and were only fitfully enforced. This was due largely to 
Cromwell so long as he lived, while, after his death, Cranmer and 
Catharine Parr acted as moderating influences. Already twice a 
widow when she became Henry's sixth wife in 1543, Catharine herself 
survived to marry a fourth husband. She was a good woman and 
nursed her royal master tenderly during his last years of pain. In 
1545 Parliament granted to the Crown all the chantries, hospitals, and 
free chapels of the realm ; but it remained for another reign to gather 
the spoil. The religious unrest was so great as to draw from Henry 
at his last appearance in Parliament, December, 1545, an eloquent 
and characteristic reproof : "I hear," he said, " there was never more 
dissension and lack of love between man and man. . . . Some are 
called Papists, some Lutherans, and some Anabaptists. I am very 
sorry to know and hear how irreverently that precious jewel, the word 
of God, is disputed and rhymed, sung and jangled in every alehouse 
and tavern. ... Of this I am sure, that charity was never so faint 
among you, and God himself among Christians was never less rever- 
enced, honored, and served." Protestantism was spreading, and Cran- 
mer and the Queen favored it ; yet the old faith was gaining ground 
again. At least so thought John Hooper, who wrote early in 1546: 
" As far as religion is concerned, idolatry is nowhere in greater vigor. 
The King has destroyed the Pope, but not Popery." Among the last 
victims of the " Whip with Six Strings " was Anne Askew, of an old 
landed Devonshire family, who, in spite of repeated examinations and 
finally of torture on the rack, persisted in her denial of transubstantia- 
tion, and 16 July, 1546, was burned at Smithfield. 

Surrey's Plot. Henry's Stormy and Wrathful Exit, 1547. — At the 
close of Henry's life the heir of the greatest conservative family in 
England brought the progress of the Catholic party to an abrupt 
check. On 12 December, 1546, the Duke of Norfolk and his son, the 
Earl of Surrey, were rudely thrown into the Tower. Surrey, de- 
scribed as " the most foolish proud boy in England," was a poet of 
recognized place in English literary history ; but he was headstrong, 
aspiring, and indiscreet. As a grown man he had already been twice 
arrested for roaming the streets of London and breaking the windows 
of citizens. In the struggle for control between the two factions in 
the royal Council it was discovered that he quartered the royal arms 
with his own on an escutcheon in his private chamber and had boasted 
that his father would one day be Regent. Tried before a special com- 
mission, he was beheaded, 19 January, on Tower Hill. A bill of at- 
tainder was passed against Norfolk who confessed to concealing his 



THE SEPARATION FROM ROME 337 

son's acts. It received the royal assent, but before it could be carried 
out Henry was dead. He had of late become so unwieldy that he could 
neither walk nor stand, and 28 January, 1547, he passed away, master- 
ful against opposition to the last. A selfish, ruthless despot, he had 
accomplished a momentous work. He had transformed the whole 
ecclesiastical system without a civil war ; he had established a National 
Church free from the dominion of the Pope ; he had given his subjects 
the Scriptures in their native tongue ; he had secured for England a 
recognized position among foreign powers ; he had worked his will 
unopposed ; and he died in his bed stanchly supported by the major- 
ity of his subjects. 

FOR ADDITIONAL READING 

Narrative. Fisher, Political History, chs. XI-XVIII. Innes, England under the 
Tudors, chs. VIII-X. Cambridge Modern History, II, ch. XIII. Pollard, Henry 
VIII, chs. VII-XVI. J. A. Froude, History of England, from the Death of Wolsey 
to the Defeat of the Spanish Armada (12 vols., 1870-1872) ; this is the most complete 
work on the period and a masterpiece of style, but strongly biased, especially in 
favor of Henry VIII. Lingard, History of England, V, chs. I— III. 

Biography. P. Friedmann, Anne Bolcyn (2 vols., 1884). R. B. Merriman, Life 
and Letters of Thomas Cromwell (2 vols., 1902), the standard biography. W. Roper, 
Biography of Sir Thomas More (first printed in Paris, 1626; many later editions) is 
a classic. Roper was More's son-in-law. A. F. Pollard, Life of Cranmer (1904) 
is perhaps the most scholarly life of the Archbishop. A. D. Innes, Ten Tudor 
Statesmen (1906), and M. A. S. Hume, The Wives of Henry VIII £1905) are both 
useful. Dom Bede Camm, Lives of the English Martyrs (1904) is from the Ro- 
manist standpoint. 

Ecclesiastical. F. A. Gasquet, Henry VIII and the English Monasteries (1902) ; 
the most exhaustive work on the subject, manifestly in sympathy with the monas- 
teries. Wakeman, chs. XI-XIII. James Gairdner, History of the Church of Eng- 
land (1904), chs. I-XII; a brief treatment by an acknowledged authority on the 
period. R. W. Dixon, History of the Church of England (6 vols., 1878-1902) covers 
the period 15 29-1 5 70, thorough and scholarly — from the High Church standpoint. 
B. F. Westcott, History of the English Bible (1868). 

Selections from the sources. Adams and Stephens, nos. 141-158, for the whole reign. 

THE DE LA POLES AND POLES 

Richard, Duke of York 

I 



Edward IV Elizabeth = John de la Pole, 1 George, Duke of 

I Duke of Suffolk Clarence 



r 



John de la Pole, Edmund de la Margaret = Sir R. Pole Edward, Eari 

Earl of Lincoln, Pole, Earl of Countess of 

killed at Stoke, Suffolk, Salisbury, 

1487 beheaded, 1513 beheaded. 



of Warwick, 
executed, 1495 



1541 



Reginald Pole, 

Archbishop of Canterbury, 

1556-1558 



'Great-grandson of William, Earl of Suffolk (d. 1388) minister of Richard II, and son of William 
Duke of Suffolk, minister of Henry VI (impeached and murdered, 1450). 



CHAPTER XXI 

THE HENRICIAN REGIME (1509-1547) 

Distinctive Features of Henry's Absolutism. — While Henry VIII 
was dependent for his triumph upon the absolutism inherited from his 
father, he succeeded in carrying that absolutism far beyond the point 
which it had reached at his accession. The Church was reduced by 
his measures to a mere creature of the Crown. The old nobility, al- 
ready eating themselves up with their " feudal grandeur and sump- 
tuous livery," diminished in numbers, and discredited, were pushed 
farther along the road to ruin by the extravagance of Henry's court, 
while his hostile watchfulness prevented their leaders from recovering 
their old position in public affairs. The fate of Suffolk, of Bucking- 
ham, of the Poles, the Courtenays, and the Howards indicated what 
befell those who aspired to raise their heads. The King chose new 
men — mainly servants at court, merchants, manufacturers, lawyers 
— to sit in his Council and to execute his decrees ; to them he gave 
offices, revenues, and lands. And he had an eye for picking competent 
ministers from the ranks of obscurity. Wolsey and Cromwell are 
merely the best known of the many names that might be selected. 
In this way, as well as by the spoils of the monasteries, by the checking 
of the more glaring abuses, and by the maintenance of stable govern- 
ment, the middle class, already closely attached to the father, were 
bound still more closely to the son. 

Henry's Management of Parliament. — Henry's adroit manipula- 
tion of Parliament was another means by which he strengthened his 
absolutism. His father who depended upon that body through the 
first half of his reign, by reason of his economy and his extortion, got on 
without it during the second. Under Henry VIII this policy was re- 
versed. Wolsey preferred to call Parliament as infrequently as pos- 
sible, and, so long as the inherited royal treasure lasted and so long 
as the King held aloof from public business, it was possible to follow 
out this plan. From 1529, however, when he embarked on his peculiar 
policy, Henry made use of frequent parliaments to give a real or seem- 
ing popular sanction to his measures. While Cromwell was royal 
agent, there are evidences of coercion and corruption, of interference 
with elections, bribery, creation of new boroughs, and of pressure on 
members. But the amount of all this has been exaggerated, and it 
was mainly employed by Cromwell for himself, to procure and main- 
tain a majority against the reactionary party in the Council. Such 
methods were scarcely necessary in the royal behalf. The forty shil- 
ling freehold qualifications and the borough oligarchies kept the rep- 

338 



THE HENRICIAN REGIME 339 

reservation mainly in the hands of the landed gentry and the pros- 
perous commercial classes who were stanch supporters of the Crown. 
Discontent there was, but it was social and economic, not political, 
aimed mostly against enclosures and monopolies. And the very of- 
fenders against whom it was directed were of the class which controlled 
Parliament. In general, their interests were identical with Henry's ; 
in the case of the anticlerical legislation, for example, if he stirred up 
the hostility, he did not invent the grievances. When these interests 
clashed, Parliament did not hesitate to resist stoutly. Henry professed 
to be a champion of parliamentary forms and privileges, but when he 
was put to it and blandishments and bargaining would not avail, he 
was not above trickery. When in 1529 the Lords refused to pass the 
measures of the Commons against the clergy, he proposed a conference 
between eight members of each House ; knowing that the committee 
of the Commons would vote solidly and that the temporal peers would 
support them, he carried the bill by procuring a committee of four lay 
lords and four bishops from the Upper House. When important 
measures were being discussed, he generally visited both Houses in per- 
son, and if the terror of his presence was not enough, even resorted to 
dire threats to secure their passage. As a means of blocking legisla- 
tion which he opposed he could always resort to the veto. As a matter 
of fact, however, most of the measures of the reign were initiated by 
Henry or his ministers. Perhaps an even greater proportion of legis- 
lation is introduced by the Government to-day than during his time, 
but the ministers now represent, not the sovereign, but the majority 
party in the House of Commons. 

Composition of the Houses. — The number of lay peers was little 
altered by Henry. Except when an old peerage had become extinct 
he made comparatively few new creations. The chief change came 
from the dissolution of the monasteries which deprived the abbots 
and priors of their seats. The bishops, of course, after the break from 
Rome, became practically royal nominees, and their influence was 
further lessened from the fact that Convocation was deprived of inde- 
pendent powers of legislation. The composition of the Commons 
was scarcely changed by Henry in England proper, where he created 
only six new boroughs. But by granting representation to Wales, to 
Chester, and Calais, he added thirty-two knights and burgesses to the 
Lower House. In his reign a burgess was chosen Speaker for the first 
time, but that officer was usually a nominee of the Crown. 

Summary of Henry's Methods. — Altogether, Henry's power was 
acquired, not so much by juggling with the representation as by the 
identity of interest between him and the dominant classes, by his force 
of will, and by his dexterous politics. He had the tact and foresight to 
draw back when he saw that he was going too far. Moreover, he had 
the unscrupulous cunning to intrust great powers to his principal agents 
and to make them the scapegoats for his unpopular policies. Finally, 
he had the wisdom not to demand excessive taxes. He called upon 



j. 



340 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

Parliament primarily to sanction grants which he had extorted from 
some other quarters — ■ forced loans, for instance, which were remitted 
by statute in 1529 and 1543; forfeitures; the tenths and first fruits 
which formerly went to the Pope ; and the spoils from monasteries 
and shrines. The pension from France under the treaties of Edward 
IV and Henry VII, the exaction wrung from the clergy under threat of 
praemunire in 153 1, and occasional " devotion money," e.g. a grant 
in 1544 nominally for a crusade against the Turks, furnished further 
additions to his rather scanty ordinary revenues. On the whole, in 
finance Henry's was "a hand-to-mouth policy assisted by occasional 
godsends." He borrowed and extorted so long as he could, and only 
applied to Parliament when it was absolutely necessary. 

The Royal Extravagance. — Henry dissipated his father's savings 
with a lavish hand. Much went for costly raiment ; for example, in 
1 5 15 he spent £5000 on silks and velvets, enough money to maintain 
a thousand families in " rude comfort," in those days, for a year. 
More was consumed in revels, feasts, tournaments, and other forms of 
ornate display. When the King took the field in 15 13, he had an 
enormous train of hundreds of wagons and thousands of horses to carry 
his tents, his wardrobe, his cooks, his confectioners, and, most amazing 
of all, the choir of his chapel royal, consisting of 115 chaplains and 
singers. The splendors of the later meeting at the Field of Cloth of 
Gold were the wonder of that age and of generations to come. The 
sumptuousness of Henry and his courtiers, of course, stimulated trade, 
furnished employment for many, and opened up many new industries ; 
yet, in the long run, the effect was injurious, since the example was 
ruinous to the lesser folk, and it raised the prices out of all proportion 
to the increase of wages. For instance, the cost of agricultural prod- 
ucts nearly doubled from 1495 to 1533, while wages rose only 25 per 
cent. Moreover, the King was in constant need of money to support 
such extravagance, and taxes were only kept within the normal limits 
by loans, confiscations, and other irregular methods. 

The Debasement of the Coinage. — One of the most baneful means em- 
ployed was the debasement of the coinage. This process, which Henry 
began as early as 1526, went on until, in 155 1, a silver coin contained 
only a seventh of the pure metal of one issued twenty-five years before. 
During the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries there had been several 
such debasements, but with less injurious effects ; because of the con- 
stant drain of money to the Orient for the purchase of goods and to 
Rome for the payment of papal dues. This scarcity of specie lowered 
prices, and thus counteracted the upward trend due to debasement. 
In Henry's time trade was more evenly balanced, and papal dues 
ceased ; moreover, money was growing steadily more plentiful, owing 
to the treasure brought by the Spanish from the New World. 1 Since 

1 But it must be borne in mind that the great mines of Cerro and Potosi were 
not opened till 1545, and that England was not affected by the great increase of 
specie from this source for some years to come. 



THE HENRICIAN REGIME 34I 

debased coins circulated at their face value, good coin was hoarded or 
exported, and prices went on soaring without a check. 

The Laboring Classes in Town and Country. — While the pro- 
ducers, the manufacturers, and the exporters of wool and cloth were 
waxing fat, the condition of the mass of the small farmers and agri- 
cultural laborers was growing steadily worse. Enclosing went on in- 
creasing, and not only leaseholders, but copyholders and even free- 
holders were evicted from their tenements. The process received a 
fresh impulse from the dissolution of the monasteries, which trans- 
ferred great estates from the easygoing monks to the hands of keen, 
greedy capitalists, bent on realizing the utmost profit from their pos- 
sessions. Multitudes were thrown out of work, and the land was over- 
run with beggars. Disorder multiplied to a degree that taxed even 
the iron rule of Henry. Supported by his ministers and by leading 
thinkers and preachers he sought to put new checks on enclosures. 
Measures were enacted limiting the number of sheep that a single 
owner could hold and ordering a return to tillage under penalty of for- 
feiture till the law was obeyed. But, since profits from wool were 
tempting, and since the King needed the support of the class against 
which the measures were formed, the legislation proved futile. Simi- 
lar disturbing conditions prevailed in the towns, the rich were growing 
richer and the poor poorer. The restrictive policy of the gilds was 
only slowly breaking down and remained a great clog on trade. Labor 
and capital withdrew from the old towns where the system was in- 
trenched and poured into the smaller places, which grew as their 
ancient rivals declined. The competition of those displaced from 
agricultural pursuits and the increase of population, however, 
largely offset the benefit which the proletariat gained from their 
migration. 1 

Public Health and Sanitation. — The plague, which continued a 
frequent_ and destructive visitor, was not, however, an unmixed evil. 
Flourishing chiefly in the miserable and crowded centers, it checked 
the natural increase of population among the poorer classes, and thus 
worked in favor of a higher standard of well-being. A system of quar- 
antine was already in operation in some of the continental cities and 
in the Firth of Forth, but English efforts were still mainly directed 
to protecting the sovereign and the court from persons who might 
bring the contagion from abroad. In London, enactments were passed 
requiring that infected houses be marked with wisps of straw and that 
exposed persons carry a white rod in their hands. Gradually rules 
for isolating plague-stricken houses became more rigid, searchers were 
appointed to give notice of the presence of the disease, and severe 
penalties were imposed for concealment. Weekly bills of mortality 
survive from Henry's reign, though they may have existed earlier. 
Ihey, too, had the result of making public the existence and cause of 

;„ Vu 1S <: stima v ted that th e population increased from 2,500,000 to 4,000,000 dur- 
ing the- reigns of Henry VII and Henry VIII. ■' 



LL_ 



342 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

sickness. Measures for disposing of the' refuse of shambles, against 
stray dogs and cats, and for cleansing filthy streets, are not unheard of, 
though they were apparently not enforced till Elizabeth's time. 

Poor Relief. — Among the most interesting measures of Henry's 
reign were those taken to relieve the deserving poor and to put a check 
on the idle and disorderly beggars. During the Middle Ages the care 
of the destitute was left to private persons and institutions — to vol- 
untary alms, to hospitals 1 and gilds, and, most of all, to monasteries. 
This medieval system was very inadequate. The monks in particular 
gave, in pursuance of the divine command to clothe the naked and to 
feed the hungry. Since they did not inquire sharply into the needs 
of applicants they were often imposed upon by the unscrupulous; 
and, by their indiscriminate almsgiving, tended to foster poverty 
beyond the point where they could deal with it. Even before the 
Reformation and the consequent destruction of ecclesiastical founda- 
tions, certain continental municipalities had taken up the problem 
and devised measures of public relief. In England the breaking up 
of the system and the industrial changes had put such a strain on the 
old faulty and inadequate methods that something more effective 
would have been necessary in any event. The dissolution of the mon- 
asteries made it immediately imperative. Great numbers of needy 
persons were suddenly thrown upon the country, and at the same time 
the chief means of providing for them, ineffective as it had been, was 
cut off. 

As early as 1 530-1 531 an act had been passed directly in line 
with the old Statutes of Laborers. These statutes had been con- 
tent with recognizing that the impotent should be relieved by Chris- 
tian charity and had devoted their provisions to repressing sturdy 
beggars and forcing them to work for fixed wages. Henry's act pro- 
vided that persons compelled to live by alms should be settled in their 
native district, registered, and licensed to beg within these limits; 
and that unlicensed beggars, or those straying beyond their districts, 
should be whipped and sent home. For a second offense their ears 
were to be cropped, while for a third they were to be put to death. 
Fines were imposed upon officers or parishes that harbored unlicensed 
beggars or failed to enforce the laws against them. As yet no public 
provision was made for the relief of the impotent, or for the reforma- 
tion or employment of vagabonds after they reached their native place. 
The year in which the first attack on the monasteries was opened 
marked the beginning of a new policy. By an act of 1536 the dispens- 
ing of private alms was forbidden. In each parish a fund for the re- 
lief of the poor was to be collected on Sundays and festival days by 
the church wardens and other parish officials. While the clergy were 
enjoined to stir up the congregation to give freely, no means of com- 

1 A hospital was originally a place for the aged and destitute as well as the sick. 
A few parishes had poor funds, and so had some of the towns by the fifteenth cen- 
tury, but these were rare exceptions. 



THE HENRICIAN REGIME 343 

pulsion was provided for. Also, sturdy beggars were to be set to work, 
though the law did not state how. This act foreshadows the prin- 
ciples of the more famous laws of Elizabeth — the responsibility of the 
parish for the relief of those unable to work, and for the employment 
of the able-bodied — which remained in force down to the nineteenth 
century. But under Henry the principles were not yet worked out 
in detail. 

The Navy. — A portion of the spoils from the monasteries the King 
devoted to coast defenses and shipbuilding. The southeastern shore 
was studded with castles provided with permanent garrisons, which 
were re-enforced by local levies in time of need. Henry VII had 
fostered the navy, directly, to some extent, by building ships of war, 
and indirectly by developing the merchant marine, but it was Henry 
VIII who marked a real advance. Up to his reign there had been 
only a few ships owned by the sovereign, which in time of peace were 
either used for police purposes or let out to merchants. At his death 
there was a royal fleet of 7 1 vessels. Moreover, he organized the navy 
into a standing force and placed it under a separate Government De- 
partment. The Navy Office which he constituted consisted of a set of 
officials known as the " Principal Officers of the Navy," who, under the 
Lord High Admiral, managed all the civil branches of the service 
such as equipping the fleets for sea. The King did much, too, for mak- 
ing rivers navigable, and harbors safer and more accessible ; he founded 
dockyards on the Thames ; and organized the pilots into the corpora- 
tion of Trinity House. Exploration was still largely a monopoly of 
the Spanish and Portuguese, although a few northern voyages were 
undertaken by Bristol merchants, and John Hawkins, father of the 
more celebrated William, made two voyages to Brazil. Trade to the 
Levant flourished lustily. Tall ships carried English cloths and hides 
to the ports of the Mediterranean, and brought back the wines, oils 
carpets, and spices of the East to English markets. 

Warfare. — In the art of war England failed to keep pace with the 
Continent. The long rivalry between France on the one hand and the 
Emperor on the other, which extended from the invasion of Italy by 
Charles VIII in 1495 to the Peace of Cateau Cambresis in 1559, led 
to the creation of standing armies and the general use of firearms ; 
in short, marked the final transition from the medieval to the modern 
system. But England had no standing army till Oliver Cromwell 
fashioned his famous " New Model " in the middle of the next cen- 
tury It was not till Elizabeth's reign that the lance for horsemen 
and the bow and bill for footmen yielded to firearms, and in the civil 
wars nearly a century later, the more primitive weapons were still 
employed. Henry's reign evolved no distinguished commanders and 
witnessed no memorable victory, except possibly Flodden, and that 
was due rather to the blundering of James IV than to the brilliancy of 
ssurrey. Wolsey, relying on diplomacy, had sought to evade military 
operations. The new nobility were unable to maintain the authority 



344 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

over their troops which the older baronage had wielded, and the ex- 
peditions of Dorset in 151 2, and Suffolk in 1523, had been wrecked by 
mutinies. When Henry headed the army, in 1513 and 1544, he was 
able to maintain discipline and to make a respectable showing ; but 
the cumbersome magnificence of his train, more like a royal progress 
than a military invasion, impeded the movement of his troops and 
drained the resources of his subjects. For this reason, and owing to 
the shiftiness of his allies, he, too, was unable to achieve any permanent 
results. 

Learning and Education. — Scholars of Henry's day were turning 
their backs on the old learning and pursuing the new ; they were de- 
vising more rational systems of education to replace the worn-out 
medieval methods, and the King encouraged them by his own enlight- 
ened zeal, by his studious pursuits, and by the training of his children. 
Colet's foundation, St. Paul's, was a model of what a boys' school 
should be. Wolsey's school at Ipswich perished with him ; but before 
the close of the reign some fifty others were founded, including five 
attached to Henry's new bishoprics. Yet it was in the theory of edu- 
cation that the real strides of progress were taken. Erasmus left 
England for the last time in 15 14, but his later writings must have 
penetrated and influenced the circle in which he had lived and worked. 
His Education of a Christian Prince (1516) was an excellent guide 
for the prospective ruler of a nation, and, quite fittingly, a copy 
was presented to Prince Edward in his eleventh year. The First 
Liberal Education for Boys (1529), embodying the results of Erasmus' 
maturest thought and experience, was designed for all intrusted 
with the responsibility of teaching youth, and its sage precepts 
and recommendations form a shining contrast to the prevailing 
mechanical methods, in which flogging was employed as the chief 
incentive. 

Further evidences of advance are manifest in the writings of those 
whom Henry selected to educate his own family. A Spaniard, 
Ludovico Vives, for five years was the tutor of Princess Mary. 
His treatise Of Studies (De Disciplinis) contains many wise views. 
He insisted upon the value of observation and experiment, he believed 
that much should be left to the independent exertions of the pupil, and 
advocated a sane distinction between the method of teaching Latin, 
and the living languages. Roger Ascham taught Lady Jane Grey and 
Elizabeth, while Sir John Cheke, perhaps the ablest Greek scholar of 
his time, performed the like duty for Edward. And certainly the royal 
pupils did their tutors credit. Ascham's famous treatise, The Schole- 
master, was not printed till 1570, but already in 1545 he was putting 
in practice the broad and liberal views therein advocated. Although 
this book, on account of its learning, kindly humor, appreciation of 
boy nature, and rational views has deservedly become an English 
classic, its methods involved too much pains and patience on the part 
of the teacher to make it acceptable at the time. Sir Thomas Elyot, 



THE HENRICIAN REGIME 345 

a pupil of More's and a distinguished diplomat, in The Governor, was 
equally judicious in pleading for kindness, regard for individual apti- 
tude, and attention to the meaning and spirit rather than the dry bones 
of the subjects of study. 

Nevertheless, while Henry's reign marks an epoch in the theory of 
education, and while the King deserves much credit for his encourage- 
ment of education and for the example which he himself set, he con- 
tributed little material aid in the way of money and endowment, 
especially in view of what he took from the monastic institutions. 
Their schools and those of the chantry priests l were inadequate and 
out of date, but their destruction was serious when Henry devoted a 
major part of their resources to rewarding his greedy supporters in- 
stead of establishing new schools. At Oxford and Cambridge, after 
Cromwell's commissioners had expelled the Schoolmen and their 
commentators, and abolished lectures and degrees in common law, 
provision was made for fixed and regular lectures on Greek and Latin, 
and for the study of the Scriptures. Moreover, in 1540, Regius 2 Pro- 
fessorships in divinity, civil law, physics, Greek, and Hebrew were 
established and endowed. But Henry founded only one new college, 3 
and the total cost of this foundation and the professorships was com- 
paratively small. Furthermore, before the close of the reign, the 
interest in pure learning at the universities gave place largely to theo- 
logical controversy. Altogether, in education it was a time of great 
promise but scanty achievement. 

Literature. — So it was in literature. Few notable works were 
produced, but the reign represents the transition from a bygone age 
to that wonderful outburst which signalizes the last years of Elizabeth 
as one of the two greatest periods in the literary history of the world. 
Breaking away from the influence of the French medieval romance, 
the men of Henry's day began to study the classics, both directly 
and indirectly, through the Renascence writers, chiefly those of Italy. 
Much of the writing of the period can be passed by with a mere allu- 
sion. The disordered social conditions and the break from Rome 
produced a mass of controversial pamphlets which, valuable as they are 
to the historian, hardly rank as literature. Latimer's sermons are 
vivid and eloquent, but he was a preacher rather than an author. 
Cranmer was a master of the art of expression, but his greatest 
achievement, the English Book of Common Prayer, was the work of 
the next reign. John Skelton, " the incomparable light and ornament 
of British letters," as one admirer calls him, was versatile and witty ; 
but his style is partly eccentric and partly of the past age. The 
laborious Historia Anglicana, of the Italian Polydore Vergil, shows 
much breadth and critical acumen, and is graphic in places but is rather 
i work of erudition than of art. 

1 A chantry was a foundation for a priest to sing masses for the souls of pious 
xmtributors. Often he acted as schoolmaster in addition. 

2 I.e. royal. 3 Trinity at Cambridge in 1546. 



346 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

Four men of the reign stand above their contemporaries and herald 
the coming age — Sir Thomas More, Roger Ascham, Henry Howard, 
Earl of Surrey, and Sir Thomas Wyatt. More's most notable produc- 
tion was his Utopia, one of those rare books which, written primarily 
as a protest against existing abuses, has survived as a classic. As- 
cham's Toxophilus, or treatise on archery, was published two years 
before Henry's death. Puttenham, the Elizabethan critic, refers 
quaintly to Surrey and Wyatt as " two courtly makers, who having 
traveled into Italy and there tasted the sweet and stately measures 
of Italian poesy, greatly polished our rude and homely manner." It 
is unlikely that Surrey ever went to Italy, but Wyatt did. The two 
introduced the sonnet into English poetry, and their " songs and 
sonates " were first published in a collection of verse known as Tottel's 
Miscellany in 1557. Moreover, Surrey in his translation of the 
second and fourth books of the JEneid marked an epoch by employing 
the use of blank verse for the first time in English. So the Henrician 
era, if the writers were few and their product inconsiderable, was 
significant in literary development. 

The King and the Age. — The age, like many another, has its grim 
and unlovely and its gracious and heroic sides. It was " instinct with 
vast animal life, robust health and muscular energy, terrible in its rude 
and unrefined appetites, its fiery virtues and fierce passions." Henry 
and his officials were self-seeking, ruthless, regardless of human life 
and suffering. The merchants, the wool-growers, and the cloth- 
makers, intent on gain, were content to let the King have his will, and 
joined in the oppression of the lesser folk. Callousness to pain and lack 
of pity were all too general in those times. All classes flocked with 
equal alacrity to a cock fight, to a bear baiting, or to witness a martyr 
burning at the stake. On the other hand, there were strong, earnest 
men and women who were content to suffer rather than to sacrifice their 
faith, were it Protestant or Roman Catholic. There were those who 
had prophetic visions of a new era in literature, in education, in reli- 
gion, in industry , and did their part in pulling down the old medieval 
edifice. There was much hardship and misery while the new structure 
was abuilding ; but there was sound and vigorous health in the workers 
who were striving for better things. In the midst of this complex age 
Henry VIII stands out as the great commanding figure embodying its 
most striking tendencies, good and bad. 



FOR ADDITIONAL READING 

Constitutional. Taylor, Origin and Growth, II, bk. IV, ch. II. Hallam, Constitu- 
tional History, I, ch. II; Taswell-Langmead, chs. X, XL A. F. Pollard, Factors in 
Modern History (1907), chs. III-V; on the "New Monarchy," the "Reformation," 
and the "Composition of Parliament." Stubbs, Lectures, chs. XI, XII. 

General conditions. Traill, Social England, III, ch. IX. Froude, History of 
England, I, ch. I. Innes, ch. XL Thomas More, Utopia (first published in 



THE HENRICIAN REGIME 347 

Latin 1516, later translated and often reprinted). R. H. Tawney, The Agrarian 
Problem in the Sixteenth Century (191 2). E. P. Cheney, Social Changes in England 
in the Sixteenth Century (1895). D. Hannay, A Short History of the English Navy 
(1898). H. Oppenheim, A History of the Administration of the Royal Navy (1897). 
W. L. Clowes, The Royal Navy (vol. 1, 1897). 

Scotland and Ireland. P. H. Brown, Scotland, I, bk. IV, ch. VIII ; II, bk. V, ch. I. 
A. G. Richey, Short History of the Irish People (1887). R. Bagwell, Ireland under 
the Tudors (1885), I. J. E. Morris, Great Britain and Ireland, 1485-igio (1914). 



CHAPTER XXII 

THE PROTESTANT EXTREMISTS IN POWER. EDWARD VI 

(1547-1553) 

The Situation at Henry's Death. — Henry left as his successor a 
child not yet ten years old, when the situation demanded a strong man 
of ripe wisdom and tried capacity. " Abroad, Paul III was scheming 
to recover the allegiance of the schismatic realm ; the Emperor was 
slowly crushing England's national allies in Germany; France was 
watching her opportunity to seize Boulogne ; and England herself 
was committed to hazardous designs on Scotland. At home there was 
a religious revolution half accomplished and a social revolution in fer- 
ment ; evicted tenants and ejected monks infested the land, centers 
of disorder and raw material for revolt ; the treasury was empty, the 
kingdom in debt, the coinage debased. In place of the old nobility 
of blood stood a new peerage raised on the ruins and debauched by the 
spoils of the Church, and created to be docile tools in the work of 
revolution." 

Hertford becomes Lord Protector and Duke of Somerset, 1547. — 
During Henry's last days the representatives of the old and the 
new order had been almost evenly balanced. Norfolk and Stephen 
Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, had served as a counterpoise to 
Cranmer and Hertford. At the King's death, however, Norfolk 
was a prisoner in the Tower, and Gardiner's name did not appear in 
the list of sixteen executors whom Henry had named as a Council 
of Regency during Edward's minority. This body was composed 
mainly of men of much ambition and little scruple. Under the in- 
fluence of Hertford, whom they chose Governor and Protector of the 
Realm, they gave full rein to the policy of reform which the more con- 
servative Henry had held in check. At the same time, they did not 
neglect their own interests. On 18 February, 1547, two days before 
his coronation, on the ground that such was his father's will, they 
made the little King distribute a number of peerages. Among those 
promoted were Hertford, who became Duke of Somerset, and his future 
rival, John Dudley, Viscount Lisle, who became Earl of Warwick. 
In March, the executors, with a body of assistants, were constituted a 
royal Council. Somerset was confirmed in his office with enlarged 
powers. The Protector was slightly over forty years old, of handsome 
features and graceful bearing. He was already known as a dashing 
and successful general. While greedy of power, he meant to serve 

348 



THE PROTESTANT EXTREMISTS IN POWER 349 

his country well. He lived a pure life, and he was overflowing with 
large ideas and lofty aims. In addition to carrying the Protestant 
Revolution to its extreme limits, he strove to unite England and 
Scotland, and labored to alleviate the wretchedness of the poor. But 
he was a dreamer rather than a practical ruler of men. He failed to 
realize the difficulties which stood in his way, he underrated the 
strength of his opponents, and he lacked the tact and firmness to make 
his ideas prevail. In the interests of progress and toleration he 
allowed a freedom of speech and action to extremists that resulted in 
the greatest confusion and disorder. He was unable to comprehend 
that the consent of the Scots was essential to any real union, and, by 
attempting to carry it at the point of the sword, he only inflamed their 
already bitter opposition. In seeking to befriend the poor he only 
excited hopes which he was unable to satisfy, he alienated the landed 
interests and widened the breach between the classes. He was vain, 
arrogant, impatient of advice, and, unfortunately, prejudiced his 
reputation for disinterestedness by his rapacity and display. He 
enriched himself with the spoils of the Church, and applied the fabric 
of consecrated edifices to building himself a magnificent palace. Yet 
with all his faults and incompetence, he was a shining contrast to his 
successor. 

The Protector's First Parliament, 1 547-1 548. — The first Parlia- 
ment of the new reign, which sat from November, 1547, to January, 
1548, passed a series of measures, all important, and many of them 
praiseworthy. The bulk of the treason acts since the famous 25 
Edward III were done away with ; and it was enacted that, hence- 
forth, charges of treason should be preferred within thirty days 
after the offense and supported by two sufficient witnesses. An act 
°f J 539 giving royal proclamations the force of law was repealed, as 
were also the heresy laws of Richard II and Henry V, and the Act of 
the Six Articles, with its savage penalties. At the request of Con- 
vocation communion in both kinds was legalized ; but a law sanction- 
ing clerical marriages had to wait for a year. The Chantries Bill of 
1545 was renewed and enforced, and the fruits of their suppression, 
together with the religious property of gilds, were turned over to the 
Council. Some was appropriated by those in control, while a very 
inadequate portion was later applied to the founding of schools. 

Protestant Excesses. — The greatest confusion, license, and pro- 
fanity prevailed. Each parish became a law unto itself, and individ- 
uals likewise threw off all restraint. Some were honest zealots, 
others made war on the ancient order solely for gain. Foreigners 
poured in: Lutherans from Germany; Calvinists from Geneva; 
Zwinglians from Zurich, as well as " heretics of every hue," so that 
England was regarded by the horrified men of the old stamp as " the 
harbor of all infidelity." Neither Lutheranism nor Zwinglianism 
/exercised any abiding influence, nor was the church organization of 
Calvin ever generally accepted ; but his theology, especially his doc- 



350 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

trine of predestination, and his political principles, came to affect 
Englishmen profoundly. Though the extremists went to such lengths 
that the Council had, in the interests of property and order, to devise 
means to check them, progressive measures followed one another in 
quick succession. 1 A Book of Homilies 2 was launched which, five 
years before, had failed to receive the assent of the King and Convoca- 
tion. During the summer and autumn of 1547 a general visitation 
was held which enforced the use of English in the services, the destruc- 
tion of " abused " images, 3 and the acknowledgment of the royal 
supremacy. Various ceremonies were done away with, such as the 
creeping to the cross on Good Friday, the use of ashes, palms, candles, 
and holy water. The clergy were forbidden to preach outside their 
own dioceses without a special license. Although this was aimed 
at the extremists of both factions, it was the Protestants alone who 
received any exemption. 

Somerset's Growing Unpopularity, 1548. — These measures were 
merely temporary expedients until a " uniform and godly " order 
of service could be enacted. Gardiner, and Bonner, Bishop of London, 
resisted so stoutly that they were imprisoned, and the latter was not 
long afterwards deprived of his see. This was the nearest to religious 
persecution that the Protector ever came. Indeed, his ecclesiastical 
policy met with comparatively little opposition. Other measures, 
good in themselves, he found it impossible to carry, which made him 
only the more violent and high-handed. He appointed an agricultural 
commission to deal with evasions of the statutes of enclosures, and, 
when Parliament, in December, 1547, under the influence of the landed 
classes, rejected three new bills 4 based on its reports, he set up in his 
own house a Court of Requests where the poor might appeal to him 
over the heads of the judges. 

The First Act of Uniformity and the Book of Common Prayer, 1549. 
— In January, 1549, Parliament passed an Act of Uniformity which 
imposed on all subjects the form of service contained in a Book of 
Common Prayer drawn up by a commission headed by Cranmer. 
This book was based largely on the form prevalent in England before 
the Reformation and known as the Sarum Use. 5 Done in that im- 
posing yet simple language of which Cranmer was master, it departed 
little from its medieval model except that it was shorter and less 
complicated. The act of 1549 was mild compared with the later acts. 
It was limited to the clergy, it insisted only upon uniformity of 

1 The orders were issued by the Council under color of royal authority, but the 
details were suggested mainly by Cranmer. 

2 A series of discourses appointed to be read in churches in place of the sermons. 

3 These included stained glass windows, paintings, and carvings, extended 
subsequently to all images. 

4 They dealt with the education of poor men's children, security of tenure ; 
and decay of tillage and husbandry. 

6 So called because it was drawn up for the diocese of Sarum at Salisbury by 
Bishop Osmund, who occupied the see 1078-1099. 



THE PROTESTANT EXTREMISTS IN POWER 351 

outward observance, and no attempt was made to impose a doctrinal 
test. Princess Mary, who refused to conform, was allowed by the 
Protector to hear mass in her own house. 

Religious Revolt in Devon and Cornwall, 1549. — Yet the new 
arrangement satisfied neither of the extreme parties. It still savored 
too much of Rome for the " hot gospellers," while the country folk, 
under the influence of the parish priests, resisted even the moderate 
changes which it introduced. In July the men of Devon and Cornwall 
rose in revolt, demanding the restoration of the old services, and images 
and monastic endowments. The insurgents proceeded to besiege 
Exeter, which was only relieved in August by a government force 
assisted by foreign mercenaries. 

Kett's Rebellion, 1549. — While the mainspring of the revolt in 
the southwest was religious, widespread discontent existed throughout 
the country, due to agrarian distress, to the steady rise of prices re- 
sulting from the debased currency, and to the repressive vagrancy 
laws. The failure of Somerset's efforts to improve the situation 
brought on a revolt which centered in the eastern counties. It was 
led by one Robert Kett, a prosperous landlord whose sympathies 
with the rioters had been accidentally enlisted. Early in July he es- 
tablished a camp on Mousehold Heath, near Norwich, and set up a 
court under an oak tree, to which offending landlords were brought 
for judgment. He kept his forces in good order, prohibited all blood- 
shed, had prayers morning and evening, and frequent addresses from 
preachers. A petition was drawn up, begging that enclosures and other 
oppressive practices might be diminished. " We pray," it plain- 
tively declared, " that all bondmen be made free ; for God made all 
free with his precious blood-shedding." A pardon brought by a 
royal herald was rejected on the ground that " Kings were wont to 
pardon wicked persons and not innocent and just men." Thereupon, 
Kett seized the town of Norwich and defeated an army sent to recover 
it. Finally, the insurgents were defeated by a force under Warwick, 
reenforced by French and Italian mercenaries. Kett was captured 
and later executed. Somerset had been obliged to employ force- 
against the very class whose hopes he had raised, and Warwick saw 
the opportunity which he had long sought for overthrowing his rival. 
Many other things, besides, had contributed to discredit the Protector. 

Failure of Somerset's Scotch and French Policy. — His foreign 
policy had failed. He had accentuated the hatred of the Scots, he 
had helped to cement more closely their alliance with France, and had 
been unsuccessful in averting a French war. To be sure, he had tried 
to proceed cautiously, he had declined a Lutheran alliance to avoid 
angering Charles V, and he had sought an alliance with Henry II, 
who had succeeded Francis I in March, 1547. But Henry was keen 
on combining with the Scots and recovering Boulogne. So Somerset 
turned to Scotland. He offered to give up Henry VIII's claim to 
1 sovereignty, and urged the acceptance of a union ; but he insisted that 



352 



A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 



the treaty of 1543 should be carried out, and when the Scotch refused, 
he crossed the border and defeated their forces at Pinkie Cleugh, 
10 August, 1547. Making allowance for all difficulties, Somerset 
bungled his Scotch policy. In May of the previous year a body of 
nobles of the anti-French, anti-Catholic party, had murdered Cardinal 
Beaton and seized the castle of St. Andrews. Somerset neglected 
the opportunity and allowed the French to send assistance to the 
Government, which was thus enabled to overcome the insurgents. 
If he had sent timely help to the men at St. Andrews, he might have 
built up a strong anti-French party and dictated his own terms. 
Moreover, the effect of his victory at Pinkie was disastrous. He was 
unwilling or unable to follow it up by a military occupation, and the 
Scots, goaded to fury by the defeat and the ensuing pillage, proposed 
a marriage between the Princess Mary and the Dauphin Francis. 
More French troops were sent over, Mary was taken to France, and 
the marriage, concluded in course of time, drew still closer England's 
two most dangerous enemies. On 8 August, 1549, while the south- 
western insurgents and Kett's rebellion were still on foot, France took 
occasion to besiege Boulogne. 

Summary Treatment of His Brother. — Another handle against 
the Protector was found in the summary treatment of his brother 
Thomas, Baron Seymour of Sudeley and Lord High Admiral — an 
unscrupulous man of boundless ambitions. He sought to become 
guardian of the King's person, and he aspired to marry the Princess 
Elizabeth, even before the death of his own wife, 1 whom he was accused 
of murdering. He allied himself with the Channel pirates, and with 
the master of the mint of Bristol, with whom he shared the profits 
of debasing the coinage; he gathered a party to further his aims; 
stored up arms and ammunition, and started a private cannon fac- 
tory. When his treasonable practices were brought to light, Parlia- 
ment passed an act of attainder against him, and he was executed 
without trial, 20 March, 1549. Although he richly deserved his fate, 
the Protector was blamed for thus arbitrarily disposing of his own 
flesh and blood. 

The Fall of Somerset, 1549. — So Warwick and the other leaders 
of the Council, who nourished grievances or hoped for gain and 
power, had many charges to bring forward against the Protector: 
the strife engendered by his religious, social, and agrarian policy; his 
mismanagement of foreign affairs ; his treatment of his brother ; his 
arrogance and heedlessness of advice ; and his profuseness and greed. 
When Somerset realized the full danger of his position, he made a vain 
effort, by means of inflammatory pamphlets, to rouse the lesser folk 
to rise in his defense against the " great masters " and extortioners 
who were attacking him because he was the people's friend. He 
fled from London, taking the young King with him ; but, 10 October, 

1 Catharine Parr, widow of Henry VIII. 



THE PROTESTANT EXTREMISTS IN POWER 353 

he was induced by fair promises to surrender. Immediately upon his 
submission, he was arrested and thrown into the Tower. 

Warwick's Supremacy in the Council. — The control of affairs now 
passed into the hands of the Earl of Warwick, a brilliant soldier, a 
cunning diplomat, and a polished man of the world, but utterly un- 
scrupulous and unprincipled, masking ambition under a show of def- 
erence, and religious indifference under a pretended zeal for the Prot- 
estant cause. 1 His first step was to secure himself and his followers 
in the Council by law, and to undo so far as possible the work of the 
Protector. To this end he procured a series of acts from Parliament, 
which met in November, 1549. It was made high treason for persons 
to assemble for the purpose of killing or imprisoning a member of 
the Privy Council or of " altering the laws." Enclosures were legal- 
ized, and it was declared a treasonable offense to meet with a view of 
breaking them down or of abating rates and prices, while those who 
summoned such meetings or incited such acts were pronounced 
felons. On 24 March, 1550, a treaty was made with France by which 
Boulogne was given up for 400,000 crowns ; all strongholds which the 
English held in Scotland were surrendered; the marriage of Mary, 
Queen of Scots, to the Dauphin was accepted; and England agreed 
to make no war on France without fresh cause of offense. Ignomin- 
ious as these terms were, the peace was inevitable and not without 
immediate advantages. Boulogne was hard pressed, and the English 
finances were too depleted to continue the war. Relieved of her 
enemies, she was able to cut down her armaments and turn her atten- 
tion to the religious problem. 

Warwick's Protestant Zeal, 1550. — Warwick acted his part of 
advanced Protestant reformer with such zeal that he was hailed by 
Hooper, one of the greatest enthusiasts of the party, as"a most holy 
and fearless instrument of the word of God." Not only did he keep 
Norfolk, Bonner, and Gardiner in prison, but he deprived the latter of 
his see, and imprisoned and deprived half a dozen more of the bishops 
as well. With the bishoprics thus acquired he rewarded the leaders 
of the reform party. The destruction of the altars, images, and painted 
windows went on merrily, and the ecclesiastical lawlessness increased. 
Nevertheless, Joan Bocher, an Anabaptist, condemned by a church 
court under Somerset, was burned in May, 1550, and another heretic 
followed her to the stake during the next year. Warwick's adherents 
were as greedy of pelf as ever Somerset had been. In March, 1551, 
the Government seized such church plate as remained unappropriated. 
Moreover, the proceeds from the chantry lands which had been charged 
with the support of the displaced chantry priests, and " the erecting 
of Grammar Schools for the education of youth in virtue and godliness, 
and the further augmenting the better provision of the poor and 
needy," were largely diverted to less pious and laudable uses. 

1 He was the son of Henry VII's extortioner, Dudley, and father of Elizabeth's 
notorious favorite, the Earl of Leicester. 

2A 



354 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

The " Judicial Murder " of Somerset, 1552. — Between February, 
1550, and January, 1552, Warwick got on without a Parliament. He 
packed the Council with his own followers, he made himself its presi- 
dent, and he had himself created Duke of Northumberland, though 
he did not venture to assume the title of Lord Protector. His old 
rival was released from the Tower, 6 February, 1550, and readmitted 
to the Council in April. While the two patched up a reconciliation, it 
was natural that Somerset should oppose the policy of the President 
and seek to recover his lost power. Consequently, 16 October, 1551, 
he was suddenly arrested with certain of his adherents, and again sent 
to the Tower. The story was circulated that he had plotted to 
murder Northumberland and others of the Council, to seize the crown, 
and to destroy the city of London. He was tried before a court con- 
sisting of 26 of the 47 peers of England, among them Northumberland 
and his satellites who had framed the accusation and examined the 
witnesses. Even then all the charges against him were finally dropped 
except one of felony for inciting an unlawful assembly. Nor did that 
rest on any sound basis. On 22 January, 1552, he was executed by a 
royal order fraudulently obtained for the purpose. The popular 
opposition was so intense almost as to provoke a riot. Parliament, 
which met the following day, showed its abhorrence of the deed by 
passing a new treason act restoring the obligation to present a charge 
within three months 1 and to substantiate it by the evidence of two 
witnesses. 

The Second Act of the Uniformity, 1552. — Voicing the increasing 
Protestant sentiment, this same Parliament proceeded to sanction 
a revised edition of the Book of Common Prayer. In the new Book 
the priest is called a " minister," the altar a " table," and in the com- 
munion service the memorial idea supersedes the doctrine of the Real 
Presence. 2 But the sacrament was still to be received kneeling, and 
was defended in the famous " Black Rubric," 3 which declared that the 
posture meant " no adoration to any Real Presence of Christ's natural 
flesh and blood." A second Act of Uniformity enjoining the use of 
the Book thus revised also imposed penalties for non-observance upon 
the laity as well as the clergy. Any one neglecting to attend service 
on Sundays and holidays was liable to ecclesiastical censure and ex- 
communication. The penalty for attending any other form was 
six months' imprisonment for the first offense, a year for the second, 
and life for the third. Cranmer, who had been in charge of the work 

1 Treason was among the original charges against Somerset, though he was 
convicted of felony. 

2 Where the priest had said formerly : "The Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus 
Christ which was given for thee, preserve thy body and soul unto everlasting life," 
the minister now said, in proffering the bread to the communicant : "Take and eat 
this in remembrance that Christ died for thee and feed on him in thy heart by faith 
with thanksgiving." A similar exhortation was made in offering the wine. 

3 A "rubric" is an explanatory note, getting its name from the fact that they 
were originally, and are usually, printed in red. 






THE PROTESTANT EXTREMISTS IN POWER 355 

of revision, also drew up a series of forty-two articles defining the faith. 
These were not submitted to Parliament, but were sanctioned by a 
royal proclamation in June, 1553. 

Northumberland's Plot, 1553. — In spite of increased spoliation of 
the Church, 1 and renewed debasement of coinage, there was a constant 
dearth of money. Moreover, the Duke, with all his acuteness and 
ability, lacked the art of making himself popular ; and, as the financial 
situation grew worse and his arbitrariness and self-seeking became 
more and more evident, lost ground steadily. Even the preachers 
who had hailed him as a new Moses or a new Joshua began to de- 
nounce him as Achitophel. 2 His hold over the sickly boy King 
remained almost his only source of strength. Realizing that Edward's 
brief life was drawing to a close, he devised his last and most daring 
scheme, designed to secure a successor over whom he might exercise 
control. The last succession act, passed in 1544, had decreed that, 
failing issue, Mary should succeed Edward, and Elizabeth should suc- 
ceed Mary. Beyond that point Parliament had empowered Henry 
VIII to regulate the succession by will. Passing over the heirs of 
his elder sister Margaret, represented at this time by Mary, Queen of 
Scots, he had devised the crown to the line of his sister Mary, Duchess 
of Suffolk. Although Edward's two sisters were still alive, Northum- 
berland determined to get him to pass them over and vest the succes- 
sion in the Suffolk line ; not, however, in Frances, the nearest repre- 
sentative, but in her daughter, Lady Jane Grey, whom he married 
to Guilford Dudley, his fourth son. This was clearly illegal ; for 
Henry's will was authorized by Parliament, while Northumberland 
sought only the Council's sanction of his scheme. Indeed, that body 
only assented with extreme reluctance. The timorous Cranmer was 
the last to sign. 3 The judges were only brought over by promises and 
threats. This was in June, 1553. On 6 July, King Edward VI died at 
Greenwich in his sixteenth year. The matter was kept secret as long 
as possible, and 10 July, Lady Jane Grey was proclaimed in London. 

Edward's Characteristics. — Edward is described as a short, slender, 
fair-haired youth of sedate bearing, weak-eyed and slightly deaf. 
Carefully educated and always cheerful at his books, he learned Greek 
and Latin as a mere child, though he diverted himself with hunting, 
hawking, and tilting. He was devoted to his tutor, Sir John Cheke ; 
but he associated only rarely with the youth of his own age or with 
his sisters, each of whom had a separate household. His uncle Somer- 
set failed to gain any personal influence over him, and when the move- 
ment to drive the Protector out of office was launched, he noted dryly 
in his diary the following items against him : " ambition, vain-glory, 
entering into rash wars in my youth . . . enriching himself of my 

1 Church bells and organs were seized, and lead was stripped from the roofs of 
sacred buildings. 

2 From the fraudulent councilor of Absalom. 

3 Though, by virtue of his high office, his name stands first on the list. 



356 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

treasure, following his own opinion, and doing all by his own author- 
ity." Indeed, Edward's natural affection was small, and as he grew 
older, he began to exhibit more and more his father's masterful temper 
and regal dignity. Northumberland managed to gain an ascendancy 
over him, though it is most unlikely ^that he would have maintained it 
had the King reached manhood. His precocity of intellect and the 
intensity of his religious ardor were equally marked. He was assid- 
uous in hearing sermons, would gravely note the points that impressed 
him, and discuss them afterwards. On 15 May, 1550, a contemporary 
reports : " No study delights him more than that of the Holy Scrip- 
tures, of which he reads daily ten chapters with the greatest atten- 
tion," and a few days later it is recorded in a letter to Calvin : " The 
King is exerting all his powers for the restoration of God's Kingdom." 
But, in January, 1553, he was attacked by consumption, resulting from 
a cold which he caught at tennis, and his death, which soon followed, 
was a sudden check on the course of the Reformation. 

Edward's Educational and Charitable Foundations. — In spite 
of the greedy adventurers who surrounded him, the young King was 
able to do something for learning and charity. From the sale of chap- 
els, chantries, and other church property he endowed, or reendowed, 
upwards of thirty grammar schools. Christ's Hospital, founded for 
the sons of the poor, formerly the Grey Friars monastery, became the 
famous Blue Coat School. Funds were given to the hospitals of 
St. Thomas and St. Bartholomew for the medical treatment of the 
indigent, and the Savoy palace was turned into an institution of 
the same sort. The royal palace of Bridewell became a workhouse or 
a house of correction for " ramblers, dissolute and sturdy beggars." 
Inadequate as all this was, it was more than Henry VIII had at- 
tempted. 

FOR ADDITIONAL READING 

Narrative. A. F. Pollard, History of England, from the Accession of Edward VI 
to the Death of Elizabeth (1910), chs. I-V (full list of authorities, with comments, 
pp. 418-503). Innes, England under the Tudors, chs. XII, XIII. Cambridge Modern 
History, II, ch. XIV (list of authorities, pp. 794-801). Froude, History of England, 
chs. IV, V. Lingard, History of England, V, ch. IV. A. F. Pollard, England under 
Protector Somerset (1900) ; the standard work on the Protector, rather in the nature 
of an apology. 

Constitutional. Taylor, Origin and Growth, II, bk. IV, ch. III. 

Ecclesiastical. Wakeman, chs. XIII, XIV. Gairdner, History of the English 
Church, chs. XIII, XIV, XV. Dixon, History of the Church of England, chs. II, III. 

Selections from the sources. Adams and Stephens, nos. 159-162. 



THE PROTESTANT EXTREMISTS IN POWER 357 

THE GRAYS AND THE SEYMOURS 
Henry VII, 1483-1509 

I I 1 

Henry VIII, Margaret = James IV Mary = (2) Charles Brandon, 



1509-IS47 of Scotland 



(1) Louis XII 
of France 



Duke of 
Suffolk 



Frances-- Henry Grey, 

Marquis of Dorset 

and Duke of 

Suffolk 



Jane Grey = Guilford Dudley Catherine Grey = Edward Seymour, 

I Earl of 

Hertford 

I 

Edward Seymour, 

Lord Beauchamp, 

d. 1612 

! 

Edward, William, 

d. 1618 afterward 

2d Duke of 

Somerset 

(1588-1660), 

m. Arabella 

Stuart, 
•ee p. 293 



CHAPTER XXIII 
THE ENGLISH COUNTER-REFORMATION. MARY (1553-1558) 

Defeat of the Northumberland Plot, 1553. — When Mary learned 
of the events in London, she took refuge in Framlingham, a fortified 
manor house in Suffolk. She chose her position wisely ; it was within 
the area of Kett's rebellion, hence in a country bitterly hostile to 
Northumberland, and it was near the seacoast whence, if need arose, 
she could easily flee to the Flemish dominions of her cousin, Charles 
V. Forthwith, loyal gentlemen and their retainers began to flock to 
Mary's support, bringing with them money, plate, and jewels. Lon- 
don, on the contrary, showed no enthusiasm for Lady Jane Grey, 
and Northumberland, as he departed with an army against the Marian 
forces, was heard to exclaim : " The people press to see us, but not 
one sayeth ' God speed ye.' " He had not gone far, however, before 
the citizens awakened from their lethargy, and when, 19 July, Lady 
Jane's own father proclaimed Mary on Tower Hill and Paul's Cross, 
they manifested their joy by the ringing of bells, by bonfires, by 
salvos of cannon, and shouts of applause. The attempts to set aside 
a will authorized by Parliament, the hard conditions under which 
Mary had grown up, and the religious excesses of the late reign, all 
combined to incline the people to support their rightful Queen. Nor- 
thumberland's troops began to drop away as he marched, and when 
he learned that the crews of the Channel fleet had deserted his cause, 
he declared for Mary himself, in the market place at Cambridge, 20 
July, protesting, with tears in his eyes, that he knew her to be a merciful 
woman. Ordered by the Council to disband his army, he was arrested 
and taken to London. On 3 August, 1553, the new Queen, accom- 
panied by a glittering escort, rode into the City. Her first act was 
to release Norfolk, Gardiner, and others. Gardiner was restored to 
his see of Winchester and made Chancellor and Chief Minister, though 
Mary herself, for the first year or two of her reign, rose at daybreak 
and worked till midnight on affairs of State. Of those who had plotted 
against her accession seven were tried and condemned, but only three 
were executed. Northumberland tried in vain to avert his richly 
deserved fate by professing himself a Catholic. Mary refused to 
put Lady Jane Grey to death, though she sent her to prison. 

Mary's Character and Policy. — The Queen, who had now come 
to her own, was in her thirty-seventh year. In spite of contemporary 
accounts of her beauty, her portraits represent her as prim and un- 

358 



1 



THE ENGLISH COUNTER-REFORMATION 359 

prepossessing. She was of low stature, and extremely short-sighted. 
Though thin and delicate, she had a deep-toned, masculine voice. 
After a few brief years, when she was courted by the leading princes of 
Europe, she had shared in her mother's disgrace, and because of her 
unflinching loyalty to her religion, had been exposed to the brutality 
of Henry VIII and his agents. 1 At length she was reconciled to her 
father, but only on hard and humiliating terms. Restored to the 
succession in 1544, she was kept apart from her brother and had to 
face continued hardships and opposition. She was highly educated, 
and her mental endowments and accomplishments were uncommon. 
In her lonely and joyless life study, music, and embroidery formed 
her only resource. Yet, withal, and in spite of occasional bursts 
of temper, partly a result of ill health, she was loved by all about her 
for her generosity and kindness. Her dearest wish was to restore 
England to the Catholic fold. For that she had embittered her life 
and all but lost her birthright. 

First Measures of the Reign. — A fortnight after her entry into 
London she issued a proclamation urging all men to return to the old 
faith, she ordered the restoration of much church plate which had 
been stolen, she gave warning to " busy meddlers in religion," and 
forbade the " private interpretation of God's own word after men's 
own brains." Married clergy who refused to give up their wives 
were deprived. Elizabeth, though she refused to declare her con- 
version, agreed to attend mass and was left in peace. The formal 
settlement of religion was reserved to Parliament. In order to relieve 
the financial situation, Mary remitted the tax imposed by Edward's 
last parliament — a step which " caused a marvelous noise of rejoic- 
ing " — and sought to regulate the coinage. Yet her coronation, 
1 October, was a very gorgeous affair, intended to impress the people. 
The procession to and from the Abbey was most imposing from its 
profusion of crimson velvet, furs, silks, and gold and silver lace. 

Marriage Projects. — The Queen's marriage presented a serious 
problem. Her subjects were anxious to settle the succession ; but 
the majority wanted her to marry among her own people and to keep 
clear of foreign complications and papal control. Some, however, 
backed by Charles V, desired her union with a foreign prince of the 
Roman Catholic faith, who would aid her to restore the power of the 
Pope, and counteract the Franco-Scotch alliance. The latter party 
looked to Philip, son of the Emperor, and heir to his Spanish domin- 
ions, a widower eleven years the junior of Mary. He was opposed 
not only by the majority of Englishmen, but by the two men high in 
j royal favor, — Gardiner and Pole. 

The System of Henry VIII restored by Parliament, 1553. — Par- 
liament met 5 October, 1553. Its chief work was to pass an act re- 
pealing all laws of Edward's reign affecting religion and the Church, 

1 Norfolk and Sussex once declared to her face that, if she were their daughter, 
'they would knock her head against the wall till it was as soft as a baked apple." 



360 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

and restoring the service as it was in the last year of Henry VIII. 
This did away with both Books of Common Prayer, with communion 
in both kinds, and the marriage of the clergy. Parliament would go 
no further ; for the majority had no desire to reverse the policy of 
Henry VIII and again accept papal rule. As a protest against the 
projected Spanish match, the Commons prepared an address praying 
the Queen to marry an English noble. Mary, who had already de- 
termined on Philip, rebuked them sharply for presuming to control 
her choice of a husband. In January, 1554, the marriage articles 
were arranged, and upon terms most favorable to England. Although 
Philip was to have the title of joint sovereign and to aid his consort 
in the government of England, the country was to preserve its ancient 
laws and privileges independent of Spain. None but English were to 
hold office, and if the Queen should die without issue, her husband 
was to make no claim on the succession. On the other hand, any 
child born of the marriage would succeed both to the English kingdom 
and to Philip's inheritance in the Low Countries. Finally, Philip 
agreed not to engage England in his father's wars with France. 

Wyatt's Rebellion, 1554. — The people showed their hatred of the 
match by nearly tearing Philip's ambassador to pieces when he landed 
in Kent, mistaking him for the bridegroom; and by pelting with 
snowballs Courtenay who went to meet him at Westminster. Those 
were indications of a feeling which gave Mary's enemies a chance to plan 
a widespread rebellion, which, while professing to free her from her 
evil councilors and to prevent the Spanish marriage, really aimed, 
with French help, to depose the Queen and to set up Lady Jane Grey 
or Elizabeth in her place. But the design leaked out, and Gardiner 
wrung a complete confession from Courtenay. 1 Three separate out- 
breaks were suppressed in detail. One led by Sir Peter Carew and 
the gentry of Devon, with the aim of setting Elizabeth and Courtenay 
on the throne, broke up in a panic when Courtenay failed to appear. 
Carew, who fled abroad, was nearly dispatched in Venice by hired 
assassins. A second, centering in the midlands and conducted by the 
Duke of Suffolk in favor of his daughter, Lady Jane Grey, was easily 
crushed. Suffolk was lodged in the Tower. A third rising in Kent 
caused more trouble. The leader, Sir Thomas Wyatt, 2 a young Roman 
Catholic, succeeded in crossing the Thames at Kingston above London, 
whence he penetrated into the City as far as the Temple Bar before 
he could be overcome. Mary, thus threatened on many sides, showed 
the true Tudor spirit and tact. On 1 February she made a stirring 
speech, declaring that the conspirators were simply making her 
marriage " a Spanish cloak to cover their pretended purpose against 
our religion," and offering, if the Lords and Commons deemed it 
for the best interests of her subjects, to remain single as long as she 
lived. In spite of urgent appeals she refused to leave Whitehall which 

1 He was the son of the Marquis of Exeter executed by Henry VIII in 1538. 

2 He was a son of the poet. 






THE ENGLISH COUNTER-REFORMATION 361 

lay in the rebel line of march. About sixty of the insurgent leaders, 
including Wyatt and Suffolk, were put to death. Lady Jane Grey 
and her husband were executed for their part in the old Northumber- 
land plot. Elizabeth, brought to London and held in durance for a 
time, was finally reconciled to her sister. In spite of various sus- 
picious circumstances, no proof of her complicity was discovered. 

The Arrival of Philip, 1554. — Wyatt's rebellion was followed by 
more rigorous measures against the Protestants. Foreign congrega- 
tions were ordered to quit the realm, married clergy were forced to 
give up their wives or to leave their benefices, and country gentry were 
commanded to set up altars in the village churches. Parliament, 
which sat from the 2 April to 5 May, while it sanctioned the marriage 
treaty, refused to exclude Elizabeth from the succession or to reenact 
the Six Articles and the old heresy laws. On 20 July, Philip landed 
at Southhampton, where he met a deputation of the Council, to whom 
he showed himself most gracious and conciliatory. Declaring that 
he came to live among them as an Englishman, and that his attendants 
would conform to the English law, he drank, as a pledge of his goodwill, 
a tankard of English ale. This last was no doubt an ordeal for a 
Spaniard. Mary met him at Winchester, where, on the 25th, they 
were married in the ancient cathedral. After a month of festivities 
the royal pair journeyed to London with a stately train, including 
twenty-eight carts filled with bullion amounting to £50,000, which 
Philip brought as a present to the kingdom. While he strove to please, 
his formal manner and his strict devotion to his religious duties seemed 
to strengthen the natural aversion with which he was regarded, and 
his attendants were hustled and beaten in the streets. 

The Return to Rome, 1554. — Parliament met again, 12 November, 
1554. In order that the royal wishes might be carried out, the sheriffs 
had been ordered to return men of " a wise, grave, and Catholic sort." 
Cardinal Pole, recently appointed papal legate, landed in England 
a few days after the opening of the session. Mary welcomed him with 
boundless delight, declaring : " The day I ascended the throne, I did 
not feel such joy." In answer to a petition from Parliament the 
Legate, on St. Andrew's Day (29 November), solemnly received the 
realm " again into the unity of our own Mother the Holy Church." 
This reunion would never have come to pass, even in a packed parlia- 
ment, but for his assurance that the Pope had consented to waive the 
restoration of the Church lands. Parliament then completed the 
revival of the old order by repealing " all statutes, articles, and pro- 
visions against the See Apostolic of Rome since the twentieth year of 
King Henry VIII," and restoring all the heresy laws. 

The Marian Persecutions, 1555-1558. — Then began four horrible 
years of persecution which have stained indelibly the memory of the 
Queen and fastened upon her the name of " Bloody Mary." Up to 
this time she had been comparatively lenient. The national opposi- 
tion which had manifested itself in armed rebellion really marked the 



362 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

turning point in her reign. Other causes, however, contributed to 
change her policy. Philip, who had married her purely for reasons of 
State, grew colder and colder, and soon left the country, to return 
only once again when he wanted aid; then Mary was denied what 
she most desired, an heir to perpetuate her name ; and finally her 
health, never robust, grew steadily worse. While these facts help to 
explain the cruelty of her methods, it must not be forgotten that Mary 
regarded it as her duty to extirpate heresy and restore the purity of 
the faith ; in her own words, " She had been predestined and preserved 
by God to the succession of the crown for no other end save that He 
might make use of her above all else in bringing back the realm to 
the Catholic faith." 1 Moreover, there was no idea of toleration in 
those days, 2 heresy was regarded as a loathsome disease to be stamped 
out at all cost ; thousands on the Continent suffered for their faith ; 
Mary was not alone in thinking that obstinate heretics should suffer 
death for " the great horror of their offense and the manifest example 
of other Christians"; and disregard of suffering and of human life 
were a feature of. the age. Still, if Mary's lot had been a happier 
one and her subjects had not risen against her, she might have softened 
her stern sense of duty by considerations of policy and humanity. 

Parliament shares the blame for the persecutions which followed. 
Gardiner advised the step ; but he hoped that a few examples would 
be sufficient, and he died less than a year after the persecutions had 
begun. Even while he lived, his hands were tied ; because having 
separated from Rome with Henry VIII, his orthodoxy was not above 
suspicion. 3 Pole was too gentle a spirit to enter into heresy hunting 
with any zeal, but Mary forced him into line and persuaded him that 
hitherto he had been too mild. Nevertheless, he more than once 
admonished the bishops to moderation. Philip, keen scenter and 
torturer of heretics in his own dominions, took no share in the pro- 
ceedings in England 4 ; he saw that, with inadequate machinery 
and the trend of opinion against it, such a policy could not succeed, 
and for political reasons he desired to be popular. Bishop Bonner 
has often been charged with exceptional activity and cruelty 6 ; but 
he seldom spoke at the examinations, while after an accused person 
had been condemned he often worked secretly to make him recant. 
His reputation seems to have been due to the fact that there were more 
executions in his diocese than elsewhere. It contained, however, the 
bulk of the heretics ; and, furthermore, the Queen frequently had to 

1 An example of her attitude may be seen in an order that, during executions in 
London, "some good and pious sermons should be preached." 

2 The violence of the reformers did not tend to encourage it ; when, for example, 
a dog was tonsured like a priest, a cat was dressed in clerical vestments, and the most 
violent and abusive pamphlets were circulated. 

3 Not a single person, however, was burned in his diocese, while he lived. 

4 Renard, the Imperial ambassador, also suggested less rigorous methods. 

5 The historian Froude calls him "the common cut- throat and slaughter-general 
of all the bishops of England." 



THE ENGLISH COUNTER-REFORMATION 363 

spur his lagging zeal. When he felt duty bound, he proceeded with 
energy; he was hot-tempered and treated prisoners roughly, but more 
likely to frighten them into recanting than because he was blood- 
thirsty. 

The Martyrs. — Mary's victims numbered nearly 300, a total 
greater than that in Henry VIII's reign of thirty-eight years or Eliza- 
beth's of forty-five. 1 The area of persecution was confined mainly 
to southeastern and eastern England. 2 London furnished 128, or 
almost one half. John Rogers, famous for his version of the English 
Bible, was the first to suffer. Originally a priest of the old faith, he had 
been converted to Protestantism by William Tyndale, whom he met 
in the Low Countries. On 4 February, 1555, he was burned at Smith- 
field in the presence of his eleven children. Little in stature he 
was of great courage, and his wife comforted "him " in such manner 
that it seemed as if he had been led to a wedding." A few days after 
he was followed to the stake by Dr. Rowland Taylor, esteemed for his 
learning and loved for his faithfal pastoral ministration. He, too, 
had once been a priest of the Church of Rome. He was burned in his 
own parish at Hadleigh in Suffolk, where he had refused to allow a 
priest to say mass. He parted serenely from his wife and children 
and a throng of sorrowing parishioners. As the flames crept round 
him one of the executioners cast a fagot and hit him on the head. As 
the blood ran down his face he said gently : " O friend, I have harm 
enough, — what needed that?" Then he stood without crying or 
moving till he was struck with a halberd and fell dead in the fire. On 
the same day and at the same hour, in his former diocese of Gloucester, 
Bishop Hooper suffered martyrdom with noble courage. On 16 
October Latimer, the matchless popular orator — " downright father 
Hugh" — and Bishop Ridley were burned at Oxford, whither 
they had been taken some time before to defend their position in solemn 
disputation. Latimer had, at the opening of the reign, been offered 
a chance to flee, but though " a sore bruised man, about threescore 
and seven years of age," he stoutly refused. While in prison he 
joked merrily with his keeper, telling him that " if he did not guard 
him better, he would escape," and that " he thought he would burn, 
but he was like to starve for cold." At the stake he called to his 
weaker companion : " Be of good comfort, Master Ridley ; we shall 
this day light such a candle by God's grace in England as, I trust, 
shall never be put out." At the last he received the flame as if embrac- 
ing it, and stroking his face with his hands, bathed them in the fire, 
crying out vehemently in his own English tongue : "Father in Heaven, 
receive my soul." 

1 Yet this is less than half the number that suffered in Spain in a single year. 

2 They were distributed mainly as follows: London, 128; Canterbury, 55; 
Norwich, 46; Oxford, 7; the other 31 were spread through various counties. As 
to classes: 5 were bishops ; 21 clergy; 8 gentlemen; 84 artisans; 100 husband- 
men and laborers, 55 women and 4 children. 



364 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

The Execution of Cranmer, 1556. — Cranmer, who had served as 
Primate under the Pope, was tried under a papal commission. Per- 
plexed and fearful of suffering, he signed at least six recantations before 
he was finally condemned. Yet his end was truly heroic. Confessing 
himself " a wretched caitiff and a miserable sinner," he thrust first into 
the flames the hand which had signed the recantation, crying : " This 
hand hath offended." So perished, 20 March, 1556, " the gentle soul 
of wavering courage, the man born to pass peaceful days in cloistered 
shades, torn from them to be the unwilling pilot of revolution." The 
effect upon the people was tremendous. The chosen leader of the 
ecclesiastical system of Henry VIII, the author of the eloquent and 
beautiful Book of Common Prayer, the Primate of the National Church, 
had been martyred in the interest and through the agency of a potentate 
whom the sovereign and Parliament had once discarded. Of the 
humbler victims the number is too great to speak, though their con- 
stancy deserves to be proclaimed through the ages. It shows the 
hold that the new doctrines had gained on the hearts of the people. 
Plainly such examples encouraged rather than frightened the weaker. 
Even the most devoted Romanists recoiled, but the stern, misguided 
Queen persisted in the useless butchery. The very week before her 
death five went to the stake. 

The Departure of Philip, 1555. — Everything, however, worked 
against her. Cardinal Caraffa, who became Pope as Paul IV, in- 
sisted upon the restoration of the church lands, thus alienating many 
of her Roman Catholic supporters. On 29 August, 1555, Philip left 
her. Devoted as she was to him, Mary's temper was very trying ; 
he was growing steadily more unpopular, and he had given up hope of 
succeeding to the English throne. On 25 October, his father handed 
over to him the Flemish provinces and, in January, 1556, the kingdom 
of Spain. Besides the extirpation of heretics, Mary's chief occupation 
during her loneliness was to discharge her conscience by restoring to 
the Church the revenues torn from it by the Crown. She set up anew 
some of the ancient monastic establishments and gave money to edu- 
cate poor children. 

War with France, 1557. Loss of Calais, 1558. — Late in 1556 
war broke out between France and Spain. From 18 March to 3 July, 
1557, Philip was again in England, seeking aid against his enemy. 
His efforts were furthered most opportunely by the landing in York- 
shire, 24 April, of a body of exiles led by Thomas Stafford, grandson 
of the last Duke of Buckingham, who declared that he came to defeat 
the " devilish devices " of Mary and to deliver the country from a 
foreign usurper. He was quickly disposed of. The French King 
denied all connection with the undertaking; nevertheless, England 
declared war on him, 7 June. On 6 January, 1558, Calais, the last 
English possession on French soil, was captured by the Duke of Guise. 
Three months later Mary, Queen of Scots, was married to the French 
Dauphin. At home the English prospects were as dark and threaten- 



THE ENGLISH COUNTER-REFORMATION 365 

ing as they were abroad. An ague fever raged through the land during 
the summer and autumn of 1557 and 1558, corn was dear, trade and 
agriculture languished, and heavy taxes were imposed to meet the 
cost of the unsuccessful and unpopular war. " The Queen does all she 
can," wrote Philip's ambassador; "her will is good and her heart 
stout, but everything else is wrong." 

Death of Queen Mary, 1558. — In the midst of sullen discontent en- 
gendered by persecution, foreign and papal intermeddling, financial 
stress, and national humiliation, for which she was largely to blame 
and for which her subjects held her wholly responsible, Mary suc- 
cumbed to the prevailing epidemic. She had suffered for years from 
headache, palpitation of the heart, and dropsy, and this combined with 
mental anguish due to the hatred of subjects, the failure of her policy, 
and the neglect of Philip, made her an easy victim. The loss of 
Calais, " the fairest jewel " of her kingdom, was the crowning grief. 
" When I am dead and opened," she said in her last illness, " you will 
find Calais lying upon my heart." She died 17 November, 1558. 
By her own request she was buried in the habit of a nun and not in her 
robes of state. Pole, who had succeeded Cranmer as Archbishop of 
Canterbury, followed her to the grave within a few hours. To zealous 
Protestants she was "• Bloody Mary," the " Wicked Jezebel of 
England," cruel, vindictive, one who delighted in shedding innocent 
blood. Yet by nature she was kind and charitable. At her acces- 
sion she declared that " she minded not to compel any of her subjects " 
to embrace the old faith " until such time as further order by common 
assent shall be taken thereunto," and, until Wyatt's rebellion, she 
spared many who had plotted to exclude her from the throne. Her 
marriage to Philip was the greatest mistake of her life. It outraged 
national sentiment and ruined what chance there was of making her 
religious policy prevail. The oppositions which it excited, and its 
other unhappy consequences, accentuated her austere sense of duty 
into blind fanaticism, and made her persist with sickening savageness 
in burning the bodies of her subjects to save their souls. In a prayer 
book said to be hers, the pages which contain the prayers for the unity 
of the Holy Catholic Church are stained with tears and much handling. 

The Results of the Marian Exile. — The activity of the Marian 
exiles, who flooded the country with furious and inflammatory writings, 
made the lot of those who remained behind much harder than it might 
otherwise have been. 1 At the beginning of the reign all foreign exiles 
had been ordered to leave the realm within twenty-four days, under 
pain of imprisonment and loss of goods. About 800 migrated, to- 
gether with 200 English disciples. They settled chiefly in Lutheran 
Frankfort and Strassburg, in Zwinglian Zurich, and Calvinistic 
Geneva. While views of these various reformers had penetrated into 

1 John Knox's "Faithful Admonition to the Profession of God's Truth in Eng- 
land" and his "Blasts of the Trumpet against the monstrous regiment of Women," 
while by no means the most violent, will show their temper. 



366 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

England as early as the reign of Henry VIII, they had not proved 
acceptable to the mass of the people. Now, one of the forms — 
Calvinism — took a firm hold on the Marian exiles, an earnest and 
thinking class. On their return under Elizabeth they brought back 
and spread their views among their countrymen, with marked effect 
upon England's future religion and politics. 

Calvinism. — Calvinism had two sides : one represented by its 
doctrinal system, the other by its form of church government. The 
corner stone of the former was predestination, and that came to be 
accepted even by many loyal members of the Church of England. 
Its system of church government substituted for the Episcopal hier- 
archy a series of representative assemblies. Each separate church had 
its " kirk session," consisting of the pastor or " presbyter " and a 
body of elders chosen by the congregation. These were grouped into 
" presbyteries, or classes," which, in their turn, were grouped into 
" synods." Finally there was the " general assembly," composed of 
representatives from the smaller bodies, and exercising jurisdiction 
over the whole. This Calvinistic system ultimately came to be the 
form established in Scotland. In England, where it never received 
any official sanction, it was adopted by an aggressive and influential 
class and played an important part in public affairs for over a century. 

Up to the time of Calvin the principle of the Reformation had been 
cujus regio, ejus religio ; that is, " the religion of the ruler shall be the 
religion of the land." It had been, and was to remain, the basis of 
settlement in Germany and in England. Henry VIII, Edward VI, 
Mary, and Elizabeth, each in turn, settled the ecclesiastical order 
to suit their royal will. Calvinism, on the other hand, like Roman 
Catholicism, was opposed to national independence and State control. 
Each claimed to be a universal church superior to all rulers, the State 
was regarded as the servant, not the master of the Church. Yet there 
was one fundamental difference between the two. The Roman or- 
ganization was monarchical, while the Calvinistic was, in theory at 
least, republican. The pastors and elders were supposed to be the 
representatives, the chosen instruments of the congregation. As a 
matter of fact, wherever Calvinism got a foothold the presbyters sought 
to gain complete control in political as well as religious affairs. 1 This 
is the chief reason why the mass of Englishmen ultimately rejected , 
it ; not, however, before it had accomplished a great work. It was 
men holding Presbyterian views who began, in the reign of Elizabeth, 
to protest against the power of the sovereign to determine the religion 
of the subject. Under the Stuarts they united in Parliament with men 
who had other grievances, and thus launched that mixed political 
and religious movement known as the Puritan Revolution. So the 
main force in " calling Kingship to account " was largely due to what 
the Marian exiles learned from the disciples of Calvin, who aimed to 

1 A government controlled by the clergy is known as a "theocracy." 






THE ENGLISH COUNTER-REFORMATION 367 

make the Reformation something more than a mere transfer of religious 
headship. In attacking the royal supremacy over the Church they 
contributed to limit its power in other fields as well. 

The Scotch Reformation. — The overthrow of the Church of Rome in 
Scotland is unique in that it was brought about, not under the leadership 
of, but in opposition to, the sovereign. On the death of James V, the Earl 
of Arran was chosen Governor of the Realm, an office which he held 
for twelve years. He favored Protestant doctrines and an English 
alliance, but he was weak, indolent, and vacillating, and the control of 
the government was gradually secured by Cardinal Beaton and Mary 
of Guise, who finally became Regent in 1554. The Queen Dowager 
was a big, powerful woman of great ability, who naturally strove to 
maintain Roman Catholic ascendancy under a French alliance. There 
were three elements ranged against her; the Protestants, the anti- 
French party, and the nobles, poor and greedy, who coveted the riches 
of the Church. As early as 1528, Patrick Hamilton had been burned 
for heresy. It was said that his " reek . . . infected all it blew on " ; 
certainly, several who witnessed his martyrdom became Protestants.' 
However, it was the burning of George Wishart, 1 March, 1546, which 
occasioned the first rising. Immediately after his death a body of 
nobles banded together and murdered in his bed, 29 May, Cardinal 
Beaton, the great and worldly Archbishop of St. Andrews's, author of 
Wishart's death. They seized the castle of St. Andrews's where they 
were joined by many of the anti-Catholic, anti-French party. 

John Knox and his Work. — Among those who came was John 
Knox (1505-1575), who, more than any other man, was the author 
and organizer of the Scotch Reformation. Hard, narrow, but a born 
leader, eloquent, unselfish, and uncompromising, he amply deserved 
the epitaph graven on his tomb : " Here lies one who never feared the 
face of man." In July, 1547, when the castle surrendered to a com- 
bined force of French and Scots, he was taken prisoner, and served in 
the French galleys till February, 1549. From then till the death of 
Edward VI he was a preacher in England, part of the time a royal 
chaplain. Shortly after Mary's accession, he fled to the Continent, 
where he met Calvin, whose views he adopted. He soon settled in 
Geneva and became a minister of the English congregation. In the 
autumn of 1555 he was back in Scotland, where he found that the 
Protestant movement had made rapid progress. He remained in the 
country less than a year, when he returned to Geneva for another 
sojourn, which lasted till early in 1559. During his brief visit to 
Scotland he started an organization of the nobles which resulted, 3 
December, 1557, in a bond or " covenant " to " establish the most 
blessed word of God and his congregation." It was signed by the 
Earls of Argyle and Morton, by Lord James Stuart, half-brother of 
Mary, Queen of Scots, and by many other nobles and gentry. These 
Lords of the Congregation," as they were called, were actuated by 
the same threefold motives as those who had been opposing Mary 



368 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

of Guise for years and those who had combined to murder Beaton. 
A petition framed in 1558 showed that they demanded reform in the 
Church, " the right of public and private prayer in common speech, 
of explaining and expounding the Scriptures, and of communion in 
both kinds." The history of their further progress belongs to the 
reign of Elizabeth. 

FOR ADDITIONAL READING 

Narrative. Pollard, Political History, chs. VI-IX. Innes, England tinder the 
Tudor s, chs. XIV, XV. Cambridge Modern History, II, ch. XV (bibliography, 
pp. 802-805). Froude, History of England, chs. V, VI. Lingard, V, chs. V, VI. 
M.J. Stone, Mary I, Queen of England (1901) ; an apology for Mary. 

Constitutional. Taylor, Origin and Growth, II, bk. IV, ch. IV. 

Ecclesiastical. Wakeman, ch. XIV. J. Gairdner, English Church, chs. XVI-XX. 
Dixon, V. John Foxe, Acts and Monuments; popularly known as the Book of 
Martyrs (first published in 1563 ; best edition, Townshend's, 8 vols., 1843-1849) ; al- 
though marred by inaccuracies and bias, this is the classic contemporary account 
of the Marian martyrs'. 

Selections from the sources. Adams and Stephens, nos. 163-166. 



CHAPTER XXIV 

THE ELIZABETHAN RELIGIOUS SETTLEMENT AND THE EARLY 
YEARS OF ELIZABETH'S REIGN (1558-1572) 

Elizabeth's Accession and Character. — When Elizabeth received 
the news that she was Queen of England, she cried : " This is the 
Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes." It was a great heritage, 
and one which brought with it tremendous problems for a young 
woman of twenty-five. The new Queen, however, was endowed 
with rare qualities which had been sharpened by hard schooling in 
the world of men and books. Hers was a puzzling, contradictory 
nature, though the gold glittered brightly through the dross. She 
had her mother's vanity and uncertainties of temper, together with 
the unscrupulousness of both her parents; but also she possessed 
the caution and prudence of Henry VII, and the imperiousness, tact, 
and charm of manner which made Henry VIII so irresistible. She 
could couple " mildness with majesty," she could command or cajole, 
or jest as the occasion demanded, and was an adept in the art of dark- 
ening counsel with well-sounding but meaningless words. Courtiers 
and other flatterers have magnified her beauty ; but in her youth she 
was certainly striking and attractive in appearance. Her figure was 
tall and well proportioned, she had a broad, commanding brow, a 
fine, olive-tinted complexion, hazel eyes, and a profusion of auburn 
hair. Her physical vigor and endurance were remarkable ; she could 
hunt all day, dance or watch masques and pageants all night, and 
when necessary apply herself unremittingly to business. Withal, in 
spite of her changeableness and vanity, she was very much of a man 
in her apparent lack of nerves, which made her fearless and insensible 
to pain, and in her coarseness in word and action. Her intellectual 
attainments had, as was the case with most of the Tudors, been im- 
proved under the most competent tutors procurable. She spoke 
French and Italian with ease, and knew a little Greek: when she 
visited Oxford and Cambridge, she was able to deliver addresses in 
Latin, and, as late as 1597, she treated the Polish ambassador to an 
extempore Latin speech. She was also proficient in music. On the 
other hand, she cared little for poetic or dramatic literature ; and, 
partly from indifference, partly from parsimony, she did almost 
nothing for that wonderful group of writers which made her reign so 
famous. 

Her Joyless Youth and Her Diplomatic Courtships. — Her youth 
had only been less hard than that of her sister Mary. Declared 

2 B 369 



370 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

illegitimate in 1536 she only recovered her place in the line of suc- 
cession three years before her father's death. Parental, brotherly 
and sisterly affection were all excluded from her life. Her first love 
affair was with Somerset's self-seeking brother, who aimed to use her 
as an instrument of his ambition. She was charged with complicity 
in his plots, from which she did not escape without a dark smirch on 
her good name. From that experience she learned a valuable but 
hard lesson — to control her impulses and to trust no one but herself. 
He was the first of a long line of suitors, who, with the exception of 
her favorite, the Earl of Leicester, represented the great reigning 
houses of Europe. Her familiarities with Leicester caused much 
comment, while her romantic flights when she was nearing fifty, with 
the Duke of Alencon, nearly twenty years her junior, reached the 
height of absurdity. Her courtships, however, were merely a part 
of the great diplomatic game which she played so successfully through- 
out her reign. While to gain political advantage she led men on, she 
was determined never to marry. This question, as well as that of 
the succession, she was bound that Parliament should not discuss. 
Those members who presumed to disobey were overwhelmed with 
her wrath. Elizabeth was as lacking in religious sense as she was in 
scruple and delicacy. She had no sympathy with the advanced 
Protestantism of Edward's reign and still less with Mary's Roman 
Catholic restoration. She went to mass and seemed to be reconciled 
with her sister ; but it was only for the sake of expediency, and it 
was in these years that she developed that practice of artfully evasive 
answers which came to be more and more characteristic. 1 

Elizabeth's Favorites and Councilors. — Sure that they would 
not influence her judgment at crises, the Queen all through life in- 
dulged her passion for the flattery of handsome, accomplished men, 
and kept a large following of favorites. The chief of them all was 
Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, grandson of Henry VII's extortioner 
and son of the still more notorious Northumberland. Able to charm 
by his external graces, he was self-indulgent, ambitious, incompetent, 
and false. His stepson, Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, was "a 
pleasing and fruitless object " whom Elizabeth took up in her old 
age. " Transported with an overdesire and thirstiness after fame," 
he was headstrong and insolent. With a reach far exceeding his 
grasp he made a botch of all that he undertook. Sir Walter Raleigh, 
with far greater abilities and merits than either, came to a tragic end 
in the next reign. For serious business Elizabeth chose good, wise 
ministers. William Cecil, Lord Burghley (1572-1598), was her chief 

1 When asked if she believed in transubstantiation, she resorted to the following 
Delphic answer : 

"Christ was the word that spake it. 
He took the bread and brake it, 
And what his words did make it, 
That I believe and take it." 



EARLY YEARS OF ELIZABETH'S REIGN 3?I 

adviser for forty years, acting first as Secretary of State and then as 
Lord Treasurer Trained to the law, he had served his politick ao 
prenticeship under Somerset and Northumberland. During the 

forrStv re Ye;Z he had H SaVCd , hlm f ? by a J' udid0usif unhe -k con! 
tormity. Yet he proved worthy of the confidence that Elizabeth re 
posed in him. Lacking the visions and ideals of the higheTtype of 
sta esmanship he was cautious, sane, methodical, and T ama^Fngly 
industrious His only incentives and rewards for his public selvS 
were love of work his attachment to the Queen, and the^LiEnf- 
land. Owing to the royal parsimony, he received no adequate com- 
pensation even for his actual outlays, and but for his heredity Z 
tune he would have died poor. Francis Walsingham (1530-1/00) 
served as Secretary of State from 1573 till his death He was a zealou 
Protestant unrivaled for his skill in organizing the secret service 
in unraveling plots against the throne, and excellently vesed^'n 
foreign affairs. Sir Nicholas Bacon, brother-in-law of CeS and 
father of the famous Francis, filled the office of Lord Keeper for the 
first thirty years of the reign. Learned in the law, eloquent of peech 

d oX<' C ' and ,°l a CheCry hum ° r Witha1 ' he was a man "whose 
goodness preserved his greatness from suspicion, envy, and hate '' 
In spite of their capacity and devotion Elizabeth was^ ten at odds 
with her ministers, largely because of their excessive Protestan 
seal Her outlook was doubtless broader than theirs; for S 
they were convinced that the only hope of safety lay in a rigid In t 
Cathohc regime she saw the wisdom of attaching moderates of both 
parties to her side, realizing that if she committed & herself to the u'tra 
A TZT P° lc y» V oul d inevitably provoke civil and foreign war. 

i Z^n\ 0i /l emy Vm and hdr t0 his system > the ™ss o 
tnn lr E 1 a had been swun S too far forward under Edward and 

out iTdttontd £££" t0 ^ t0 "* *~ «* P-P^ty 

in^ebf^T 161118 f nd P^-The exhausted country was deeply 
m u ^ Pa , rtzes of rell S lous extremists were striving for mastery 
Mary had been dragged by her Spanish consort into a disastrous wlr 

" ScoZ C d', a oo d ^ Fr T h ^ n l with one foot °* Calais and anothe 
mrt of ■ Fnlt Z UP d0 u Ubly ^eatening. Foreign powers and a 
hen- of her f^ S T SUbj ^ CtS hdd her t0 be a he retic, a nd no true 
wasrmit^ • • Mary / Queen 0f Scots ' the next or thodox heir, 

compose 1he!^T^ ** DaUphhl - S P ain ' to °> mi S ht conceivably^ 
KtjdS d ? ffei ; e . nces with her northern neighbor and corn- 
in" outLfu j C / OC aI lanCC t0 CrUsh this one of the ^ remain- 
vent s Th Protestantism. It was the aim of Elizabeth to pre- 
hTrKnV ev entuahty. But she sought to achieve her purpose 

hLefc h aC o y ; Stee T de ^ ° f WarS and alHances > and e-tendng 
nersdf with occasional - so far as possible secret - aid to the Protes- 

Thei we'! 1 r d ^ ** Net c h u erlands and the Huguenots in Franc . 
inere were three reasons. She desired to give her overburdened 



372 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

country a chance to rest and to develop its resources. Moreover, 
she hoped, by preserving neutrality, to unite all classes of her subjects 
irrespective of party. Finally, she was proud of her diplomatic gifts. 
Her economy, so necessary at first, soon degenerated into stinginess. 
She allowed Burghley to pay his own expenses when he negotiated a 
treaty with Scotland, and she grudged money necessary to meet more 
than one crisis in her reign. Her diplomacy, too, was frequently noth- 
ing but deceit. 1 Yet with all her vanity, caprice, and pettiness Eliza- 
beth had a true love for her people, and in times of stress could rise 
to the noblest heights. In general, her hesitating policy was best, 
since it enabled her to play off conflicting forces one against another, 
thereby gaining time, the healing properties of which she understood 
so well. 2 Her policy must be judged by its fruits. She left Protestant- 
ism established on a secure foundation, she insured a peaceful suc- 
cession which led to the ultimate union with Scotland, she found 
poverty and strife and left prosperity and national unity. 

Peace with France, 1559. — One of the new Queen's first steps was 
to refuse an offer of marriage from Philip II, and to declare to Parlia- 
ment her intention to remain single. It was an heroic choice. It 
meant that with the help of her people she was to solve her problems 
independently, not as a province of Spain. In April, 1559, by the 
treaty of Cateau Cambresis she made peace with France by yielding 
Calais. Though it looked humiliating, the cession relieved the country 
of great expense and helped in the. withdrawal from foreign complica- 
tions. Philip, who also made peace, married Isabella of France. 
Nevertheless, and in spite of his recent rebuff, he had no mind to 
assume a hostile attitude to England ; for the preservation of her 
power would act as a check on his dangerous rival. 

The Religious Settlement, 1558-1559. — While extricating the 
State from foreign entanglements, Elizabeth also had turned her at- 
tention to the religious settlement. Political expediency rather than 
any deep conviction shaped her views.* Other reasons beside the 
desire of uniting the moderates determined her to steer a middle 
course. She preferred the old service set up by her father. " New- 
fangledness " and Roman Catholicism were equally objectionable 
to her : the former because it stood for popular or clerical control ; 
the latter because it looked to the Pope as supreme ruler. Pending 
the meeting of Parliament, she issued a proclamation ordering the 
continuance of the old services, and appointed a commission of divines 

1 Yet that was and long continued to be all too common. In the next reign 
Sir Henry Wotton defined an ambassador as "an honest man appointed to lie 
(which then meant "sojourn" as well) abroad for the good of his country." More 
than one ambassador has misled another by telling the truth. It was said of two 
famous statesmen that "Mazarin never lied and always deceived," and that 
Metternich "always lied and never deceived." 

2 Once she asked: "Mr. Speaker, what has passed in the Lower House?" He 
replied: "May it please your Majesty, seven weeks." Perhaps the chief thing 
which passed in her reign was forty-five years. 



EARLY YEARS OF ELIZABETH'S REIGN 373 

to revise the second Prayer Book of Edward VI. Parliament met 
25 January, 1559. The strength of the Romanist party was greatly 
weakened because of the death of ten Marian bishops within the pre- 
vious year; but the remnant fought hard, and it was not till the end 
of April that a settlement was reached. It was based upon two acts 
Barring a few modifications, notably by the Act of Uniformity of 
1662, the Elizabethan Settlement is practically that of the Church 
ol England to-day. 

. The A c ts of Supremacy and Uniformity, 1559. — By the first, the 
Act for Restoring the Ancient Jurisdiction over the State Ecclesias- 
tical and Spiritual " — popularly known as the " Act of Supremacy " 
— the reactionary legislation of Mary was repealed, and most of the 
antipapal laws of Henry VIII were restored. A few of Henry's 
claims were not revived ; for example, the title of " Supreme Head 
of the Church. By refusing this title Elizabeth avoided giving 
offense both to the Catholics who thought it belonged only to the 
Pope, and to the Puritans who recognized only Christ. 1 She assumed 
instead the title of " Supreme Governor as well in spiritual and ec- 
clesiastical causes as in temporal." The Act of Supremacy gave to 
the sovereign the right to delegate the royal authority in ecclesiastical 
affairs to commissioners. Nothing, however, could be condemned as 
heresy which had not been declared such by the Scriptures, by one 
of the General Councils of the Church, or by Parliament with the 
consent of Convocation. Obedience to the Act was secured by an 
oath imposed upon all clergymen and holders of civil office Those 
who maintained the authority of any foreign prince or prelate were 
subject to penalties, ranging from forfeiture for the first offense to 
death for the third. The second measure, the " Act of Uniformity of 
Common Prayer," enforced the form of service of the revised Prayer 
Hook and prohibited all others. Ministers who disobeyed were pun- 
ished Every one refusing to go to church had to pay twelve pence 
tor the poor. 

The Elizabethan Settlement apparently satisfied the bulk of the 
people. Many shuddered at the late persecutions, or found papal 
supremacy and all its accompaniments distasteful. Others were too 
indifferent or too timid to resist. Of 10,000 clergymen, less than 200 
retused the new Oath of Supremacy. Many extremists were restrained 
irom resistance for fear of endangering national unity and independ- 
ence Nevertheless, it was found necessary within a few years to 
exclude Roman Catholics from the House of Commons and to impose 
restrictions and penalties, known as the " penal statutes," upon the 
obstinate. Extreme Protestants were dealt with by the ecclesiastical 
courts, because acts against them could not be carried through the 
Commons. Submission to the Established Church was regarded 
as a test of loyalty to the State ; and in those troublous times dis- 

1 From the words of the Scripture, "One is your head, even Christ." 



374 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

obedience was regarded as the blackest of crimes — " not a singular 
sin," but " the whole puddle and sink of sins against God and man." 
The bishops, all but one of whom opposed the Settlement, either fled 
abroad or were deprived and imprisoned. 1 In December Matthew 
Parker (1504-15 71) was consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury in 
place of Pole. The prospect had caused him many " displeasant 
cogitations," for he had lived in obscurity in Mary's reign, devoting 
himself to the sweet leisure of study. Wise and moderate as well as 
learned, he desired ever to conciliate, though during bis fifteen years 
as Primate he was forced into sharp opposition against the Puritans. 
The Triumph of the Scotch Protestants, 1 559-1 560. — No sooner 
had Elizabeth brought English affairs into some degree of order than 
she was drawn into the struggle across the border. John Knox re- 
turned to Scotland in 1559 and at once took the lead against Mary of 
Guise. An attempt to suppress the Protestant preachers furnished 
the immediate occasion, but back of it was a growing feeling against 
French influence. When one truce after another had been made 
and broken, the Lords of the Congregation in October poured into 
Edinburgh, seized the castle, and declared the Regent deposed. Mean- 
time, they had applied to Elizabeth for aid. The chance to break 
the power of the Franco-Catholic party was tempting ; but Elizabeth 
feared that intervention might furnish a precedent for foreign powers 
and her own Catholic subjects to combine against her authority. 
Nevertheless, by the treaty of Berwick, February, 1560, she agreed 
to aid the Scots in expelling the French, provided that they continued 
to acknowledge the Queen. It happened, fortunately for the rebels, 
that the French Government had its hands full. In March a con- 
spiracy had broken out with an attempt to seize Francis II 2 at Am- 
boise. After the suppression of the plot, the French cause received 
another blow from the death of the Regent, June, 1560. On 6 July, 
a peace was arranged at Edinburgh between commissioners represent- 
ing France and Scotland. By the Treaty of Edinburgh: Mary and 
Francis were to cease using the English arms which they had quar- 
tered on their shield after the death of Mary Tudor ; no Frenchman 
was henceforth to hold any important office in Scotland ; French 
soldiers were to be sent out of the country ; and until Mary's return 
the government was to be vested in a council, part appointed by her, 
part by the Scotch estates. Mary refused to sign the treaty; but 
the Lords of the Congregation proceeded to carry out the reformation 
for which they had fought. In August, 1560, they called a meeting 
of the Estates, which renounced the authority of the Pope ; con- 
demned all practices contrary to a new creed drawn up on the Genevan 
model by John Knox and his brother ministers ; and forbade the 

1 The Bishop of Winchester, who preached Mary's funeral sermon, mortally 
affronted Elizabeth by his unfortunate reference to the text : " A living dog is better 
than a dead lion." 

2 He succeeded his father, Henry II, July, 1559. 



EARLY YEARS OF ELIZABETH'S REIGN 375 

saying or hearing mass under penalty of forfeiture for the first offense, 
exile for the second, and death for the third. The ministers also 
drew up a scheme of church government, known as the First Book of 
Discipline, which, though not officially adopted, was accepted by 
many. 1 In 1564 Knox's Service Book, the " Book of Common Order," 
was issued. With a confession of faith, a scheme of government, and 
a form of public worship, the foundations of the future Church of 
Scotland were laid. 

The Return of Mary to Scotland, 1561. — Meantime, in December, 
1560, Francis II had died, and, in August of the following year, Mary 
returned to Scotland. Her guiding aim was to secure the succession 
to the English throne. The rivalry between her and Elizabeth, which 
now became acute, was only ended by Mary's execution more than 
a quarter of a century later. At the date of her arrival in Scotland 
she was eighteen years old. Educated in the most cultivated and 
pleasure-loving court of Europe, her accomplishments, added to her 
personal charm, made her well-nigh irresistible. She was daring, 
persistent, and unscrupulous as well. In her struggle with Elizabeth, 
however, she was seriously handicapped. Her loves and hates fre- 
quently prevailed over her State policy, whereas Elizabeth, equally 
fearless and unscrupulous, always kept her feelings under control ; 
Elizabeth's interests, too, were generally identical with those of the 
English people, while Mary looked on the Scotch solely as a means 
of furthering her own ambitions. Indeed, her personal interests and 
passions at times dominated even her religion. 2 Finally, poor as 
they were, the resources of England far exceeded those of Scotland. 
In spite of herself Mary advanced the cause of the Reformation. 
Her claims to the English throne forced Elizabeth to seek the support 
of her Protestant subjects and drew patriotic Catholics to her side. 
It also insured to Protestant England the friendship of Philip II as 
a counterpoise to Franco-Scotch ascendancy. A similar fear led 
Elizabeth to lend effective, if grudging, aid to the Protestant lords. 
And to outbid her rival, Mary after she came back to Scotland tacitly 
allowed the existing system to continue. 

Mary's Marriage to Darnley, 1565. — Mary's uncles, the Guises, 
were anxious to strengthen her position by another marriage. Don 
Carlos, son of Philip II, was proposed ; but signs of his later insanity 
soon began to be manifest. Elizabeth suggested Leicester, baited 
with a promise of the English succession ; but even if seriously meant, 
nothing came of the proposal. All the while, Mary, partly owing 
to her winning graces, partly to the repellent austerity of Knox and 
his ministers, was growing steadily stronger. Suddenly, 29 July, 1565, 
she married her cousin, Lord Darnley. Thus she broke away from 

. 1 It was superseded by the Second Book of Discipline in 1581. 

2 For example, she. married her cousin Darnley three months before a dispensa- 
tion arrived from Rome, and she was united to her third husband, Bothwell, im- 
mediately after his divorce by a Protestant bishop. 



376 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

the leading strings of France, from her half brother, Lord James 
Stewart, 1 leader of the dominant Protestants, and put herself at the 
head of the Catholic party in Scotland and England. Mary's motives 
were this time political, not romantic. Darnley was, she said, " of 
the blood of England and Scotland, next to myself in succession, a 
Stuart by name, so as to keep still the surname so pleasing to the 
Scotch, of the same religion as myself, and would respect me as he 
would be obliged by the honor I did him." The Catholic cause 
seemed triumphant. Moray and the Protestant lords, after an un- 
successful appeal to arms, fled to England, and Mary set to work to 
induce the French and Spanish to sink their political jealousies in a 
common war for the destruction of Protestantism. She was destined 
to bitter disappointment. 

Darnley 's Breach with Mary. His Murder, 1567. — Darnley, 
" a long, girl-faced boy," proved weak, dissipated, and presuming. 
His excesses disgusted the Queen, while he, infuriated at his exclusion 
from all authority, laid the blame on Mary's secretary, David Rizzio. 
So he was easily persuaded to enter into a bond with the exiled lords 
to bring them back and dispose of his rival. On 9 March, 1566, he 
sought out the Queen in Holyrood palace. He was followed by a 
body of armed men, who burst into Mary's chamber, tore " Davy the 
Fiddler " from her skirts, where he clung for protection, dragged him 
to the door, stabbed him, and flung his body down the stairs. Mary 
met the situation with promptness and decision. Feigning reconcilia- 
tion with her ineffectual consort, she drew him from his fellow con- 
spirators, and restored to favor such of the Protestant lords as had 
not been involved in the crime. Her position was greatly strength- 
ened, 19 June, 1566, by the birth of a son, destined to become King 
both of England and Scotland. " The Queen of Scots," moaned 
Elizabeth when she heard the news, " is mother of a fair son, and I 
am but a barren stalk." Darnley, however, gre*w steadily more 
contemptible in Mary's eyes. Her natural aversion to him was 
rendered complete by a passionate attachment which she had formed 
for the Earl of Bothwell, a reckless, aspiring noble, recently returned 
from an exile in France. Although a Protestant, Bothwell was the 
declared enemy of Moray and the more cautious of his party, now 
back at court. On 9 February, 1567, Kirk o' Field, the house in 
which Darnley, just recovering from a serious illness, was lodged, 
was blown up and his dead body was found in the adjoining garden. 
Mary, who brought him to the house, had left him only a few hours 
before the explosion. 

Mary's Defeat and Flight to England, 1 567-1 568. — Though Both- 
well was accused with one voice, no one dared to appear against him. 
After his acquittal at a trial which was nothing more than a farce, he 
took Mary captive, apparently by arrangement planned with her 

1 Earl of Moray in 1562. 



EARLY YEARS OF ELIZABETH'S REIGN 377 

beforehand. Having secured a divorce from his own wife, he and the 
Queen were married, 15 May, 1567. This outrageous proceeding led 
to a revolt. 15 June, Mary was overcome and surrendered at Car- 
bery Hill, on condition that Bothwell be allowed to escape. She 
herself was imprisoned in Lochleven Castle, forced to yield the throne 
to her infant son, and to nominate Moray Regent. She escaped after 
a few months only to receive another defeat at Langside, in May, 1568. 
In despair she fled across the border and threw herself on the support 
of Elizabeth. The English Queen with her rival at her feet was most 
embarrassed as to how to dispose of her. If she restored her to her 
throne, it would alienate the Protestant Scots. To imprison her in 
England might precipitate a combination between the English Catho- 
lics and the Catholic Powers. It seemed equally dangerous to leave 
her at large, either in England or in France, to form an inevitable 
center of plots against the English throne. 

The Trial of Mary and her Captivity, 1 569-1 587. — Mary demanded 
a hearing against her subjects. Elizabeth welcomed this as a means 
of gaining time, so in October a body of commissioners, representing 
respectively the two Queens and the rebellious Scots, met at York. 
After successive adjournments, first to Westminster and then to 
Hampton Court, Elizabeth was able to announce a characteristically 
indefinite conclusion. Moray's party were told that nothing could 
be found against them which might " impair their honor or allegiance," 
while Mary was comforted by the assurance that she had done nothing 
" whereby the Queen of England should conceive an evil opinion of 
her." l Nevertheless, she was held a captive for nearly twenty years. 
Fortunately for England, the French and Spanish kings were for a 
time too fully occupied with their own affairs to attempt her release, and 
Mary proved a valuable hostage. 

The Rising of the Northern Earls, 1569. — Not long after Mary's 
arrival in England the plotting began. Thomas, Duke of Norfolk, 
son of the poet Surrey, although a Protestant, planned to marry her. 
Lacking courage to declare himself, 2 he, nevertheless, aroused Eliza- 
beth's suspicions, who, in October, 1569, had him locked up in the 
Tower, where he was held till the following year. A fortnight after 
his arrest a great rebellion broke out in the north, led by the Earls 

1 The most famous piece of evidence laid before the commissioners was the so- 
called "Casket Letters." It is alleged that they were found in a silver casket left 
behind by Bothwell in his flight. Some scholars believe them genuine, others 
maintain that they are forgeries. The most reasonable view is that most of these 
letters were actually written by Mary but were altered by the Protestant lords 
after they got them in their hands. In the form in which they survive, they con- 
demn the Queen beyond a doubt. Even without them, her guilt of everything 
short of participation in the actual murder of her husband is reasonably clear. 
She hated him and loved Bothwell. She must have known that there was a plot 
against Darnley ; she brought him to a house accessible to his enemies ; she left 
mm alone there ; and she married the man accused of his murder. 

2 Apparently his timidity was solely political ; for he had already been married 
three times. 



378 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

of Westmoreland and Northumberland. As in the case of the Pil- 
grimage of Grace, the movement was due to a mixture of religious, 
political, and economic causes. The Catholics wanted the restoration 
of the old religion, the nobles were embittered at the upstarts who 
controlled the royal councils and at the encroachments upon their 
ancient franchises by the Tudor monarchy. Many, too, resented 
the fact that the Council of the North sat only at York instead of 
going about a circuit, which involved heavy traveling expenses for 
suitors. Finally, while in the south there was great access of pros- 
perity, due to maritime enterprise and extension of commerce, the 
north not only did not share in this, but was still suffering from the 
destruction of the monasteries, added to which its wool trade was 
suddenly curtailed by recent disturbances in the Netherlands. The 
specific demands of the insurgents were : the restoration of the old 
religion, the purging of new men from the Council, the release of Nor- 
folk, and the restoration of Mary to her throne. Once, more, how- 
ever, lack of concert among them proved fatal, with the result that 
the Queen's army, under the Earl of Sussex, was soon able to restore 
order. A few gentlemen and about 800 of the common sort were 
executed. The leaders fled to Scotland. Westmoreland escaped to 
the Netherlands, but Northumberland was sold by a traitor and put 
to death. Yet, though the rebellion was crushed, Elizabeth's danger 
was not yet over, for a strong party still survived who firmly believed 
that she had no right to rule and that it was their religious duty to put 
Mary Stuart in her place. They looked to Rome for support, and 
when occasion offered intrigued with Spain and France. 

Elizabeth and the Catholics. — Elizabeth sought to meet the Roman 
Catholic danger in two ways : abroad, by stirring up the Protestant 
subjects of the rulers whom she feared ; at home, by restrictive legis- 
lation. She demanded only outward conformity ; for, as she proudly 
declared, she " made no windows into men's souls." Moreover, no 
one was put to death for religion during the first seventeen years of 
her reign. Persecution was forced upon her by political necessity. 
Liberty of worship was forbidden from the first ; but the restrictions 
later imposed were due in most cases to aggressions from Rome or 
to marked successes of the Catholic cause abroad. The events of 
1562 illustrate this. The Pope struck a hard blow at the loyalty of 
the moderate Catholics by a brief in which he denounced the Prayer 
Book and forbade the faithful to attend the services of the Church of 
England. In France, 1 March, a body of fanatical followers of the 
Duke of Guise fell upon and massacred a congregation of French 
Huguenots assembled for worship under an edict of toleration granted 
less than two months before. Civil war broke out in consequence, 
and Conde, the Huguenot leader, applied to Elizabeth for aid. With 
her usual caution she extended it grudgingly. Conde, however, was. 
defeated and taken prisoner at Dreux, 19 December, 1562, a reverse 
that was only partially counterbalanced by the assassination of the 



EARLY YEARS OF ELIZABETH'S REIGN 379 

Duke of Guise in February, 1563. Catherine de' Medici, Regent for 
her son, Charles IX, patched up a truce with Conde and drove the 
English troops out of Havre, which Elizabeth had received as the price 
of her aid to the Huguenots. Having committed herself and lost, 
she saw the need of strengthening herself at home. So the Forty- 
two articles revised and reduced to thirty-nine were adopted by Con- 
vocation (1563). Also, an act of Parliament extended the Oath of 
Supremacy to members of the House of Commons, to schoolmasters, 
and lawyers. Furthermore, the Court of High Commission, author- 
ized by the Act of Supremacy, began actively to inquire into the faith 
of the clergy. 

The Counter-Reformation. — There was still great danger that 
England might be engulfed in the " Counter-Reformation," as the 
great movement was called by which the Church of Rome sought to 
reform itself and to recover the countries which had broken away. 
Practically every spark of heresy was stamped out in Spain and Italy, 
France was retained by hard fighting, so were ten of the seventeen 
provinces in the Low Countries. Poland, southern Germany, and, 
later, Bohemia were all won back. The causes of the Roman Catholic 
renascence were many and various. To some degree it was a resump- 
tion of a movement interrupted by the Protestant Revolution, to 
some degree it was stimulated by an effort to deal with the abuses at 
which the revolution had struck. Four main factors played a part 
in its progress. First, zealous and religious Popes were elected in 
place of the warriors, the men of sin, and the semipagan humanists 
of the pre-Reformation period. Secondly, the councils of progressive 
and high-thinking men began to be heard, who, following in the wake 
of Erasmus and his fellows, sought to regenerate the Church from 
within, and, in this way, to tempt back those who had wandered from 
the fold. 

The Jesuits. — The third and most aggressive factor in the Counter- 
Reformation was the famous Society of Jesus. It was the creation 
of Ignatius Loyola, a Spanish knight born in 1491, who at the age of 
thirty was wounded while fighting in Navarre. As he lay during his 
recovery racked with pain he formed the plan of a great religious order 
with the aim of overcoming those outside the pale of the Church, — 
heretics, Jews, infidels, and heathen. The basis of his organization 
was to be perfect obedience and absolute devotion to the supreme 
ecclesiastical authority. The members were to be soldiers of Christ 
in a grand spiritual campaign to convert the world and to suppress 
free thought and free inquiry. Loyola prepared himself for his work 
by a long course of study and discipline. The Society of Jesus re- 
ceived the sanction of Paul IV in 1540, and Loyola became its first 
general in 1541, though Laynez, whom he met at the University of 
Pans, was the controlling spirit from the first. Before the death of 
the founder there existed more than a hundred colleges or homes for 
training Jesuits, with an immense number of schools under their 



380 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

influence besides. The Order, numbering thousands and extending 
over Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, was divided into twelve prov- 
inces. Each was under a provincial, while the general at Rome 
wielded power over popes and princes. 1 

The Council of Trent, 1545-1563. — The Council of Trent, the 
fourth factor in counteracting the Protestant Reformation, was opened 
in 1545, and continued its session intermittently till 1563. Here the 
Jesuits prevailed over the party of mediation. Owing to friction 
between Pope and Emperor, little was accomplished during the first 
two sessions. Its epoch-making work was done in the third and last, 
from January, 1562, to December, 1563. The leading doctrines of 
Protestantism, such as individual interpretation of the Bible, and 
justification by faith, were condemned. The chief dogmas of the 
Church regarding indulgences, purgatory, invocation of the saints were 
defined more rigidly ; the supremacy of the Pope was reaffirmed ; 
glaring abuses were reformed ; and stricter discipline was introduced. 
Thus reformed and reorganized, strengthened by the terrible arm of 
the Inquisition, the Church of Rome, under pious and energetic 
popes, sought the support of Spain and France, the two greatest 
temporal powers of Catholic Europe, and started anew on its road of 
recovery and conquest. England, however, who had so much to 
fear from this powerful combination was to enjoy a respite for some 
years. Philip II, "keen as he was to reestablish the power of the Church, 
aimed to bring it about by means of his own authority, resting on a 
monarchy strong and widely extended. For some years he held 
jealously aloof from France, because he feared the ambition of the 
Guises, who were seeking to establish their power in that country and 
to extend it across the Channel by making Mary Stuart Queen of 
England. Later, however, he gave his support to the Holy League, 
founded in 1576, to annihilate the Huguenots and to elevate one of 
the G. ise family to the throne of France. During the interval the 
Guises were occupied in a series of religious wars with the Huguenots, 
while Philip himself was called upon to face a revolt of his Protestant 
subjects in the Low Countries. 

The Revolt of the Netherlands, 1567. — The Low Countries, or 
the Netherlands, comprising the modern kingdoms of Holland and 
Belgium, consisted, at that time, of seventeen separate provinces, 
each with its own constitution, assembly of estates, and stadholder or 
local governor. Business common to all was transacted in a general 
assembly composed of the estates of the various provinces. Charles V 
had ruled "with great moderation, respecting carefully their provincial 

1 They were greatly assisted in their work of suppressing reform tendencies by 
the erection of the Supreme Tribunal of the Inquisition at Rome in 1542. It was 
due to Cardinal Caraffa, a fanatical Neapolitan, who as Paul IV was Pope, 1555— 
JSSQ- The Inquisition was as old as the twelfth century; and, since the time of 
Queen Isabella, it had become in Spain an elaborate organization of courts and 
officials and a terrible engine of destruction against Moors, Jews, and heretics. 



EARLY YEARS OF ELIZABETH'S REIGN 381 

privileges to which they clung tenaciously. In return he drew from 
the prosperous Netherland burghers most of his money for his French 
wars. Philip II, unlike his father, had not been brought up among 
them and was Spanish to the core. Cold and unbending, he deter- 
mined to mold them into the vast religious and political system 
comprehending his dominions in Europe, America, and the Eastern 
Ocean, which he directed from the Escorial, his lonely palace near 
Madrid. In 1559 he appointed, as his representative in the Nether- 
lands, his half sister, Margaret of Parma. Her chief minister, Car- 
dinal Granvella, studiously neglected the Council of State composed of 
native nobles, and roused such a storm of opposition by unpopular 
measures that he was recalled in 1564. The combination against 
him was led by William of Orange, 1 Count Egmont, and Count Horn. 
Granvella's departure, however, failed to allay the discontent, 
owing to the activity of the Inquisition in punishing heresy. Estab- 
lished in the country in 1522 it had since been greatly streagthened, 
notably by an edict of 1555. Philip not only refused to repeal his 
edict, but ordered the promulgation of the canons of the Council of 
Trent and bade the magistrates assist the ecclesiastical officials in 
their work. In consequence, the nobles and people united in a bond 
known as the " Compromise," pledging themselves to uproot and expel 
the Inquisition, which they declared to be " iniquitous, contrary to 
all laws human and divine." A great popular outburst, accompanied 
by image breaking in Antwerp and other chief cities, finally brought 
the Regent, 25 August, 1566, to publish an " Accord," abolishing the 
Inquisition, and allowing Protestant doctrine to be preached in places 
where.it was already established. This concession, coupled with the 
violence _ of the multitude, brought about a reaction. Many of the 
nobles, including Egmont and Horn, returned to their allegiance, 
though the Prince of Orange held aloof and withdrew to Germany. 
Philip, instead of meeting his subjects halfway, adopted the advice of 
the Duke of Alva, the most uncompromising of his generals, and sent 
him with Spanish troops to repress and punish those who had pre- 
sumed to rebel against his authority. Directly on his arrival, in 
Mav > 1567, Alva set up a tribunal known as the " Blood Council " to 
try those concerned in the recent outbreak. Among those put to 
death were Egmont and Horn. William of Orange, who during his 
exile had become a Calvinist, led an army against the savage execu- 
tioner ; but had to withdraw defeated. In 1568 Alva seemed justified 
in boasting that he had " extinguished sedition, chastised rebellion, 
restored religion ... and established peace." 

The Ridolfi Plot and the Execution of Norfolk, 1572. —Thus the 
situation, so far as England was concerned, was full of serious menace. 
Alva was triumphant in the Netherlands. In France the Huguenots 
were defeated in 1569 at the battle of Jarnac, where their brilliant 

1 William of Nassau, called William of Orange from the principality of Oranee- 
Lnalons in France, which he inherited from his cousin. 



3 g 2 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

General Conde was killed. Owing to jealousy of Spain Admiral 
Colienv the greatest and noblest of their leaders, managed, August, 
ic 7 o to secure favorable terms, but their position was very unstable. 
In Scotland the Protestant cause received a serious blow from the 
assassination of the Regent Moray, 23 January of the same year. To 
cap all, Pius V, a former Dominican inquisitor and a f ervid zealot 
issued a bull 1 of excommunication against Queen Elizabeth. Her 
reply was a new series of measures against the Catholics. In .1571 
Parliament declared it high treason to call the Queen a heretic to 
affirm that any particular person was her successor^ or to ^pubhsh 
anv papal bull against her. Also it confirmed the Thirty-nine Ar- 
SsTready adopted. In this year " Ridolfi's Plot ''came to light. 
The chief agent was a Florentine merchant resident m England whose 
object was with the aid of Alva, Philip II, and the Pope to liberate 
Mary and to marry her to the Duke of Norfolk. Norfolk paid the 
penalty with his head, 157- Following closely upon the collapse of 
the Northern rebellion of 1569, his execution marks the end of t e old 
nobility who, ever since the accession of the Tudors, had fought a 
bsmg fight against the centralization of the monarchy A prophecy 
had circulated that Elizabeth would not survive the thirteenth year 
of her reign That was now belied. If the clouds still hung heavy, 
she had already achieved much and was steadily gaming ground^ 
She had settled the religion of her realm, she had helped to set up 
Protestantism in Scotland, she held her rival captive, she had put 
down a dangerous rising, and while Catholicism was gaining ground 
abroad its two leading exponents, France and Spain, were at odds 
Sea'cn other and bu'sy repressing religious revolts among .their own 
subiects Further dangers were in store for England s Queen , but 
when they came, she proved ready to meet them, backed ^ moder- 
ate men of both camps, who saw that the salvation of their country 
depended upon united effort. 



FOR ADDITIONAL READING 



Narrative. Pollard, Political History^. XI-XVII. limes .England ■£*jfl 
Tudors, chs. XVI-XVIII. Cambridge Modern History, II f\™ ^SdVL 
™ s^ft s T ,v a Krilliant studv Froude, History of England, Vl-Ali , ungaru, »■ 
g^ 3 Qil?SS^=9); the best biiiphy of the Qujn Cmghton 
The Age of Elizabeth (6th ed., 1885); a good brief survey. M AS « um ^ j f 
£rihipi of Queen Elizabeth (1896) ^TkeQmt ^^^ ^^mt 

T R Seelev Growth of British Policy (2 vols., 1895), 1, pt. 1, is a sui u & 

and suggesUve'account of the broader features of the diplomacy of the reign. 

1 Known as the Bull Regnans in excelcis. 

■>■ This was, of course, aimed at Mary and her adherents. 



EARLY YEARS OF ELIZABETH'S REIGN 383 

Ecclesiastical. Wakeman, ch. XV. W. H. Frere, History of the English Church, 
1588-1602 (1904). Dixon, chs. V, VI. F. Proctor ; (ed. W. H. Frere), New History 
of the Book of Common Prayer (iqoi). H. Gee, The Elizabethan Prayer Book and 
Ornaments (1902). H. N. Birt, The Elizabethan Religious Settlement (1907) treats 
the subject from the Roman Catholic standpoint. 

Selections from the sources. Adams and Stephens, nos. 167 ff. ; for a more com- 
plete selection, G. W. Prothero, Select Statutes and Other Constitutional Documents 
(1894, new ed., 1913), pp. 1-249. 



CHAPTER XXV 

ELIZABETH'S ASCENDANCY AND DECLINE (1572-1603) 

The Projected Anglo-French Alliance, I570-I573- — The success 
of Spanish arms in the Netherlands was followed by a drawing to- 
gether of England and France. As a means of bringing it about the 
Duke of Anjou, brother of Charles IX, 1 was proposed as a husband for 
Elizabeth, and from 1570 to 1572 one of her most notable courtships 
ran its course. France at this time was practically governed by the 
masterful Catherine de' Medici, mother of the nominal King, who was a 
weakling both in mind and body. Elizabeth had no mind to marry 
Anjou ; but she wanted to forestall a proposed alliance between him 
and Mary Stuart, and to go just far enough to keep Catherine from 
combining either with the Guises or Spain. At the same time, she 
was prepared to prevent the French from supplanting the Spanish in 
the Low Countries. Her tortuous course was suddenly interrupted by 
a wild stroke of Catherine's. Alva's triumph was short lived. ■ His 
bloodthirstiness and his oppressive taxation had roused the Nether- 
lands to fury; encouraged by French and English aid, town after 
town revolted, and in July, 1572, four of the northern provinces united 
under William of Orange as Stadholder. About the same time 
Charles IX fell under the influence of Coligny. Momentarily freed 
from the fear of Spain, Catherine, who recoiled at the thought of 
Huguenot ascendancy, combined with the hated Guises to get rid 
of her son's new mentor and to destroy his followers. 

The Massacre of St. Bartholomew, 24 August, 1572. —The oppor- 
tunity came when the marriage of Henry of Navarre — one of the 
Huguenot leaders — to Charles' sister, Margaret of Valois, 18 August, 
1572, brought large numbers of the party to Paris. Representing to 
her feeble-minded son that his throne, his religion, and, indeed, his life 
were in danger, Catherine prevailed upon him to order a general mas- 
sacre. It began in the early morning of St. Bartholomew's Day, 24 
August. Under the sanction of the royal decree personal hatreds 
and religious fanaticism were given full rein. Coligny was the most 
notable victim, though few of the leaders, except Henry of Navarre. 
escaped. The slaughter, spreading from Paris to the other towns of 
France, lasted for days. The number of those who perished has been 
estimated all the way from 10,000 to 100,000, but dependable statistics 
are lacking. Strange stories are told of the joy of Catholic potentates. 

1 Charles succeeded his brother Francis II in 1560. He reigned till 15 74, when 
Anjou became king as Henry III. 

384 



;. 1 



ELIZABETH'S ASCENDANCY AND DECLINE 385 

Gregory XIII ordered a public thanksgiving, and had a medal struck 
to commemorate the event. Philip II is reported to have laughed for 
the first time in his life. 1 However, it has been urged in extenuation 
that they saw in Catherine's horrible deed, not a cold-blooded massacre, 
but the just punishment for a plot discovered before it was fully 
hatched. England was plunged in deepest gloom, and when the 
French ambassador succeeded in obtaining an audience, he was 
received by the whole court in mourning. 

The Union of Utrecht, 1579. — Alva, now that the Netherlands were 
cut off from French help, hoped to crush them utterly ; but his ruth- 
less methods only stirred them to more desperate resistance. Philip, 
in despair, soon recalled him, and sent a successor pledged to a more 
pacific policy. The French Government, too, was not long in recog- 
nizing the futility of the policy of bloodshed and sought to conciliate 
the Huguenots by a new edict of toleration. In 1576 the troops in 
the Netherlands mutinied for lack of pay. Seizing Antwerp, they pro- 
ceded to sack and plunder and to drive out or kill the merchants. As 
a result of this " Spanish Fury," which reduced to ruin the richest 
commercial city in Europe, all the seventeen provinces bound them- 
selves together to expel the Spaniards. Don John of Austria, half 
brother of Philip, arrived as Governor late in the year. A general 
famed throughout Christendom, he planned to reduce the Netherlands 
forthwith, to free Mary, marry her, and make himself King of England. 
Less than two years after his arrival, death cut short his towering 
ambitions before he had accomplished even the first of his tasks. 
His successor, Alexander of Parma, was not only an able general, but 
artful as well. He managed to break up the combination of the 
seventeen provinces by fomenting religious dissension. The ten 
southern, prevailingly Catholic, formed a separate union and gradu- 
ally fell back to Spain. The seven northern, 2 by the Union of 
Utrecht, 1579, combined under William of Orange, and ultimately, 
after an heroic struggle, achieved their independence. 

The Alencon Marriage Project. — In 1580 Philip II sent Alva to 
conquer Portugal, where the dying out of the legitimate male line gave 
him a claim through his mother, of which he was not slow to take 
advantage. The conquest completed, 3 he redoubled his efforts 
against the Netherlanders. In March he declared William of Orange 
under the ban and offered 25,000 crowns to any one who would deliver 
him up dead or alive. William, hoping thereby to secure the aid of 
France and England, induced five of the provinces to choose the Duke 
of Anjou as their head. 4 Elizabeth, after she had recovered from the 

1 Though this story has been denied. 

2 The Seven United Provinces were : Holland, Zealand, Utrecht, Guelderland, 
Overyssel, Groningen, and Friesland. 

3 Portugal remained under the Spanish monarchy till 1640. 

4 Formerly Duke of Alencon, he became Duke of Anjou on his brother's succes- 
sion to the throne as Henry III, 1574. 



3 86 



A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 



shock of St Bartholomew, had accepted him as her suitor in place of 
his elder brother, with whom she had carried on such a fitful, puzzling 
courtship The present Anjou was ugly, small, misshapen, pock- 
marked, with a huge swollen nose, and was twenty years younger than 
the Queen Her subjects opposed the match stoutly. 1 But Elizabeth 
professed to be very fond of him ; she called him her pettte grenomlle 
and flirted with him most ridiculously. He visited her in 1 579 .and 
again in 1581, when marriage articles were actually drawn up. Once 
more however, she was only playing a part; for while she expressed 
the greatest grief in parting, he had to leave with the contract uncon- 
cluded She continued her professions after his return to the Nether- 
lands In his high office he proved faithless and incompetent, and 
failing to accomplish anything, he withdrew to Paris, where he died 

111 Roman Catholic Movements against Elizabeth in Ireland and Scot- 
land - The rising of 1569 had failed, the bull of Pius V had proved 
as empty in effect as it was terrifying in form, and the daring plan of 
Don John had come to nothing. But the number of the disaffected 
in Ireland, Scotland, and Wales was large. So a plan was concocted 
by certain English exiles, with the sanction of Gregory Xlll, to strike 
at Queen Elizabeth in all three places simultaneously. Ireland ottered 
a peculiarly favorable field. Henry VIII had alienated many by his 
attempts to bribe the chiefs with tribal lands, and attempts in Mary s 
reign to plant English settlers in western Leinster had only increased 
the bitterness. While the natives were in constant turmoil, the Eng- 
lish officials, strong enough for oppression and extortion, had not 
sufficient forces to maintain order. In consequence, Irishmen listened 
eagerly to papal emissaries who promised deliverance from tyranny. 
In Tulv 1579, James Fitzmorris, brother of the powerful Earl of Des- 
mond/landed in Kerry with a few Spanish troops. Designing to raise 
the country in the name of the Pope, he built a fort at Smerwick on 
the shore of Dingle Bay. He was killed in the first encounter with the 
English forces ; but his brother, the Earl, joined the rising, while 
Gregory sent 800 Italians and Spaniards to reenforce the Smerwick 
garrison. Lord Grey de Wilton, sent out as Lord Deputy, made short 
work of reducing the fort and slaughtered its defenders, — an achieve- 
ment which Elizabeth acknowledged joyfully as an act of God Des- 
mond, who had escaped, was tracked down and slain. Thus ended the 
attempt in Ireland. Followed by devastations and seizures, its only 
result was to widen the breach between England and her subject people. 
In Scotland an attempt at a Catholic revival was made through Esme 
Stewart, Seigneur d'Aubigny, sent in 1579 by the Guises with the 

1 John Stubbs, a Puritan, wrote a book entitled "The Discovery of a Gaping 
Gulph, wherein England is like to be swallowed up by another French marriage ; 
if the Lord forbid not the Barms by letting her see the Sin and Punishment thereof. 
But when his right hand was cut off as a punishment, he loyally waved the stump 
over his head, crying : " God save the Queen." 



ELIZABETH'S ASCENDANCY AND DECLINE 387 

design of converting James VI and restoring the French alliance. 
Handsome, accomplished, and adroit, he gained a complete ascendancy 
over the young King, his cousin, who created him Duke of Lennox. 
Having removed the chief obstacle in his way by procuring the execu- 
tion of the Earl of Morton — Regent of the kingdom, and a stanch 
Protestant and favorer of the English — on the pretext of his com- 
plicity in Darnley's murder, the royal favorite was for some months 
virtually master of Scotland. He was on the point of calling in a force 
of Spanish troops when, in August, 1582, a group of nobles led by the 
Earl of Gowrie 1 seized King James while hunting and took him to 
Gowrie House. When the young captive cried in anger and fright, 
one of the band grimly retorted : " Better bairns greet than bearded 
men." He was forced to order Lennox to leave the country. After 
a period of aimless lingering the defeated intriguer withdrew to France, 
where he died soon after. 

The Seminary Priests and Jesuits in England, 1579-1581. — The 
third center of attack was in England itself. In 1568 a seminary 
had been founded at Douay for the training of English Catholics. 
Ten years later, owing to the revolt in the Netherlands, it was trans- 
ferred to Rheims. In 1579 Gregory XIH founded an English college 
at Rome. These institutions were due to the zeal inspired by the 
Jesuits. Burning with enthusiasm, the Englishmen who went from 
them 2 strove to convert their Protestant countrymen and to arouse 
the native Catholics from their lethargy. Unfortunately for the 
success of their plan, it could not be realized without overturning the 
established system of Church and State and disposing of Elizabeth. 
In June, 1581, a mission led by two Jesuits, Edmund Campion and 
Robert Parsons, landed in England. Moving from place to place in 
disguise, they preached to large crowds, they set up a printing press, 
circulated controversial pamphlets, and converted considerable num- 
bers. Alarmed at their success, the Government passed an act of 
Parliament " to restrain Her Majesty's subjects in their due alle- 
giance " which declared it high treason to convert the Queen's subjects 
to the Church of Rome or to aid or to conceal those engaged in such 
work. Heavy fines were imposed on any priest who said mass or on 
any one who refused 3 to go to church. A rigid persecution was 
begun ; houses were searched for concealed priests ; Campion and 
some of the other Jesuits were captured and put to death ; but Parsons 
escaped. He was a restless intriguer who troubled the Government 
for years to come. Campion, on the other hand, was a high-minded 
enthusiast of captivating eloquence. 

Further Measures against the Roman Catholics, 1584-1593. — In 
1583 Francis Throgmorton devised a plot to kill the Queen and, with 

1 Called the Ruthven Raid, from the family name of the Earl of Gowrie. 

2 Known as "Seminary priests" when they took holy orders. 

i Such persons were called "recusants." The fine £20 a month, too heavy to 
t>e enforced, was intended mainly as a threat. 



3 88 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

the aid of French and Spanish Catholics, to elevate Mary to the 
throne. It was discovered in season ; but the Protestant cause re- 
ceived a heavy blow by the assassination of William the Silent * in 
July of the following year. The result was a bond of association drawn 
up by a body of loyal Englishmen. All to whom it was offered for 
signature pledged themselves to defend their Queen against attack, 
to accept no one for her successor " by whom or for whom any such 
detestable act shall be attempted or committed " and to " prosecute 
such persons to the death." This voluntary association was legalized 
by Parliament early in 1585. Another act ordered all Jesuits and 
Seminary priests to quit the realm within forty days, and declared 
any found thereafter, or any who had harbored them guilty of high 
treason. Children of Catholics studying abroad were to return under 
pain of disinheritance. The final anti-Catholic Act of the reign, 
passed in 1593, provided that recusants of the wealthier sort should 
be forbidden to travel more than five miles from their homes, 2 and 
that those of the poorer class should be banished. Any one sus- 
pected of being a Jesuit or Seminary priest, who refused to answer 
the charge, might be imprisoned until he consented to be examined. 

The Protestant Extremists.— Meantime, since the beginning of the 
reign, the extreme Protestants had been giving serious trouble. Three 
classes may be distinguished : the Puritans or moderate Nonconfor- 
mists, who wanted to stay in the Church, but desired to " purify "its 
services from forms and ceremonies savoring of Rome; the Pres- 
byterians, who aimed to substitute their form of government for the 
Episcopal form established by law; finally, the Separatists, called 
Independents or Congregationalists in a later time, 3 who insisted on 
the right of each congregation to manage its own affairs. The ex- 
tremer views of the Protestants came largely from the Marian exiles, 
Who flocked back after Elizabeth's accession. Differing among them- 
selves on many fundamental points, they agreed in denouncing what 
they regarded as " Romish " forms and ceremonies. While the 
moderates were to some extent compromised by the zealots, they were 
vastly better off in this respect than the less extreme Roman Catholics, 
who had to suffer for the intrigues and plots of papal agents and 
foreign Powers. 

The " Vestiarian Controversy." — The Puritans struck their first 
blow at the established order by a proposal introduced into Convoca- 
tion in 1563 to prune away certain " Romish " observances. It was 
defeated in the Lower House by a majority of one. Thereupon, in 
the parishes where they were strong enough, they began to meet in 

1 The popular name of William of Orange. 

2 They were kept in England as a source of revenue from the fines which might 
be imposed on them. 

3 Those of Elizabeth's time are usually known as Brownists, from Robert Browne, 
who founded a congregation at Norwich in 1580, but the sect had already come 
into existence ten years earlier while Browne was still an undergraduate at Cam- 
bridge. 



ELIZABETH'S ASCENDANCY AND DECLINE 389 

" Conventicles," at which they held services according to their own 
rule instead of those prescribed in the Prayer Book. Elizabeth desired 
to avoid trouble ; but various reasons determined her to enforce the 
law. Not only did they oppose the ritual to which she was attached, 
not only was their contempt of form and denunciation of amusements 
unpalatable to the majority of her subjects, but their action defied 
the royal authority on which the established forms were based. So in 
1565, by her command, Archbishop Parker issued a series of " Adver- 
tisements " defining the necessary forms and ceremonies. The result 
was the " Vestiarian " controversy, so-called because the Puritan 
clergy "scrupled" to wear the prescribed vestments; but their 
opposition extended to many forms and ceremonies, such as observance 
of saints' days, the sign of the cross in baptism, and the use of organs. 

The Presbyterians. — About 1570 the Presbyterians entered the 
field with an onslaught upon the very structure of the Episcopal 
Church. Naturally, the bishops, whom they sought to eliminate, 
fought them to a man. The Presbyterian leader was Thomas Cart- 
wright, a Cambridge professor of divinity, learned and devout, but 
lacking in judgment and restraint. In two " Admonitions to Parlia- 
ment," in 1572, he and his party denounced the government of bishops 
as contrary to the word of God and demanded government by pres- 
byters. Not only were their views startlingly democratic, but their 
language was immeasurably violent. A mild sample is their descrip- 
tion of the Archbishop's court as " the filthy quagmire and poisoned 
plash of all abominations that do infect the whole realm." The 
advent of the Separatists about the same time added another element 
of confusion. In 1583 the Court of High Commission was put on a 
permanent footing with enlarged powers, though for ten years previ- 
ously it had been active in enforcing the Act of Uniformity against 
Protestants as well as Catholics. Grindal, who succeeded Parker in 
1576, was suspended the following year for refusing to suppress "proph- 
esyings " or " exercises," that is, meetings which those of advanced 
views had come to hold for religious discussions. Restored the year 
before his death, he was followed as Archbishop in 1583 by Whitgift, 
an orthodox and energetic prelate, who, however, was greatly ham- 
pered from the fact that Protestantism had come to secure strong 
sympathizers in the Council and Parliament. 1 

The Marprelate Libels, 1588. — Attempts at repression only 
embittered the extremists. They replied with violent abuse which 
reached its height in the Martin Marprelate libels in 1588. In them 
the Archbishop was graced with such names as " Beelzebub of Canter- 
bury, the Canterbury Caiaphas; Esau, a monstrous anti-Christ ; a 

1 Burghley, for example, declared, with reference to articles of Inquiry which 
Whitgift framed in 1583 for enforcing subscription to Royal Supremacy, the 
Liturgy, and the Thirty-nine Articles, that they were "so curiously penned, that 
I think the Inquisition in Spain use not so many questions to comprehend and trap 
their prey . . . rather a device to seek for offenders than to reform any." 



390 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

most bloody oppressor of God's saints." The bishops were: " false 
governors of the Church ; petty popes ; proud, popish, profane, pre- 
sumptuous, paltry, pestilent, pernicious prelates and usurpers ; enemies 
of God and the State." The clergy were : " popish priests, ale hunters, 
drunkards, dolts, hogs, dogs, wolves, desperate and forlorn atheists, 
a crew of bloody soul murderers, sacrilegious church robbers. these 
pronouncements of certain hot zealots, " who for Zion s sake could not 
hold their peace," were bound to hurt the cause of the earnest, moder- 
ate men opposed to the Elizabethan State Church. Indeed the very 
year in which the libels appeared marked a reaction toward the Estab- 
lishment Many other circumstances contributed to this. I or one 
thing, numbers came to realize that it was both graceless and futile to 
engender strife against a sovereign who, however sternly she repressed 
extremists, had done so much for the Protestant cause. She was 
growing old and they could wait to push their claims under a succes- 
sor to whom they were not bound by such ties of gratitude. More- 
over the ceremonies of the Church of England, which many of the 
older generation associated with the Romish practices which pre- 
vailed during the cruel persecutions of Mary, were hallowed by youth- 
ful memories to the majority of the younger folk.* But there were 
many irreconcilables. Accordingly, Parliament, in response to a 
roval demand " to compel by some sharp means to a more due obedi- 
ence," passed in 1593 an act " against seditious sectaries and dis- 
loyal persons." It provided, among other things, that those who 
frequented conventicles or assailed the royal supremacy in matters 
ecclesiastical should abjure the realm and never return under pain of 
death. In this way, as in the case of the poorer Catholics numbers of 
the more determined left the country or were driven out. In the same 
year three, including Penry, the chief author of the Marprelate libels, 
suffered for their faith, though the cause assigned was malicious 
defaming of the Queen with intent to stir up rebellion. 

Elizabeth's Intervention in the Netherlands, 1585. — Doubtless 
the chief reason for harmonizing religious differences was the necessity 
of meeting a great invasion sent by Philip II and the burst of loyalty 
which followed its triumphant repulse. The attack was due mainly 
to two causes: English intervention in the Netherlands and the 
aggressiveness of the English sea power. With the murder of William 
of Orange and the continued successes of Alexander of Parma, the 
cause of the Netherlanders seemed to be doomed. Their only hope 
was in foreign aid. At first they turned to Henry III of France with 
an offer of sovereignty. Though he declined, Philip was alarmed; 
for the French King was childless, and his next heir was Henry 01 
Navarre, who had succeeded Coligny as leader of the Huguenots. 
So, in 1585, he formed a new treaty with Henry of Guise, leader ol the 

1 Also, Richard Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity, the first four books of which ^ap- 
peared in 1 594, by its calm, persuasive, and dignified defense of the establisnea 
order, contributed in later years to convince numbers of the Nonconformists. 



ELIZABETH'S ASCENDANCY AND DECLINE 391 

Catholic League, for the purpose of excluding Henry of Navarre from 
the succession and to extirpate Protestantism in France and the 
Low Countries. Henry III, allowing his religious sentiments to pre- 
vail over his fear of Spain and the Guises, joined with them. Eliza- 
beth, who had hitherto lent only enough assistance to the revolt to 
keep it alive, saw that the time for active intervention had come. 
Nevertheless, she, too, refused the offer of sovereignty. Annexation 
would have greatly strengthened her maritime and colonial power; 
for the Dutch were unrivaled at sea and had during recent years 
captured many of the Spanish and Portuguese foreign possessions. Yet 
it would inevitably provoke a war with France which she still hoped 
to avert. However, with her accustomed thrift, she demanded from 
the Dutch certain " cautionary towns " — Brill and Flushing among 
the number — as pledges for expenses incurred. Then she issued a 
" Declaration of Causes," moving her to intervene. They were in 
substance : to help them protect their towns from " sacking and 
devastation," to aid them to recover their ancient liberties, and " so 
to preserve the ancient commerce betwixt our people and those coun- 
tries." Toward the end of 1585 Leicester was sent over with a force 
of 5000 foot and 1000 horse ; but he proved self-seeking to a degree 
only exceeded by his untrustworthiness and incompetence. On his 
arrival he accepted in the Queen's name the office of Governor of the 
Netherlands. When the enraged Queen berated him in wrathful 
letters he could only excuse himself in languishing replies fulsome in 
flattery. Cramped from lack of funds, unable to gain the confidence 
of the Netherlands, and opposed by Parma, the greatest general of the 
time, he accomplished nothing. Wags put in his mouth the words, 
veni, vidi, redii. 1 The only engagement which he fought was a skir- 
mish at Zutphen, where his nephew, Sir Philip Sidney, the ideal gentle- 
man of the age and a notable figure in Elizabethan literature, was 
mortally wounded, September, 1586. 2 Leicester's futile expedition 
is only important as a leading cause of Philip's attack on England. 
The Rise of the Elizabethan Sea Power. — Even more alarming to 
the Spanish King than the English intervention in the Netherlands 
were the attacks of English seamen, notably of Francis Drake, upon 
his commerce and his American possessions. Since the accession of 
Elizabeth the maritime power of the country had entered upon a 
growth which ultimately brought it to a height unequaled in the 
world's history. The royal navy, after a decline which had set in upon 
the death of Henry VIII, 3 had more than recovered its strength at the 

1( 'I came, I saw, I returned," a brilliant distortion of Caesar's famous, veni, 
vidi, vici. 

2 As he was dying a bottle of water was brought him, but as he raised it to his 
lips a sorely wounded soldier was carried past, who looked longingly on it. Sidney 
at once handed it to him with the words, "Thy necessity is yet greater than mine." 

3 Henry VIII had left 53 ships ; by Elizabeth's accession the number had sunk 
to 26. Elizabeth had 34 in 1588 ; but their average size was twice as large as those 
of Henry VIII. with an aggregate tonnage 15 per cent greater. 



392 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

eve of Philip's invasion. But it was not to the royal navy that the 
notable achievements of the reign are due. It was the peculiar work 
of the explorers and of sea rovers or privateers, recruited from the 
merchant marine. They braved the perils of unknown seas and un- 
known lands, they broke through the colonial and commercial mo- 
nopoly of Spain, and strove as well to strike deadly blows at Philip's 
world-wide religious and political domination. Thus fame and 
booty, the profit and glory of England, and the defense and spread of 
Protestantism mingled curiously and effectively to spur them on. 
And in the Queen they found a persistent if shifty supporter ; for she 
shared in their profits and gained by their victories. Though her 
policy was in essence defensive — to preserve national independence 
and Protestantism — she sought to realize it, to a considerable degree, 
by offensive means. While Philip as the leader of the Counter-Reforma- 
tion threatened her political and religious security, Elizabeth was the 
greater aggressor. She had no mind to declare war ; but she sent aid 
to the Dutch in revolt, first " underhand " and at length openly, and 
from the beginning of her reign she steadily kindled the enthusiasm of 
her subjects for buccaneering enterprises against the Spanish com- 
merce and the Spanish colonies. Taking advantage of the rudimental 
state of international law, she sought to shield herself from the conse- 
quences of her acts under the pretext that she was not responsible for 
the acts of her subjects. 

The English Buccaneers and their Aggressions against Spain. — 
The pioneer of the Elizabethan " sea dogs " was John Hawkins, who 
initiated the traffic in slaves from the Guinea coast of Africa to Spanish 
America. The Queen, it is shameful to relate, shared in his profits. 
His young cousin Francis Drake (1540-1596) accompanied him on his 
second voyage, and commanded a ship on a third and more famous 
one in 1567. They were attacked in the Mexican port of San Juan 
d'Ulloa, 1 whence they escaped only after the bulk of their crew had 
been massacred. While they had given great provocation, the act 
was a piece of deliberate treachery and determined Drake to devote 
the remainder of his life to a relentless war against Spain and her 
possessions in the New World. To his countrymen, a hero for whose 
fame " the ocean sea was not sufficient room," he was, in the eyes of 
the Spanish, a devil incarnate. Elizabeth replied to the incident at 
San Juan by seizing, in December, 1568, Genoese ships laden with 
Spanish treasure for the Duke of Alva in the Netherlands. With 
amazing effrontery she justified the step on the ground that, having 
saved it from the privateers, she was entitled to take it as a loan. In 
1572-1573 Drake led a daring expedition to the Isthmus of Darien; 
though he failed to secure the annual shipment of treasure from Peru, 
he gathered abundant booty and obtained his first glimpse of the 
Pacific. His prayer that he might once navigate those waters was 

1 The roadstead of Vera Cruz. 



ELIZABETH'S ASCENDANCY AND DECLINE 393 

answered in his famous voyage round the world, 1 577-1 580. Here, 
again, he marked his course by devastation and plunder. Yet the 
magnitude of his achievement and the fortitude which he displayed 
amply merited the acclaim which greeted him on his return. Thrifty 
Elizabeth rewarded him with a knighthood for the share of treasure 
which he brought her. 

It was these men and such as they who caused Philip to tremble for 
the safety of his lands and trade, upon which the prosperity of his 
Empire depended ; and they all played a part in his repulse soon to 
come. For some years before this he had sought to check Elizabeth's 
aggressions by seizing ships in Spanish waters. Her reply was to issue 
letters of reprisal and to send privateers to the scene of action. Most 
disastrous to the enemy were the aggressions of Drake in 1585. Strik- 
ing first at the coast of Spain, he seized a quantity of shipping in Vigo 
Bay ; thence he passed to the West Indies and the Spanish Main, 1 
overcoming San Domingo, Carthagena, and other Spanish possessions, 
and plundering and destroying as he went. The simultaneous opera- 
tions of Drake and Leicester led Philip to plan a joint attack on Eng- 
land from Spain and the Netherlands. Under cover of a fleet Parma 
was to land an army, the English Catholics were to rise for Mary, 
Elizabeth was to be disposed of, and Parma was to marry the new 
Queen and govern the country for his master. 

Babington's Plot, 1586. Execution of Mary. — The miscarriage 
of another plot in behalf of Mary, in the late spring of 1586, shattered 
this project, but at the same time furnished Philip with another pretext 
for invading England. Babington's plot, as it was called, took its 
name from the leader of a group of young men about court who aimed, 
with foreign help, to carry it through. While the charge has never 
been proved that Walsingham's agents devised or suggested the plan 
as a means of getting rid of Mary, it is certain that the resourceful 
Secretary got wind of it almost at its inception and allowed it to 
develop until he could acquire or manufacture enough evidence to 
suit his purpose. In October, 1586, Mary was brought to trial and 
sentenced to death under the Act passed in 1585 for Elizabeth's pro- 
tection. Parliament, which met on the 29th, petitioned for the im- 
mediate execution of the sentence ; but the Queen hesitated. Possi- 
bly she shrank from bloodshed ; more likely she dreaded to lay hands 
upon an anointed sovereign and feared the effect on the Catholic 
powers of the Continent ; then, too, in spite of the constant plots which 
Mary inspired, Elizabeth still regarded her as a valuable hostage and 
an obstacle to other claimants. After two months of vacillation, and 
after she had made a vain effort to induce Mary's keeper, Sir Amyas 
Paulet, to murder his royal captive, she finally signed the death 
warrant, and handed it over to Secretary Davison, without, however, 
giving him any authority to carry it out. The Council determined 

1 Strictly speaking, the Spanish mainland along the north coast of South America, 
but popularly and vaguely, the Caribbean Sea and the neighboring waters. 



394 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

to assume the responsibility. By its order Mary Stuart was beheaded, 
8 February, 1587, at Fotheringay Castle, going to her death with mag- 
nificent fortitude. In contrast, Elizabeth's actions seem petty. She 
protested to France and Scotland that she was innocent of the deed, 
and imprisoned poor Davison in the Tower. He was soon released, 
but only on payment of a heavy fine, and was dismissed forever from 
her service. 

The Sailing of the Armada, 1588. — Philip, though he could now 
pose as the avenger of Mary's death, had less chance of attaching the 
English Catholics than if he had arrived in time to attempt her release 
from captivity. Now they distrusted him as a claimant 1 to the 
English throne and a subjugator of their liberties. Before he had 
completed his ponderous preparations, the terrible Drake again 
assumed the offensive. Sailing -from Plymouth harbor, in April, 1587, 
he made for Cadiz, plundered the town, and destroyed a vast amount 
of stores and shipping, and darted thence to Lisbon Bay, creating 
havoc with the fleet which the Spanish commander Santa Cruz was 
making ready ; next he intercepted off Cape St. Vincent a squadron 
of transports from the Mediterranean, and passed on to the Azores, 
where he captured a Spanish East Indiaman laden with treasure. 
This exploit, which he called " singeing the King of Spain's beard," 
not only brought him much booty, but frustrated Philip's plans for that 
year. At length, in May, 1588, the great Armada 2 was ready to sail. 
In the meantime Santa Cruz had died and the Duke of Medina Sidonia 
who succeeded him was far his inferior in ability. The stars in their 
courses seemed to fight for England. At the very start the Armada 
encountered a furious storm off Lisbon, which so crippled and scattered 
the ships that the second and final start was delayed till 1 2 July. 

Comparative Strength of the English and Spanish Fleets. — At 
least three serious obstacles confronted the invaders. Parma's army, 
on which they counted, was blockaded by a Dutch fleet, and that 
blockade would have to be broken. Then it was necessary to overcome 
the English in the Channel in order to convey his army across. Finally, 
Parma, if he succeeded in landing, would have to conquer the country, 
and, in all probability, in the teeth of opposition even from the Catho- 
lics. The critical struggle took place in the Channel, and in spite of 
the terror of the Spanish name and the imposing appearance of the 
Spanish fleet, the English captains anticipated a victory from the out- 
set. 3 Elizabeth, to be sure, was not well prepared ; for she had hoped, 
by withdrawing her forces from the Netherlands and by involving Parma 
in protracted negotiations, to avert war. But her commander, Lord 

1 Mary before her death had disinherited her son James in his favor. Philip 
based his claim on his descent from a marriage of John of Gaunt with a Portuguese 
princess. 

2 A Spanish word "armed," meaning a great fleet. 

3 The Spanish, however, seem to have been equally confident ; for they took 
with them 300 monks, priests, and officers of the Inquisition to begin the work of 
conversion directly upon landing. 



ELIZABETH'S ASCENDANCY AND DECLINE 395 

Howard of Effingham, was a man of experience, prudence, and valor, 
and had some of the most brilliant sea fighters of the age to help him. 
The Spanish fleet numbered 130 ships, with a total tonnage and an 
equipment of men and guns double the English. On the other hand, 
while the English royal navy counted only 34 ships, others, contrib- 
uted by the nobles, the gentry, and the seaports, brought their aggre- 
gate up to 197. Moreover, the Spanish galleons were high fore and 
aft, offering excellent marks for the English gunners. Also they were 
unable to move rapidly — a serious impediment to their classic style 
of fighting, which consisted of closing with the enemy and making use 
of their superior numbers in hand-to-hand encounters. The English, 
with ships lighter and better handled, kept the weather gauge, and, 
firing three times to the enemy's one, poured their shot with deadly 
effect into their lofty exposed hulks. The clumsy Spanish, on their 
part, wasted their fire in a vain effort to disable the vessels beyond 
their reach by aiming at their rigging. 

The English Camp at Tilbury. — The English land forces were 
commanded by thelnefficient Leicester, but he was assisted by more 
than one competent leader. The main camp was established at Til- 
bury with a view of protecting London or of marching to any point 
of the neighboring coast where a beacon light .should flash a signal 
of danger. " It was a pleasant sight," wrote a contemporary, "to 
behold the soldiers as they marched toward Tilbury, their cheerful 
countenances, courageous words, and gestures, dancing and leaping 
wheresoever they came, and, in the camp, their utmost felicity was in 
the hope of fight with the enemy when ofttimes divers rumors ran of 
their foe's approach, and that present battle would be given them. 
Then were they as joyful at such news as if lusty giants were to run a 
race." Here Elizabeth appeared before them, mounted on a war 
horse, holding a general's staff, and arrayed in a breastplate of steel. 
Followed by a page who bore her helmet, she rode bareheaded through 
the ranks, and roused them to the highest pitch of loyalty by her stir- 
ring words. " I am come among you at this time," she said, " being 
resolved in the midst of the heat and the battle to live and die amongst 
you all, to lay down for my God and for my kingdom, and for my 
people, my honor and my blood, even in the dust. I know that I 
have but the body of a feeble woman, but I have the heart of a King 
and a King of England too." No wonder they prayed heartily the 
Spaniards might land quickly, and " when they knew they were fled, 
they began to lament." Ten days before, a final overwhelming vic- 
tory in the Channel had destroyed all prospects of a Spanish landing. 

The Destruction of the Armada. — On 19 July, 1588, the long- 
expected Armada was sighted off the Lizard, on the Cornwall coast, 
" approaching very slowly, though with full sails, the wind being, 
as it were, weary of wafting them, and the ocean groaning under their 
weight." After a series .of encounters, in which the invaders were 
repulsed off Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight, they started across the 






796 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

Channel to join Parma. When they reached the harbor of Calais, 
the English turned loose a number of fire ships, scattering their vessels 
in all directions. This was Sunday, 28 July. The next day, before 
they had time to recover, they were engaged by practically the whole 
English fleet, and, although they fought desperately, they were obliged 
to break and flee. The victors were in no condition to pursue them ; 
their ammunition was exhausted, provisions had run short, and disease 
had broken out ; for such meat as they had was putrid and their beer 
was sour. While all this was due largely to the faulty and inadequate 
supply system, inevitable in those days, Elizabeth's parsimony was at 
least partly to blame. Indeed, Howard had to draw on his own 
fortune, by no means large, to succor men whose sufferings were 
contracted in the service of their country and their Queen. The 
" invincible Armada " sped northward pursued by a stiff gale, rounded 
the north of Scotland, and headed back by a course laid to the west of 
Ireland. Scarcely more than half of those who started ever reached 
Spain again. Some were lost in fighting, some were wrecked on the 
shores of Norway, many more on the Scotch and'Trish coasts, part of 
the latter slain by the natives and by English officials. Wind and 
weather had fought against the proud Spaniard; yet, after all has 
been said, the result was chiefly due to the courage and skill of Eng- 
lish seamen. 

Significance of the Repulse of the Armada. — Philip II failed to 
realize this: " I sent it (the Armada) against man," he said, " not 
against the billows. I thank God, by whose generous hand I am 
gifted with such power, that I could easily, if I chose, place another 
fleet upon the seas." But, though he continued the war so long as he 
lived, his energies were divided between England, France, and the 
Netherlands, and he never made another attempt, like that of 1588, 
to conquer the kingdom of Elizabeth. The repulse of the Armada 
marked a grandly significant moment in the history of England. It 
justified at home and abroad Elizabeth's wise policy of moderation, 
She had bribed her people with peace, light taxes, and the fostering 
of trade, and had prosecuted religious extremists only so far as necessi- 
ties of State demanded. She maintained no standing army and only 
a small navy, nor was it necessary ; for when the crisis came, her sub- 
jects, forgetting their religious differences, flocked to the defense of 
their sovereign and their kingdom. And the victory was not only an 
indication, it was also a further cause of national unity. Achievement 
in a common national undertaking drew more closely together subjects 
of all shades of opinion. For the first time, too, it revealed to Chris- 
tendom the greatness of English sea power and marked the beginning 
of the end of the Spanish maritime supremacy, one of the leading 
causes of her ultimate downfall. 

New Aggressions against Spain. — The younger generation were 
thirsting for great exploits. Not content vfith preying upon Spain's 
commerce and worrying her with occasional dashes against her coasts, 



ELIZABETH'S ASCENDANCY AND DECLINE 397 

they aspired to break up her dominion beyond the seas and to set up 
an English dominion in its place. At the head of this party stood 
Essex, a nephew of Leicester, and Raleigh, who wanted to override 
the older, wiser, and more cautious councilors like Burghley and 
Walsingham. An expedition, sent in 1589 for the purpose of restor- 
ing Don Antonio to the throne of Portugal, is an instance of their 
extreme aggressive policy. Elizabeth gave her sanction and even 
went so far as to furnish some ships and money, but the main expense 
was borne by Drake and Norris. On the way they were joined by 
Essex whom the Queen, fearing that harm might come to him, had 
sought to keep at home. Except for some slight damage to Spain, 
the invaders accomplished little. Attacks on Lisbon and Coruna 
accomplished nothing, and the Portuguese failed to rise. 

The Triumph of Henry of Navarre. — Meantime, events in France 
were working in England's favor. Although he had joined the League, 
Henry III resented being merely a tool of the Duke of Guise. So 
he had him assassinated by the royal bodyguard, 23 December, 1588. 
When Guise's brother, the Duke of Mayenne, led the forces of the 
League against him, the King allied himself with Henry of Navarre, 
who succeeded to the throne when Henry III was himself murdered by 
a fanatical Dominican, 2 August, 1589. The League declared for the 
Cardinal of Bourbon with Philip II as protector of the realm. But 
Henry IV won a great battle at Ivryin 1590, the Cardinal died, and 
by declaring himself a Catholic, 23 July, 1593, Henry drew many of 
the more moderate to his side, and before the close of the next year the 
Duke of Mayenne had consented to terms. The new King, however, 
who said that " Paris was worth a mass," only changed his religion 
for State purposes, and in 1598 by the Edict of Nantes he granted a 
generous toleration to Huguenots. 

The Final Stages of the Struggle between Elizabeth and Philip II. — 
In 1596 Philip's forces had captured Calais. Thereupon, England 
and the Dutch, combining forces with France, sent a joint expedition 
against Cadiz. Admiral Howard commanded the fleet and Essex 
the land forces. Again Cadiz was sacked and its shipping destroyed. 
The English soldiers, however, were held in restraint by Howard, 
who, having accomplished the work for which he was sent, insisted 
upon returning. This was the last great naval expedition of the reign 
against Spain. Burghley succeeded in persuading the Queen to make 
his son Robert Secretary of State, and the peace party was able to put 
a check upon the fiery Essex faction. But they did not yield without 
a struggle ; for a hot dispute in the Council is recorded, in 1598, when 
the venerable Lord Treasurer drew out a Prayer Book and pointed to 
the passage : " Men full of blood shall not live out half their days." 
Philip, in 1596, sent another fleet against England, and, in 1597, still 
another against Ireland, but neither reached its destination. In this 
latter year Essex showed that he was as futile as he was ambitious. A 
celebrated expedition to the Azores under his leadership, known as 



39 8 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

the " Island Voyage," failed to intercept a Spanish treasure fleet from 
America, chiefly owing to his blunders. In 1598 Henry IV concluded 
a peace with Spain, leaving Philip free to pursue his designs on Eng- 
land and the Netherlands, but Philip died the very same year, after a 
rule of over forty years. He had failed as the Catholic champion of 
Europe, he had failed to maintain his power in the Netherlands and 
his monopoly in the New World. He left to his successors a bankrupt 
kingdom and an expensive system of government, and prepared the 
way for the dissolution of the heritage of his father. 

The Execution of Essex and the Conquest of Ireland. — In March, 
1599, much against his will, Essex was sent to put down a rebellion in 
Ireland led by Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone. Here again he failed. 
He delayed for some time to go against the rebel Earl ; and then, con- 
trary to orders, he made peace and returned to England. Trusting 
too much to his popularity, he burst into the Queen's presence unan- 
nounced and mud-stained with travel. He was tried, deprived of 
office, and sentenced to remain a prisoner in his own house. Infuri- 
ated by his punishment, he gathered his supporters and tried to over- 
awe his enemies by an armed demonstration. He was overcome, 
tried, and condemned to death as a traitor on a charge of seeking to 
change the royal policy by force. He was executed 21 February, 1601. 
Elizabeth signed the death warrant with a heavy heart, and never 
recovered from the shock. 1 By the end of 1602 Lord Mountjoy, 
Essex's successor, brought Tyrone to submission. 

Elizabeth's Last Years. — The repulse of the Armada marked the 
climax of Elizabeth's glory. The years that followed were years of 
increasing loneliness and isolation. Her favorites and her trusted 
councilors dropped off one by one : Anjou in 1584 ; Leicester in 1588 ; 
Walsingham in 1590; Burghley in 1598. Her system had out- 
lived its time ; the old absolutism had served its turn, and new men 
and new policies were eagerly awaiting their chance. The romance, 
too, of her life was ended ; for even at court her popularity declined 
with her fading charms. The admiration of the younger courtiers 
came to be more and more a pretense. Yet, old as she was, she re- 
fused to face the prospect of death or to provide for the succession, and 
clung to vain display till the last. A German traveler, who saw her 
on her way to her chapel at Greenwich on a December Sunday in 
1598, describes her pomp and ceremony, her imposing train, her auburn 
wig surmounted by a crown, her pearl earrings, her magnificent 
gown adorned with jewels, and her collar of gold. The people who 
spoke to her knelt, so he relates, and as she passed by, she replied 
graciously to them, to some in English, to some in French, to some in 
Italian. On another occasion when the Bishop of St. Davids ventured 

1 Their relations had been curious. Once in the Council when a dispute arose 
over Irish affairs Essex had turned his back on the Queen. She gave him a box on 
the ear. He put his hand on his sword, declaring that he would not brook such an 
affront from Henry VIII himself. 



ELIZABETH'S ASCENDANCY AND DECLINE 399 

to preach on the text, " Lord, teach us to number our days that we 
may apply our hearts unto wisdom," she burst out stormily : " He 
might have kept his arithmetic to himself, but I see that the greatest 
clerks are not the wisest men." Yet, too, there were times when 
she showed flashes of that tact and insight which had been so charac- 
teristic of her in her prime. In 1601 when Parliament, called to grant 
money for the Irish war, forced her to revoke some grants of monop- 
olies, regarded as burdensome, she yielded very gracefully saying : 
" There is no jewel, be it never of so rich a price, which I prefer before 
this jewel, I mean your love." In answer to their thanks she declared : 
" I have more cause to thank you all than you me ; for, had I not 
received a knowledge from you, I might have fallen into the lap of an 
error only from lack of true information." Yet, when the subject 
had been raised four years earlier, she had expressed the hope that 
" her loving subjects would not take away her prerogative," and had 
done nothing. 

Elizabeth's Death, 24 March, 1603. — Elizabeth died 24 March, 
1603, in the seventieth year of her age and the forty-sixth of her reign. 
The story goes that the Council sought eagerly for a sign from her as 
to whom she wanted to succeed her, that 22 March, she declared, " I 
will have no rascal's son in my seat," none but a King, and that should 
be " our cousin " the King of Scotland, and that, later, when she 
became speechless she expressed a preference for him by signs. All 
this has been doubted. As a matter of fact, the Council had already 
settled on James VI. The Queen had no legal right to fix the suc- 
cessor, though the Council may have sought to strengthen their 
decision by her sanction. Judged by its achievements, Elizabeth's 
reign was notable. She maintained the established religion without 
civil war. She kept England from being absorbed by either the House 
of Valois or the House of Hapsburg. By preventing the question of 
the succession from being decided prematurely, she prepared peace- 
fully the way for the Scotch Protestant line and the union of two coun- 
tries that naturally belonged together. While she kept England out 
of war, she diverted its energies into trade, exploration, and coloniza- 
tion, thus helping to lay the foundations of its future greatness. She 
was blessed with a long reign in which she labored to educate her 
people into a sense of unity and national self-consciousness. She 
trusted to time, which blessed her policy, though it was ruthless to her 
as a woman. Truly, it might be said of her, more than of most, 
" the individual withers, but the world grows more and more." 



FOR ADDITIONAL READING 

Pollard, Political History, chs. XVIII-XXII, XXIV. Innes, England under the 
Tudors, chs. XIX-XXVI. Cambridge Modem History, III, chs. VIII, IX, X (bibliog- 
raphies, pp. 816-824). M. A. S. Hume, Treason and Plot (1001) deals with the strug- 
gles of the Roman Catholics for supremacy in the last years of Elizabeth. E. P. 



400 



A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 



Cheyney, A History of England from the Defeat of the Armada to the Death of Elizabeth 
(vol. I, 1014) ; the most thorough account of the history of the period. 
See also the references for ch. XXIV above. 

KINGS OF FRANCE, 1483-1610 

Charles VIII, 1483-1498 
Louis XII, 1498-1515, great-grandson of Louis, Duke of Orleans, brother of Charles VI 
I 
Claude = Francis I, 1515-1547, also a great-grandson of Louis of Orleans 
I 
Henry 11= Catharine de' Medici 
1547-1549 I 



1 

Francis II, 
1559-1560, 
m. Mary 
Queen of 
Scots 


1 

Charles IX, 

1560-1574 


1 1 

Henry III, Francis, 

IS74-1589, Duke of 

suitor of Alencon, 

Queen suitor of 

Elizabeth Queen 

Elizabeth 

THE HOWARDS 


1 
Margaret 1 


Henry IV 

(Henry of Navarre) 
1589-1610, a de- 
scendant of Robert 
son ef St. Louis, 
(1226-1270) 



John Howard, created Duke of Norfolk, 
killed at Bosworth, 1485 

I 

Thomas, Earl of Surrey, 

victor at Flodden, 1513, Duke of Norfolk, 1514, d. 1514 



Thomas, 


I 
Edmund 


William, 


1 
Elizabeth = Thomas 


Duke of 


1 . 


created Lord 


1 Boleyn 


Norfolk, 


Katherine. 


Howard of 




d. 1554 


m. Henry VIII, 


Effingham 


Anne Boleyn, 




executed, 1542 


1 


m. Henry VIII, 






Charles, 


executed, 1536 


Henry, Earl 




commander 


] 


of Surrey, 




against the 


Queen Elizabeth, 


beheaded, 1547 

1 




Armada, 1588, 
created Earl 


1558-1603 


Thomas, Duke 




of Nottingham, 




of Norfolk, 




1590, d. 1624 




beheaded, 1572 









CHAPTER XXVI 

ELIZABETHAN ENGLAND (1558-1603) 

The Strength of the Later Elizabethan Monarchy. — After Elizabeth 
had weathered the storms of the first part of her reign, the monarchy 
seemed to be even stronger than under her triumphant father. Neces- 
sity, sentiment, and gratitude all contributed to this apparent result. 
The Protestants of every shade of opinion had been forced to support 
her through fear of civil war and foreign invasion. They clung to her 
against Mary Stuart, backed by France and the Papacy and, at length, 
by Spain. After Mary's death the moderate Catholics ranged them- 
selves on Elizabeth's side against the Spanish invasion and the con- 
quest which it threatened to involve. The sentiment of chivalrous 
devotion to a woman, although it took absurdly extravagant forms, 
particularly at Court, was another real source of strength that 
the Queen, not from vanity alone, knew how to foster. Finally, the 
gentry and the commercial and trading classes were bound to the 
throne by ties of material interest and gratitude. Henry VII had 
done much for them ; Henry VIII had shared with them the spoils 
of the monasteries and contributed to their prosperity in other ways ; 
under Elizabeth came peace, economical rule, depredations against 
Spain, and the expansion of trade, together with the glorious deliver- 
ance of 1588. 

Opposition and Sources of Weakness. — Nevertheless, while the 
monarchy at Elizabeth's death appeared even stronger than under 
the first two Henrys of the Tudor line, forces were already at work 
which indicated that absolutism was tottering. A new order of things 
was inevitable, though the change was precipitated by the advent of 
a new dynasty. The very services rendered by the Tudors, and 
particularly by Elizabeth, had put the subjects of the realm in a 
position to assert themselves. They no longer feared the old nobility 
who had oppressed them in the past and had been responsible for the 
terrible disorders of the fifteenth century ; they were no longer threat- 
ened with a Catholic successor ; the combination between France and 
j Scotland had been broken by the union of the English and Scotch 
:rowns ; Spain had been repulsed and the Roman Catholic party had 
shrunk to a mere faction of plotters who were looked at askance by 
'he loyal members of their own communion ; and Ireland, long a 
>torm center, seemed for the moment quelled. The grievances, actual 
2V> 401 



4 o2 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

and potential, against which the disaffected could now assert them- 
selves were both religious and political. While religious strife prac- 
tically ceased after the Armada, the extreme Protestants had not 
been crushed ; they were only awaiting more auspicious times. Under 
James I they raised their heads, and finally gained ascendancy under 
his son. Since the bishops and their followers among the clergy 
turned to the Crown for support and sought to strengthen their posi- 
tion by exalting the royal prerogative, their opponents turned to Par- 
liament, combining with those whose grievances were primarily polit- 
ical, with those who were opposed to arbitrary taxation and the 
jurisdiction of the extraordinary courts which had grown up under 
the Tudors. This accounts for the complex character of what is 
known in history as the " Puritan Revolution." In order, to follow 
the conflict in all its bearings, it is necessary to understand the situa- 
tion in Church and State on the eve of the struggle. 

The Royal Supremacy over the Church. — The sovereign was 
supreme governor over all ecclesiastical persons and causes, and, 
directly or indirectly, controlled the legislation, administration, and 
revenues of the Church. Convocation was summoned and dissolved 
by the Crown, and none of its acts was valid without the royal assent. 1 
Among various revenues derived from the clergy were first fruits and 
tenths, clerical subsidies voted in Convocation, and occasional benev- 
olences. Also, the administration of ecclesiastical finances and 
justice was under royal control from the fact that the bishops were 
appointees of the Crown. The regular Church courts were those of 
the archdeacon, the bishop, and the archbishop. Their competence 
extended over temporal as well as spiritual causes ; for, in addition 
to sacrilege, heresy, perjury, and immorality, probate and divorce fell 
within their scope. 2 Appeals in the last instance went to the High 
Court of Delegates composed of judges appointed by the sovereign 
whenever need arose. 3 Until 1641, however, the ordinary ecclesiasti- 
cal courts were practically superseded by the Court of High Commis- 
sion, empowered by the Act of Supremacy to exercise ecclesiastical 
jurisdiction, to inquire into and punish heresy and other offenses of a 
like nature. Several commissions were issued during the reigns of 
Elizabeth, James I, and Charles I to leading prelates and ministers of 
the Crown. At first the energies of this court were devoted to enforc- 
ing the Acts of Supremacy and Uniformity against the Romanists; 
but when it began to be used against the Protestants as well, it came to 
be hated more and more until, on the eve of the Civil War, it was 

1 After Convocation, in 1604, passed a series of particularly arbitrary canons, 
Parliament made a vain effort to provide that no canon affecting the life, liberty, 
or property of laymen should be valid without its assent ; this was defeated, though 
the judges generally interpreted the law in the parliamentary sense. 

2 Ecclesiastical jurisdiction over matrimonial and testamentary cases was taken 
away in 1857. 

3 In 1833 i ts duties were taken over by the Judicial Committee of the Privj 
Council. 



ELIZABETHAN ENGLAND 403 

finally suppressed. The lawyers attacked it on the ground that it 
exceeded its powers ; but the hostility which it excited was due rather 
to its oppressive practices. It might act without a jury from the first, 
while in the later commissions no provision for trial by jury was pro- 
vided. By the so-called ex officio oath it could oblige the accused to 
answer any question that might be put to him, quite contrary to the 
fundamental provision of common law that no man could be obliged 
to testify against himself. 

The Crown and Parliament. — After the break with Rome the 
Tudors had used Parliament as a mere instrument of government. 
Elizabeth's most notable acts, though framed by herself and her 
councilors, all received parliamentary sanction. But the right of 
summoning, proroguing, and dissolving were in her hands, and she 
preferred to summon that body as infrequently as possible. During 
forty-five years she called, at irregular intervals, ten parliaments 
which met for thirteen short sessions, aggregating not more than one 
hundred and thirty-five weeks, or, to put it in another way, during 
her whole reign Parliament was only in session one seventeenth of the 
time. Moreover, when it was called together, the sovereign had vari- 
ous means of controlling its composition and workings. In the Upper 
House the bishops, composing a third of the total membership, were 
royal nominees. The temporal peers, of whom there were about 
sixty, could be controlled by favor, by new creations and promotions. 
Elizabeth made much use of the former, but comparatively little of 
the latter. 1 The membership in the Lower House could be regulated 
by the establishing of new boroughs. Sixty-two date from Eliza- 
beth's reign, 2 some from the sparsely inhabited Cornish districts ; but, 
in general, there was little corruption for Crown purposes. The in- 
crease of representation was a natural outcome of growth of popula- 
tion and a reliance on the support of the middle classes. Moreover, it 
was easy to control Parliament in other ways. With no railroads or 
telegraphs, without even good roads or an adequate postal service, 
and when public meetings and caucuses were unknown, no effective 
opposition could be organized outside. Nor, with such short and in- 
frequent sessions, was much to be feared from the disaffected after 
they had assembled. Furthermore, the names of the members were 
known to the Government before they were to each other ; important 
measures were introduced by the royal councilors ; and the election 
of the Speaker was controlled by the Crown. If, in spite of all, an 
opposition member appeared dangerous, Elizabeth would forbid his 
attendance or order his imprisonment. Also, she might forbid the 
discussion of an unwelcome bill, or withdraw it in the midst of a dis- 
cussion. In the last instance she could resort to the veto. The priv- 
ileges of freedom from arrest in civil suits and freedom of speech, 

1 Henry VII created or promoted 20; Henry VIII, 66; Edward, 22; Mary, 9; 
Elizabeth, 29. 

2 Henry VIII had created 5; Edward, 22 ; and Mary, 14. 



4 04 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

though claimed by the Commons throughout the reign, were not se- 
cured until the following century. 

The Privy Council. — Under Elizabeth the actual government was 
in the hands of the Privy Council, not in Parliament. Now the 
Houses control the government through the Cabinet members, at 
that time the sovereign managed the Houses through the agency of 
the Council, composed of devoted royal servants. It numbered 
seventeen or eighteen members, mostly laymen, nominated by the 
Queen. Its functions were threefold : legislative, executive or ad- 
ministrative, and judicial. Its business extended over a most varied 
field, local government, industry and trade, Irish, colonial, and foreign 
affairs. The Council's legislation, usually at the instance of the sov- 
ereign, was in the form of ordinances or proclamations. These, as well 
as the regular statutes, were executed by means of administrative 
orders issued by the Secretary (or Secretaries, for there were generally 
two) who had come to supersede the Chancellor as the chief officer 
of State. Judicial functions were exercised in the Star Chamber ses- 
sions. Altogether, the system of government by council was very 
simple and workable and might be very oppressive under a despotic 
ruler. It framed and executed its own measures and even on occasion 
tried cases arising from them. 

Revenues and Taxation. Ordinary Crown Revenues. — Taxation 
formed a leading issue in the coming struggle, partly because the sub- 
ject wished to protect his purse, and partly because the control of 
supply was an effective weapon against absolutism. In ordinary times 
the sovereign was expected " to live of his own " ; but the Crown 
revenues were far from adequate. Elizabeth, with all her economy, 
left a debt. The ordinary revenues, largely under royal control, 
were derived from several sources, (i) Crown lands yielded somewhat, 
how much it is difficult to say, since these lands were constantly ac- 
quired and constantly given away. (2) Feudal dues, i.e. aids, ward- 
ships, marriages, escheats, etc., yielded about £45,000 a year ; but the 
wasteful system of collection took far more from those who were as- 
sessed than actually went to the Queen. Purveyance, too, was a partic- 
ularly grievous burden. (3) Court fees and fines, especially the Court 
of Star Chamber, furnished a third source of royal revenue. (4) With 
the growth of trade, duties on exports and imports came to be a con- 
siderable element of income. The bulk of these duties were derived 
from tonnage and poundage, which since the Yorkist period had been 
granted to each successive sovereign for life at the beginning of the 
reign. The hereditary income from duties, particularly from wool, 
dating from 1275, had ceased to be very profitable with the rise of the 
cloth industry. In addition to tonnage and poundage and the hered- 
itary customs, the Crown claimed the right to levy certain additional 
duties known as " impositions." The Tudors employed these largely 
to regulate trade. When James sought to make them a source of rev- 
enue Parliament resisted; but they continued to be levied till 1641. 



ELIZABETHAN ENGLAND 405 

Monopolies, Benevolences, and Forced Loans. — Besides the feudal 
dues and impositions there were other royal exactions, resisted even 
under the popular Tudors, which were among the main factors in the 
Puritan Revolution. In 1601 Elizabeth had been wise enough to re- 
call some of the most objectionable patents of monopoly. Under 
James, however, new ones sprang up and the evil grew until he was 
forced to pass an act abolishing certain classes of them. But the 
statute contained certain exemptions by which his son Charles unwisely 
endeavored to profit. More objectionable still were benevolences 
and forced loans. The Tudor Henrys had revived benevolences — 
abolished in 1484 by Richard III — on the ground that as a usurper 
his legislation was invalid. They maintained also that they were 
not taxes, but gifts. Elizabeth, however, rarely, if ever, exacted benev- 
olences. James and Charles tried to impose them, though with no 
great success. Forced loans, while older, did not become at all fre- 
quent till the time of the Yorkists. Henry VIII, with parliamentary 
sanction, repudiated most of his. Elizabeth usually repaid hers, 
though not often in money. 

Extraordinary Grants by Parliament. — Extraordinary grants im- 
posed by direct taxation were wholly in the hands of Parliament. 
They were of two sorts. (1) Tenths and fifteenths, consisting origi- 
nally of a tenth of the income of burgesses and a fifteenth from the 
shires, came to be fixed in the fourteenth century at £39,000 for each as- 
sessment. Owing to exemptions and other causes, this form of taxa- 
tion came to be a very unequal burden and was never imposed after 
1624. (2) Meantime, as early as the time of the Tudors, a new form 
of direct tax — the subsidy — had appeared. Even earlier, this 
term had been used loosely as a name for additional customs. In its 
later and stricter sense it meant a parliamentary tax of 4s. in the pound 
on land, and 2s. Sd. on goods. In the time of Elizabeth a subsidy had 
become fixed at about £80,000 ; but with the rise in prices and the 
decrease in the value of money it came to be worth far less. Unable 
to secure adequate revenue from the taxes < under the control of Par- 
liament, the first two Stuarts resorted to trie irregular devices already 
enumerated, thus fostering, if they did not create, one of the chief 
grievances which led to the final catastrophe. 

The Justices of the Peace and the Common Law Courts! — Only 
less fruitful in precipitating the conflict was the arbitrary jurisdiction 
exercised by the various special courts set up during the Tudor period. 
Just as the High Commission came to supplant the regular Church 
courts, so these extraordinary tribunals superseded, to a large degree, 
the normal judicial system. Lowest in the scale of the latter were the 
justices of the peace. Descending from certain peace officers of the 
late twelfth and the thirteenth centuries, who were " little more than 
constables on a large scale," they were, in the fourteenth century, in- 
trusted with judicial functions. In the Tudor period they were chosen 
by the Chancellor from the landed gentry in the counties and from the 



4 o6 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

magistracies in cities and boroughs. A single justice could commit, 
but it required two for a judicial decision. In such petty sessions, as 
they came to be called, they dealt with minor criminal cases. More 
important ones were reserved for the Quarter Sessions, so-called be- 
cause they were held four times a year. Next above the Quarter 
Sessions were the Assizes held at the county seat and presided over 
by one of the King's justices, assisted by such of the local justices as 
were commissioned to sit with him. Above the Assizes were the three 
common law courts sitting at Westminster. 1 The Court of King's 
Bench and the Court of Common Pleas had each a chief justice and 
three associate or puisne judges. The judges in the Exchequer Court 
were called barons. The Court of Exchequer Chamber was a court 
of still higher resort. It consisted sometimes of all twelve judges, 
more often of the eight who had not previously heard the case. Oc- • 
casionally a specially important case would be referred to all twelve 
judges at the start. In the last instance a case went either to the 
Privy Council or the House of Lords. Even over these common law 
courts the sovereign had great control ; for their judges were appointed 
by the Crown, usually during pleasure. While Elizabeth was careful 
not to abuse her powers, James and Charles were constantly meddling, 
consulting the judges before a case came up in court, and often remov- 
ing those who opposed their will. 

The Special Jurisdictions. — Of the special courts Chancery, of 
course, greatly antedated the Tudors. Primarily designed to decide 
questions of equity, its jurisdiction was often employed to invade the 
proper field of the common law courts. Among the Tudor creations 
were certain local courts modeled after Star Chamber, notably the 
President and Council in the North Parts and the Council of Wales 
and the Marches, set up in 1539 and 1542, respectively, for dealing 
with disturbances on the borders. Ireland had a similar tribunal 
in the Court of Castle Chamber. Other bodies were established for 
dealing with particular branches of the revenue, such as the Courts of 
Augmentations, of First Fruits, and of Wards and Liveries. In most 
cases their original purpose was justified ; but their powers were greatly 
abused, and few of them survived the Puritan Revolution. A griev- 
. ance closely related to these arbitrary jurisdictions was the many 
searching laws of treason to which the subjects were exposed. Henry 
VIII, in order to establish his ecclesiastical supremacy and to regu- 
late the succession, greatly extended the law which had been defined 
for generations by the famous 25 Edward III of 1352. All together, 
Henry passed nine laws on the subject, which were all repealed 
in the next reign. Though new ones were enacted they were 
nothing like so stringent. Elizabeth's were designed both to main- 
tain her supremacy and to protect her against rival claimants to the 
throne. 

1 It was their judges who held the Assizes when the central courts were not in 
sessions. England was divided into several circuits for the purpose. 



ELIZABETHAN ENGLAND 407 

Local Government. — The Elizabethan period is especially impor- 
tant in the history of local government, partly because of the changes 
introduced and the activity displayed, and partly because it was the 
system in which our colonial fathers were trained, and which they 
developed in their new homes. Old institutions were losing much of 
their vitality. The sheriff, for instance, declined in importance. 
His military duties were taken over by the lords lieutenant of the 
county. This official 1 — dating from Edward VI — was head of 
the county militia organized under commissions of array and called 
out by his orders. He was responsible for his county in times of in- 
surrection and invasion, he had absolute power at such times, receiv- 
ing indemnity in advance for the consequences of its exercise. The 
sheriff's judicial and administrative duties passed to the hands of the 
justices of the peace. Their activity in the latter field began in con- 
nection with the Statutes of Laborers. It became their work to license 
beggars, to force the sturdy to work, and to repress vagrants. With 
the passage of the poor laws and the recusancy acts more burdens were 
laid upon them ; regulation of wages and prices, management of roads 
and prisons, and many other duties were added. Indeed, such " stacks 
of statutes " fell to their lot that " the alphabet has become the one 
possible connecting thread in describing their duties." Although 
appointed by the Crown they were landed gentry of local interests, 
the same class that furnished the knights of the shire. Thus they 
acted as a powerful check against royal despotism. The famous 
Justice Coke rhapsodically declared in describing the system : " It is 
such a form of subordinate government for the tranquillity and quiet 
of the realm, as no part of the Christian world hath the like." 2 

The smallest administrative division was the parish. It looked after 
the maintenance of the church services ; it had the care of the roads 
within its borders, and was responsible for the support of its poor, levy- 
ing rates for each of these purposes. Each parish furnished its quota for 
the lord lieutenant's levy and was intrusted with police powers exer- 
cised by elected constables. Some parishes, too, supported or helped 
to support schools. Business was transacted in parish meetings under 
the charge of church wardens, assisted by a committee ranging from 
eight to twenty-four members. The whole was known as a vestry, 
which was generally a close corporation, i.e. vacancies were filled by 
surviving members. The city and borough governments were grow- 
ing equally oligarchical throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth cen- 
turies. So, from the Council to the parish, there was a complete but 
well-knit system of administration, in which, however, none but the 
select few had any share. 

1 His military powers survived till 1871. Similar functions were intrusted to 
the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, which were especially responsible for the 
defense of the coast. 

2 Since 1888 their administrative duties have been largely absorbed by elected 
county councils. 



4 o8 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

Material Conditions. — Except for the humbler folk the Elizabethan 
period was one of increased prosperity, of improved methods of farm- 
ing, of the growth of manufactures, of the extension of trade and com- 
merce. This was partly due to the Queen herself, to her restoration 
of the coinage, to her peaceful policy, economy, and light taxes, and 
to her encouragement of exploration and maritime enterprise. Her 
efforts, however, would not have been so successful but for favoring 
circumstances. England, as a wool-producing country, was bound, 
in the long run, to prevail as a manufacturer of cloth. The necessity 
of feeding those engaged in the new industry made arable farming 
again profitable. Moreover, from her position on the very threshold 
of the Atlantic seaboard, it was inevitable that the Island Kingdom 
should profit by the discovery of the New World and the new trade 
routes. Also the revolt of the Netherlands and the ruin of Antwerp 
gave London and the other English commercial cities opportunities 
which they were not slow to seize. 

The Restoration of the Coinage. — The disorganization of the cur- 
rency, begun under Henry VIII, continued through the next reign ; 
while Mary, in spite of well-meant efforts, was able to accomplish 
little, owing largely to the expense involved in her Spanish connec- 
tion, and to her endeavor to restore to Rome church properties ap- 
propriated under her two predecessors. It remained for Elizabeth to 
carry out the task. She called in the debased coins at a figure far 
below that at which they circulated and somewhat less than their 
real value. In their place she issued pure, new coins. The first proc- 
lamation was put forth at Michaelmas 1560, and within a year the 
Queen could congratulate herself on having overcome the " hideous 
monster of base money." Although the step involved some tem- 
porary hardship, confidence was soon restored, trade soon felt the good 
effects, and the Government even made a small profit from the transac- 
tion. The extension of credit combined with the improved currency 
to help the growth of business. Discarding the old notion that all 
lending at interest was usurious and wrong, both Henry VIII and 
Elizabeth recognized the legality of moderate interest. 1 Owing to 
the policy of mercantilism, to the expansion of trade and commerce, 
and to the privateering against Spain, prices kept rising ; but the rise 
was of a healthier sort than that due to scarcity and debased money. 
Since rents and wages went up more slowly, the landlords and laborers 
did not feel the change so fully or so quickly as the merchant and manu- 
facturer. The increasing demand for the products of the soil steadily 
improved the condition of the landed gentry, however, and gave the 
laborers more regular employment. Many of the former, too, in- 
vested in trading and buccaneering enterprises which brought them 

1 In 1571 it was fixed at 10 per cent. One curious effect of the recognition of 
money lending was to weaken the royal power ; for later sovereigns began to bor- 
row from the merchants and goldsmiths, thus making themselves more or less 
dependent on a class whose principles were generally democratic. 



ELIZABETHAN ENGLAND 409 

large returns. Prosperity had developed to such a point in 1569 that 
the Government which had hitherto borrowed abroad placed a loan 
at home. 

Development of Agriculture. — The revival of farming was so 
marked in Elizabeth's reign that it has been termed a period of agri- 
cultural counter-revolution. Country gentlemen began again to turn 
their attention to the cultivation of their estates. Agricultural 
writers once more began to discuss improved methods, and new sources 
of profit began to arise from market gardening. Sheep raising had 
to contend against various obstacles. For one thing, the practice of 
enclosing was still discouraged by law; in 1597, for instance, an act 
was passed providing that land which had been made pasture since 
the Queen's accession should be reconverted to tillage and that none 
then under the plow should be diverted to grazing. Also there was 
decline in the price of wool, possibly owing to a temporary overstock- 
ing of the market, more likely because rich pasturage coarsened the 
quality. This latter result was due to the development of mixed 
farming, or convertible husbandry, when lands used for tillage one year 
were turned into pasture the next, and vice versa. In addition to the 
growth of population and the increasing demand for food supplies 
the revival of tillage was greatly favored by the policy of the Queen. 
When the price of corn was moderate, she encouraged its export in the 
interest of the farmer and the shipper. Only in times of scarcity was 
export checked in the interest of the consumer. One exception, how- 
ever, was made on political grounds ; after hostilities opened with 
Spain no foodstuffs could be sent to that kingdom at all. New and 
better roads opened new markets at home, more attention was paid to 
fertilizing, and, with the revival of market gardening, onions, cab- 
bages, carrots, and parsnips began to be grown. Thomas Tusser, 
whose Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry appeared in 1573, 
was an enthusiastic advocate of a new form of enclosure which began 
to prevail in the eighteenth century, and consisted in doing away with 
the common fields, the scattered strips, and the communal cultivation, 
and in consolidating holdings in the hands of individual owners or 
tillers of the soil. Progressive in this, Tusser was backward in other 
respects; for he scarcely mentions the use of manure, he does not 
consider the subject of draining, and, apparently, was ignorant of the 
mses of clover and artificial grass. In these respects he had much to 
learn from Barnaby Googe whose Four Books of Husbandry appeared 
in 1577. Some effort was made to reclaim swamp lands by drainage, 
but it was not until the next century that much was accomplished. 
In general it may be said that, relatively to tillage and cattle raising, 
sheep farming was becoming less profitable, and that most of the 
'nclosures were for the purpose of convertible husbandry. 

Discovery and Exploration. — The notable exploits of Elizabethan 
seamen have influenced profoundly the history of England and the 
listory of the world in a multitude of ways. In them the spirit of 



410 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

the Renascence was wonderfully manifested, and geographical knowl- 
edge, literature, religion, commerce, industry, colonization, and the 
spread of civilization all bear the marks of their achievements. They 
circumnavigated the globe, they opened Russia and the East to English 
trade, they extended English commerce into the Mediterranean and 
along the African coast ; they took the first step toward securing a 
foothold in India ; they undertook Arctic voyages in search of north- 
east and northwest passages to Cathay, and they made possible the 
beginnings of English colonization in America. 

The Opening up of Russia and Central Asia. — The opening up of 
Russia began with an attempt on the part of two daring explorers, 
Richard Chancellor and Sir Hugh Willoughby, in search of the north- 
east passage. Their instructions were drawn up by Sebastian Cabot, 
" Geographer Royal " of England, while the funds for this " new and 
strange navigation" were supplied by " certain grave citizens of 
London " with an eye to new markets. The preparations were com- 
pleted in the reign of Edward VI, though the actual start was not 
undertaken until after the accession of Mary in 1553. Of the three 
ships which began the voyage two, including Willoughby's, were lost, 
and Chancellor, " very heavy, pensive, and sorrowful," proceeded 
alone. He rounded the North Cape, passed southward to the White 
Sea, and landed near the present Archangel. Thence he journeyed 
fifteen hundred miles on sledges to Moscow, the court of Ivan the 
Terrible, King of the Muscovites. After remaining three months he 
went back to England with letters from Ivan and an account of the 
condition and resources of his kingdom. Chancellor was drowned 
on his return from a subsequent voyage, but the Muscovite ambas- 
sador who accompanied him was received at Mary's court in Feb- 
ruary, 1557. Though during this reign other voyages were made to 
the Levant and to the coast of Africa, Chancellor's stands out as the 
notable achievement. Having secured a foothold in Russia and the 
favor of the Tsar, English enterprise was extended, under Elizabeth, 
by journeys along the shores of the Caspian Sea into Turkestan and 
northern Persia. Valuable commercial privileges were secured in all 
these countries. The pioneer in marking out the new routes to cen- 
tral Asia was Anthony Jenkinson, a seasoned traveler who had ranged 
from the Arctic Ocean to northern Africa. The death of Ivan in 
1584 marked the decline of English trade in this direction. The 
Dutch broke in upon the monopoly, and new fields of commerce and 
other routes to the further east were sought. 

The Mediterranean. The Overland and Sea Routes to India. — 
One was an overland route from the Mediterranean, a natural develop- 
ment from the Turkey trade which was being pushed forward vigor- 
ously. Traders and explorers visited Egypt, Babylon, Nineveh, and 
other famous places of ancient times. Most notable of all was an over- 
land expedition led by John Newberrie and Ralph Fitch. Starting 
from Syria in 1583 they went in company as far as the western coast 



ELIZABETHAN ENGLAND 411 

of India. There Fitch parted company with Newberrie, and pene- 
trated to Bengal and other parts of the eastern side of the peninsula, 
probably the first Englishman who ever made the journey. The 
other route was by sea around southern Africa. Though, even before 
the accession of Elizabeth, English seamen had broken through the 
monopoly which the Portuguese had long enjoyed along the African 
coast, it was not till 1591 that any of them ventured to round the 
Cape of Good Hope. In that year James Lancaster and George Ray- 
mond accomplished the feat. 1 They returned in 1594, having gone 
as far as Malacca and Ceylon. Meantime, since their revolt from 
Spain, the Dutch had begun to supplant the Portuguese in the East 
Indies, and the success of their trading companies and the monopoly 
which they in turn were seeking to establish 2 led, in conjunction with 
the stories brought back by Newberrie, Fitch, Lancaster, and Raymond, 
to the foundation of the English East India Company. 

The English Seamen in the Western World. — Biggest, however, 
in results, as we view them, were the voyages to our American shores, 
and the first steps toward colonization within the limits of the present 
United States. The Cabots had prepared the way in the reign of 
Henry VII. Little more was done till Elizabeth's time. Hawkins' 
three voyages, " forcing (the Spanish American colonists) to friendly 
commerce " in slaves, and Drake's expedition, when he first saw the 
Pacific in 1572, stirred the spirit of English maritime adventure. The 
crowning achievement was Drake's circumnavigation Of " the whole 
globe of the earth " from 1577 to 1580. He braved all sorts of hard- 
ships : mutiny, storm, and danger of the Spanish. After passing the 
straits of Magellan his little fleet of five vessels was reduced to one — 
the Pelican, which he had rechristened the Golden Hind. He ravaged 
the coasts of Chili and Peru, possessed himself of immense treasure, 
and, after exploring the coast of California, returned by way of the 
Cape of Good Hope. There was still much speculation as to the pos- 
sibility of a northwest passage, and Englishmen hoped to discover 
gold as well as a trade route in the bleak northern regions. Thither 
Martin Frobisher made three voyages (1 576-1 578), adding much to the 
knowledge of Greenland and Labrador. Ten years later John Davis, 
an agent like himself of a syndicate of merchants and courtiers, con- 
tinued his work. His name survives in Davis Straits. 

Early English Attempts at Colonization. — Attempts at conquest 
and settlement followed in the wake of these voyages of discovery 
and plundering raids. The pioneer was Sir Humphrey Gilbert who 
in 1578 received a patent for " the planting of our people in America." 
Failing in his first two voyages, he sailed again in 1583 and reached the 

1 The Portuguese, Bartholomew Diaz, was the first to round the Cape of Good 
Hope, in i486. In 1497-1498 Vasco da Gama made his celebrated voyage from 
Portugal to India. 

2 Their various trading companies were united into the Dutch East India Com- 
pany in 1602. 



4 i2 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

coast of Newfoundland, where he planted the first colony in British 
North America. On his return voyage he went down with his ship off 
the southern Azores, crying with pious courage to those in a neigh- 
boring vessel : " We are as near heaven by sea as by land." His half 
brother, Sir Walter Raleigh, took over his patent. To prepare the way 
for future colonization he sent out in 1584 an expedition " at his charge 
in direction " which explored the coast of North Carolina. The region 
was named " Virginia," after England's virgin Queen. Three unsuc- 
cessful attempts to plant a settlement followed, culminating in the 
famous " lost colony " led by John White. It was notable, among 
other things, for the birth of Virginia Dare, 18 August, 1587, the first 
English child born in the New World. Although it was not until the 
settlement of Jamestown, nearly twenty years later, that a permanent 
English colony was established, Raleigh deserves credit for his efforts 
in a work so big in future results. He himself never set foot on the 
shores of North America. In 1595, however, he made a voyage to 
Guiana, in search for El Dorado, the fabulous city of Manoa, where 
the chief of the natives was supposed to cover his body with gold dust 
and to bathe in a sacred lake where the water was full of gold and 
precious stones. Raleigh's expedition gave the English their claim 
to the present British Guiana. Besides these voyages thus briefly 
described, the Elizabethan seamen undertook numberless others to 
remote lands and distant seas. The whole wonderful story may be 
read in the stirring pages of the contemporary Richard Hakluyt 
(1552-1616), whose Principal Navigations, Voyages, and Discoveries 
of the English Nation has been called " the prose epic of the modern 
English Nation, our unrivaled treasury of material for the history of 
geography, discovery, and colonization, our best collection of the ex- 
ploits of the heroes in whom the new era was revealed." 

Foreign Trade. — Governmental regulation of trade still prevailed. 
In the first and fifth years of the reign new navigation laws were passed, 
partly for protection and partly to foster English seamanship. The 
latter motive also played a part in the encouragement of the fisheries, 
which explains why England, a Protestant country not only enforced 
fast days by law, but added Wednesday as a new " fish day." In 
order to nurse infant industries, the importation of certain manufac- 
tured goods and the export of raw materials (except wool, which was 
an English staple) were discouraged. One curious enactment pro- 
vided that on Sundays and holidays every English subject over six 
years of age must wear a cap of native manufacture or pay a fine. 1 
Monopolies were another means of fostering English industry and 
commerce, though, later in the reign, they were also employed as a 
means of adding to the royal revenues. All sorts of luxuries and some 
necessities were imported. Foreign trade was largely monopolized by 
great merchant companies. The old Merchant Adventurers who had 

1 The "woolsack" on which the Chancellor sits in the House of Lords had its 
origin in the same effort to foster the national industry. 






ELIZABETHAN ENGLAND 413 

received a patent from Henry VII were incorporated with extended 
privileges in 1564. In addition, many new companies were founded. 
Chief among them were the Russia Company ; the Eastland, for 
trading with the Baltic ; and the Levant Company, which controlled 
the commerce with Turkey, Syria, and Asia Minor. The Guinea, or 
African Company, had the exclusive right of supplying Spanish 
America with slaves, which they exchanged for hides, sugar, ginger and 
pearls. More noteworthy than all the rest was the " Association 
for trading with India," founded in 1599. In the following year it 
received a charter from Elizabeth, authorizing its members to trade 
in all parts of India unclaimed by other countries. This was the origin 
of the famous East India Company which laid the foundations of the 
present Indian Empire of Great Britain. In 1568 a meeting place 
for merchants in London was completed. It was the gift of Thomas 
Gresham, a rich financier, and was named by Elizabeth " The Royal 
Exchange." While the Dutch still led in almost all branches of com- 
merce, and while agriculture still remained England's chief industry, 
this period is marked by progress in manufactures and trade which 
led within two centuries to her preeminence over all rivals. 

Burghley's Economic Policy. — This great development was due, 
in a considerable degree, to Burghley, who had a large share in its 
direction. He showed the same practical sagacity and caution in the 
administration of economic problems as he manifested in political 
affairs. With him the strength of the State was the main aim, and 
much of his industrial and commercial legislation was designed toward 
that end. He developed mining and manufacturing with the purpose 
of enabling England to supply her own ordnance and ammunition. 
In order to increase the effectiveness of the navy, he took steps to 
preserve the timberlands, to increase the native supply of hemp and 
sailcloth, and actively encouraged the merchant marine. Among the 
means which he employed were the formation of trading companies, 
granting patents of monopoly, fostering the fisheries, and improving 
the harbors. In some respects his policy was sharply opposed to that 
of Elizabeth : he was against piracy, which she secretly encouraged, 
and he disapproved of the navigation laws on the ground that, while 
they helped the growth of English shipping, they encouraged the im- 
portation of luxuries, such as wines, silks, and spices. 

Internal Trade and Industry. — Although they were handicapped 
by various restrictions, industry was greatly stimulated by immigrants 
from France and Flanders, who went in limited numbers to towns 
authorized by license to receive them, introducing, among other things, 
thread and lace making and silk weaving. The gilds which had long 
I regulated industry, at first independently and then under central 
control, were already on the decline before the Reformation. The 
confiscation of their religious and charitable funds under Henry VIII 
and Edward VI practically forced them to the wall. In many 
places " livery companies " were formed to take their place. The new 



4H A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

organizations, 1 which were associations of employers authorized by 
the Crown instead of the municipalities, often included several trades. 
Their aim was to supervise the quality of wares, 2 to keep records of 
entered apprentices, and to protect the natives of corporate towns in 
competition with aliens. In order to control better the conditions of 
labor and production, Elizabeth, in the fifth year of her reign, passed 
the famous Statute of Artificers. It aimed, among other things, to 
secure a sufficient supply of agricultural laborers, and at the same 
time to check the decline of the corporate towns as industrial centers. 
All able-bodied men, with certain exceptions noted in the act, were 
liable to serve as agricultural laborers. Measures were framed to 
prevent irregular and brief employment, migration of laborers, artifi- 
cers, and vagrants, and a term of apprenticeship was fixed at seven 
years in both town and country. In the choice of apprentices the 
rural districts and the corporate towns were given special advantages 
over market towns. This checked the drift toward the newer towns 
where conditions of employment had been unregulated and lax. Also, 
the Act intrusted the assessment of wages to the justices of the peace 
acting under the supervision of the Council. Wages were no longer 
arbitrarily fixed, as had been the case under the old Statutes of La- 
borers, but were to be regulated according to plenty or scarcity and 
according to local conditions. While as time went on the justices were 
given greater independent powers, and while they occasionally en- 
forced them so late as the eighteenth century, assessments had ceased, 
as a regular practice, before the close of the seventeenth. When the 
Statute was repealed in 1813, after a long life of two centuries and a 
half, it had become a mere legal curiosity. 

Public Health. — The population, in spite of destructive visitations 
of the plague, was steadily increasing. 3 The authorities came to rec- 
ognize that the crowded quarters of the large cities were dangerous 
centers for the spread of infection. In London this was especially 
marked in the ring of poor parishes about the walls of London, which 
for some distance were " pestered with filthy cottages." Accordingly, 
in 1590, an ordinance was issued prohibiting the building on new sites 
within a radius of three miles of the city gates, or the subdividing of 
existing dwellings into two or more tenements. 4 The population in 
this year was estimated to be about 125,000, and appears to have 

1 Not to be confused with the merchant companies who traded abroad. 

2 Though they were less effective for this purpose than the gilds had been. Regu- 
lation as to quality of goods, and of prices, weights, and measures as well, were 
also attempted through the clerks of the market. 

3 It has been estimated that in normal years the births exceeded the christen- 
ings by about 25 per cent. 

4 Elizabeth's successor, James I, had an equal aversion to the increase of the 
population in London : "The growth of the capital," he declared, "resembleth that 
of the head of a rickety child in which an excessive influx of humours draweth and 
impoverisheth the members and at the same time generatith distempers in the over- 
loaded parts." 



ELIZABETHAN ENGLAND 41 5 

nearly doubled in fifty years. In 1551 the sweating sickness dis- 
appeared as suddenly as it had appeared sixty-seven years before. 
All through Elizabeth's reign, however, epidemics of ague and in- 
fluenza, such as had contributed to carry off her predecessor, were 
frequent. Even yet scavengers were appointed only in times of crisis ; 
in ordinary times responsibility for sanitary precautions still rested 
with the householders. 

The Poor Laws. — Important as were the poor laws of Henry VIII 
in foreshadowing new principles, he failed to provide effective means 
for enforcing them. While something was done to improve his system 
under both Edward and Mary, it remained for the government of Eliza- 
beth to put the laws in a shape which survived in most of their fea- 
tures down to the nineteenth century. The famous " Old Poor Law " 
of 1 60 1 was really only the embodiment in permanent form of a series 
of statutes extending from 1563 to 1598. In substance it provided 
that : contributions for the relief of the poor should be compulsory ; 
habitations were to be provided for the impotent and aged ; children 
of paupers were to be apprenticed ; stocks of hemp and wool were to 
be furnished for the employment of sturdy idlers ; and houses of cor- 
rection were to be set up for those who obstinately refused to work. 

Royal Progresses. — The Queen, in her love of gayety, her tireless 
pursuit of pleasure, and her fondness for magnificent display, 1 natu- 
rally set the fashion for her people, particularly the Court and the upper 
classes. This ostentation was peculiarly manifest in the royal prog- 
resses when she was entertained so lavishly as to bring many noble- 
men and gentlemen to the verge of ruin. These journeys and visits 
served various purposes. They gratified the Queen's inordinate 
vanity; they were a part of her economy, for during long intervals 
she was supported in fitting state at the expense of others ; and finally 
they kept her before her subjects and stimulated rivalry in loyalty. 
'The most famous of the entertainments in her honor was that pro- 
vided by Leicester at Kenilworth Castle, where she stayed three weeks 
in the summer of 1575. The visit furnished the setting for a famous 
novel of Sir Walter Scott's, and possibly the wonderful doings may have 
served to quicken the imagination of a ten-year-old lad from the 
; neighboring town of Stratford — William Shakespeare. There were 
all sorts of pageantry and poetry, giants, nymphs, fireworks, a floating 
i island in a pool in front of the palace, hunting, tilting, bear baiting, 
tumbling, rustic sports, songs, and masques. Such festivities, though 
|!on a less elaborate scale, multiplied as the years went on. Not only 
nobles and gentry, but citizens and burgesses, and the scholars of the 
two Universities vied with one another in honoring their Queen. 

Dress and Manner of Living. — Extravagance and artificiality were 
:haracteristic of the dress, the manners, and the speech of the period. 
Women dressed their hair in most elaborate fashions. They sur- 

1 In spite of her parsimony, she left a wardrobe of 3000 gowns. 



4 i6 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

rounded their necks with enormous ruffs held by wire or starch, and 
wore huge farthingales or hoop skirts. It was said that " women 
were the least part of themselves " and took longer to rig than ships. 
And the men were fully as bad. They perfumed themselves with 
musk and civet. They wore tight-fitting nether stocks, above these 
trunk hose, surmounted by padded doublets or jackets. With highly 
ornamented cloaks slung over their shoulders, with gaudy befeathered 
hats, girt with swords and adorned with bracelets and earrings, they 
presented an imposing show. Harington, godson of the Queen, de- 
clared with penetrating cynicism : " We go brave in apparel that we 
may be taken for better men than we are, we use much bombastings 
and quiltings to seem better framed, better shouldered, smaller waisted, 
and fuller thighed than we are, we use perfume both inward and outer 
to seem sweeter, wear corked shoes to seem taller, use courteous salu- 
tations to seem kinder, lowly obeisance to seem humbler, and grave 
and godly communication to seem wiser and devouter than we be." 
The dress of the laborer was of necessity very plain ; but sumptuary 
laws were passed from time to time to check the extravagance of the 
lower classes and to encourage the use of homemade woolens. There 
were abundant sports and diversions in town and country. The man 
of fashion lounged in the nave of St. Paul's of a morning. He dined 
at a tavern, drinking heavily and smoking tobacco, a practice intro- 
duced from the New World before the close of the reign. Then he 
might choose between bull and bear baitings and the theater for further 
amusements. Masques and interludes were frequent, and, for the 
hardier sort, tennis, football, wrestling, fencing, tilting, hunting, and 
hawking. There were still numerous holidays, each with its appro- 
priate festival, with mummings, games, and abundant eating and 
drinking. The merits of soap were not yet fully recognized, though 
refinements and luxuries were on the increase, such as chimneys, glass 
windows, and carpets in place of lattice and rushes. Plate and glass- 
ware were abundant among the wealthy, while the poor used pewter. 
In eating knives supplanted the fingers more and more, and forks were 
soon to appear. Many artificers and farmers even began to have 
beds hung with tapestry and to discard logs of wood and sacks of chaff 
for pillows. Timber houses gave way to dwellings of brick and stone. 
There was great lament over these changes : it was said that when 
houses were of willow there were men of oak and that now there were 
houses of oak, there were men of straw. 

Architecture. — By Elizabeth's time men had ceased to use the 
Gothic style in building. Wolsey, who has been called " the last pro- 
fessor of the Gothic," has left us beautiful examples in Hampton Court 
and the Hall of Christ Church, Oxford. The classical Italian, which 
had begun to work its way in, was at first a mixture of Italian and 
Gothic. It was chiefly employed in secular building ; for, from the 
Reformation to well into the seventeenth century, church building of 
original artistic design practically ceased. Henry VIII, described as 



ELIZABETHAN ENGLAND 417 

" the only Phoenix of his time for fine and curious masonrie," was as 
fond of fine buildings as he was of fine clothes. He did somewhat 
himself, the magnificent Wolsey did more, and a few of the nobles 
and courtiers followed their example. However, they were too poor 
to build very extensively. It was only with the increase of wealth and 
the rising of standards of comfort in Elizabeth's time that such mag- 
nificent palaces as Kenilworth began to raise their heads. Then, too, 
a number of stately and artistic country mansions were erected. In 
the early part of the reign the Old English, rambling and picturesque 
in effect, still predominated over the Italian. Haddon Hall, the 
famous Derbyshire countryseat of the Dukes of Rutland rebuilt in 
this period, is a fine example. The ruined castle of Kenilworth, and 
Longleat l in Wiltshire, said to be the first well-built house in the 
kingdom, illustrate the somewhat later style when the Italian, with 
greater symmetry of plan, had come to prevail. The influence of the 
classical Renascence was even more marked in Gresham's Royal 
Exchange. As might be expected, Elizabeth had her likeness per- 
petuated in many portraits. 2 She had no painter to correspond with 
the Holbein of Henry VIII or the Van Dyke of Charles I, a fact more 
pleasing to her thrift than her vanity. 

Lack of Progress in Science. — Except for a treatise on the mag- 
net by William Gilbert, in 1600, there were few real steps in advance 
between the Reformation and the time of the Stuarts. Belief in 
witchcraft and sorcery still held sway over men's minds; indeed, 
the first English statute on the subject was passed in 1541. Al- 
chemists and quacks had great vogue. The Lady Margaret Pro- 
fessor of Divinity resigned his chair to devote himself to the study 
of transmutation of metals. Paracelsus, that prince of charlatans 
and visionaries, had been dead less than twenty years when 
Elizabeth came to the throne ; she herself gave ear to the siren 
tones of a beauty doctor. Dr. Dee, however, who was reputed 
a famous alchemist, used his pretended calling to cover the fact that 
he was a political agent of the Queen. The revival of Greek medical 
science contributed to prolong a popular belief in astrology, while the 
progress of the Copernican system was undermining its basic prin- 
ciples. Jerome Cardan, a famous physician and professor of the art, 
who found it wise to flee after he had predicted a long life for Edward 
VI, had been the guest of Sir John Cheke. 

The Elizabethan Age an Epoch in the World's Literature. — The 
three main achievements of the Elizabethan age were : the establish- 
ment of Protestantism ; the remarkable impulse in maritime enterprise ; 
and the wonderful literary outburst, unparalleled in the world's his- 

1 It was built by Sir John Thynne, and still remains in his family, now represented 
by the Marquises of Bath. 

2 They are generally characterized, in the biting language of a later critic, Hor- 
ace Walpole, by "a pale Roman nose, a head loaded with a crown and powdered 
with diamonds, a vast ruff, a vaster farthingale and a bushel of pearls." 



8 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

rorv save possibly in the era of Pericles. The third remains to be 
considered P Up to this time England had produced only one writer 
n? worldwide and enduring fame -the genial and incomparable 
ChaC While from the beginning of Elizabeth's ^gn promising 
wrTrs were in evidence, it was not until after 1580 that the product 
became distinctive. It was even later, in the last decade of the reign, 
thatThe Test work of Shakespeare and Spenser, the Essays of Bacon 
he Ecclesiastical Polity of Hooker, the early plays of rare Ben 
Tonson '' as well as many other splendid pieces of writing gave it its 
Snence These ten years have never been matched in any 
^d or country. In seeLg to account i^^™^^ 
hardlv enough to say that it was due simply to the fact that a -number 
of men of unusual gifts of expression chanced to be born about the 
same time There was a spirit awake producing a varied and intri- 
cate complex of causes which quickened their imagination and stirred 
them Tspeech. First, there was the influence of the Italian Renas- 
cence Those who first drank from that invigorating source were 
Primarily interested in religious problems, and the ecclesiastical up- 
Calwh followed diverted men for a time from pure literature 
Refore the end of the reign of Henry VIII, Wyatt and Surrey had 
fhown evidence of contactlith the Italian and classical model. First, 
under Elizabeth, however, Englishmen took their ^^ °^e 
heritage a share which grew and throve to a manifold increase 1 nen 
t^he discoveries and explorations, and the strange new outlook on the 
world which They brought, broadened their mental horizon and gave 
then T Simulating food for thought. And finally the triumph oyer 
SoSlLi^pain aroused a national consciousness and a pride 

"tanlrons'- "£ of the ancients and of the Italians of .the 
Re^ceTere opened to Englishmen largely though adaptations 
and translations. The old printer Caxton had led the way *rom 
his time until Elizabeth the most notable production of this sort was 
Surrey's JEneid. Then they followed thick and fast. In 1566 ap- 
neared WUHam Painter's Palace of Pleasure, a collection of stories 
torn thetoek, Latin, Italian, and French, which furnished a rich 
store of material for he Elizabethan dramatists. Another source 
o°m wnicTthey drew freely was Plutarch's Lives, do ^ into -Ejjgh sh 
by Thomas North in 1579. Most of the earlier work in t^dd was 
bv lesser men; but later such renderings as Chapman s I had (1598), 
H^rington's Orlando Furioso (1591), and Florio's Montaigne (1603) 
deservedly rank as works of art. Tmmatur- 

Prose Literature. Early Affectation << Euphuism^ -}™™^ r 
ity, the use of these foreign models, and the prevailing ; f ffect a^ on J^ t0 
much pedantry, extravagance, and obscurity _ among ;fte earlier writer 
of the reign. The oft-quoted protest of Thomas Wilson in his Art 
of Rheorfaue, doubtless had an influence in the long run to check tee 
use of "inkhorn English" and French or Itahanated idioms 



ELIZABETHAN ENGLAND 419 

" Some seek," he said, " so far outlandish English that they forget 
altogether their mother's language. Some far-journeyed gentlemen 
at their return home, like as they go in foreign apparel, so they will 
powder their talk in oversea language. These mystical wise men and 
poetical clerks will speak nothing but quaint proverbs and blind alle- 
gories : delighting much in their own darkness, especially when none 
can tell what they say." Roger Ascham, himself such a master of 
vigorous, plain, but gracious English, declared that " he that will 
write well in any tongue must speak as the common people do, and 
think as wise men do," and lamented that " many English writers 
have not done so, but, using strange words, as Latin, French, and 
Italian, do make all things dark." But the young writers of the new 
age were too impetuous and too bubbling over with ardor to take him 
as a model, nor did the impressive and grave simplicity of the Book of 
Common Prayer and the Bible translations of the previous generation 
appeal to them. It was only after a period of luxuriant extravagance 
that the ripe, finished, and gorgeous, but dignified style of the late 
Elizabethan and early Jacobean era was attained. The summit of 
affectation was manifested in John Lyly's Euphues, 1579, a romance 
in which a slender story serves as a framework for striking antitheses, 
labored and far-fetched figures of speech, and longsome reflections on 
education and words. Taken up by the Queen, the work was enthu- 
siastically received at court, where a new style of speaking, known as 
" Euphuism," came into vogue. An inevitable reaction followed, 
and it was attacked and caricatured, notably by Shakespeare. While 
the ridicule was deserved, Euphues accomplished somewhat for the im- 
provement of morals and culture and the refinement of current speech. 
The Middle Period. Sir Philip Sidney. — Sir Philip Sidney (1554- 
1586), the ideal gentleman of the age, whose short life was crowded 
with activity as a soldier, statesman, and poet, marks the transition 
from the earlier to the later period. His Arcadia, written about 1580 
and published in 1590, is not very unlike a medieval romance, inter- 
woven with bits of pastoral poetry. Although he was an outspoken 
critic of the work of Lyly, Sidney's first book is marked to a con- 
siderable degree by the same faults of artificiality and diffuseness. 
•On the other hand, it is illuminated by passages of real beauty and was 
immensely popular for nearly two centuries, until the advent of the 
modern novel, of which it was a forerunner, superseded the type. 
His Apologie for Poetrie, 1 1581, one of the earliest pieces of English 
criticism, is greatly superior to the Arcadia. One passage will illus- 
trate the wondrous charm of his phrasing at its best. " Nature," 
he says, " never set forth the earth in so rich tapestry as divers poets 
have done, neither with so pleasant rivers, fruitful trees, sweet-smelling 
flowers, nor whatsoever else may make the too'-much loved earth more 
lovely." Altogether, Sidney marks a genuine advance in clearness, 

1 Or Defense of Poesie. 



4 2o A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

genuineness of feeling, and beauty of expression. Another evidence 
of the beginnings of scholarly criticism is to be found in the Art of 
English Poesie, 1589, attributed to Puttenham. 

The Crowning Decade. — As was the case with all other forms of 
Elizabethan literature, the truly great prose did not appear until the 
last decade of the reign. The Ecclesiastical Polity has already been 
mentioned in enumerating the forces which contributed to allay the 
strife between Puritan and Anglican. With " sweet reasonableness " 
the " judicious Hooker " sought to justify the Church of England by 
a threefold appeal : to Scripture and primitive practice ; to reason ; 
and to the needs of the times ; arguing that its policy best accorded 
with all three. Aside from its polemical importance it is a recognized 
monument of classic English prose. Equally significant in form, 
and even more in substance, because of their more general appeal, 
are the Essays of Francis Bacon (1561-1626), which appeared first in 
1597. Many regard him as England's greatest intellectual product. 
Though he esteemed Latin to be the only tongue fit for learned com- 
munication, and wrote in English only with misgivings, his style, in 
spite of its occasional formality and overgreat use of Latinized ex- 
pressions, is remarkable for its vigor, wit, incisiveness, and pith. In 
addition, he projected a vast Latin treatise which should comprehend 
all learning and science ; but the parts which he actually finished 
were not published till the next reign — The Advancement of Learning 
in 1605, and the Novum Organum in 1620. Of the latter, King James 
once said that it was like the " peace of God," because " it passeth 
all understanding." Of the men who supported themselves by their 
pens most wrote chiefly for the theater; yet, altogether, they pro- 
duced a large body of miscellaneous writing — prose fiction and 
controversial pamphlets. Perhaps the most worthy of note are 
Robert Greene's Repentance and A Groat's Worth of Wit which tell of 
his own irregular life, all too characteristic of the set in which he moved, 
and Thomas Lodge's Rosalynde, a romance regarded as the most 
perfect bit of prose fiction of the time, from which Shakespeare got 
the plot of As You Like It. Thomas Nash (1567-1601), too, who 
died in poverty at an early age, wrote forceful biting prose, decorated 
with words which he coined from Greek, Latin, and Italian. He 
entered into various controversies, attacking with especial bitterness 
the Puritan authors of the Marprelate libels. His Unfortunate 
Traveller or the Adventures of Jack Wilton, a romance of reckless ex- 
ploits, is an interesting anticipation of one type of modern novel. 

Elizabethan Historical Writing. — Throughout the reign men were 
producing important historical works. The learned Archbishop 
Parker rescued documents and records dispersed by the dissolution 
of the monasteries ; he provided for editions of various early chronicles, 
and compiled a volume himself on the Church and the Archbishops 
of Canterbury. John Foxe (15 16-1587), one of the Marian exiles, 
published in 1563 the first English edition of his famous Acts and 



ELIZABETHAN ENGLAND 421 

Monuments popularly known as the " Book of Martyrs." In 1578 
appeared Raphael Holinshed's Chronicles, which furnished Shake- 
speare with the materials for his historical plays, and for two of his 
grandest tragedies. Chief among those who assisted Holinshed, 
" men of commendable diligence, though not of the deepest judgment," 
was William Harrison, whose Description of England, full of quaint 
humor, wide observation, and graphic pictures, is the main authority 
for contemporary social conditions. John Stow's Survey of London, 
1598, is a mine of information on the buildings and streets of the 
Elizabethan city. Other historical works reflect the larger world 
that writers of the age were coming to know. Richard Hakluyt's 
Principall Navigations outshines them all. Richard Knolles' Generall 
Historie of the Turks (1604), though in later times valued chiefly 
for its style, was for a century regarded as the most considerable 
historical work which any Englishman had yet undertaken. Sir 
Walter Raleigh, during seven years of his imprisonment in the next 
reign, 1607-1614, wrote on a History of the World, which he only carried 
to 130 B.C. 

Poetry. — Notwithstanding the masterpieces in prose which date 
from this time, it is in its poetry that the age is really distinctive. 
There was a constantly swelling stream of sonnets, lyrics, pastorals, 
epics, and above all of dramas, of unsurpassed richness, variety, and 
beauty. Tottel's Miscellany, 1557, containing the songs and 
sonnets of Wyatt, Surrey, and others, was the first of a long series 
of anthologies which became especially numerous from the middle of 
Elizabeth's reign ; most of them, however, with titles more enticing 
than their contents warranted. There were for instance: A Para- 
dise of Dainty Devices, 1576; A Gorgeous Gallery of Gallant Inven- 
tions, 1578; and A Handfull of Pleasant Delites, 1584. Indeed, for 
over twenty years, from the appearance of Wyatt's and Surrey's 
verses, there was a long fallow period when minor poets were busy, 
but before the real harvest had begun to ripen. The Shepherd's 
Calendar, 1579, of Edmund Spenser (155 2-1 599) marks the transi- 
tion between the period of beginnings and the glorious final decade 
of the reign. Meantime, Philip Sidney had begun his charming 
group of sonnets entitled Astro phel and Stella, 1 though they were not 
published till 1591. They were dedicated to Penelope Devereux, 
the sister of the unfortunate Earl of Essex, and are markworthy not 
only for their own sake, but for their influence on Shakespeare's 
matchless collection. Only a work especially devoted to literary 
history could give an adequate description of the mass of exquisite 
songs and lyrics which appeared either independently or, set like 
jewels, in contemporary stories and plays. The " great epic of Eliza- 
bethan England," ranking as a narrative poem 2 only second to Mil- 

x They were written during the years from 1575-1583. 

2 That is, on a single theme. Chaucer's Canterbury Tales dealt with a group of 
subjects. 



422 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

ton's Paradise Lost, was Spenser's Faerie Queene, 1 590-1 596. It 
was cast in the form of a medieval romance ; but in substance is an 
allegorical manifestation of the spirit of the age — a defense of 
Protestantism, and a glorification of Elizabeth as the champion of 
truth and virtue against Papal Rome. Spenser planned to write 
twelve books, and though he only finished half his work, it remains, 
nevertheless, the longest great poem in the English language. Those 
who pass on through its lengthy monotonous stretches and grapple 
with its learned allusions, " aged accents and untimely words," will 
be amply rewarded by its noble ideality, the wondrous wealth of its 
imagery, and its ravishing melodies. 

The Drama. English and Roman Sources. — Rich and beautiful 
as was the Elizabethan literature in all its manifold forms, the su- 
preme achievement was in the drama. Beginning about 1580, it 
reached its zenith in the last years of Elizabeth and the early years 
of James. While the Elizabethan drama was distinctly an expression 
of the spirit of the age, inspired and strongly influenced by the study 
of revived classical and Italian models, it was not wholly unaffected 
by the popular and court festivals and the religious representations 
which had been developing for centuries on the native soil. The 
pageants and masques, the mysteries, miracle and morality plays, 
the interludes J and mummings which delighted the medieval English- 
men furnished one source for the Elizabethan drama. From them 
came the local color, the life, and the old-time jollity. The other 
source is to be found in the Roman dramas, revived in the Italy of the 
Renascence. They served as models of style and structure, and 
provided many of the plots. 2 Masters of the great public schools 
prepared scenes from the Roman comedy writers, chiefly Plautus and 
Terence, for their boys to act, either in Latin or in English translation 
or imitation. 

Early English Comedies and Tragedies. — Nicholas Udall marked 
an epoch when, about 1541, he wrote in English from a Latin model 
Ralph Roister Doister, the first regular English comedy. Next came 
Gammer Gurton's Needle, supposed to have been played at Christ's 
College, Cambridge, in 1566. The authorship has never been clearly 
established. Coarse and homely but quaint and merry, it is a thor- 
oughly English product and gives a graphic picture of sixteenth- 
century village life. In tragedy the chief model was Seneca. From 
1560 to 1 581 ten of his plays were translated. The first English 
tragedy in the approved classical style was Gorboduc or Ferrex and 
Porrex, based on an old British legend from Geoffrey of Monmouth. 
Written by two young gentlemen of the Inner Temple, Thomas Nor- 

1 " Interludes " were so-called because they were usually played between 
the courses at dinners in the houses of great noblemen. Mummings get their 
name from the fact that the players went about masked and acted in pantomime. 

2 While the scenes of the Elizabethan writers were laid in far-off countries in 
bygone days, their characters were English to the core. 



ELIZABETHAN ENGLAND 



423 



ton and Thomas Sackville, Lord Buckhurst, it was presented before 
Queen Elizabeth in 1561. Though the later writers departed wisely 
from the ancient Roman type they were profoundly influenced by it. 
The first half of Elizabeth's reign was not productive of significant 
dramatic works. While plays of all sorts were written, it was largely 
a time of experiment. 

The " University Group." — The " great dramatic period " opened 
first with the so-called " University Group." The list includes 
many names. George Peele, who wrote plays, pageants, and mis- 
cellaneous verse, was brilliant and versatile, but was weak in power of 
construction. This is seen in his David and Bethsabe, which is full of 
fine, detached passages. His Old Wives' Tale furnished a basis for 
Milton's Comus. Peele and Thomas Lodge (15 58-1625), who ex- 
celled chiefly in lyric poetry, were Oxford men. Preeminent among 
the Cambridge group was Christopher Marlowe (1 564-1 593). He was 
the author of many remarkable plays — Tamburlaine (about 1587), 
The Tragedy of Dr. Faustus (1588), The Jew of Malta, and Edward II 
(1593). Also he wrote much of the second and third parts of Henry 
VI, which Shakespeare revised and completed. Much other work, 
too, he produced before he was killed in a drunken brawl at the age 
of twenty-nine. His Tamburlaine marked an epoch in tragedy, and 
his sonorous uneven blank verse far excelled that of any poet who had 
preceded him. With that " fine madness . . . which rightly should 
possess a poet's brain," and with an amazing mingling of bombast 
and sublimity, he set forth the soaring flights of human ambition, for 
power in Tamburlaine, for knowledge in Faustus, for wealth in the 
Jew of Malta. In spite of his lack of humor and restraint, some 
leading critics have ranked him among the world's great poets. Robert 
Greene went first to Cambridge and later to Oxford. Before he died 
at the age of thirty-two — from a surfeit, it is said, of pickled herring 
and Rhenish wine — he had written over thirty romances and pam- 
phlets and five plays. Although his prose, and the poetry scattered 
through it, are superior to any of his dramas, one of the latter, The 
Honorable Historie of Frier Bacon and Frier Bungay, contains glowing 
pictures of healthy country life. Altogether, the " University Group 
struck out one of the faultiest but one of the most original and vigor- 
ous kinds of literature that the world has seen." While it is full of 
extravagance and horror, it is charged with passion and power. If 
many of the plots are ill constructed and embodied in language often 
overwrought, frequent passages of lofty eloquence and rare sweetness 
more than make atonement. The lives of most of this set were as 
tempestuous as their works, and, with one or two exceptions, they came 
to a sad and untimely end. 

William Shakespeare, 1564-1616. — The English drama reached 
its culmination in Shakespeare, indeed without a peer in any language. 
Something, but not overmuch, is known about him. He was born 
in Stratford-on-Avon in 1564. He married and had children. He 



424 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

went to London in 1586, where he became an actor and wrote plays. 
He prospered, purchased shares in two theaters, was able to relieve 
his father from serious financial embarrassments, and to buy the 
largest house in his native town. Thither he retired in 161 1, and 
there he spent the last five years of his life, in easy circumstances, and 
active in social, business, and civic affairs. It is not strange that so 
little is known about him, for he came of a family of no distinction, 
he did not go to a university, he did not belong to an honored profes- 
sion, and little or nothing that he wrote, save a few poems, was pub- 
lished with his authority in his lifetime. But we have in his works 
a priceless possession. For twenty years, from about 1591 when be 
wrote Love's Labour's Lost, until about 161 1 when he completed 
The Tempest, he was actively writing. During this time he produced 
nearly forty plays, besides the sonnets and the poems Venus and 
Adonis and Lucrece. The plays include many sorts : history, comedy, 
light and grave, tragedy, and dramatic romance, He portrays every 
mood from mirth and joy to black despair, and every class of society 
from peasant to king. He deals with every phase of human passion : 
love, jealousy, ambition, and resignation. He told Englishmen their 
history, and reflected to posterity the life of his own age. Careless 
of his fame, he, nevertheless, drew a noble tribute from his contem- 
porary, Ben Jonson. Though while he lived his works appeared 
mostly in pirated editions, and are not mentioned in his will, they 
were collected in a folio edition in 1623, and thus have come down 
to us. 

The Shakespearean Theater. — The means for presenting the won- 
derful dramas of that age were curiously primitive. The early mystery 
or miracle plays had been given in churches and churchyards, then 
on moving carts or pageants. Others were rendered in noblemen's 
halls or in the courtyards of inns, the audience looking down from 
surrounding galleries. Still others were produced privately at court. 
By the middle of Elizabeth's reign independent theaters had begun 
to spring up. They were placed in the suburbs, since for reasons 
of public policy the authorities refused to have them in London. 
The first was " The Theater," built in the northern environs in 1576. 
Here Shakespeare first acted. It was later destroyed and replaced by 
The Globe on the south bank of the Thames. Afterwards the actors 
pushed into the city, and before the close of the century there were 
eleven playhouses in London and the adjoining districts. They were 
very simple structures, circular or octagonal in shape. The center or 
pit where the poorer classes stood was open to the sky, affording the 
only light. 1 The surrounding galleries only were roofed. The fash- 
ionable classes sat here or on the stage, lounging, eating, smoking, 
talking, and flirting, and interrupting the actors when it pleased them. 
Female parts were played by young men. While costumes were often 

1 Though plays were given in the afternoon it grows dark very early in London 
in the autumn and winter. 



ELIZABETHAN ENGLAND 425 

rich, scenery and properties were most primitive. A change of scene 
was indicated by a placard : a lantern represented the moon ; a 
wooden cannon and a pasteboard tower a siege. Yet the absence of 
elaborate scenery had its advantages ; it fixed attention on the play, 
and it called forth some of Shakespeare's finest descriptive passages. 

The Successors of Shakespeare. — While no one reached the 
height of Shakespeare, the great age of Elizabethan drama continued 
under the Stuarts until an ordinance of 1642 closed the theaters for 
many years. Foremost among the younger contemporaries and suc- 
cessors of Shakespeare was Ben Jonson (1573-1637), poet laureate of 
James I, literary dictator of his time and king of tavern wits. Learned, 
rugged, and fearless, it was said that he would rather lose his friend 
than his jest. He struggled for a purer classicism against the prevail- 
ing romantic tendencies, but drew lifelike pictures of his time ; he 
strove for workmanlike restraint, though he could fashion sweet, 
beautiful lyrics. It would take pages merely to enumerate the names 
and plays of hosts of others. George Chapman, John Marston, 
Thomas Dekker, Thomas Heywood, Thomas Middleton, John Web- 
'ster, John Ford, Philip Massinger, and that " double star of the heavens 
of poetry," Beaumont and Fletcher, are the foremost. In spite of 
their achievements, the drama steadily declined under James and 
Charles. The youthful ardor was gone, and the growing Puritan 
spirit was hostile. By way of reaction, playwrights catered more to the 
rabble and the courtier with coarseness and sensational horror. Many 
fine pieces continued to be written, but the greatest literary work now 
came to be produced in other fields. " Merrie England," throbbing 
with fullness of life, was yielding to riotousness and dissipation at one 
extreme, at the other to soberer ideals and practice. 

Final Estimate of the Elizabethan Period. — Altogether, Elizabeth's 
long reign of forty-five years, though blemished by traits of mean- 
ness, shuffling, and evasion, was a period of glorious achievement. 
Her court was a center of pomp and magnificence, learning and states- 
manship, where polished gentlemen, brilliant adventurers, wise coun- 
cilors and judges strove with each other for her favor. If the peace, 
prosperity, and industrial development, the ecclesiastical settlement, 
and the wonderful literary outburst were not all her work, they all 
redounded to her credit. For a time Elizabeth seemed the most 
absolute, the strongest, and the most popular of all the rulers of her 
house. But the splendor and strength of her power reached maturity 
during the years just following the Armada. As she approached the 
close of her reign the luster of her glory had begun to dim and the 
vigor of her power to decline. Her people began to wait impatiently 
I for her decease to open the way for new men and new measures. Those 
who valued religious and political liberty more than wealth eagerly 
greeted the new dynasty from Scotland. 



426 



A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 



FOR ADDITIONAL READING 



Constitutional. Prothero, Statutes, introduction, pp. i-cxxv ; an admirable survey. 
Sir Thomas Smith, De Rcpiiblica Anglorum, A Discourse on the Commonwealth of 
England (written about 1568, four years before the author became a Secretary of 
State; first published in 1583; the best and most recent edition, 1906, ed. L. 
Alston). Taswell-Langmead, ch. XII. Taylor, Origin and Growth, II, bk. IV, ch. V. 
Hallam, History of England, I, chs. III-V. 

Social and industrial. Innes, England under the Tudors, ch. XXVIII. Traill, 
Social England, III, chs. XI, XII. Cunningham, English Industry and Commerce 
(ed. 1907), II, pp. 1-164. Ashley, English Economic History, II, especially ch. V, on 
"The Relief of the Poor." Rogers, Agriculture and Prices, chs. Ill, IV. Prothero 
English Farming, ch. IV. E. M. Leonard, Early History of English Poor Relief, 
(1900). Hubert Hall, Society in the Elizabethan Age (1901). Stephenson, The 
Elizabethan People '1910). G. Unwin, Industrial Organization in the Sixteenth and 
Seventeenth Centuries (1904). Harrison's famous Description of England, from 
Holinshed's Chronicle, is reprinted in the " Camelot Series, " ed. L. Withington, n.d. 

Maritime enterprise, the Navy and the Army. Pollard, ch. XVI ; Innes, ch. 
XXIII. Froude, English Seamen in the Sixteenth Century (1895). Oppenheim, 
Administration of the Royal Navy, I. J. S. Corbett, Drake and the Tudor Navy (2 vols., 
1898) and The Successors of Drake (1900). Selections from Hakluyt's Voyages, ed. 
by E. J. Payne (2 series, 1893-1900) and C. R. Beazley (1907). J. W. Fortescue, 
History of the British Army (vol. I, 1900) ; the standard military history. 

Literature. Moody and Lovett, chs. III-VI. Cambridge History of Literature, 
III, IV, V, VI, with full bibliography at end of vols. Jusserand, Literary History 
of the English People, II. Taine, English Literature, I, II, bk. II, chs. I-V. Saints- 
bury, History of Elizabethan Literature (1890). Cambridge Modem History, III, 
ch. XI (with bibliography pp. 825-828). Pollard, ch. XXIII; Innes, ch. XXVII. 
Sidney Lee, Life of Shakespeare (1898) ; the standard biography. Sir Walter Raleigh, 
William Shakespeare (1907) ; a charming appreciation. 

For the Church, see references to chs. XXIV and XXV, together with R. G. Usher, 
The Reconstruction of the English Church (2 vols., 1910). 



CHAPTER XXVII 

JAMES I AND THE BEGINNINGS OF THE PURITAN REVOLUTION 

(1603-1625) 

The Significance of the Accession of James I. — The accession 
of the Stuarts in the person of James I, 24 March, 1603, was fraught 
with consequences. United and prosperous, the mass of the English 
people were now eager to throw off the Tudor absolutism, and to 
ask for more liberty. There was much in the old system which they 
opposed, and that not only stood in the way of free religious and 
political development, but might, under a new line of sovereigns, 
menace the little which they still enjoyed. There was the State 
Church absolutely under royal control ; there were the extraordinary 
courts, all independent of common law guarantees, and there were 
taxes and exactions, oppressive in themselves, but peculiarly danger- 
ous from the fact that they made the sovereign independent of Par- 
liament. These were the special grievances, actual or potential. 
The main issue which was tried out under the Stuarts was whether 
the sovereignty supposed to rest in the King-in-Parliament should, 
in cases of conflict, be exercised by the monarch or by the body which 
stood between him and the people. In other words, should the 
Tudor system continue, or should the country return to the form 
which had prevailed for a season under the Lancastrians? During 
the struggle which followed, all sorts of questions bearing on the main 
point arose, questions of religion, taxation, parliamentary privilege, 
and the scope of the courts. The result was victory for Parliament. 
In this, England led the countries of continental Europe by nearly 
two centuries ; for in them the tendency during the seventeenth and 
vighteenth centuries was toward increasing absolutism, and the tide 
lid not turn till the French Revolution. Changes in England seemed 
nevitable ; yet, had the line of Tudors continued, they might, with 
:heir traditions and their sense of the needs and temper of their sub- 
jects, have managed it in a peaceful and gradual way without a civil 
;var. 

The King's Early Scotch Environment. — James, called upon to 
j ace a situation grave enough for any one, " turned out to be one of 
hose curiosities which the laws of inheritance occasionally bring to 
he notice of mankind." Not only did he represent an alien house to 
vhom the English were bound by no ties of gratitude, but he was 
otally unfitted by training and temperament to rule a country where 

427 



. 



428 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

the ideal was constitutional government. A feeble, rickety infant, 
scarcely more than a year old, he had succeeded to the throne of 
Scotland as James VI, 24 July, 1567. Another minority was added to 
those which had plagued the country for two centuries. Internal 
and border wars had torn the kingdom for ages. The barons con- 
tended against the Crown, Highland chiefs fought against Lowland 
lords, and each fought among themselves. Throughout the land 
there was frightful contempt of human life. The border was wasted 
by the constant passage of Southron and Scot, and the wild Highlander 
lived by pillage. Much of the soil was barren, and owing to the pre- 
vailing strife, still more remained uncultivated. The chief wealth 
was in small black cattle which could be driven away in time of danger. 
The whole population did not far exceed 600,000. Glasgow was as 
yet an ub cure village which did not attain full burgh rights till 1636. 
Edinburgh, with a population of 30,000, was the center of wealth and 
culture, though even there riot and feud were rampant. Parliament 
was not a representative body but a collection of factions. It con- 
sisted of assemblies of the various estates, with the initiative in the 
hands of the " Lords of the Articles," — a committee, or series of 
committees, of the nobles, barons, clergy, boroughs, and officers of 
State, in theory elected by the estates, in fact controlled by the King 
or the interests which happened to be dominant. The King rarely 
went to it for supplies, and the nobles redressed their own grievances. 
The religious grievances added another element of discord. While 
the Reformation was aimed against real abuses in the ancient Church, 
it was directed by greedy nobles who appropriated the greater part 
of its temporal goods. The General Assembly of the new church not 
only demanded a more adequate share of the ecclesiastical property, 
but the right to interfere in state affairs. Finally, the intrigues of 
the French and the Romanists, on the one hand, and of Elizabeth's 
agents, on the other, contributed still further to weaken national 
sentiment and to promote lawlessness. Truly, the little James grew 
up in troublous times. Before he was fifteen years old four regents 
had come and gone, two murdered, one executed, and only one died 
a natural death. When barely sixteen, he had been seized by the 
Ruthvens and forced to expel his dearest companion, and again, 
three years before he came to England, these same Ruthvens sought 
his life. 1 What Scotland needed was not so much liberty as a settled 
central government. James, weak in position and temperament, 
sought to make himself strong by the only means open to him, by 
dissimulation and intrigue, a policy upon which he came to pride 
himself, and which he dignified by the name of " Kingcraft." He 
also used this method in another of his dearest aims, the attainment 
of the English succession : supporting, sometimes Elizabeth ; at others, 
intriguing with the Pope or the King of Spain. So he had grown up 

1 The mysterious "Gowrie Conspiracy," 1600, is one of the puzzles of history. 



BEGINNINGS OF THE PURITAN REVOLUTION 429 

to thread a tortuous way between a rapacious, turbulent nobility and 
a gloomy, fanatical, domineering clergy ; between an English and a 
French party ; between, indeed, all sorts of conflicting forces. 

Character of the King. — There were many good points about 
James. He had the good of his subjects at heart. He strove for 
peace and aimed to be the reconciler of factions and the arbiter of 
warring nations. He had a touch of Scotch shrewdness, he was kind- 
hearted, and on the whole good natured. Gifted with considerable 
natural ability, he had been carefully educated by George Buchanan, 
the most learned Scotsman of his time. But James was a pedant 
rather than a scholar ; he paraded rather than applied his learning — 
" the wisest fool in Christendom," Sully, the minister of Henry IV, 
called him. Naturally indolent, he justified his idleness on the ground 
that " he could not work long consecutively, but when he did work, 
he was worth any six men put together." Conceited as he was, he 
was naturally timid and infirm of purpose. It has been said that 
while he always saw both sides of a question, he never saw them at 
the same time and so was not a statesman. He was impatient of 
detail and irritated at contradiction. Once on receiving some dis- 
quieting news from abroad as he sat down to dinner, he flung the meat 
from the table and the dish after it, and threatened to hang the cook. 
Yet he was always ready, after his flurries were over, to ask forgive- 
ness of any one whom he had offended. In general, however, his 
manners were rough and uncouth. His appearance, too, lacked 
dignity ; for though he was above middle height and well made, a 
sprawling gait, rolling eyes, and a tongue too large for his mouth gave 
him a very unkingly appearance. He was only fond of clothes in 
the sense that he insisted on keeping and wearing a costume once 
acquired a very long time. From his youth up he was easily led by 
favorites : Esme Stewart, Robert Carr, George Villiers, each in turn 
gained an ascendancy over him, more by their personal graces than by 
their attainments. While Elizabeth only amused herself with men of 
this stamp in her lighter moments, James allowed them to manage 
his public affairs. The death of Robert Cecil 1 deprived him of his 
only able administrator. James' queen, Anne of Denmark, was not 
a help to him. Although faithful, kindly, and personally popular, 
she was frivolous and extravagant, spending vast sums on plays, 
progresses, clothes, jewels, and buildings. Moreover, she inclined 
toward Rome and was reported to be a convert, although she finally 
died a Protestant. 

James' Views on the Prerogative: " The Divine Right of Kings." 
— A most fruitful source of discord between James and his subjects 
was his exalted notions concerning the origin and nature of monarchy. 
The Tudors had refrained from vain theorizing and had acted ; James 
talked big and alienated his subjects, though he managed to prevent 

1 Created Earl of Salisbury in 1605, Secretary of State 1596-1608, Lord Treas- 
urer from 1608 to 161 2. 



430 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

matters from coming to a crisis during his reign. " He was a formalist 
rather than a tyrant." He had already shaped his views before he 
came to England. In the True Law of Free Monarchies he had asserted 
that a " free monarch " — that is, one free from all restraint from his 
subjects — was created by God and accountable to God alone. While 
he admitted that a good king should govern in the popular interest, he 
contended that rebellion could, under no circumstances, be justified. 
Such views in themselves were enough to arouse the bitterest opposi- 
tion. James only added fuel to the fire by his astounding manner of 
stating them. " The State of Monarchy," he announced in a speech 
before Parliament in 1610, "is the supremest thing upon earth; for 
kings are not only God's lieutenants upon earth and sit upon God's 
throne, but even by God himself they are called gods. . . . That 
as to dispute what God may do is blasphemy ... so is it seditious 
in subjects to dispute what a king may do in the height of his 
power." 

His very accession to the English throne served to strengthen his 
opinion on the subject. He was really barred on three grounds : the 
will of Henry VIII had excluded the Stuart line ; his mother Mary 
had disinherited him in favor of Philip II in 1585 ; and, as an alien, 
one not born on English soil, he could not inherit anything appertain- 
ing to that country. He had many rivals, fourteen in all, but each 
was disqualified or unacceptable for one reason or another. Yet 
there were many reasons, aside from the fact that he was the next 
lineal heir, which contributed to the choice of James. The majority of 
Englishmen realized the advantage of absorbing Scotland in a personal 
union. Moreover, Catholics and extreme Protestants were both ready 
to welcome him ; the former because he was the son of a martyr to 
their faith, the latter because he had been brought up a Presbyterian. 
The new sovereign, however, felt that he came to the English throne 
solely by virtue of his birthright, a view that was confirmed by the 
Act of Recognition passed in his first Parliament which declared him 
King " by the goodness of God Almighty and lawful right of descent." 

James I and the Puritans. The Millenary Petition, 1603. — First 
the Protestants and then the Catholics were destined to sore disap- 
pointment. On his way to London * in April, 1603, James was pre- 
sented with a petition embodying the demands of the Puritan 2 clergy. 
The Millenary Petition, as it was called, 3 asked : I, that the ritual 
of the Church be purged of Romish forms and ceremonies, such as 
the cross in baptism, the ring in marriage, and the wearing of the cap 
and surplice, and that holidays be decreased and the Sabbath be better 

1 At the beginning of his journey he showed how little he understood English 
procedure by ordering a cutpurse who was brought before him to be strung up 
forthwith without even the form of a trial. 

2 Those who wanted to stay in the Church while purifying it of certain abuses. 

3 Because it was supposed to have been signed by 1000 clergymen. As a matter 
of fact, it was assented to by about 800. 






BEGINNINGS OF THE PURITAN REVOLUTION 431 

observed ; II, that less strictness be required in subscription to the 
articles, and more care be taken to secure learned preachers ; III, that 
such abuses as non-residence, pluralities, 1 commendams 2 be abolished ; 
IV, that oppressive customs in the ecclesiastical courts be remedied 
— their expensive procedure, their excommunication for trivial matters, 
and their use of the ex-officio oath. 

The Hampton Court Conference, 1604. — In January, 1604, James 
arranged a conference between representatives of their party on the 
one hand, and certain bishops and clergy of the Established Church 
on the other. The King himself presided. He had been bred a 
Calvinist, he favored Calvinistic theology, he was fond of argument, 
tolerant of other men's opinions, and too kind-hearted to be a persecu- 
tor. At the same time, he had been overawed and browbeaten by 
Presbyterian ministers from his youth up. As late as 1596, for ex- 
ample, Andrew Melville had ventured to pluck the sleeve of his august 
sovereign and to call him " God's silly vassal." His personal expe- 
riences only accentuated his distrust of the Presbyterian theory that 
all men were equal in the sight of God, that the Church was independ- 
ent of State control, and of the Presbyterian practice of interfering 
in secular affairs. In shining contrast, to his mind, was the English 
custom where the sovereign appointed the bishops and through them 
controlled the Church. " No bishop, no king " was his motto. He 
was on the lookout for any political bearing in the Puritan demands, 
and when, in the midst of the discussion, their leader, Reynolds, began 
to outline a scheme of government, he burst out: " If you aim at 
Scotch presbytery, it agreeth as well with monarchy as God and the 
devil. Then Jack and Tom, and Will and Dick shall meet and cen- 
sure me and my Council. . . . Stay, I pray, for one seven years, 
before you demand ; and then if you find me grown pursey and fat, I 
may perchance hearken unto you." After a long harangue he con- 
cluded with the ominous threat to the Puritans : "I will make them 
conform themselves, or else I will harry them out of the land, or else 
do worse." It was a new and delicious sensation for him when the 
Bishop of London threw himself on his knees, protesting : " My heart 
melteth with joy that Almighty God, of his singular mercy, hath given 
us such a King, as, since Christ's time the like hath not been." The 
only results of the Conference were a few alterations in the liturgy 
and the decision to translate the Scriptures which bore fruit in the 
famous King James' version, 161 1. Before the close of 1604 a proc- 
lamation was issued depriving of their livings those who refused to 
conform. Some of the irreconcilables went to the Low Countries, 
whence they migrated later and founded Plymouth Colony. 

James and the Catholics. — The turn of the Catholics soon came. 
Much had contributed to nourish their hopes in Mary's son. Even 

1 The holding of many church offices in one hand. 

2 The keeping of a living vacant by a bishop that he might draw the revenue 
during the interval. 



432 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

after his accession he continued to correspond with the Pope and with 
Spain, while his wife held out the prospect that he might become a 
convert. He was averse to persecution, he desired papal support, 
and aimed at a Spanish alliance. So, after some delay, he remitted 
the recusancy fines, and, in August, 1604, by the Treaty of London, he 
made peace with Spain, leaving the Dutch to shift for themselves, 
though he still allowed his subjects to volunteer in their service. 
Nevertheless, he could not accept the papal claim to be above earthly 
rulers, and shuddered at the right which they asserted of deposing 
princes when the occasion demanded. Moreover, the Catholics mul- 
tiplied so soon as they received the encouragement, James became 
agitated by accusations that he was leaning toward Rome, and resented 
the Pope's refusal to excommunicate certain turbulent members of 
his flock who were disturbing the repose of the kingdom. As early 
as February, 1604, he issued a proclamation banishing priests ; in June, 
Parliament passed an act confirming and extending the penal laws 
of Elizabeth, and before the end of the summer the royal justices were 
busy enforcing them. 

The Gunpowder Plot, 1605. — The result was to precipitate a 
dangerous plot, already in the making. Robert Catesby, a Warwick- 
shire squire whose family had suffered for the old faith, was the lead- 
ing spirit. Among the conspirators whom he enlisted was Guy 
Fawkes, a young Englishman who had been serving in the Spanish 
army in the Netherlands. After some delays and changes in their 
plan they at length hired a house with a cellar running under the 
Parliament buildings. There they deposited twenty barrels of gun- 
powder which they covered with iron bars, faggots, and billets of wood. 
Their design was to blow up the Lords and Commons, together with 
James and his eldest son Prince Henry, when the session opened in 
November, 1605. Beyond this they contemplated a general rising 
of the Catholics in the west midlands, the seizure of Prince Charles 
and Princess Elizabeth, and th© setting up of a new government. 
Too many, however, were taken into the secret, the plot was disclosed 
to Salisbury, and Fawkes was surprised and seized in the cellar. 
Catesby, with a number of his fellow-plotters who had escaped to the 
scene of the projected rising, were shot in an attempt to bring it about. 
Several others who were captured were tried and executed, together 
with Fawkes. Under the name of Guy Fawkes' Day, 5 November 
came to be celebrated as the anniversary of the discovery of the Gun- 
powder Plot, with bonfires and fireworks, and remained a national 
holiday for over two centuries. By way of retaliation Parliament in 
1606 passed two acts greatly increasing Roman Catholic disabilities 
and imposing a new oath of allegiance, expressly denying the papal 
power of deposition on all recusants. Another act followed in 1610. 
These penalties were not enforced, partly because the pacific King 
did not want to drive the Catholics to desperation, partly because he 
was frequently in negotiation with Spain. Their existence, however, 



BEGINNINGS OF THE PURITAN REVOLUTION 433 

was a constant grievance to the Catholic subjects, while the failure 
to enforce them was a source of resentment to the Protestants. 

Initial Difficulties with Parliament. — • Parliament, which met for 
its first session 19 March, 1604, came into conflict with James, from 
the very start. His opening speech, though reasonable and dignified 
in many respects, was marked by evidences of his characteristic vanity 
and grotesqueness. He pointed out, for instance, the great blessings 
which God had, in his person, bestowed upon the whole people, among 
them the " union of two ancient and famous kingdoms " divinely 
united, " both in language and religion and similitude of manners." 
With a soaring Jacobean flight he declared : " What God hath joined, 
then let no man separate. I am the husband and the whole isle is 
my lawful wife : I am the head and it is my body : I am the shepherd 
and it is my flock." Finding at the conclusion of his speech that the 
Commons had not been admitted, he had them called in, and the poor 
Lords had to hear it all over again. Before proceeding to other busi- 
ness two important cases of privilege were settled. By Goodwin's 
case it was determined that the Commons should henceforth be the 
sole judge of election returns of their members. While bound to decide 
on partisan grounds they could not safely leave to the Crown a priv- 
ilege which would inevitably be employed to exclude members hostile 
to the royal policy. In the case of Sir Thomas Shirley it was established 
that members during the session, and for an interval of forty days 
before and after, should be exempt from arrest for debt. This took 
from the King another possible means of keeping out his opponents. 

Encouraged by these two victories, the Commons made a vain 
effort to do away with the ancient grievance of purveyance and to 
buy from the King his old feudal rights of wardship and marriage. 
Also, they were unable to secure relief for those who scrupled to con- 
form to certain Church ceremonies. James, or his part, was defeated 
in his efforts to obtain parliamentary union with Scotland and a vote 
of supplies. Of all the issues, however, one more fundamental and 
significant than all the rest was defined. The King took the ground 
that the Commons " derived all matters of privilege from him." In 
a notable Apology which was drawn up and read in the House before 
the close of the session x they declared that the King had been " greatly 
wronged by misinformation," and that their privileges, of free elec- 
tion, freedom from arrest, and freedom of speech, were their lawful 
inheritance and not a gift from the sovereign. In other words, that 
they were an inalienable right which could not be withdrawn. In this 
reply to the royal challenge they took a position about which a fierce 
struggle was waged for nearly a century, a struggle from which Parlia- 
ment ultimately emerged victorious. 

James' Financial Embarrassments. — The King's chief weakness 
was his need of money. He had inherited the debt contracted by 

1 It was never presented to the King. 



434 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

Elizabeth in her war with Spain ; but, more serious still, there was an 
alarming annual excess of expenditures over revenue. This was due 
partly to royal extravagance, though still more to the increasing 
needs of the State, and to the fact that the royal income had been 
fixed when money went further than it did at this time. The stand- 
ard of living was growing steadily higher, conditions were becoming 
more complex, and the influx of precious metals was still sending up 
prices. It speaks volumes that the thrifty Elizabeth had left a deficit. 
It was the duty of the Stuarts to economize or, by timely concessions, 
to obtain larger grants from Parliament. That they did neither 
accounts for their final overthrow. James lacked the patience and 
ability to manage financial details and the firmness and inclination 
to cut down the expenses of his court and to refuse the demands of his 
favorites. So he had constantly to watch for means to increase his 
revenue. One of these was the levying of impositions. 

The Bate Case and Impositions, 1606-1610. — In 1606, Bate, a 
Turkey merchant, refused to pay an imposition on a consignment of 
currants. On the case being referred to the Court of Exchequer the 
barons decided in favor of the King. There was some legal ground 
for this decision ; because, while it was recognized that direct taxes 
could not be imposed without parliamentary consent, there was no 
general prohibition comprehending all indirect taxes. Moreover, it 
had been customary for certain sovereigns, particularly the Tudors, 
to impose such duties as a means of encouraging native industries or of 
striking a blow at the trade of hostile powers. Nevertheless, the 
power was fraught with dangerous consequences. 1 Kings might em- 
ploy it, not merely for the regulation of commerce, but in order to 
raise a revenue independent of Parliament. James' intentions were 
soon evident. In 1608 Salisbury issued a new Book of Rates, or tariff 
schedule, in which he greatly increased the revenue from tonnage and 
poundage, adding, at the same time, impositions to the amount of 
£70,000 a year. He greatly reduced the deficit and the debt, though 
there was still much need of money when Parliament assembled 
9 February, 16 10. 

The Great Contract, 161 o. — While the King was concerned chiefly 
with supply, the Commons were intent upon redress of grievances, 
financial, religious, and legal. Among the former the question of im- 
positions had taken a place side by side with purveyance and feudal 
dues. Then there was great dissatisfaction over the treatment of the 
Nonconformists. And finally, the common law judges were trying 

1 The Barons of the Exchequer in delivering their opinion made two declarations 
that were particularly disquieting. One was that, over and above his ordinary 
power in which he was bound by law, the sovereign was vested with an extraordi- 
nary power which he might exercise for the good of the kingdom free from all 
restraint. While justifiable on some occasions, this put a dangerous weapon in 
the royal hands. The other was that the concessions made by one sovereign did 
not bind his successors, which meant that the battle for liberty might have to be 
fought over and over again in each successive reign. 



BEGINNINGS OF THE PURITAN REVOLUTION 435 

•vainly to curb the extensive and arbitrary jurisdiction of the extraor- 
dinary courts. The Commons offered a permanent annual grant of 
£100,000 in return for feudal dues. The King demanded £200,000. 
They not only refused, but in spite of James' attempts to stop them, 
they proceeded to discuss his right to levy impositions. After some 
haggling they agreed to the grant of £200,000 a year, provided that 
purveyance as well as feudal dues were given up. Then the matter 
was laid over till autumn. But when they met again, the Commons 
insisted on including the redress of various other grievances. The 
King, on his part, felt that £200,000 was an inadequate compensation 
for what he was asked to yield. Thus the Great Contract, as it was 
called, came to nothing. Worse than that, the bitterness engendered 
by the struggle marked another step in the breach between the Crown 
and Parliament. 

Relations with Scotland to 1612. — Meantime, the Scotch question 
was producing friction that was to be a serious factor in the coming 
conflict. There were serious obstacles in the way of the union which 
James strove so ardently to bring about. Centuries of disturbance 
along the border and the harsh laws framed to meet it had fostered 
the bitterest animosity between the two peoples who dwelt on either 
side. Moreover, union would involve free trade, and the English 
were set against meeting the competition of the frugal and industrious 
Scot. The question of their status offered another difficulty. 
If they were declared subjects, they might hold English lands 
and offices, and the extent to which James might favor his indigent 
and greedy countrymen was viewed with alarm. The hostile border 
laws were repealed, but free trade did not come till 1707. In a suit 
brought in 1607 in behalf of Robert Calvin, or Colville, the Court of 
Exchequer Chamber decided that post nati, or Scotchmen born after 
the union, were natural English subjects. As the English opposed 
James' plan for a union, so the Scotch Presbyterians struggled against 
his restoration of the episcopal system, 1 a process which took him from 
1599 to 161 2 to effect. Courts of High Commission were set up; 
bishops were made moderators of the provincial synods and given the 
power of ordination and supervision over the ecclesiastical decisions 
of synods and presbyteries. These bishops were designed by the 
King and the nobles for the control of the Church, while the Presby- 
terian clergy represented the bulk of the people. Thus anti-Episcopa- 
hanism came to be identified with national independence. James 
was wise enough not to push his victory too far ; but the ecclesiastical 
policy of his son was one of the moving causes of the disaster which 
overtook him. 

Irish Difficulties. — In spite of Lord Mountjoy's conquest, Ireland 
presented even greater difficulties than Scotland. Unable to main- 

1 Bishops whom the Scotch nobles employed as creatures in collecting church 
revenues, had been in existence from 1572 to 1592. From 1502 to 1500 the Presby- 
terians were triumphant. 



436 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

tain a standing army, England's only hope was in conciliation. In 
view of the turbulent and backward condition of the people, absolutely 
different in temperament from the English, and in view of the native 
hatred of the Church of England, the prospect seemed hopeless enough. 
But the land question proved the worst stumbling block of all. The 
colonists of Mary and Elizabeth were in general a thrifty and progres- 
sive class, but they were provided with estates which justly belonged 
to the Irish. These confiscations and the exploitation of the unscru- 
pulous officials stung the natives to fury. James, however, sent out a 
wise and liberal-minded lord deputy, Sir Arthur Chichester, who with 
a free hand might have accomplished wonders. As it was, he put an 
end to martial law and pardoned offenses committed before the acces- 
sion of James. Also, he turned much of the tribal land which the chiefs 
had secured from Henry VIII into individual freeholds and trans- 
ferred the tribal dependents into tenants with fixed obligations and 
rents protected by English law. In religious affairs, bound unfortu- 
nately at the start by royal orders, he made futile attempts to enforce 
conformity. When he afterward sought to strengthen the Church 
by regulating such abuses as patronage, pluralities, and non-residence, 
and by putting in conscientious ministers, he found that he had begun 
too late. The situation became impossible. Persecution only nerved 
the priests to greater efforts ; toleration multiplied their number and 
influence. 

The Plantation of Ulster, 1611. — Another step on colonization made 
matters worse. In 1607 the Earls of Tyrone and Tyrconnel, accused 
of plotting, left the country. Their flight, and an unsuccessful rebel- 
lion led by one of Tyrconnel's chief vassals, enabled the Crown to 
appropriate vast estates. The lands thus acquired were utilized for 
the celebrated Plantation of Ulster in 161 1. Against Chichester's 
advice the most fertile tracts were allotted to English and Scotch 
settlers and undertakers. 1 The bulk of the natives were deported to 
other parts of the island, though a few received land grants in the 
province, and many others were allowed to remain as tenants and 
laborers. As in the case of the previous plantations, the economic 
results were excellent, but, politically, new bitterness was engendered 
which bore fruit thirty years later in a bloody rebellion. 

The English Colonies in North America. — While troubles were 
accumulating for James in England, Scotland and Ireland, the colony 
at Jamestown had been founded, May, 1607. Disappointed in its 
hopes of finding gold, poor, suffering, and starving it hung on, mainly 
owing to the courage and energy of Captain John Smith, until rein- 
forcements and supplies secured its permanence. This settlement 
and those at Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay a few years later mark 
the beginning of our great English America. The story of how they 
grew and flourished belongs properly to the history of the United 

1 Speculators or promoters. 



BEGINNINGS OF THE PURITAN REVOLUTION 437 

States ; but it is well worth noting that the seeds were planted in the 
reign of queer King James. 

The Deaths of Salisbury and Prince Henry and the Marriage of 
Elizabeth. — After the failure of the Great Contract the King got on 
for nearly four years without a Parliament, ever more and more hard 
put to it for money. After the death of Salisbury, 24 May, 161 2, he 
acted as his own Chief Minister under the influence of frivolous, incom- 
petent, and self-seeking favorites. On 6 November he lost his eldest 
son Henry, a promising lad of eighteen, spirited and popular, who, had 
he lived, might have averted the catastrophe which came in the reign 
of his brother Charles. In February, 1613, the Princess Elizabeth 
married Frederick, Count Palatine of the Rhine, the leading Calvinist 
prince in Germany. This marriage is notable in two respects. It 
drew England into the whirlpool of the Thirty Years' War which raged 
on the Continent from 1618 to 1648. Also, it furnished the founder 
of the present reigning house ; for the Elector of Hanover, who became 
George I of England in 17 14, was the grandson of Frederick and Eliza- 
beth. 

The " Addled Parliament," 1614. — In February, 1614, James 
called his second Parliament 1 ; but, contrary to good advice, he de- 
cided to exclude impositions and all questions of an ecclesiastical 
nature from the grievances he was willing to redress. Certain men 
undertook to secure him a majority ; but in his opening speech he dis- 
avowed all connection with them. 2 Their efforts, whether authorized 
or not, seem to have hurt his cause, for the elections went decidedly 
against him. While most of the old opposition leaders were returned, 
nearly two-thirds of the House were new men. Among them were Sir 
John Eliot and Sir Thomas Wentworth, the former destined to be a mar- 
tyr to the parliamentary, the latter to the royal cause. The session 
opened 5 April. After two months spent in discussing grievances, 
Parliament was dissolved without having made a grant or passed a 
single measure. Hence it was called the " Addled Parliament." Four 
members were sent to the Tower, others were ordered not to leave 
London, and still others were deprived of their office of justice of the 
peace. Those imprisoned and detained were soon set free, but it was 
ominous for the cause of liberty of speech that men who had ventured 
to oppose the royal will should have been thus treated. 

Grievances during the Interparliamentary Period, 1614-1620. 
(1) Financial. — Then followed another and longer period of nearly 
seven years when James tried to get on without a Parliament. During 
the interval, popular opposition was excited by the continuance of old 
grievances and by the addition of new ones. A leading cause of dis- 
content lay in James' futile schemes for raising money, though none 
of them proved specially burdensome. Already in 161 1 he had created 

1 The first had held five sessions from 1604 to 161 1. 

2 Seven years later he referred to them as a "strange kind of beast called under- 
takers — a name which in my nature I abhor." 



43» 



A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 



a new title, that of baronet. Persons with incomes of £1000 a year 
were eligible on payment of £1080 in three annual installments. 1 In 
1616 a plan was devised of selling peerages at £10,000 apiece a prac- 
tice designed not only to increase the King's income, but to add to his 
supporters in the Upper House. Happily only a few purchasers came 
forward. Also, the nefarious practice of buying and selling offices, 
prohibited by a statute of Edward VI, was vigorously pursued. Only 
the rich and the unscrupulous and mean-spirited, the one by purchase 
and the others by scheming and fawning, could hope to obtain places, 
and hence royal government became a chaos of intrigue. In 1014 
letters from the Council were sent out asking for benevolences but in 
three years they yielded only £66,000, less than a single subsidy, and 
called forth protests from some counties, refusals to pay from others. 
The sale of the Dutch cautionary towns in 1 616 was much criticized, 
yet while less than the amount of the debt was accepted, it was not a 

bad bargain. ,, . ._ 

(2) Legal The Crown and the Judges. — More significant was a 
conflict which came to a head between the Crown and the judges. 
The King and his supporters maintained that there were occasions 
when reasons of State should prevail over strict legal rules; but in 
carrying out his policy he sought to set himself above the law and to 
make the judges mere creatures of the royal will. Charles went even 
further, thus contributing another cause of revolution ; for the people 
deprived of the protection of the courts, saw no other recourse except 
an appeal to arms. At the beginning of James' reign, before it was 
evident that their jurisdiction was to be infringed upon, the judges 
were, as the Bate and Post-nati cases indicated, inclined to support the 
Crown. This was due largely — and on the whole their attitude is 
quite explicable — to their love of precedent and their failure to take 
into account the political bearings of an issue. It is true, too, that 
most judicial appointments were during royal pleasure ; but through- 
out the reign of Elizabeth no judge had been removed for differing 
with the sovereign. Their attitude changed when attempts were 
made to encroach upon their common law jurisdiction. 

Sir Edward Coke and Prohibitions. — In the struggle which followed 
Sir Edward Coke (1552-1634) took the lead. He was harsh, avari- 
cious, and narrow. As Attorney-General, 1504-1606, he had shown 
himself one of the most brutal prosecutors who ever served the Stuarts. 
His treatment of Raleigh furnishes a good example of his methods 
" Thou hast a Spanish heart and thyself art a viper of hell, he cried 
at one stage of the trial. He first began to oppose the King after he 
became Chief Justice of the Common Pleas in 1606. Though his 
motives were solely personal and professional, his prodigious learning 
and his savage aggressiveness made him an invaluable champion ot 
the popular cause. The struggle opened over prohibitions, or the 

1 They were not entitled to sit in the House of Lords. The money was used for 
colonization in Ireland, and the payment was afterwards remitted. 



BEGINNINGS OF THE PURITAN REVOLUTION 439 

right of the common law courts to restrain the ecclesiastical tribunals 
from proceeding with a case until the judges decided whether it lay 
within their field. According to Coke's own account he gave the 
King some very wholesome advice, at a conference on the question in 
1607, to the effect that, although his Majesty was highly endowed by 
nature, he lacked the requisite legal learning to deal with matters 
affecting the life and property of his subjects, and when James replied : 
"Then I shall be under the law, which is treason to affirm, " he retorted 
by adroitly citing the famous words of Bracton : " The King is under 
no man but God and the law." While there is reason for doubting 
whether he showed such presence of mind on this occasion, he abun- 
dantly proved his courage more than once ; though at another confer- 
ence in 1609 when the King threatened to strike him, he groveled to 
the ground. The judges finally had to yield on prohibitions ; but in 
1610 they managed to carry another point, that the King could create 
no new offenses by proclamation. 

Peacham's Case, Commendams, and the Fall of Coke. — Another 
clash came in 1614 over Peacham's case. Peacham was a clergyman 
who wrote a sermon reflecting on the King and government, which was 
found in manuscript in his study. His defense was that he did not in- 
tend the sermon for publication. But the authorities saw in it evi- 
dence of a far-reaching plot. So poor Peacham was tried, tortured 
on the rack, and convicted. He finally died in prison. Before the 
trial James called in the judges for consultation. Nowadays the 
sovereign goes to the Attorney-General for legal advice. The objec- 
tion to taking the opinions of the judges beforehand was that it pre- 
judiced them in hearing the case and gave the King a chance to dictate 
what their decision should be. Coke stanchly opposed the action of 
James ; but on the narrow technical ground, which would be hard to 
sustain, that it was against the custom of the realm. In 16 16 the 
conflict between the King and Coke reached a crisis. A suit was 
brought against the Bishop of Lichfield on account of a commendam 
which he held as the gift of the Crown. James ordered the judges to 
stay proceedings until he could inquire whether royal rights were in- 
volved. They paid no attention until they were summoned before 
him. There they fell on their knees and agreed to obey his will. Coke 
alone held out, refusing to say anything further than that when a case 
came before him, he would act as became a judge. He was sus- 
pended forthwith and ordered to correct his reports. James expected 
that he would cull from them remarks reflecting on the prerogative. 
When the dauntless Justice returned with five clerical errors corrected, 
he was dismissed from office. The next year James relented so far as 
to restore him to the Council, but he never recovered his seat on the 
bench. In the next Parliament he appeared in the opposition ranks, 
where he rendered valiant service. Coke and the judges, so far as 
they followed him, performed a great work in striving to hold the King 
to the limitations of the law ; but it was well that they did not realize 



440 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

their ambition to act as arbiters in the great political questions at issu.' 
between the sovereign and his people, for that would have resulted in 
legal domination, fully as dangerous to liberty and progress as royal 
tyranny. 

(3) Immorality at Court. The Essex Divorce, 1613. — A third 
cause of friction was in the frivolity, extravagance, and riotous life at 
court which shocked the growing Puritan sentiment. James himself 
loved study and learned discourses, his life was pure, and he was never 
overcome by liquor. Nevertheless, he enjoyed the society of boon 
companions, he mingled with those of evil lives, and did nothing 
to reform his court. In 1606 a play was performed before him in which 
the women of high station who participated were too drunk to act 
their parts. What most aroused the public, however, was an unsavory 
scandal involving the royal favorite, Robert Carr. A Scotch lad, 
gifted with nothing but a handsome person, he began as a page at court 
and rose steadily. In 1613, when he had become Viscount Rochester 
and the King's confidential secretary, he brought about the divorce 
of Frances Howard from the Earl of Essex. 1 Soon after he was made 
Earl of Somerset and married Lady Essex. His elevation made him 
arrogant, and his marriage brought him into close relations with the 
powerful Howard family who favored an alliance with Spain. So the 
opponents of the divorce, among them the Archbishop of Canterbury, 
the anti-Spanish party, and those who were personally embittered 
combined to overthrow him. The Queen, too, jealous of the royal 
favors to Somerset, joined their side. 

The Rise of Villiers and the Fall of Somerset. — In 16 14 they 
brought to court as a rival, George Villiers, son of an obscure Leices- 
tershire knight, and a youth of rare personal charm, clever, audacious, 
and ambitious. While he was supplanting the old favorite, certain 
startling facts came to light. Sir Thomas Overbury, Somerset's 
closest confidant, who had opposed his marriage, was found murdered 
in the Tower. The crime was traced to the agents of Lady Somerset. 
She and her husband were brought to trial and sentenced to death. 
This was commuted to imprisonment in the Tower, where they re- 
mained until 1622. James, after the case was clear to him, labored 
honestly to see justice done ; but the affair cast a dark shadow on the 
court. Villiers' influence proved more dangerous than that of Somer- 
set because he came to play a greater role in public affairs. Not with- 
out administrative capacity, his efforts to put himself forward led to 
an investigation of the existing regime, largely in the hands of the 
Howards, which unearthed much incompetence and corruption. 
Villiers himself succeeded the Earl of Nottingham, better known under 
the name of Lord Howard of Effingham, as Lord High Admiral. Poor 
Nottingham, now grown old, was largely the victim of less scrupulous 
members of his family. The policy of Villiers, or Buckingham as he 

1 She was a daughter of the Earl of Suffolk. Essex was a son of Elizabeth's old 
favorite. He later became a leader on the parliamentary side. 



BEGINNINGS OF THE PURITAN REVOLUTION 441 

should henceforth be called, 1 was chiefly personal. Originally, for 
instance, he opposed Spain because the Howards were pro-Spanish. 
When they were overthrown, he shifted his ground to attach himself 
more closely to James. 

(4) The Spanish Marriage Negotiations, 1604-1618. — The rela- 
tions with Spain marked another breach between James and his sub- 
jects and led to a series of parliamentary crises. The peace with 
Spain in 1604 had been followed by negotiations for a marriage between 
Prince Henry and Anna Maria, eldest daughter of Philip III. James 
was particularly anxious to bring it about, as a means of cementing an 
alliance which he ardently desired for many reasons : he wanted to 
prevent the recurrence of hostilities which had occupied so much of the 
previous reign; he admired the Spanish absolutism; and he aspired, 
with Spanish support, to become the peacemaker of Europe. Philip^ 
however, demanded concessions that James dared not grant, chief 
among them toleration for Roman Catholics and the education by the 
Spanish mother of any heir from the marriage. In their first stage the 
negotiations never got very far. In 161 1 they were reopened at the 
instance of the Spanish ambassador. Meantime, Anna Maria had 
been promised to Louis XIII of France. So her younger sister Maria 
Anna was substituted. The dowry was now another reason which 
appealed to James, since the failure of the Great Contract had left 
him badly off for funds. Though Henry was' disinclined to marry 
any one not of his own faith, it was his untimely death in 1612 that 
again put an end to the negotiations. Shortly afterwards Spain sent 
to England, Don Diego Sarmiento, better known under his later title 
of Count Gondomar, an adroit diplomat who gained a remarkable 
I ascendancy over James, for which he was correspondingly feared and 
hated by the English people. Spain had, in 1609, concluded a twelve- 
year truce with the Netherlands which had only a few years more to 
j run. In case war again broke out it would be essential to stand well 
! with England who commanded the sea route to the Low Countries, 
and through the territories of James' son-in-law, the best available 
road by land. So negotiations were resumed, this time for a marriage 
between Charles and Maria Anna. 2 Again, however, marriage nego- 
tiations were blocked, chiefly owing to the difficulty of relaxing the 

2 IS l6 i 7 he was created Earl of Buckingham and, in 1623, Duke. 
„,. 1 he Spanish influences which controlled James led to the sacrifice of the old 
Elizabethan hero, Sir Walter Raleigh, who had been sentenced to death in 1604 for 
an alleged plot to put a rival candidate on the throne. On his representation that 
tnere was a valuable gold mine in Guiana which he had visited in 1595, James sorely 
in need of money and hard pressed by the anti-Spanish faction, granted Raleigh a 
-ommission to make "a voyage in South America, or elsewhere, inhabited by hea- 

nen or savage people to discover profitable commodities," one fifth of which were 
•o go to the Crown. At the same time, James assured Sarmiento that if any Spanish 

ossessions were attacked, the leader would pay the penalty. The expedition did 

£™ ^l^V ? 11 , 011 the 0rinoco - When Raleigh returned in June, 1618, 
lames had him beheaded, though on the old charge of treason. 



442 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

penal laws, and were only resumed after the English King had been 
drawn into the Thirty Years' War. 

The Beginning of the Thirty Years' War, 1618-1620. — The war was 
brought on by difficulties growing out of the Reformation settlement. 
By the Religious Peace of Augsburg of 1555 the Lutheran princes of 
the German Empire had been granted equal rights with the Catholics. 
No agreement, however, had been reached on the subject of " Eccle- 
siastical Reservations " or the forfeiture of offices and incomes by 
bishops and abbots who became Protestants ; nor were any privileges 
accorded to the Calvinists, a steadily increasing party. These eccle- 
siastical questions were complicated by others of a political nature. 
The German princes were striving for independence against the 
Emperor, and in Bohemia, where he was King, the national feeling was 
acute. In 1608, a Protestant Union was formed under the leadership 
of the Count Palatine Frederick IV, father of James' future son-in-law, 
which called forth, in 1609, a Catholic League under Duke Maximilian 
of Bavaria. A series of events in Bohemia led to the first outbreak of 
the war. The childless Emperor Matthias (1612-1619) secured the 
succession for his cousin Ferdinand, a pupil of the Jesuits. 1 Owing to 
the bitter resistance of the Protestant estates, the Imperial authorities 
proceeded to close their churches and to put the administration of the 
country into the hands of ten governors, seven of whom were Catholics. 
The signal for revolt was the so-called " Defenestration " of Prague, 23 
May, 1618, when two of the governors and their secretary were thrown 
from a window of the castle. On the death of Matthias, the Bohe- 
mians, refusing to acknowledge Ferdinand as their King, chose the 
Count Palatine Frederick V. Ferdinand, who was elected Emperor 
at Frankfort, leagued with Maximilian of Bavaria and Philip III of 
Spain. A Spanish general Spinola invaded the Palatinate, while, 8 
November, 1620, Frederick himself was decisively defeated at White 
Hill near Prague. He was driven out of Bohemia, his own palatine 
lands were confiscated, and he fled to Holland. 2 What began as a 
revolt in Bohemia became a general European conflict, drawing into 
its vortex England, Denmark, Sweden, and France, and directed 
against the ascendancy of the Spanish and imperial branches of the 
House of Hapsburg and the Counter-Reformation. 

Divergent Views of James and the Popular Party regarding the War. 
— James was finally moved to intervene, but solely in order to recover 
the Palatinate for his son-in-law, a purpose which he sought to effect by 
securing the good offices of Spain through the long-contemplated mar- 
riage alliance. Owing, however, to the need of money to carry on his 

1 In theory the Emperor was elected. As a matter of fact, from 1438 till the 
dissolution of the Holy Roman or German Empire in 1806, a member of the Aus- 
trian House of Hapsburg was always chosen. In 1526 the kingdoms of Bohemia 
and Hungary had been annexed to the House of Austria in a personal union. 

2 From his brief rule he was known as the "Winter King." The phrase refer; 
to the snow kings or snow men which children build. 



BEGINNINGS OF THE PURITAN REVOLUTION 443 

diplomacy, he was obliged to call another Parliament. The result was 
to precipitate a fresh conflict with his subjects ; for the majority re- 
garded Spain as the prime mover in a great Catholic aggression which 
could best be met by a "war of diversion" ; that is, a naval war directed 
against the Spanish for the purpose of diverting them from the imperial 
alliance. Indeed, they were in no hurry even for that, since England 
was much stronger and Spain was much weaker than in the days be- 
fore the Armada. So the Commons seized the occasion to demand the 
redress of pressing grievances and the recognition of fundamental 
constitutional rights. 

The First Session of the Parliament of 162 1. Monopolies and the 
Revival of Impeachments. — The session opened 30 January, 1621. 
Although James was treating with Gondomar, he asked for a grant of 
£500,000 to raise an army for the recovery of the Palatinate. The 
Commons voted a preliminary grant of two subsidies (about £150,000), 
after which they turned to the discussion of grievances. Among 
them were the non-enforcement of the recusancy laws and infringe- 
ments on the liberty of speech ; but they devoted their chief attention 
to abuses connected with monopolies. Even to-day monopolies are 
recognized by law in the case of patents and copyrights ; at that time 
they went much farther and included the exclusive right of dealing 
in certain commodities, of trading in a particular district, or of carrying 
on a specified industry. There were many reasons why this should 
have been so. The dangers from pirates and savages, the uncertain- 
ties of unknown lands and seas, the risk of shipwreck in small and 
weakly constructed ships made it necessary to offer unusual privileges 
in order to induce men to venture their lives and their capital. As 
a means of building up industries, monopolies were granted, not only 
to inventors, but to all who introduced new processes from abroad. 
In many cases there was a special justification : in the making of gun- 
powder, saltpeter, and ordnance, to insure a home supply of materials 
of war and to keep the manufacture in trusted hands ; in the manufac- 
ture of gold and silver thread, because those who received the privilege 
agreed to import the bullion, thus increasing the supply of precious 
metals ; in the case of the glassmakers, because they promised to use 
coal in place of wood in their blast furnaces. Licenses, too, were 
required from inns and alehouses for the restriction and regulation of 
the traffic in drink. James probably derived less revenue from monop- 
olies than had Elizabeth in her last years. The chief complaint was 
that he granted them to favorites who made a large profit from acting 
as figureheads in companies or from reselling their rights. Moreover, 
those who had the supervision of inns and alehouses frequently used 
their powers for extortion and blackmail. In the investigation which 
Parliament now undertook, two of the worst offenders, Mompesson and 
Michell, were called to account. Mompesson escaped by jumping 
out of the window of the House, and fled to the Continent. Michell 
was severely punished. James abolished the worst offenses by proc- 



444 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

lamation ; and by an act of 1624 monopolies, with certain exceptions, 1 
were done away with. 

Francis Bacon (1561-1626). — This session is also notable for the 
impeachment of Francis Bacon on charges of judicial corruption. A 
younger son of Elizabeth's Lord Keeper and a nephew of Burghley's 
wife, he had risen very slowly in spite of his family connections and his 
unusual abilities. Since 1618 he had been Lord Chancellor. Created 
Baron Verulam in that same year, he had been promoted in 1621 to 
the title of Viscount St. Albans. At once a man of affairs and a man 
of letters, he wrote on many subjects — philosophy, scientific theory, 
literature, history, and law. His views on politics were broad and 
liberal. He favored a strong monarchy resting on the support of the 
people and acting for the popular good, informed and advised by a 
loyal Parliament. He advocated the union of England and Scotland, 
the civilizing of Ireland, the extension of colonization, the broadening 
of the Established Church, and liberal reforms in the law. In the 
struggle with Coke he had stood for interpreting legal questions on 
large grounds of policy rather than upon technical precedents. Al- 
ways prone, however, to overlook practical difficulties, he failed to 
recognize that Parliament would no longer tolerate even a benevolent 
despot, and that, in any event, James was not the man to exercise 
such powers. Yet as he saw plan after plan fail he continued in office 
as a supporter of the Crown. He may, however, have failed to sense 
the situation ; he may have felt that he could do some good, at any 
rate ; or he may have been a time server. The latter seems the most 
likely. Aside from his vast intellect, his sobriety, and industry he had 
few commendable qualities. He was cold, lacking in affection, and 
fond of comfort and display. He basely deserted Essex, who had been 
his devoted friend ; he stooped to the most servile flattery in his rela- 
tion with James and Buckingham; he was ever ready with worldly 
wise council ; indeed, the poet Pope did not greatly exaggerate in calling 
him the " wisest, wittiest, meanest of mankind." 

His Impeachment and Fall, 1621. — He had taken the government 
side on the legality of monopolies. The Commons were, in conse- 
quence, very ready to listen to complaints brought against him for 
accepting money from suitors while their cases were pending in Chan- 
cery, and proceeded to impeach him. Bacon was at length forced to 
admit that while he had never allowed gifts to influence him, he had 
been guilty of accepting both presents and loans from those who had 
suits in his court. Public officials were in those days regularly in re- 
ceipt of pay from companies and even from foreign countries, and it 
was also customary for judges to accept gifts from successful suitors. 
Bacon with a salary inadequate for his office, particularly in view of 
the pomp and circumstance of his household, also notoriously loose 

1 These exceptions were : (1) new inventions ; (2) charters to trading companies; 
(3) certain municipal privileges; (4) some specified manufactures, e.g. glass and 
gunpowder. 



BEGINNINGS OF THE PURITAN REVOLUTION 445 

in money matters and contemptuous of forms, had simply neglected 
to wait until he rendered his decisions. Yet a man of his abilities 
and ideals should have been above, not below, the standard of his time. 
His confession is one of the most ignominious in history: " I do . . . 
confess that in the points charged upon me, although they should be 
taken as I have declared them, there is a great deal of corruption and 
neglect, for which I am heartily and penitently sorry. ... I beseech 
your lordships to be merciful unto a broken reed." The sentence im- 
posed upon him was a heavy one ; but more to mark Parliament's 
opinion of the enormity of the offense than with any thought that it 
would be fully executed. He was to pay a fine of £40,000, to be im- 
prisoned in the Tower, to give up the Great Seal ; he was declared in- 
capable of holding any office of State or of sitting in Parliament, and 
forbidden to come to court. He acknowledged " the sentence just 
and for reformation's sake fit," though he declared that he was the 
" justest Chancellor " since his father's death. The fine and im- 
prisonment were remitted, and the old man retired to achieve by his 
studies a reputation which he had failed to attain as an officer of State. 
Neither in his case, nor in those of Mompesson and Michell were all 
the technical rules of impeachments strictly adhered to; but, in a 
general way, they mark the revival of a practice which had been in 
disuse for over a century and a half. 

James grew weary of the continual discussion of grievances, partic- 
ularly when Parliament refused to grant him further supplies, so he 
ordered an adjournment. Before separating, the Commons declared 
that " if the treaty (with Spain) failed, they would be ready on re- 
assembling to adventure their lives and estates for the maintenance 
of the cause of God and of his Majesty's royal issue." 

Second Session of the Parliament of 162 1. — In the autumn session, 
the difference over foreign policy developed into a momentous quarrel 
which reopened the whole question of privilege. James hoped that 
if the marriage between Charles and the Infanta were brought about 
that the Spanish would intervene to restore Frederick by force if nec- 
essary. In order to prevent the English from sending an army to aid 
the continental Protestants, Gondomar was instructed to nurse the 
King in his delusion. The Commons, fearing that the Catholics were 
unduly encouraged, framed a petition, asking that the Prince marry 
one of his own religion ; calling for the execution of the penal laws ; 
and for a war against Spain. A long and bitter correspondence re- 
sulted in which the King forbade the Commons " to meddle with mys- 
teries of State," asserting again that their privileges were derived from 
the grace of his ancestors. He declared, however, that, so long as they 
confined themselves within proper limits, " he would be careful to pre- 
serve their lawful liberties." More than one picturesque incident 
enlivened the controversy. Gondomar, when he saw the petition, 
wrote James, then at Newmarket, an amazing letter. " If it were not," 
he said, " that he depended upon the King's goodness to punish the 



446 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

seditious insolence of the House of Commons, he would have left the 
kingdom already." " This," he added, " it would have been my duty 
to do, as you would have ceased to be a King here, and as I have no 
army here at present to punish these people myself." x Later when 
the Commons sent a deputation with a second petition, James cried, 
" Bring stools for the ambassadors," implying that they were assuming 
the position of an independent power. Finally they framed a protes- 
tation in which they declared that " their liberties and privileges were 
the inherited birthright of the subjects of England ; the State, the de- 
fense of the realm, the laws and grievances were proper matters for 
them to debate ; the members have liberty of speech, and freedom from 
all imprisonment for speaking on matters touching Parliamentary 
business." The King adjourned the session 19 December, and, 
shortly after Christmas, sent for the Journal and tore out the protesta- 
tion with his own hands. Again opposition members were imprisoned 
or confined to their houses in London. On 6 January, 1622, Parlia- 
ment was dissolved. 2 To the old disputes over religion and taxation 
a new one had been added, that over foreign policy. 

The Journey of Charles and Buckingham to Spain, 1623. — The 
Spaniards determined to keep James at odds with his subjects in order 
to avoid the least chance of English intervention in the continental 
war. To that end, Gondomar encouraged Charles and Buckingham 
in a hare-brained project. They were to cross to France, journey 
incognito to Madrid, where the Prince was to woo the Infanta in per- 
son. The distracted King, with many tears for the safety of his " Baby 
Charles " and his " Steenie," 3 was at length forced to consent early in 
1623. The visit in the end failed of its object, although Charles 
agreed to the hardest terms short of changing his religion. The In- 
fanta, good, simple, but narrow, abhorred the thought of allying her- 
self with a heretic. Once when her importunate lover sought an inter- 
view in the palace garden, she fled in dismay. Marriage articles were 
indeed drawn up and accepted by both James and Charles before the 
latter left Madrid in September ; but the Spanish prevented him from 
taking the Infanta with him by requiring first that full toleration 
should be granted to English Catholics. Two months later, when it 

1 His arrogance may be explained in the light of a conversation that James had 
with him after the dissolution of the Addled Parliament, in which the King 
said: "The House of Commons is a body without a head. The members give 
their opinions in a disorderly manner. At their meetings nothing is heard but 
shouts, cries, and confusion. I am surprised that my ancestors should have per- 
mitted such an institution to come into existence. I am a stranger and found it 
here when I arrived, so I am obliged to put up with what I cannot get rid of." 
He was only consoled by the thought that without his assent the words and acts 
of Parliament were "altogether worthless." 

2 Gondomar wrote to his master: "It is the best thing which has happened in 
the interests of Spain and the Catholic religion since Luther began to preach heresy 
a hundred years ago." 

3 A pet name which he gave to Buckingham from a fancied resemblance to a 
portrait of St. Stephen. 



BEGINNINGS OF THE PURITAN REVOLUTION 447 

became clear that Spain would grant no aid in recovering the Palati- 
nate, negotiations were broken off. The initiative was taken by Buck- 
ingham whose self-importance had been wounded by the lack of con- 
sideration shown him at the Spanish court. Moreover, the popularity 
which would result from an anti-Spanish policy was a temptation which 
he could not resist Indeed, he made up his mind to go to the length 
of war and dragged Charles along with him. 

The Parliament of 1624. Breach with Spain. - A new Parliament 
met, 19 February, 1624. James, who had hitherto refused to consider 
the right of the Commons to discuss foreign politics, now consented to 
ask their advice. Buckingham told all the assembled members the 
story of the journey to Spain, insisted that the Spanish had never in- 
tended to help recover the Palatinate, and urged that the marriage 
treaty be canceled. James had come to see that war was necessary ; 
but he would only consent to a land war for the recovery of the Palati- 
nate ; Parliament was still bent on fighting Spain at sea, while Buck- 
ingham was keen for both. It was a part of his plan to ally with the 
vul-l Danes ' and the German princes, assisting them with Eng- 
lsh subsidies Parliament voted three subsidies and three fifteenths 
less than half the sum asked for. Moreover, the purposes of the grant 
were distinctly specified, and, in order to insure their observance it 
was provided that the money should be paid to treasurers appointed 
by Parliament. This marks the revival of the practice of appropriation 
of supply. Lionel Cranfield, Earl of Middlesex and Lord Treasurer 
the only man who ever succeeded in bringing James' finances into 
any kind of shape, was impeached. 1 He was charged with corruption 
though the real reason for the proceeding was his opposition to Buck- 
ingham and the war with Spain. James shrewdly prophesied to his 
son and his favorite who led the charge, that they were preparing 
rods for their own backs. Parliament was prorogued till autumn! 
but it never met again during the reign. 

The French Marriage Treaty, 1624. - The King simply did not dare 
to face the Houses. On the failure of the Spanish marriage, negotia- 
tions had been opened with France, for a marriage between Charles 
and Henrietta Maria, sister of Louis XIII ; but James promised dis- 
tinctly that no concessions would be made to the recusants in conse- 
quence of any such alliance. However, Cardinal Richelieu, Louis's 
adroit and able chief minister, forced the weak King and his weak son 
-0 agree to a secret article guaranteeing a relaxation of the penal laws, 
un these terms the marriage treaty was ratified in December, 1624 
rrance, though anxious to strike a blow at the Spanish and Austrian 
tlapsburgs, had no mind as yet to assist the German heretics. Mean- 
ime, james had agreed with Count Mansfeld, a German soldier of 
ortune, to furnish him an army of 10,000 foot and 3000 horse together 
fnth £20,000 a month for their support, on condition that France do 

1 In his trial the rules governing impeachments were followed. 



448 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

the like. Owing to the restricted terms of the recent grant, the King 
had no money for the Mansfeld expedition, nor had he any troops or 
ships. Nevertheless, advances were squeezed from the parliamentary 
treasurers, and a rabble of raw, pressed men was assembled. France, 
who would hear of nothing but an attack on the Spanish Netherlands, 
refused to allow Mansfeld to pass through her territory on the way to 
the Palatinate. So, in the dead of winter, he had to lead his half-clad 
troops into Holland, where more than three quarters of them perished 
of cold and starvation. In the spring the miserable remnant returned 
to England. Unable properly to equip the Mansfeld expedition, James, 
spurred on by his son and the reckless Buckingham, had also bound 
himself by agreements to furnish subsidies to the Dutch and to Chris- 
tian IV of Denmark. 

Death of James, 1625. Estimate of his Reign. — In March, 1625, 
the poor old King, much reduced by gout and worry, was attacked 
by an ague, from which he died on the 27th. As a ruler he had beena 
failure. His problem in a critical time had been to economize and to 
gain the good will of his subjects. Yet he was lavish to the last, and, 
what with the expenses in connection with foreign affairs, he left the 
treasury too poor to give him a royal burial. He disappointed the 
Catholics and he disappointed the Puritans. He quarreled with the 
judges- and he quarreled with Parliament. While he never acted 
without some color of legality, many of his measures ran counter to 
the temper of the times. By his pompousness and love of theorizing 
he alienated his subjects, and by his failure to meet crises with decision 
he forfeited their confidence. All through his reign he strove, in the 
teeth of Protestant prejudice and Elizabethan tradition, for an alliance 
with Spain and lived to see his pet project destroyed by his son and 
his favorite. His only essay in war — the Mansfeld expedition — 
was a pitiful failure. The fresh memory of this, the empty treasury, 
and a crop of differences with his subjects were his legacy to Charles. 

The bright spots in the reign were not due in any great degree to 
James. The peace which he maintained was favorable to industry, 
commerce, and prosperity; but the light taxes, which contributed 
greatly to the result', were due to necessity rather than to policy. Also, 
the settlements leading to a vast colonial empire in the New World 
have him to thank only so far as he drove the Nonconformists from 
England. Again, while he shares with Elizabeth the glory of the 
greatest age of the world's literature, he was, in spite of his scholarly 
tastes, as innocent as his predecessor of assisting the movement. Very 
notable gains were made by the Commons. They secured the right 
of deciding contested elections and the right of freedom from arrest. 
They remonstrated successfully against creating new offenses by proc- 
lamation. They asserted their right to debate all matters of public 
concern and to appropriate supplies for purposes which they desig- 
nated. On the other hand, they protested vainly against imposi- 
tions and failed deservedly in an attempt to judge and punish of- 



BEGINNINGS OF THE PURITAN REVOLUTION 449 

fenses not committed against their own House. What James himself 
strove for he generally failed to attain ; the achievements of the 
period were only to a very slight degree his work. 1 



FOR ADDITIONAL READING 

Narrative. F. C. Montague, Political History, 1603-1660 (1907), chs. I-V ; an ac- 
curate account of the main course of events (annotated list of authorities, pp. 482-493) . 
G. M. Trevely-an, England under the Stuarts, 1603-1714 (1904) ; a work of unusual 
brilliancy and suggestiveness, an excellent supplement to Montague (annotated 
bibliography, pp. 527-534). Cambridge Modem History ,111, chs. XVII, XVIII (bibli- 
ography, without notes, pp. 847-859) . S. R. Gardiner, History of England, 1603-1642 
(10 vols., 1 883-1 884), chs. I-V; a monumental work, the authority on the period, but 
confined almost exclusively to the political and ecclesiastical aspects of the subject. 
L. von Ranke, History of England (Eng. tr. 1875), I, bk. V, chs. I-V ; next to Gardiner 
the best detailed work, particularly valuable for foreign relations. Lingard, VII, 
chs. I— III. T. Carlyle, Historical Sketches (1891) ; a picturesque and stimulating 
work. 

Special. Seeley, British Policy, I, pt. II, chs. I-III. J. Corbett, England in the 
Mediterranean (1904), I. J. N. Figgis, The Divine Right of Kings (1896). 

Constitutional. Hallam, I, ch. VI. Taylor, Origin and Groivth, II, bk. V, ch. I; 
Taswell-Langmead, ch. XIII. Maitland, Constitutional History of England, 
period III ; sketch of the public law at, the death of James I. 

Church. Wakeman, ch. XVI ; Frere, English Church, chs. XVII-XXI. Usher, 
Reconstruction of the English Church. 

Selections from the sources. Adams and Stephens, nos. 181-188. Prothero, 
Select Statutes, 250-446. 







THE 

James I = 
1603-1625 | 


STUARTS 

Anne of Denmark, 
d. 1619 




1 i 

Henry, Charles I 
d. 1612 1625-1649 

i 






1 

Elizabeth =■ 

d. 1662 


= Frederick 

of the 
Palatinate 


Charles II, 
1660-1685 




1 

James II, 

1685-1688, 

d. 1701 

! 


1 
Mary = 
d. 1660 


- William 
of 
Orange, 
d. 1650 

AM III, 

5-I702 




1 
James 
(the old 
Pretender), 
b. 1688, 
d. 1765 


Anne, 
1702-1714 


1 
Mary= Willi 
1688-1694 i68i 




1 

Prince Rupert, 

d. 1682 




1 

Prince Maurice, 

d. 1652 


Sophia = Elector 
d. 1714 1 

George I, 
1714-1727 


of Hanover 



I 

George II 



1 James was the author of a work entitled a Counterblast against Tobacco. When 
his tomb was opened some years ago a pipe was found, evidently left by a work- 
man. Thus, says Gardiner, the greatest authority on the period: "James was 
defied even in death." 



CHAPTER XXVIII 

CHARLES I AND THE PRECIPITATION OF THE CONFLICT 
BETWEEN KING AND PEOPLE (1625-1640) 

Personal Traits of Charles I. — Charles I, who came to the throne 
27 March, 1625, had many of the qualities of a popular sovereign. 
Handsome and of a noble presence, he was a skillful athlete, and bore 
himself with the courage of a thoroughbred. He was reserved in 
speech, 1 and, indeed, was quite free of those peculiarities which had 
made his father so often ridiculous. He was an accomplished critic 
of art and music, keenly appreciative of all that was beautiful in the 
world about him. At the same time, he was deeply religious, sacrificing 
everything for his convictions, and living unspotted amidst the dis- 
sipations of his Court. On the other hand, he lacked that power of 
reading the temper of the times, and that gift of voicing the feelings of 
his subjects which had made the Tudors so irresistible. Without the 
imagination and sympathy necessary to the understanding of other 
men's views, he regarded every one who differed from him as an enemy ; 
while he prided himself on the legality of his measures, he failed to see 
that what had the sanction of the law might at times be absolutely 
inexpedient. Much influenced by the few to whom he gave his con- 
fidence, he clung obstinately to an opinion he had once formed. Worse 
than all, he was secretive and evasive. Many of his views were so at 
variance with public opinion that he sought to conceal them ; he made 
promises which he found himself unable to keep, and, sometimes, even 
entered into engagements with mental reservations which would enable 
him to elude what he did not consider to be for the public good. He 
ascended the throne fresh from having broken his agreement with re- 
gard to the French marriage treaty, and, as time went on, it became 
more and more evident that his word was not to be trusted. 

Political Problems. — In his unwisdom and in the difficulties which 
he had to face, he went far beyond his father in overriding the common 
law, and in attempting to raise money in extraparliamentary ways. 
Spurred on by Buckingham, he had aroused popular enthusiasm by 
forcing the timid old King to abandon his peace policy ; but he and 
his favorite planned to conduct the war in a manner quite out of ac- 
cord with that advocated by Parliament ; they entered into engage- 
ments which that body was not asked to approve, and they conducted 
their military operations with a rashness, an incompetence, and a 

1 Due partly to a slight impediment. 
45° 



CONFLICT BETWEEN KING AND PEOPLE 451 

lack of success which forfeited the confidence of the nation. Conse- 
quently, the Commons when they were called together would not grant 
the supplies necessary to meet the situation. This forced the King 
to resort to the irregular measures which, in conjunction with his reli- 
gious policy, led to the revolt which finally cost him his head. 

Religious Problems. — While the Puritans had failed to receive 
under James the concessions which they desired, they had not been 
actively persecuted. Silently, but effectively, their views were being 
preserved and spread by means of Bible reading, prayer, and services 
in private houses, sometimes by the parson, more often by the father 
of the family. Already chafing under restraint they were now brought 
face to face with a critical situation. The victories of the Catholics 
in the Continental War, the relaxation in the penal laws, — first as a 
concession to Spain and then to France, — and the King's marriage 
aroused the gravest apprehensions. Furthermore, while James had 
been content with the existing Establishment, Charles was a High 
Churchman. He wanted, so far as possible, to restore the liturgy and 
the ecclesiastical organization of the pre- Reformation days. This 
was partly because he loved the splendid ancient ceremonial, but 
chiefly because of the chance to strengthen his royal powers. The 
High Anglican divines, as a means of securing the great offices in Church 
and State and counteracting the Puritan tendencies of the people, 
sought his ear and magnified the prerogative to ridiculous heights. 1 
So the issue was not merely religious, it was political as well. Two 
parties were ranged against each other, one in close alliance with the 
Crown, the other with Parliament. 

The Puritan Parliamentary Party. — Though the Puritan party in- 
cluded many high-souled, cultivated gentlemen, and was to produce in 
John Milton a poet unsurpassed for scholarship, nobleness of thought, 
and sweetness and dignity of expression, its general attitude was hard 
and ungracious. The spirit of the Renascence — love of beauty in its 
manifold aspects, interest in man and his pursuits — appealed but little 
to them. The old English Sunday with its picturesque and boisterous 
merriment was an abomination in their eyes. Standing for the literal 
interpretation of the Scriptures, they had scant sympathy for philo- 
sophical and historical studies. They wanted to enter the lists against 
the great Catholic combination on the Continent, but only after the 
King had redressed domestic grievances and had agreed upon a plan 
of hostilities of which they approved. At home they insisted upon 
the enforcement of the penal laws, and they desired- to put down the 

1 A good example may be found in a sermon preached by the royal chaplain, 
Roger Manwaring, 4 July, 1627, in which he declared that where a King "com- 
mands flatly against the law of God," subjects who disobey are "to endure with 
patience whatsoever penalty his pleasure shall inflict upon them," and that if he com- 
manded things not against the law of God, even if not in accord with the law of the 
land, "no subject might disobey without hazard of his own damnation." This 
doctrine Manwaring applied to taxes which Charles sought to impose independently 
of Parliament. 



452 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

Anglicans as well as various sects of religious extremists which had 
recently sprung up. They did not oppose an established church as 
such, but they opposed one upheld by the Crown and bishops with 
forms and ceremonies which they denounced as " popish," and which 
they held responsible for the moral laxness which they saw about 
them, particularly at Court. Narrow as it seemed, their protest against 
ceremonies was deeply significant. Harmless or even beneficial to 
those for whom they had a meaning, no man who regarded such ob- 
servances as vain, idle, or idolatrous could, without sacrificing his 
moral and spiritual integrity, accept them simply because they were 
imposed by authority. The Puritans fought, not for any principle 
of toleration, but for their own supremacy. Yet, in so doing, they 
deepened the spiritual independence of the people, they struck at 
despotism, and, if they did not gain the ascendancy at which they 
aimed, they secured a large measure of political freedom for their 
country and prepared the way for a religious liberty that came slowly, 
but none the less surely. 

The High Church Royalist Party. — The High Church party stood 
for a revival of medieval ceremonialism and held exalted views regarding 
the origin and functions of the Church. As against the Puritans, who 
regarded the Bible as the sole source of Christian truth and laid chief 
emphasis on the relation of the individual soul toward God, they held 
with Cranmer that the Bible must be interpreted by the individual 
only in the light of the writings of the early fathers and of the customs 
of the primitive Church. Also, adopting the arguments of Hooker, 
they sought to justify the existing system on the ground of its histori- 
cal continuity and the needs of the times. They laid stress on the 
divine origin of Episcopacy, and looked to the Church, particularly 
through the efficacy of her sacraments, as the necessary vehicle of 
salvation. Since they rejected predestination, they came to be called 
Arminians, from the followers of Arminius (i 560-1 609), a Protestant 
divine whose doctrines had been condemned by the orthodox Calvin- 
ists at the Synod of Dort in 1618. The High Church leaders denied 
that they were Arminians, and with justice, for they had nothing in 
common with the sect of that name except in the rejection of predes- 
tination. Their purpose in repudiating this particular doctrine was 
not primarily theological but to weaken their opponents who accepted 
it, and to exalt the Church as an instrument of grace. While the 
standpoint of the royalist party was broader than that of the Puritans, 
it was unfortunate that they sought to impose their views by insist- 
ing upon absolute conformity and by magnifying the King's preroga- 
tive in Church and State as a means of crushing their opponents. Yet 
both parties were equally intolerant and both were equally aggressive. 

The Royal Advisers. — Incompetent himself to deal with the polit- 
ical and religious problems which confronted him, Charles was pecul- 
iarly unfortunate in his advisers. Indeed, it is an evidence of his in- 
capacity that he should have chosen such men. Buckingham was 



CONFLICT BETWEEN KING AND PEOPLE 453 

rash, self-confident, and incapable. The four years of his ascendancy, 
from 1624 to 1628, were marked by failure abroad and by constant 
conflicts between the Crown and Parliament at home. Six ill-pre- 
pared expeditions went to the Continent and each returned ingloriously. 
While the result was due partly to the inadequacy of the English mili- 
tary machinery consequent upon a long peace, and partly to the tight 
hold of the Commons upon the purse strings, the chief fault was 
Buckingham's: Thomas Wentworth, later Earl of Strafford, who began 
as an opponent of the Court party and afterwards changed sides, was 
an honest and competent administrator ; but he had no conception of 
the meaning and force of public opinion. Kind and loyal to his sup- 
porters, he was arrogant and overbearing to his opponents. His ideal 
he summed up in the word " thorough," which meant carrying through, 1 
by force, if necessary, any policy which he chose to adopt. Henrietta 
Maria (1 609-1 669), when she married Charles, was a maiden of fifteen, 
and for some time was too absorbed in pleasure to take any interest in 
politics. Not long after her arrival, however, she began to quarrel 
with her husband over the status of the Catholics. After the assassina- 
tion of Buckingham in 1628, they became reconciled and were hence- 
forth devoted to one another. In spite of this and of the courage which 
she showed in the troublous years to come, Henrietta proved an evil 
genius to the King and the country. Bred in an atmosphere of absolu- 
tism and Catholicism, ignorant of the ways and temper of Englishmen, 
and dominated by papal agents, she put worthless men into office, 
she egged Charles on to some of his rashest and most unpopular acts, 
culminating in a disastrous policy of foreign intrigue. 2 In addition 
to these mischievous councilors there was the group of religious en- 
thusiasts who surrounded the throne. Chief among them was William 
Land, who became Bishop of London in 1628 and Archbishop of Canter- 
bury in 1633, " the most conscientious, the most energetic, and the 
most indiscreet man " in the realm. As head of the Church he bent 
all his efforts to enforce conformity, and came to share with Strafford 
the chief power in the state as well. 

Charles' First Parliament, 18 June-12 August, 1625. — When 
Charles met his first Parliament, he was pledged to pay subsidies to 
his allies amounting to £700,000 annually; he was married to his 
French bride, and he had promised to relax the penal laws. The op- 
position, counting many strong and effective leaders, had no sym- 
pathy with a continental war ; they were determined to keep control 

1 The two words then had the same meaning. 

2 The very marriage in itself was attended with innumerable dire consequences. 
■ It involved a promise of toleration to Catholics which embittered the English 

when it was discovered, and led to a temporary breach with France when it was not 
kept. For fear of disclosing the provisions of the treaty, Mansfeld's expedition 
went to destruction unprovided with parliamentary grants, which might have 
altered the result. The marriage, too, was the first step in a fatal French alliance 
which lasted through the reigns of two of Henrietta's sons and contributed to the 
loss of the throne by the second. 



45 4 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

of the taxes, and were bitterly suspicious of the Catholics. The 
royal supporters were few and weak, while the King made the fatal 
mistake of not explaining at once what he meant to do, how much he 
needed, and for what objects. So Parliament, after voting only two 
subsidies, fell to discussing grievances again. On account of the 
plague raging in London, the Houses were adjourned, 1 1 July, to meet 
at Oxford, i August. When the King pressed for supply, the Commons, 
turning their attention to foreign affairs, expressed their distrust of 
the royal advisers, especially Buckingham, who had aroused such en- 
thusiasm in the last Parliament. In order to stop the discussion 
Charles ordered a dissolution, 12 August. Even the act, customary 
at the beginning of each reign, granting tonnage and poundage failed 
to pass. 1 

The Cadiz Expedition, 1625. — That autumn, Charles and Buck- 
ingham, hoping to increase their scanty funds by rich booty and to 
recover their lost prestige by a glorious success, sent an expedition 
against Cadiz. The invaders were unable to take the town, or to 
capture the ships in the harbor, and allowed a plate fleet to slip by 
them. The troops got drunk on Spanish wine and became unruly. 
Storm-tossed, starving, and sick, the expedition straggled back to 
Plymouth late in November, another miserable failure. 

Charles' Second Parliament, 6 February-15 June, 1626. — Pressed 
by his financial needs, Charles called a second Parliament, which 
met 6 February, 1626. While he was reluctant to meet the Houses, 
Buckingham, vain and fond of applause, was more sanguine. In 
1624 he had carried all before him, and he still hoped by some great 
stroke of war or diplomacy to regain the popular confidence which had 
been forfeited by deception and mishap. To guard against resistance 
the leaders of the opposition in the last Parliament had been disqual- 
ified for reelection by appointments to sheriffdoms. However, an unex- 
pected opponent came to the front in Eliot, vice-admiral of Devon. 
He had formerly been a friend of Buckingham, but the shameless 
miscarriage of the Cadiz expedition and the deplorable condition of the 
returning soldiers and sailors had stirred his pity and inflamed his 
wrath. Again the King sullenly refused to confide his policy to Par- 
liament, while Carleton, one of his supporters, referred in debate to the 
French peasants who were "thin as ghosts and wore wooden shoes," 
as an intimation of what the English subjects might come to if they 
resisted too far. 

The Impeachment of Buckingham, 1626. — Eliot forced the fighting 
by demanding an inquiry into the " recent disaster," denouncing 
Buckingham as the cause of all the mischief. Eliot, though violent, 
and partisan, was a lofty-minded patriot. He was not in any sense a 
republican, but an advocate of a form of monarchy in which Parliament 

1 The Commons, hoping to settle the question of impositions before they bound 
themselves for the whole reign, had passed a tonnage and poundage bill for one 
year ; but in the hurry of events it did not get through the Lords. 



CONFLICT BETWEEN KING AND PEOPLE 455 

should be supreme. Following his attack, articles of impeachment 
against Buckingham were framed. He was accused of procuring an 
undue number of offices for himself, of showering titles and pensions 
upon his kindred, of appropriating public moneys to his own use, of 
gross neglect and mismanagement of public affairs, and, curiously 
enough, of administering medicine to James in his last illness, which, 
it was implied, had hastened his death. Owing to their ignorance of 
the details of the governmental policy and administration, to the con- 
fusion of the royal accounts, and the corrupt, loose practices of the 
times, it was difficult for the accusers to prove their case in the specific 
counts which they had drawn up. Moreover, the King had supported 
the favorite in all his acts, and, by assuming the responsibility, placed 
an insurmountable obstacle in the way of conviction. Nevertheless, 
Buckingham's mismanagement and incompetence was publicly ex- 
posed, while, for the first time since the pre-Tudor period, the Commons 
had ventured, on grounds of public policy, to assail a minister enjoy- 
ing the unlimited confidence of the sovereign. On June 15 Charles 
stopped the impeachment by a dissolution. In order to save his 
favorite Charles lost the grant which the Commons had resolved 
to vote him. In the sorest straits for money he tried all sorts of de- 
vices. He levied tonnage and poundage by his own authority, he 
sought a loan from the city of London, he called upon the maritime 
counties for ships, and he made a vain effort, through the justices of 
the peace, to secure as a free gift the amount which would have been 
assessed had the subsidy bill passed. At length he resorted to a forced 
loan, dismissing Chief Justice Crewe because he would not declare it 
legal. Some eighty gentlemen, including Eliot and Wentworth, were 
imprisoned for refusing to lend, while many of the commoner sort 
were pressed as soldiers. Out of £350,000 asked for, £236,000 was 
secured, but at the price of sullen and widespread discontent. 

The War with France and the Expedition to Rhe, 1627. — In the 
spring of 1627 a war with France, which had long been brewing, was 
declared. Toward the close of the last reign Richelieu had exacted an 
impossible promise that the English would loan him a fleet to be used 
" against whomsoever except the King of Great Britain." When it 
became clear that he was to employ it to reduce the Huguenots at La 
Rochelle, who were in revolt, Charles and Buckingham, unable to face 
the popular outcry, had tried to elude the obligation by instigating 
Admiral Pennington to stir his crews to mutiny. Eventually the 
French got the ships without the men. Such double dealing accen- 
tuated the distrust of the English and alienated the French. There 
were numerous other causes of friction. French ships trading with 
Spain and the Netherlands were searched and condemned, even before 
formal trial in the English prize courts. Also, King Charles was not 
only unable to relax the penal laws against the English Catholics, but 
he was even obliged to dismiss the Queen's French attendants, and, 
after much shuffling, to declare himself the protector of the French 



456 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

Huguenots. Unable to supply the promised subsidies to the conti- 
nental allies and unable to deal an effective blow against Spain, Buck- 
ingham prepared a great stroke against the new foe. In June, 1627, 
he sent an expedition which landed on the island of Rhe, opposite La 
Rochelle, with the object of securing abase for assisting the beleaguered 
citizens and for attacking the French coast and shipping. Bucking- 
ham himself showed both courage and energy in the undertaking, 
but the English, resenting the forced loan and without confidence in 
the leader, gave him no support. The troops, ill-supplied and ill- 
organized, were utterly devoid of spirit and enthusiasm. Necessary 
reinforcements and supplies were delayed from want of money, and 
when they arrived, could not be landed, owing to storms. In 
October the French drove the invaders from the island. 

The Five Knights' Case, 1627. — Following this fresh humiliation, 
five knights, 1 who were among those imprisoned for refusing to con- 
tribute to the recent loan, brought their case to trial by suing for a 
writ of habeas corpus. 2 Fearing to state the reason for their deten- 
tion, Charles had assigned no cause except the command of the King. 
After reviewing the evidence, the judges decided to send the knights 
back to prison, although they refused to give an opinion that, under 
all circumstances, the sovereign might hold the subject in confinement 
solely by virtue of his royal authority. Nevertheless, the decision 
was ominous for the subject who looked to the protection of the law 
against royal oppression. Charles, still hoping to obtain the needed 
supplies, soon released all the prisoners and called a third Parliament 
to meet 17 March, 1628. 

Charles' Third Parliament, 1628. — While it was now imperative 
for him to give up his foreign policy or to recover the good will of his 
people, he met the Houses defiantly. " If they would not do their 
duty by granting supplies," he declared in his opening speech, " he 
would use other means which God had put into his hand." " Take 
this not as a threat," he added, " for I scorn to threaten any but my 
equals." His failures he attributed, not to his own mistakes, but to 
lack of parliamentary support. The Commons had come together to 
secure a more definite recognition of the liberties of Englishmen, and 
in this they were probably rendering a greater service to progress, 
religious and political, than if they had yielded to despotism and voted 

1 One of them was Sir Thomas Darnel, hence the case is sometimes called Darnel's 
Case. 

2 As it was against the spirit of English law for a subject to be detained in prison 
without cause shown, the writ of habeas corpus had been devised in order that 
the judges might inquire into the case and, in view of the sufficiency or insufficiency 
of the evidence, release the prisoner, admit him to bail, or remand him to prison. 
It had always been the custom for the sovereign, for reasons of State, to order the 
arrest of persons dangerous to the public safety without any further ' reason than 
the royal command. In the present instance, however, no one was conspiring 
against the State ; the only offense of those imprisoned was resistance to unparlia- 
mentary taxation. 



CONFLICT BETWEEN KING AND PEOPLE 457 

to send armies abroad. Some noble and influential peers supported 
them ; but the mass of the Upper House, consisting of scions of worn- 
out families and court parasites, counted for little. Before the open- 
ing of the session the chief men of the opposition had met and agreed 
to drop the proceedings against Buckingham until they had secured 
redress of recent and pressing grievances. In addition to the arbi- 
trary exactions and the imprisonment or impressment of those who 
had refused to pay, soldiers had been billeted on private houses, con- 
suming the goods and menacing the quiet and security of those who 
occupied them. Although there was peace in the country they 
were under the government of martial law, which was feared as a 
dangerous encroachment. The Commons agreed to grant five sub- 
sidies in return for the removal of these evils. Went worth, who 
thought it sufficient to define the law for the future without wrangling 
over the past, planned a bill providing that arbitrary taxation and 
imprisonment and billeting should henceforth be illegal. Charles 
refused to accept the bill or to give any security but his royal word 
that he would maintain his subjects in the freedom of their persons 
and the safety of their estates. 

The Petition of Right, 1628. — Thereupon, Coke proposed that they 
proceed by way of petition. 1 The Lords, after a vain effort to insert 
a clause assuring the King that they did not mean to encroach on his 
prerogative, joined the Commons in a measure which went beyond 
Wentworth's bill in enumerating past violations of the right of the 
subject and in condemning martial law. Charles, after trying to 
wriggle out with another vague promise, was at length obliged to give 
his formal assent, 7 June. 2 The Petition of Right, as it was called, 
provided that : (1) No man hereafter should be compelled to make or 
yield any gift, loan, benevolence, tax, or such like charge without 
common consent by act of Parliament ; (2) no freeman should be 
imprisoned or detained without cause shown ; (3) that soldiers should 
not be billeted in private homes ; (4) that commissions to punish 
soldiers by martial law should be revoked and no more issued. This 
Petition of Right, " the first statutory restriction on the power of the 
Crown since the accession of the Tudors," has always been regarded 
as one of the great landmarks in the progress of English popular 
liberty, ranking with Magna Carta, and with the later Bill of Rights. 
Nevertheless, it left more than one question unsettled. Indeed, 
no sooner had the King given his assent than the Commons proceeded 
with a remonstrance which they had already drawn up. In it they 
demanded the enforcement of the penal laws, denounced the High 
Church party, and again asked for the removal of Buckingham. 

1 With all the force of a statute, it had this advantage, that if accepted by the 
King and the Lords, it went into operation at once, while a statute had to wait until 
the end of the session before taking effect. 

2 The customary form of assent in the case of a statute was le roy le veult; in 
the case of a petition it was soit droit fait comme it est desire. 



458 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

When Charles found that they were drawing up a remonstrance on 
tonnage and poundage as well, he prorogued Parliament with " a sharp 
speech," 26 June, 1628. 

The Murder of Buckingham and the " Apostasy " of Wentworth, 
1628. — Less than two months had passed when, 23 August, Buck- 
ingham, while superintending the embarkation of a fleet at Ports- 
mouth, was stabbed by John Felton, who had served as a lieutenant 
on the recent expedition to Rhe. Brooding over personal wrongs — 
for he had been denied promotion and even arrears of pay — he had 
come to believe that it was his public duty to rid the country of one 
whom so many regarded as a tyrant and a villain. The crime, though 
received with general rejoicing, only embittered the King without 
doing any good. While he never again loved or trusted any one as 
he had the departed favorite, he turned to new councilors equally 
regardless of the popular will. The vacant place was gradually 
assumed by Wentworth, who had already in July passed over to the 
royalist party. In December he was made President of the Council 
of the North, in the following year he was admitted to the Privy 
Council, and he went on increasing in favor and influence until, at 
the time of his execution in 1641, he was the King's chief adviser. 
Wentworth has been accused of apostasy, though with scant justice. 
While he had, with rare courage and at great personal sacrifice, fought 
the King for years, it was because he was opposed to the Buckingham 
regime which ran counter to his ideals of peace abroad and efficient 
administration at home. An aristocrat by birth and temper he had 
no sympathy with Puritanism and parliamentary supremacy. Pos- 
sibly he may have felt some pique when the Commons preferred the 
counsels of Eliot and Coke to his own, but the Petition of Right and 
the Remonstrance went to lengths that he could not follow. There- 
fore he turned back. When Buckingham, the chief obstacle which 
had stood in his way, was removed, he welcomed the chance to put 
into practice the policies which he had long cherished. 

Tonnage and Poundage and Religious Innovations. — The Peti- 
tion of Right left two pressing questions unsettled. One concerned 
the royal right to levy tonnage and poundage without parliamentary 
grant, the other concerned religion. The King maintained that since 
Parliament had, in failing to grant him tonnage and poundage, departed 
from a long-recognized custom, he was entitled to collect it on his own 
authority. The Commons argued that by the Petition of Right he 
had yielded any right which he might have possessed. This he denied 
on the ground that tonnage and poundage was not included under 
" gift, loan, benevolence, or tax." Since a " tax " was then gener- 
ally understood to mean a direct tax, there seems to be little doubt 
that, technically, he was in the right. His case is further strengthened 
from the fact that the leaders who carried the Petition had decided 
to deal with it separately, and that they actually had a special ton- 
nage and poundage bill before them. Whatever legal rights Charles 



CONFLICT BETWEEN KING AND PEOPLE 459 

may have had, his attempts to enforce them were bitterly resisted. 
In reply he imprisoned some, and seized the goods of others who re- 
fused to pay, so that Richard Chambers was led to declare that in 
no part of the world, even in Turkey, were merchants so oppressed and 
wrung as they were in England. The religious issue had reached an 
equally acute stage. When his High Church supporters were sharply 
attacked, the King sought to shield them by pardons and promotions. 
Then, in November, 1628, he issued a Declaration x prohibiting further 
disputes on Church questions, and providing that all necessary 
changes, unless contrary to the laws and customs of the land, should 
be settled in Convocation with the royal approval. While the High 
Church writers as well as their opponents were thus silenced, the King's 
Declaration was received with great distrust and discontent, for it 
vested the control of ecclesiastical affairs for the future in a body 
dominated by the bishops, who were the creatures of the sovereign, 
rather than in Parliament, which voiced the popular will. 

The Eliot Resolutions, 1629. — When Charles' third Parliament 
met for its second session, 20 January, 1629, the Commons began a 
busy discussion of the religious differences and of the treatment of 
the merchants who refused to pay tonnage and poundage. Seeing 
that he was to get nothing but complaints, the King ordered them to 
adjourn. The news caused a tumult, and, when the Speaker sought 
to leave the chair, two members, Holies and Valentine, held him 
down by main force while Holies repeated from memory three reso- 
lutions which Eliot had drawn up. 2 They declared that : 

"Whosoever shall bring in innovations in religion, or by favor seek to 
extend or introduce Popery or Arminianism, or other opinions disagreeing 
from the true and orthodox Church, shall be reputed a capital enemy to 
this Kingdom and Commonwealth. 

" Whosoever shall counsel or advise the . . . levying of . . . tonnage 
and poundage, not being granted by Parliament, or shall be an actor or 
instrument therein, shall be likewise reputed an innovator in the Govern- 
ment and a capital enemy of this Kingdom and Commonwealth. 

" If any merchant, or other person whatsoever, shall voluntarily . . . 
pay . . . tonnage and poundage not being granted by Parliament, he shall 
likewise be reputed a betrayer of the liberty of England and an enemy to 
the same." 

While the King's officers were pounding at the door, the resolutions 
were carried. Then the excited throng who had pressed and shouted 
about the Speaker's chair left the House. Thus ended the last Parlia- 
ment which Charles was to hold for eleven years. 

The Significance of the Dissolution of 1629. — A crisis marking an 
inevitable breach had arisen. If the King could at pleasure interrupt 

1 It was prefixed to a new edition of the Thirty-nine Articles and is still con- 
tained ip. the English Book of Common Prayer. 

2 Eliot, despairing of their passage; had thrown them into the fire, probably to 
avoid having incriminating evidence in his possession. 



460 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

debate on public grievances, popular representation was an empty 
form. On the other hand, if his royal orders could be openly resisted, 
Charles Stuart had ceased to be King. The religious issue, too, had 
been sharply defined. The King, by his late Declaration, had reserved 
the settlement of Church affairs to a body under his own control ; now 
Parliament sought to assume a right which they denied to him. 
Eliot and eight other members concerned in the recent disturbances 
were arrested on an indefinite charge of sedition and contempt. An 
attempt on the part of some to obtain their release by habeas corpus 
was first evaded and then offered on terms which they could not 
accept. When finally brought to trial, the majority made submission. 
Eliot died in the Tower, 27 November, 1632. In his last illness the 
King refused him leave to go into the country for his health, and when 
he died, replied to his son's request with the brutal order : " Let Sir 
John Eliot be buried in the Church of that parish where he died." 
Holies escaped abroad ; but Valentine, and Strode, another of the 
eight, remained in prison till 1640. 

The Period of Personal Government, 1629-1640. —The Commons 
had failed in their effort to dictate to their sovereign, but Charles was 
determined never to call another representative assembly until his 
people had come to a better mind. During the eleven years that 
he governed without a Parliament he had an opportunity to do one 
of two things — ■ to establish a despotism on the basis of a standing 
army or to conciliate his subjects. He did neither. He took no 
measures to strengthen effectually the organs of central government, 
while by his inefficiency, his ill-advised measures, and his disregard 
of public opinion he forfeited the scant regard and respect which 
his subjects cherished for him at the beginning of the reign. The 
royal impolicy was manifested in diverse ways : in vacillation and 
duplicity in foreign relations ; in taking money from the people by 
methods inexpedient and of doubtful legality ; in allowing Laud and 
his party full scope to carry out a program which ran counter to 
the wishes of the majority ; in offending the moral sense of the graver 
sort by the license allowed at Court and by the harsh treatment meted 
out to those who protested ; in breaking down respect for the judi- 
ciary, the guardian of the laws ; and, finally, by a rash attempt to 
introduce episcopacy in Scotland. 

(1) Foreign Policy. — Buckingham's foreign policy had at least 
the merits of energy ; but even that disappeared with his death. In 
April, 1629, the war with France was ended by the peace of Susa. 
Hostilities with Spain were concluded by a treaty signed at Madrid 
in 1630. Then followed a series of futile negotiations with these two 
countries and with various Protestant powers. Charles aimed to 
recover the Palatinate and to assert the supremacy of England over 
the narrow seas ; but his untrustworthiness drew on him the contempt 
of the great continental leaders, while by his inaction he lost the 
chance of increasing his popularity at home and abroad. 



CONFLICT BETWEEN KING AND PEOPLE 461 

(2) Arbitrary Taxation. — The King's irregular methods of raising 
money, though bolstered up with a show of legality, proved one of 
the chief means of alienating his subjects. He continued to levy 
tonnage and poundage and impositions regardless of public feeling. 
The merchants grumbled a great deal, though, recognizing that a 
trade burdened with customs was better than no trade at all, they 
ceased to resist after the peace with Spain. But the war debts, the 
demands of a magnificent court, and the uneconomical administration 
made it necessary to resort to all sorts of devices to increase the 
revenue. One was the revival, in 1630, of distraint of knighthood, 
which required all freeholders of £40 a year to assume the dubious 
honor burdened with heavy obligations or else pay a fine. In 1634 
an attempt was made to resurvey the boundaries of the royal forests 
which had remained fixed since a great perambulation, or survey, in 
the reign of Edward I. The object was mainly to exact fines from 
those accused of encroachment. In three years only £23,000 was 
realized and at the cost of estranging a number of great landowners, 
the class most inclined toward the Crown. Equally perverse ingenuity 
was shown in the creation of new monopolies. Since the act of 1624 
had excepted corporations and trading companies from its prohibi- 
tions, licenses were granted to a number of such organizations for the 
manufacture of soap, 1 starch, beer, and other commodities. The 
extreme hatred of patentees was well voiced by a parliament man a 
few years later. He described them as a " nest of wasps, or swarm of 
vermin, which have overcrept the land," and, " like the frogs of Egypt, 
have got possession of our dwellings, and we have scarce a room free 
from them ; they sip in our cup, they dip in our dish, they sit by our 
fire ; we find them in the dye-vat, wash-bowl and powdering tub . . . 
they have marked and sealed us from head to foot." It should be 
borne in mind, however, that the decline in the value of money and a 
steady rise in prices was constantly decreasing the fixed revenues of 
the Crown. Moreover, the country was prosperous and the financial 
exactions fell on special classes best able to bear them. Nevertheless, 
discontent at the royal attempt to raise money independently of Par- 
liament became more widespread as the years went on until a crisis 
came in the year 1637. 

(3) Religion and Morals. The Laudian Policy. — Meantime, the 
differences about questions of religion and morals were reaching an 
acute stage. The King's chief agent in Church affairs, Archbishop 

1 A curious trial resulted from a challenge issued by the independent soap 
makers to the Soap Company. Two piles of soiled clothes were produced and two 
washerwomen were set to work before the lord mayor and aldermen of London, 
together with "other worshipful persons," who pronounced in favor of the Com- 
pany's soap. Also, testimonials were circulated signed by eighty persons, including 
peeresses and laundresses ; but in the end the company had to yield to its rival. 
Aside from being a monopoly, it was additionally unpopular from the fact that 
many of its number were Roman Catholics; its product was therefore called 
"popish soap." 



462 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

Laud, was doubly dangerous to the Puritans ; because by acquiring 
the leading voice in the Privy Council,- the headship of important 
committees and commissions, and the control of the courts of High 
Commission and Star Chamber, he gathered into his hands all the 
machinery, both ecclesiastical and temporal, for enforcing his drastic 
policy. His tireless industry and his mastery of detail made him a 
remarkable administrator. On the other hand, with his narrow, rigid 
views, his lack of imagination, his hot temper, and overbearing 
manners he was the very opposite of a statesman. He was fearless, 
honest, and absolutely unselfish in his devotion to duty. He was 
not bloodthirsty, for he put no one to death ; but he sanctioned 
cruel punishments. However, few advocates of mercy and toleration 
had yet dared to raise their voices. Those in higher places who spared 
opponents and offenders, did so mainly from good nature or indiffer- 
ence : qualities quite alien to the spirit of Laud. He was no respecter 
of persons : noble, husbandman, or artisan who resisted his system 
were dealt with alike. While this was commendable, he showed a 
fatal lack of discrimination in other respects. He restored church 
buildings whose original beauty had been marred by neglect, he cleared 
St. Paul's of tradesmen and lawyers who used the holy place for base 
traffic, he made war on corruption and religious sloth, but, at the same 
time, he persecuted men who, from sincere conviction, refused to par- 
ticipate in the ceremonies which he was laboring to extend throughout 
the land. Caring nothing for speculative opinions, he was not in- 
clined to inquire too strictly what people believed so long as they 
conformed. He strove for unity ; but his test was uniformity. 1 He 
had no aesthetic ideals ; love of beauty, pomp, and ceremony did not 
prompt him to revive ancient usages, but an overpowering feeling for 
order and prescribed rule. Where he found these lacking he con- 
cluded that there was no religion. Hence the Puritan, the indifferent, 
and the profane were alike in his eyes. He was determined to suppress 
every breath of hostile expression in the press, in the pulpit, the parish 
church, and the conventicle. 

A few examples will illustrate his methods and his tireless activity. 
Finding that many churches had special lecturers, usually employed 
by the municipal corporations, who preached to the congregation after 
the regular service, he did away with them by prohibiting any man 
from preaching who did not hold a regular living. Likewise, he 
provided that no one except noblemen should have private chaplains 
without special permission. He would brook no lay control and allow 
no one to have a share in religious teaching who was not subject to 
the established religious tests. One Henry Sherfield was fined £500 

1 "I labored nothing," he once wrote, "more than that the external worship of 
God — too much slighted in most parts of the Kingdom — might be preserved, 
and that with as much decency and uniformity as might be, being still of opinion 
that unity cannot long continue in the Church where uniformity is shut out at the 
church door." 



CONFLICT BETWEEN KING AND PEOPLE 463 

for smashing a church window that he thought idolatrous, not be- 
cause Laud did not agree with him, but because he had resisted his 
Bishop in the matter. 

The Metropolitical Visitations, 1634-1637. — In 1634, the year after 
he became Archbishop, he revived the old practice of metropolitical 
visitations, 1 and during the next three years he visited in person or 
by deputy every parish in every diocese in his province of Canterbury. 
Careful inquiries were made concerning the condition of church 
buildings and furniture, and concerning the character and orthodoxy 
of the clergy, whether they wore the prescribed vestments and fol- 
lowed the order of service in the Prayer Book, whether they allowed 
any of their congregation to attend conventicles. Much corruption, 
irreverence, and neglect were found. Many clergymen were pro- 
fane, abusive, and loose in their conduct. Men slouched into church 
with their hats on, or disturbed the service outside. Pigs were allowed 
in many places to root up the church yard. 2 A previous regulation 
had provided that the communion table should, when not in use, be 
placed where the altar stood, but during the ministration should be 
moved to the nave or the chancel. Nevertheless, it was usually left 
in the body of the church, with the result that men used it for a writ- 
ing table and left their hats or even sat upon it. Laud stopped all 
this by providing that it should be placed always altarwise in the 
east end of the church. While he did much good work, his failure to 
distinguish between the worthy and the unworthy stirred up a cu- 
riously general opposition. The loose-liver, proceeded against in the 
ecclesiastical courts, the country squire who resented the enhanced 
power of the parson, the lawyer who chafed against the increased 
jurisdiction of the Church tribunals, and the Courtiers who disliked the 
bishops usurping great offices of State were all aroused. 

The Puritan Sentiment and Current Morality. — On the other 
hand, the Puritan conscience was shocked at what they considered 
to be the high-handed encouragement of immorality. In 1618, in 
order to counteract the zeal of certain magistrates in Lancashire, 
James had issued a Declaration of Sports which authorized the con- 
tinuance of games on Sunday. There were three good reasons for 
this : to hinder the conversion to Catholicism of those who believed 
that innocent and lawful recreations were frowned upon by the Estab- 
lishment ; to prevent idleness and tippling ; and to encourage the sub- 
jects to strengthen their bodies for the more effective defense of the 
realm. In 1633, the Declaration, which had been promulgated in 
only one diocese, was published throughout the land, and ministers 
were ordered to read it from the pulpit under pain of suspension or 

1 So-called because he conducted them as Metropolitan of the Province. 

2 Lord Castleton's bailiff had torn the lead from the roof of the parish church 
and had melted it on the floor of the sacred edifice. When some ran through to 
the crypt below, he even burned a coffin with a body in it to recover what lead he 
had lost. 



464 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

deprivation. Then, in Somerset, it was the custom to celebrate the 
anniversary of the patron saints of churches on the Sunday following. 
These " wakes," as they were called, were frequently scenes of drunk- 
enness and disorder. When Chief Justice Richardson made an effort 
to stop this abuse he was forbidden to ride on the western circuit again. 
All this seemed to the Puritans nothing more than governmental sanc- 
tion of Sabbath breaking. 

The Censorship of the Press. — By a rigid censorship of the press 
and by the brutal punishment of those who evaded its restrictions, an 
attempt was made to check attacks on the existing system. Many 
of those suppressed or punished were violent and abusive in their 
language and unreasonable in their standards, but there was much to 
justify their protests, so that in silencing them, voices were stifled 
that cried for better things. The first sufferers, in spite of the cruel 
pains inflicted on them, attracted little attention. Among them 
was Alexander Leighton, a fiery and uneasy Scot. In his writings he 
had alluded to the Queen as a" Canaanite and an idolatress " and had 
attacked the bishops as " Knobs, wens and bunchy popish flesh," 
as " trumpery of anti-Christ " whom he counseled Parliament to 
smite under the fifth rib. In 1630 he was arrested, sentenced to pay 
a fine of £10,000, to have his ears cropped, be pilloried and whipped, 
and to remain in prison for life. Though part of the sentence was 
remitted he was only released from prison ten years later. In 1632 
William Prynne, a barrister of vast learning, but narrow-minded 
and contentious, denounced the theater in a work entitled, Histrio- 
mastix; a Scourge of Stage Players, and received as hard measure as 
Leighton. Continuing his jeremiads from prison, he was called to 
account again in 1637, together with two others, Henry Burton and 
John Bastwicke, chiefly for onslaughts on the episcopacy. Each 
was sentenced in the Star Chamber to pay a fine of £5000, to stand 
in the pillory, to lose his ears, and to be imprisoned. Since Prynne's 
ears were already cropped, the stumps were gleaned, and he was 
branded with the letters " S. L." x But whereas the former sentences 
had passed unnoticed, this time the sufferers were surrounded by a 
sympathetic, grieving multitude. Nevertheless, in company with 
John Lilburne, another tempestuous spirit, who was caught circulating 
Puritanical books, they had to languish in prison till 1640. 

Fear of the Revival of Roman Catholicism. — Another thing which 
contributed to alienate the subject was the widespread suspicion that 
the King and his advisers were on the road to Rome. Laud, as a 
matter of fact, regarded the Roman Church as a branch of the Catholic 
communion; but thought it was severed by errors and innovations 
from the truer traditions preserved in the Church of England. He 
may have looked forward to a time when the two might be again united, 
but, in his opinion, the time was not yet. Indeed, shortly after his 

x That is, "Seditious Libeller," but he interpreted them to mean "Scars of 
Laud." 



CONFLICT BETWEEN KING AND PEOPLE 465 

accession as Archbishop, he had refused a Cardinal's hat, declaring : 
" Something dwells within me which will not suffer me to accept . . . 
till Rome be other than it is." Charles, too, was stanchly orthodox ; 
but the Queen was a Catholic, and many of the court ladies were 
attracted by the gorgeous Roman ritual. Moreover, the King, in his 
desire to please Henrietta Maria, admitted papal legates and allowed 
concessions to worshipers of the old faith. A number of conversions 
resulted. Laud did all in his power to check the movement, but he 
was far from successful. Furthermore, since he personally preferred 
Romanists to Puritans and ruthlessly suppressed the latter, he was 
blamed for such Romeward tendency as there was. 

The Significance of the Religious Discontent. — The significance 
of the discontent aroused by the Laudian policy is difficult to realize 
in the present day when men have such varied interests, when they 
may think what they like, and worship where they please. In the 
early seventeenth century the mass of Englishmen, beyond the routine 
of their daily life, had almost no intellectual resource save religion. 
Their reading was confined to the Bible and a few devotional and theo- 
logical works. Their instruction in morals and philosophy came 
largely from the sermons in the parish church. There they were 
obliged to go and worship. When they were forced to participate in 
ceremonies which many of them regarded as idolatrous and to hear 
doctrines which their reason could not accept, it was inevitable that 
when the chance offered, their pent-up fury would burst forth with 
terrific consequences. 

For years, however, after the crisis of 1629, there was no open resist- 
ance. 1 The reason why it was so slow in coming lies on the surface. 
Since Parliament no longer met, there were no means of focusing and 
expressing public discontent. The press was muzzled. There were 
no public meetings, and, if any had been attempted, they would have 
been suppressed as seditious riots. There was no party organization 
and no adequate means of communication. Even gatherings at the 
tavern or alehouses or at the homes of the great merchants and gentry 
were dangerous, for they might be reported by spies. The fighting 
nobles who had once led the people against the Crown had been 
crushed under the Tudors, and the modern political agitators had not 
yet come to their own. So the bulk, even of the Puritans, conformed 
to the ecclesiastical regulations, either half-heartedly or sullenly; 
most of them meeting to worship and pray in secret. Others fled to 
America — no less than 20,000 it is estimated — ■ to develop in the 
New World religious and political ideas and practices which were stifled 
in the Old. The turn of the tide in England came in 1637. The 
first manifestation was the popular demonstration about the pillory 

1 Clarendon, the most famous of the contemporary historians, states that "after 
some short unquietness of the people . . . there quickly followed so excellent a 
composure throughout the whole Kingdom, that the like peace and tranquillity 
for ten years was never enjoyed by any nation." 



466 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

for Prynne and his fellow sufferers. In the same year came a burst 
of public excitement over the case of John Hampden and a rising in 
Scotland. All these formed "in an ascending scale of importance 
the first three steps of the popular movement which brought Charles 
to the scaffold." 

(4) Ship Money. Origin and Aim. — With the Puritans in a 
state of sullen rage against the Laudian system, with many other 
grievances crying to be redressed, Charles undertook to impose one 
more financial exaction. All his ingenious but ill-judged expedients 
had been unpopular. Ship money proved to be the most " famous 
and disastrous " in its consequences. It called forth the first notable 
resistance, and it convinced the mass of the subjects that they could 
not depend upon the judges to protect popular rights. In spite of 
Coke's brave stand they had remained generally subservient. In 
1627, on the question of habeas corpus, and again in 1629, in the case 
of Eliot and the other members, they had bowed to the royal will. 
They were still consulted beforehand, and those who showed the slight- 
est independence were dismissed. 1 There was no doubt that Charles 
was confronted by an urgent problem. The Dutch had grown to be 
the leading commercial power of Europe ; they carried more than 
half the goods to and from English ports, while their navy was the 
finest afloat. France, too, under the energetic Richelieu, was develop- 
ing a considerable sea power and was negotiating a treaty with the 
United Provinces for the partition of the Spanish Netherlands which 
lay between. In addition to the competition from the French and the 
Dutch, English shipping was gravely menaced by pirates from Algiers 
and Dunkirk, who scoured the Channel. Her merchant marine was 
in a deplorable state compared with the glorious days of Elizabeth, 
and the sovereignty of the seas, asserted by English monarchs since 
the first Edward, was in danger of becoming an empty boast. It was 
at this critical juncture that Charles proposed to the King of Spain 
that, in return for assistance in recovering the Palatinate, he would 
send out a fleet to maintain his supremacy in the Channel and protect 
Flanders. Though Philip received the project coldly the English 
King went ahead, and at the suggestion of his Attorney-General Noy, 
called on his subjects for ship money. With his characteristic want of 
frankness he concealed his designs against the French and Dutch, 
alleging merely that he aimed to clear the Channel of pirates. 

It was an old custom to call on the port towns and maritime counties 
for ships, while the levying of money instead, though very infrequent, 
was not unknown. Under the Tudors the practice had almost died 
out. In 1619 James had collected money from the ports to equip 
an expedition against Algiers, and in 1626 Charles raised a fleet in the 
same way. The first of the writs which he now issued, in October, 
1634, was confined to the port towns. Since the country was at 

1 This happened to Crewe in 1626 ; to Walter in 1629 ; to Heath in 1634. 



CONFLICT BETWEEN KING AND PEOPLE 467 

peace and since money and not ships were asked for, the suspicion 
arose that a new scheme of direct taxation independent of Parliament 
was intended. In spite of some grumbling, however, the levy was paid 
without resistance. As a matter of fact, during the summer of 1635, 
Charles actually sent out a fleet which did good service. On 4 August, 
a second writ was issued, calling for twice the amount of the first and 
including the inland towns and counties. Public opinion was so 
roused that Charles consulted the judges in December and obtained 
an opinion from ten out of twelve that: " When the Kingdom was 
in danger, whereof his Majesty was the only judge, the charge ought 
to be borne by the Kingdom in general." When a third and even a 
fourth levy followed in 1636 and 1637, it became evident that here 
was an opportunity for a permanent and general tax — "a spring 
and magazine that should have no bottom, and an everlasting supply 
for all occasions." Feeling surged higher and higher, and calls were 
even heard for a Parliament. Hoping to stem the tide, Charles had, 
in February, 1637, referred to the judges again. This time he man- 
aged to get a favorable opinion signed by all twelve. 1 

Hampden's Case, 1637. — Among those who refused to pay his assess- 
ment in 1635 was John Hampden, a wealthy Buckingham squire. 
Though it amounted to only 20 shillings, his case was made the test. 
The trial was opened in November, 1637, before the full bench of twelve 
judges, and judgment was rendered in the following June. Hamp- 
den's counsel argued that a long series of statutes ending with the Pe- 
tition of Right forbade the King to levy taxes without the consent of 
Parliament. One of the counsel, Holborne, even denied that the 
sovereign was the sole judge of danger. The other, St. John, while 
admitting that point, maintained that before embarking on an offen- 
sive war there was always time to summon Parliament, and that in 
case of invasion the subjects could be called upon to defend the realm. 
In the present instance there was no danger of invasion. Charles' 
side was presented in the arguments of the Attorney-General and the 
Solicitor-General and in the opinions of the judges who decided for 
him. They sought to show that ship money was not a tax, that there 
were precedents for money levies upon the whole land, and that the 
King was sole judge of danger by virtue of absolute and inherent 
right. 2 Chief Justice Finch of the Common Pleas went to extreme 
lengths in asserting that the law gave the King the duty of defending 
the country, and, in consequence, the right of levying money for 
that purpose. "Acts of Parliament to take away his royal power in 
the defense of his Kingdom are void," he declared; " they are void 

1 The two who had held out before acquiesced only because they were persuaded 
that it was customary for the minority to yield. 

2 Justice Berkeley boldly asserted that : "The law is of itself an old and trusty 
servant of the King's ; it is his instrument or means which he useth to govern his 
people by. I never heard or read that lex was Rex; but it is common and most 
true that Rex is lex." 



468 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

Acts of Parliament to bind the King not to command the subjects, 
their persons and goods, and I say their money too, for no Acts of 
Parliament make any difference." According to Finch, the battle 
which Parliament had been waging for centuries to secure the power 
of the purse had been fought in vain. The sovereign, by the simple 
assertion that the kingdom was in danger, could impose whatever 
taxes he chose. Three of the judges were bold enough to declare that 
it was contrary to the law to levy any charges without consent of 
Parliament, though in time of danger the King could press every man 
and ship in the realm. Two others decided for Hampden on tech- 
nical grounds. Seven decided against him. For nearly four years 
ship money continued a legal source of revenue and was occasionally 
collected. The constitutional and political results of the Hampden 
case were momentous. It was evident that the judges would not 
protect the liberties of the subject, and that some of them at least had 
scant regard for what Parliament had gained in the past. With depend- 
ence on established law thus shaken the way was opened for revo- 
lution. Hampden became the hero of the hour. " The eyes of all 
men were fixed on him as their Patrice Pater, and the pilot who must 
steer the vessel through the tempests and storms that threatened it." 

(5) The Outbreak in Scotland. — The outbreak in Scotland which 
also began in the memorable year 1637, was fraught with two notable 
consequences. It forced the King to call another Parliament, thus 
giving his English subjects a chance for concerted action, which 
culminated in civil war. Furthermore, it threw the Scotch on the 
parliamentary side, a fact which contributed appreciably to Charles' 
ultimate defeat. James, who boasted that " he knew the stomach " 
of his Scotch subjects, had been very cautious in his policy. To be 
sure, he had restored episcopacy, but in a modified form. He had 
established a Court of High Commission, and had sought to reduce the 
powers of the General Assembly ; but he had left the Kirk Sessions 
practically undisturbed. Only once, in the Five Articles of Perth, 
1618, — the most important of which provided that the communion 
should be received kneeling, — did he interfere in worship and cere- 
mony. It was Charles and Laud who brought on the crisis. The 
Catholic marriage aroused the suspicion of the Scots at the very be- 
ginning of the reign, and every act which followed deepened their 
distrust. The King refused to annul the Five Articles; he made 
arrangements with regard to Crown and Church lands and titles, 
which, although not without justification, alienated the nobility, 
and he proceeded to fill important offices of State with bishops. 

The King's Journey to Scotland. The New Liturgy and Canons. — 
In 1633 the King, accompanied by Laud, visited Scotland, where he 
was crowned with great display, though the coldness of his demeanor 
made an extremely unfavorable impression. Shocked at the lack of 
propriety in outward religious observance, which was due partly to 
conviction and partly to poverty, he determined to introduce far- 



CONFLICT BETWEEN KING AND PEOPLE 469 

reaching changes. Accordingly, on his return to England he launched 
a series of high-handed measures. In October, 1634, he set up a new 
Court of High Commission with greatly extended powers. In May, 
1635, he gave his assent to a new Book of Canons, 1 which were pub- 
lished the following year. Drawn up without ever being referred to 
the General Assembly or Parliament, they declared the King absolute 
head of the Church. He also authorized a new Service Book which was 
sent down to Scotland in May, 1637. " Laud's Liturgy " or the 
" Popish-English-Scottish-Mass-Service-Book," as it was called, was 
unsparingly denounced; because its ceremonies smelled of the mass; 
because it followed the English model ; and because it was imposed by 
royal authority. 2 

The Resistance against the New Service. The Scottish National 
Covenant. — The first attempt to read the new service was made 
23 August, 1637, at St. Giles', Edinburgh. The two Scotch arch- 
bishops, the bishops, the lords of the Council, and other magnates 
were assembled " to give solemnity to the occasion." But directly 
the Dean started to read, there arose " such an uncouth noise and 
hubbub in the church that not any one could hear or be heard." 
Women were particularly active in the tumult which followed. One 
" she zealot," hearing a gentleman reading the responses behind her, 
turned round with the cry : " Traitor, dost thou say mass at my ear ? " 
and slapped him across the face with her Bible. Archbishop Spottis- 
woode, who tried to quell the uproar, was driven home with stones and 
abuse. The riot at St. Giles' represented the sentiment thoughout 
the country. Charles was flooded with supplications from all classes 
— nobles, gentry, ministers, and burghers — begging that the hated 
liturgy be suppressed ; but he was deaf to all appeals. In November 
the four classes chose a group of four committees, or " Tables," to 
represent their cause. They demanded the recall of the liturgy and 
the removal of the bishops from the Scotch Privy Council. There- 
upon, Charles issued a proclamation declaring all meetings and suppli- 
cations treasonable. The Scotch leaders, by way of reply, caused a 
bond or agreement to be drawn up, February, 1638. This " National 
Covenant " pledged the signers to renounce all errors and innovations 
of the Church of Rome and to take an oath for the defense of the Crown 
and true religion. These two contradictory principles of devotion to 
Presbyterianism and of loyalty to the King played a curious part in 
the struggles to follow. Often the Scots were in arms against him ; 
but only, they insisted, in defense of their religion. In March, the 
Covenant was presented for signature in the church of Grey friars, 
Edinburgh ; but such a vast crowd thronged to subscribe that it was 
taken and laid on a tombstone outside. Almost everywhere through- 
out Scotland it was signed with equal enthusiasm. Where enthusiasm 

1 I.e. a body of rules for governing the Church. 

2 It was drawn up by the Scotch bishops in consultation with Laud and the 
King. 



47 o A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

was lacking, persuasion and threats even were employed to secure sig- 
natures. 

Futile Negotiations and Preparations for War. — In order to stem 
the rising tide, the Marquis of Hamilton was appointed royal commis- 
sioner in Scotland. It was agreed that a free Assembly and a free 
Parliament should meet and Charles even professed his willingness to 
revoke the Court of High Commission and to recall the canons and 
liturgy. But he refused to accept the Covenant. He insisted, also, 
that the Assembly should consist solely of clergymen, including bishops, 
while the Scots were determined to exclude the latter and to admit 
laymen. In defiance of the royal wishes, an Assembly, constituted 
after the Scotch plan, met at Glasgow, 21 November, 1638. Paying 
no attention to Hamilton's order to dissolve, they deposed the bishops, 
nullified the canons, the liturgy, and the Five Articles, and abolished 
the High Commission Court. Charles, who had only promised such con- 
cessions as he offered in order to gain time, had, by the spring of 1639, 
completed an elaborate plan for invading Scotland by land and sea, 
and for combining with it a rising of his supporters in the Highlands. 
However, he had no funds, and his subjects, fearing that a victory on 
his part would further endanger their liberties and strengthen the 
Laudian tyranny more firmly, contributed grudgingly. For troops 
he had only the trained bands and a few pressed men, raw, undisci- 
plined, and with no enthusiasm except to get home safely. Of the 
30,000 on which he had counted he managed to raise only a third. 
His generals were men of no military experience or capacity. The 
Scots, on the other hand, were fired by a tremendous zeal, and were 
drilled by veterans schooled in the continental wars. Their com- 
mander, Alexander Leslie, later Earl of Leven, had been trained under 
Gustavus Adolphus, the greatest captain of the age. 

The First Bishops' War, 1639. — Each side issued manifestoes jus- 
tifying its own cause. Events proved that the issue was to be de- 
cided on the Border, whither Charles and Leslie hurried their respec- 
tive forces. The diversions which the English King had planned in 
various parts of the country came to nothing. Early in June, 1639, 
Leslie took up a position just north of the Border. Charles in the 
meantime had posted his forces south of the Tweed near Berwick. 
When the armies were thus brought face to face, neither wished to 
fight. For Charles it meant certain defeat, while the Scots feared 
the consequences of a victory which might arouse the national pride of 
Englishmen to rally to the support of the King. It is said that only 
one man was killed, and he by accident, in the whole war. With 
both sides ready to come to terms, the Pacification of Berwick was 
easily arranged. The Scots agreed to disband, while Charles agreed 
to leave the ecclesiastical questions in dispute to a General Assembly 
and the civil questions to a free Parliament. The Assembly met at 
Edinburgh, 12 August, and, without mentioning the Glasgow Assembly, 
sanctioned all its acts, replacing the Episcopal by the Presbyterian sys- 



CONFLICT BETWEEN KING AND PEOPLE 471 

tem. Furthermore, it imposed the Covenant upon the whole nation. 
Charles, again merely to gain time, ratified all their measures. How- 
ever, when the Scotch Estates, which met 31 August, proceeded also 
to confirm the acts, the Royal Commissioner refused to give his assent 
and ordered a dissolution. Charles supported him in his action, 
so the Estates met again, 2 June, 1640, on their own authority and 
prepared to resume the war. 

Wentworth in Ireland. His recall to England as the King's Chief 
Minister. — Charles, too, had been making ready to renew hostilities. 
His chief adviser was Thomas Wentworth, whom he recalled from 
Ireland in September, 1639. Wentworth had served there as Lord 
Deputy since 1633. He had ruled with a strong hand and greatly im- 
proved the material conditions of the country. He had suppressed 
piracy, protected trade, and encouraged the flax culture in the north. 
He had developed a well-disciplined army. He had been successful 
in managing Parliament and using it as a source of supplies. Also, 
he had endeavored to reform the Church in order to employ it as an 
intellectual and moral instrument against the ascendancy of Rome. 
Yet he had only accentuated the bitterness of the subject people. 
He had to contend against the religious prejudice and anti-English 
feeling of the natives and the greed of the English officials and colo- 
nists. Then he was harsh, impatient of opposition, and high-handed 
in his methods. In order to keep Ireland to some degree dependent 
on England, he discouraged the wool manufacture and kept salt as 
government monopoly. One of his policies is indefensible. In the 
Province of Connaught certain landowners had never registered their 
titles, but Charles, some years before Wentworth's arrival, had agreed 
that sixty years' possession would bar all claims. Regardless of his 
master's promise, the Lord Deputy, who designed to plant English 
colonists in the Province, sought by means of packed juries to evict 
even the proprietor whose holdings antedated the term stipulated. 
When the jurors of Galway refused to obey his will, they were punished 
and their verdict set aside. Other events prevented him from es- 
tablishing the plantation, but the attempt was a blot on his career. 
On the whole, he carried out in Ireland the rule of " thorough " which 
he and Laud in their correspondence advocated for England. 

The Short Parliament, 13 April to 5 May, 1640. — In January, 
1640, Wentworth was promoted to the higher dignity of Lord Lieu- 
tenant of Ireland and created Earl of Strafford. Influenced by his 
success with the Irish Parliament, he advised Charles to call an English 
Parliament. It might grant the supplies needed to put down the 
Scots ; its refusal would give the King an excuse to act on his own au- 
thority. When the session opened, 13 April, all of the leading oppo- 
nents of the royal policy were present. Although far from extreme in 
their attitude, they were determined upon redress of grievances, while 
the King insisted that a grant of supplies should come first. John 
Pym, a veteran who had sat in every Parliament since 1614 and who 



472 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

from the leadership which he now assumed came to be known as 
" King Pym," opened with a stirring speech. In a masterly survey 
of the events of the session of 1629 and of the period of personal rule 
which followed, he summed up the popular complaints under three 
heads : breaches of parliamentary privilege ; innovations in religion ; 
and invasions of private property. Committees were appointed to 
consider each of these subjects. Instigated by the King, the Lords 
suggested passing at once to the question of supply ; but when the 
Lower House resented this, they at once disclaimed any intention 
of interfering with the undoubted right of the Commons to initiate 
money bills. After an attempted negotiation for the abandonment 
of ship money in return for a large grant had failed, Charles, finding 
that there was little chance of getting any money without conces- 
sions which he was unwilling to make, and that the opposition leaders 
were treating with the Scots, ordered a dissolution, 5 May. Although 
the Short Parliament sat only three weeks and did not pass a single 
measure, its work was " as memorable as that of any Parliament " 
in English history. It brought the chiefs of the people together and 
gave them an opportunity to discuss and formulate the popular dis- 
content against the Crown. 

Devices for raising Money after the Short Parliament. — ■ Convoca- 
tion continued to sit and further embittered the anti-High Church 
sentiment by granting six subsidies and by passing canons which 
proclaimed the divine right of kings and bishops, and proposed a 
new oath to defend the existing Establishment. Strafford, in the 
Council, held that, since Parliament had refused to vote the required 
supplies, the King was " loosed and absolved from all rules of govern- 
ment." His violence and arbitrariness knew no bounds. He pro- 
posed that an army should be raised in Ireland to assist in reducing 
the stubborn Scots. Hampden, he declared, should be " well whipped 
into his right senses," for going to law about ship money. When the 
city refused a loan, he proposed that some of the aldermen be hanged 
as examples. All sorts of expedients were tried to raise funds. Ship 
money and its military equivalent, " coat and conduct " money for 
the equipment and transport of troops, were levied. Futile attempts 
were made to raise loans from Spain and the Pope. A proposal to 
debase the currency, known as " the abominable project of brass 
money " 1 came to nothing. It was even suggested that a mass of 
bullion which had been sent over from other countries to be coined 
should be appropriated as a loan. This desperate scheme was only 
abandoned when the Merchants Adventurers advanced £40,000 to save 
English credit abroad. Also, the Government very improvidently 
bought from the East India Company a large consignment of pepper on 
credit and sold it for cash at a lower figure than the payment agreed 
upon. All these expedients were as unproductive as they were un- 

J The proposed coins were to bear a Latin inscription from the 68th Psalm: 
"Let God arise and let his enemies be scattered." 



CONFLICT BETWEEN KING AND PEOPLE 473 

popular. Insulting placards were posted in London and a mob at- 
tacked the palace of the Archbishop. 

The Second Bishops' War, 1640. — On 23 August, Charles joined 
his army at York. It consisted mainly of pressed men, ill-equipped, 
discontented, Puritan in sentiment, and violently suspicious of its 
officers, many of whom were reputed Romanists. The Scots, having 
issued a manifesto declaring that they were merely seeking their 
rights, that they were, in full sympathy with the English, and that 
they would not take so much as a chicken or a pot of ale without paying 
for it, crossed the Border, brushed the King's forces aside, and occupied 
the two counties of Durham and Northumberland. In the face of 
the crisis Charles was forced to consent to summon another Parlia- 
ment. Before it assembled he called a Great Council of the Peers — 
the first of the sort since the reign of Edward III — to meet him, 
24 September, at York. His aim was to obtain advice and financial 
aid. They guaranteed a large loan and opened negotiations with 
the Scots at Ripon. It was finally agreed that the invaders should 
remain in possession of Durham and Northumberland and receive 
£850 a day until a definite peace was signed. Thence the negotiations 
were transferred to London, where they were concluded the following 
August. On 28 October, 1640, the Great Council was dissolved and a 
few days later Parliament met. 

FOR ADDITIONAL READING 

Narrative. Montague, Political History, chs. VI-X. Trevelyan, England under 
the Stuarts, chs. V, VI. Cambridge Modern History (1906), IV, ch. VIII (bibliog- 
raphy, pp. 884 ff.). Gardiner, History of England, chs. V-IX. Ranke, History of 
England, I, bk. V, chs. VI-IX, II, bk. VI, VII. Lingard, VII, chs. IV, V. 

Constitutional. Taylor, Origin and Growth, II, bk. V, ch. II, sees. 1-6. Taswell- 
Langmead, ch. XIII. Hallam, I, ch. VII ; II, ch. VIII. Gardiner, Constitutional Docu- 
ments of the Puritan Revolution (1899), introduction pp. i-xxxii ; a good summary. 

Special. Seeley, British Policy, I, pt. II, chs. IV, VI. G. P. Gooch, English 
Democratic Ideas in the Seventeenth Century (1898). See also ch. XXVII above. 

Biography. P. Gibbs, George Villiers, First Duke of Buckingham (1908); rather 
gossipy. I. A. Taylor, The Life of Queen Henrietta Maria (1905). Macaulay, 
essay on Hampden. Goldwin Smith, Three English Statesmen (1868), Pym and 
Cromwell. H. D. Traill, Strafford (1889). W. H. Hutton, Laud (1895). D. Masson, 
The Life of John Milton (6 vols., 1859-1880) chs. I, II; every other chapter is de- 
voted to the general history of the times. 

Contemporary. Clarendon, History of the Great Rebellion (best ed. W. D. Macray, 
6 vols., 1886) ; a literary and historical classic, but must be read with caution, owing 
to the inaccuracies and prejudices of the author. Lucy Hutchinson, Memoirs of the 
Life of Colonel Hutchinson (best ed. C. H. Firth, 2 vols., 1885) ; a rather idealized pic- 
ture of the highest type of Puritan gentleman. Peter Heylyn, Cyprianus Anglicanus 
(1668) ; a life of Laud by an avowed admirer. 

Church. W. H. Hutton, History of the English Church from the Accession of Charles 
I to the Death of Anne (1903), chs. I- VII. 

Scotland and Ireland. P. H. Brown, Scotland, II, bk. VI, ch. III. Cambridge 
Modern History, IV, chs. XVII, XVIII (bibliography, pp. 909-918). 

Selections from the sources. Adams and Stephens, nos. 189-194. Gardiner, 
Documents, nos. 1-25. 



CHAPTER XXIX 

FROM THE OPENING OF THE LONG PARLIAMENT TO THE OUT- 
BREAK OF THE CIVIL WAR (1640-1642) 

The Opening of the Long Parliament. Temper and Aims. — The 

body which assembled, 3 November, 1640, came to be known as the 
Long Parliament. The years through which it was destined to sit 
were perhaps the most eventful in English history ; they were marked 
by a civil war ; by the execution of a king ; and by the setting up of a 
short-lived republic, the only republic that England has had. For an 
interval of six years the Long Parliament was in abeyance ; but toward 
the close of 1659 it was revived, and helped to prepare the way for 
the restoration of the monarchy and the Church, which came the fol- 
lowing year. 

While most of the men who had found seats in the Short Parlia- 
ment were reelected in the autumn of 1640, the temper both of the 
members and of those who returned them had changed. Convinced 
by the events of the intervening months that Charles and his council- 
ors were conspiring to crush their religious and civil liberties and to 
introduce Roman Catholicism, they now determined not only to 
remove existing grievances, but to " pull up the causes of them by 
the roots." Even yet, however, their intentions were not revolution- 
ary. They designed merely to make it impossible for the King to 
govern without a Parliament ; to do away with his arbitrary power 
of taxing and administering justice ; to safeguard Protestantism ; 
and to punish the evil advisers whom they blamed for leading the 
King astray. In other words, they sought to restore the form of 
constitution which had existed under the Lancastrians — substan- 
tially that of the present day. If they could have agreed upon their 
ecclesiastical as generally as they agreed upon their political pro- 
gram, and if they had been able to trust the King to observe the 
concessions which they wrung from him in the first months of the 
session, the war and its extreme consequences might have been averted. 
But a split came on the religious question ; one party wanted to abolish 
Episcopacy outright, the other party wanted only to modify it. The 
inevitable conflict encouraged the shifty King to start intriguing 
again in order to recover what he had yielded, and convinced the 
extremists that there was no hope of peace and safety until Charles 
Stuart had ceased to live. 

474 



THE OPENING OF THE LONG PARLIAMENT 475 

The Opposition Leaders in the Commons. John Pym (1584 1643). 
■ — The party chiefs who had succeeded Eliot and his fellows differed 
from their predecessors in organizing a great popular movement out- 
side the walls of Parliament. For years they had been meeting and 
maturing their plans in the country houses of wealthy peers and com- 
moners. When the Short Parliament revealed the temper of the 
nation they began to act. They entered into negotiations with the 
Scots, they organized the petition for a new Parliament, and, during 
the autumn elections, they rode about the country, influencing voters 
to choose Puritan representatives. Until his death in December, 1643, 
the leading spirit in the popular opposition was John Pym. Accord- 
ing to the contemporary historian Clarendon, " No man had more to 
answer for the miseries of the kingdom, or had his hand or head deeper 
in their contrivances." Added to unusual abilities as a debater and 
parliamentary tactician, developed by training in six successive Houses, 
he had rare gifts of popular management. According to his theory, 
Parliament was the chief element in the constitutional life of the nation. 
" The powers of Parliament," he declared in a speech in 1640, " are 
to the body politic as the rational faculties of the soul to man." Of 
the two Houses the lower was, in his opinion, the one that should 
carry the essential weight, while the rights of the people transcended 
both. 1 He held that whenever the sovereign set himself against the 
popular will his act amounted to a temporary abdication, during 
which time the executive passed to Parliament as the representative 
of the people. He never was a republican, though, had he lived, 
events might have made him such. With regard to the Church, 
he was as opposed to Presbyterian as to Episcopal control, and gave 
his support to a measure for transferring the powers of the bishops 
whom he regarded as agents of royal despotism, to parliamentary lay 
commissioners. 

John Hampden (1504-1643). Pym's closest associate and sup- 
porter was John Hampden. A country gentleman of wealth, who 
had been educated at Oxford and the Inns of Court, he had ranged 
himself in the opposition ranks from his entry into Parliament in 1620. 
He was among the eighty who were imprisoned for refusing to pay the 
forced loan ; but it was the Ship Money Case which first made him a 
central figure in the struggles against the Crown. When he was 
killed in battle in 1643, his loss is said to have caused as much con- 
sternation to the Puritan party " as if their whole army had been de- 
feated," while the Royalists regarded it as " a great deliverance to the 
nation." Hampden's influence was due as much to his high rank and 
to his character as to his abilities. He was absolutely fearless, free 
from private ambition, and possessed of a wonderful ascendancy over 
men. From the few rough notes of his speeches that survive, it is clear 
that he was no orator ; but his words were always to the point and 

1 As early as 1629 he stated in a speech to the Commons, "The Liberties of this 
House are inferior to the Liberties of this Kingdom." 



476 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

carried great weight. Like Pym, he sought to bring about a recon- 
ciliation with Charles and his people rather than to do away with 
monarchy. Yet he was eager to punish the evil councilors at Court 
and gradually became an advocate of a " root and branch " extirpa- 
tion of Episcopacy. Pym and Hampden were the centers of a small 
group, forming the " engine which moved all the rest." 

Cromwell and Vane. — Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658), who had 
entered the House of Commons in 1628, represented Cambridge in 
the Short and Long Parliaments. As yet he was notable chiefly 
for his religious zeal and his advocacy of Puritan liberty of preaching. 
The fact, however, that he was a cousin both of Hampden and St. John 
brought him into intimate relation with the opposition chiefs : he 
soon became active on committees, and " very much hearkened unto." 
" Very ordinarily apparelled . . . his countenance swollen and reddish, 
his voice sharp and untuneable," and fervid in utterance, he was a 
man of power rather than charm. Sir Harry Vane (1613-1662), 
whom Milton described as " young in years, but in sage council old," 
had already, as a youth of twenty-four, been Governor of Massachusetts. 
He had ability, industry, and great powers of leadership. Almost 
a fanatic in his enthusiasm, he was an extreme liberal in politics and 
an Independent in religion, having, according to Clarendon, " swal- 
lowed some of the fancies and extravagancies of every sect." 

The Constitutional Royalists. — Lucius Cary (1610-1643), Viscount 
Falkland in the Scotch peerage, was a gentle nature who represented 
the philosophical and literary liberalism of the time. His house at 
Great Tew, near Oxford, was for a brief period the intellectual center 
of England. In his search for freedom from spiritual tyranny he 
came to fear the Presbyterian ascendancy more than the Laudian 
and went over to the royal side. When his hopes were again dis- 
appointed, he sought and found death in the battle of Newbury, 20 
September, 1643. Edward Hyde (1609-16 74), later Earl of Claren- 
don, was one of the most active in securing the political reforms of the 
first session of the Long Parliament ; but he was too much attached 
to the Church and the prerogative to go further, so, as the tendencies 
of the extremists in Church and State became more and more evident, 
he also joined the King's party and became the leader of the Con- 
stitutional Royalists. His History of the Great Rebellion, written mostly 
during his subsequent exile, is, in spite of its prejudices and errors of 
fact, the great historical classic of the period. 

The Puritan Peers. — There was a small but staunch body of Puri- 
tan leaders among the peers, a few of whom belonged to the little circle 
dominated by Pym and Hampden. Chief among them were the Earls 
of Essex, Manchester, Warwick, and Bedford, Viscount Saye and 
Sele, and Lord Brooke. Robert Devereux, third Earl of Essex, 
(1 591-1646), a son of Elizabeth's favorite, was the first husband of 
Frances Howard. He had been vice-admiral of the Cadiz expedi- 
tion, and, though already opposed to Charles' policy in Church and 



THE OPENING OF THE LONG PARLIAMENT 477 

State, had served as second in command in the first Bishops' War. 
In the Short Parliament he ranged himself definitely in the ranks of 
the opposition. When the Civil War broke out, he was chosen com- 
mander-in-chief of the Parliamentary army, but, while actuated by a 
high sense of duty, he lacked assertiveness, his abilities were too slen- 
der for the difficult situation, and he had soon to make way for a 
leader of more robust fiber. Edward Montagu, second Earl of Man- 
chester (1602-1671), was " a sweet meek man " who had much the 
same fate. An acknowledged leader of the Puritan popular party in 
the House of Lords, he was made commander of the army of the Asso- 
ciation of the Eastern Counties after the war broke out. He was 
charged by Cromwell with neglect and mismanagement in prosecut- 
ing hostilities, and also forced into retirement. Warwick did good 
service as Lord High Admiral during the coming struggle. 

The Strength of the Long Parliament. — Charles could not dismiss 
this Parliament nor could he resist its measures ; for it was absolutely 
necessary for him to obtain a grant, either to pay off the Scottish 
invaders or to raise another army to resist them. London, freed 
from the restraint which had so long checked all demonstrations of 
anti-royalist and anti-episcopal expression, became the center of 
stirring activity — " the workshop of the revolution." Pamphlets 
on religion and politics, and fervid sermons contributed to spread 
radical ideas and to rouse men to carry them into effect ; sects multi- 
plied ; while mobs of howling apprentices and even of once sober 
tradesmen menaced the Court at Whitehall and fanned the zeal of 
Parliament at Westminister. As an act of tardy justice the victims of 
the Star Chamber prosecutions, Prynne, Burton, Bastwicke, Leighton, 
and Lilburne, were released and welcomed in the City with every mani- 
festation of joy. Parliament, with the Scotch and London citizens 
to back it, went valiantly to work. Its labors during the few months of 
its first session group themselves under three main heads: (1) pro- 
ceedings against the King's councilors ; (2) curtailing the royal powers 
of arbitrary taxation and administration of justice ; (3) attempts at 
religious reform. 

(1) Impeachment of Strafford and Other Councilors. — Parliament 
had sat just a week when Strafford, " the dark-browed apostate," 
whom the Commons regarded as the King's evil genius and their own 
most dangerous enemy, was impeached and placed in custody. His 
idea had been to remain at York and to train the motley royal forces 
into an army which might be used against the popular party in case of 
need; but Charles, promising that he should " not suffer in person, 
honor, or fortune," summoned him to London. He obeyed, with 
gloomy forebodings. In order to anticipate his enemies in the Com- 
mons, he planned to arrest the leaders on a charge of plotting with 
Scotch rebels. However, led by the adroit and energetic Pym, they 
were able to strike first. Other impeachments followed in swift suc- 
cession. Some escaped, but Laud, " too old and brave to fly," was 



47 8 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

lodged in the Tower, whence he was taken four years later to the block. 
The charges against Strafford which the Commons sent to the House 
of Lords declared, in substance : that he had traitorously endeavored 
to subvert the laws of England and Ireland and to introduce arbitrary 
and tyrannical government ; that he had advised the King to reduce 
his subjects in Scotland and England by force of arms ; and that he 
had tried to enlist " papists " in support of his political schemes. 
" Three whole kingdoms were his accusers and eagerly sought in one 
death a recompense of all their sufferings." 

The Trial of Strafford. — The trial began 22 March, 1641, in West- 
minster Hall, which was crowded with spectators. The throne had 
been prepared for the King, but he sat apart in a box with Queen Hen- 
rietta Maria. While it was easy to prove the accused Minister guilty 
of tyranny and contempt of the law, it was not possible to substantiate 
the charge of treason. According to the existing law, that was an 
offense that could be committed only against the King, and the King 
had approved of all that Strafford had done. Pym, to be sure, had 
an ingenious argument. He asserted that Strafford's many arbitrary 
acts, by tending to put the King above the law, really amounted to 
treason, because they alienated his subjects and thus were in effect 
directed against the royal authority. Nevertheless, the underlying 
charge was treason against the nation — a new offense which had 
never been recognized by statute. As the trial drew to a close, the 
managers tried to introduce as evidence some rough notes of a speech 
which Strafford had made in the secret Council in the previous summer, 
advising the King to employ an Irish army to reduce " this kingdom." 
They had been taken by the elder Vane, one of the royal Secretaries, 
and found by the young Sir Harry in his father's study. The Lords, 
however, refused to accept new evidence unless the Earl were allowed 
a similar privilege. Even had the notes been admitted, there were 
at least three difficulties in employing them as a proof of treason. In 
the first place, the law required two witnesses, and Vane was the only 
one who would testify as to what Strafford had said in the Council 
meeting. Secondly, there was no certainty from the notes as to what 
was meant by " this kingdom." If it was Scotland, there was no 
treason in advocating the employment of an Irish army ; for the Scots 
were in armed rebellion against their sovereign. Finally, even if 
England was meant, the advice, however gravely it menaced the 
liberty of subject, did not legally amount to treason. 

A Bill of Attainder substituted for the Impeachment. — At length, 
fearing that the accused might escape after all, some of those most bent 
on his destruction proposed that a bill of attainder be substituted for 
the impeachment. St. John voiced the hatred of the extremists when 
he said : " We give law to hares and deer because they be beasts of 
chase, it was never accounted either cruelty or foul play to knock foxes 
and wolves on the head as they can be found, because they be beasts 
of prey." Even the moderate Essex was moved to declare grimly that 



THE OPENING OF THE LONG PARLIAMENT 479 

" stone dead hath no fellow." Though opposed at first by Pym and 
Hampden, the bill of attainder passed the Commons, 21 April, 1641. 
Charles did everything in his power to block the further progress of 
the measure : he offered to dismiss the Earl, and even to give his con- 
sent to any punishment short of the death penalty. But the mob 
which surged about Westminster demanded the head of " Black Tom 
the Tyrant," while subjects of all classes, lords, commons, clergy, 
and the citizens of London, combined in the signature of a protestation 
for the defense of Protestantism, the privileges of Parliament, and the 
liberties of the people. Strafford's fate was sealed by the discovery of a 
plot, in which the Queen rashly engaged, to bring the army down from 
York to overawe Parliament. In consequence of a dispute which 
arose between two factions of the royalist supporters, this " first 
army plot " was betrayed to the popular leaders. Pym seized a 
fitting moment to disclose the information, and the Lords, who had 
hitherto hesitated, voted the attainder, 8 May. Charles withheld his 
signature as long as he could, but, pressed by deputations from both 
houses and menaced by the armed and excited throng, he was obliged 
to sacrifice his Minister whom he had promised to protect. " If 
my own person only were in danger," he declared, " I would venture it 
all to save Lord Strafford's life ; but seeing my wife and children, 
and all my kingdom are concerned in it, I am forced to give way . . . 
my Lord Strafford's condition," he added, " is more happy than mine." 
When the condemned Minister heard the decision, he exclaimed : 
" Put not your trust in princes nor in the sons of men, for in them is 
no salvation." On 12 May, receiving Laud's benediction as he 
passed, he proceeded dauntlessly and haughtily to his execution on 
Tower Hill. He had served the King faithfully and he was put to 
death without warrant of law ; but he was a dangerous man who, 
had he been allowed to live, would have worked to destroy the lib- 
erties of the people and the lives of their leaders. If they had dis- 
regarded the law, he had set them the example. 

(2) Remedial Legislation. — Meantime Parliament had taken 
steps to curtail the King's arbitrary powers. In December, 1640, 
monopolies had been denounced and an order passed debarring mem- 
bers concerned in them from sitting in the Lower House. On 16 Feb- 
ruary, a Triennial Bill became law, providing that henceforth Parlia- 
ment should meet at least once in three years. In case the King re- 
fused to call a meeting within that interval, the Lord Chancellor and 
the sheriffs were authorized to exercise the right of summons, while, 
as a last resort, the peers might assemble and the freeholders might 
proceed to a general election without any summons at all. This 
measure, designed to prevent such long interparliamentary intervals 
as had occurred under James and Charles, was not without precedent ; 
for statutes of Edward III, though obsolete at this time, had provided 
for annual parliaments. Another measure — designed to prevent 
for the future the summary methods which Charles had employed to 



480 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

block Buckingham's impeachment and Eliot's resolutions — pro- 
vided that Parliament should not be dissolved without its own consent. 
This was the only really revolutionary measure of the whole session. 
The King gave his assent, n May, the same day that he agreed to 
Strafford's attainder. Secured against interference with its work, 
Parliament proceeded to deal with taxation and the extraordinary 
courts. 

Acts curtailing the Royal Power of Taxation and the Extraordinary 
Courts. — On 22 June, 1641, a statute was passed granting tonnage 
and poundage for two months ; but providing that thenceforth " no 
subsidy, custom, impost, or other charge whatsoever " should be im- 
posed except by consent of Parliament on merchandise imported or 
exported. This was followed, 5 July, by an act abolishing the Star 
Chamber, the Council of Wales and the Marches, the Council of 
the North, and other special courts. The High Commission was 
done away with by an act which became law the same day. In 
August, ship money, the enlargement of the forests, and the exaction 
of knighthood fines were all declared illegal. This series of measures, 
preventing the King from governing without Parliament and depriving 
him of his arbitrary powers of raising money and administering justice, 
furnished a constitutional arrangement satisfactory to the popular 
party, but failed because Charles, in spite of his promises, refused to 
accept without a struggle the limitations thus imposed upon his sov- 
ereignty. He tried all manner of devices to recover the ground he had 
lost : he agreed to a new army plot ; he corresponded with agents of 
the Pope ; and he sought to raise a party in Scotland. His wife was 
fertile in suggesting expedients as rash as they were futile, while in- 
creasing dissension over the Church question offered him the hope of 
strengthening his party at the expense of his opponents. 

(3) Differences arising over the Attempt to Settle the Church 
Question. — Of the parties opposed to the existing Church of England 
it seemed for a time as if the Presbyterians would prevail. The Scotch 
commissioners for completing the treaty of peace brought with them 
to London a number of preachers who at first received a favorable 
hearing, partly because they denounced " his little Grace of Canter- 
bury," and partly because the Long Parliament needed the support of 
their army. But the hotness of their proselyting zeal and the expense 
of maintaining the Scotch forces gradually made them unpopular 
with one section of the English popular party. Throughout that party 
there was a general desire for a parliamentary regulation of the Church 
as well as the State, and for doing away with the Laudian innovations. 
Sharp differences of opinion, however, arose over the nature and extent 
of the changes to be undertaken. There were many who demanded 
the abolition of Episcopacy and the Book of Common Prayer. Others, 
while hating Laud and his party, would have been content to see 
bishops of a more protestant temper and somewhat modified powers in 
their place, and to see certain alterations in the Prayer Book. Among 



THE OPENING OF THE LONG PARLIAMENT 481. 

the extremists, or " root and branch " men, there were at least three 
groups : the parliamentary majority led by Pym wanted a Puritan 
State church, not tolerating dissent either of Anglicans or Anabaptists, 
but controlled by parliamentary lay commissioners in place of bishops ; 
a second group, made up of a few divines backed by the Scots, clamored 
for a Presbyterian establishment ; a third party, led by the London 
Independents, strove for congregational control of doctrine and 
worship. 

The "Root and Branch Petition." — On 11 December, 1640, "a 
world of honest citizens in their best apparel " came to the House of 
Commons " in a very modest way " with a petition containing 15,000 
names, for the abolition of Episcopacy ' ' with all its roots and branches. ' ' 
The matter was debated long and earnestly in the Commons, but did 
not get beyond the committee stage, while the Lords threw out a bill 
to remove bishops from their House. They also rejected on a second 
reading a more moderate bill on Church reform which was sent up to 
them from the Lower House. Moreover, in reply to a resolution of 
the Commons, of 1 September, providing for the abolition of certain 
specified ecclesiastical innovations, they passed one of their own, 
declaring that the services of the Church should be performed as 
appointed by act of Parliament and that those who disturbed the 
existing order should be punished. 

The Second Army Plot and the "Incident." — These differences 
gave Charles " a majority in the Lords and a large minority in the 
Commons " ; but instead of fostering the moderate party he allowed 
himself to be drawn into two wild and wholly irreconcilable schemes. 
One was to go to Scotland to attach to himself a party that was form- 
ing against the extreme Covenanters. The invitation came from the 
Earl of Montrose, who had recently come over to the King's side. 
At the same time, under the baneful influence of the Queen, Charles 
hopefully welcomed another attempt to bring the Yorkshire army to 
London. The second army plot, which proved more futile than the 
first, served only to strengthen the suspicion against the King. He 
started for Scotland 10 August, 1641, concealing his real purpose under 
the pretext that he was going to complete arrangements for the treaty 
of peace. While there, a plot was hatched by the Earl of Crawford to 
seize Argyle, Hamilton, 1 and other convenanting leaders. It was 
once thought that the " Incident," as this mad fiasco was called, was 
the work of Montrose, and that Charles was privy to it. While that 
is not true, it amounted to the same thing, for men believed it. 

The Ulster Rebellion, 1641. — In the autumn of 1641 the news of 
a terrible rebellion in Ulster reached England. All the ancient Irish 
hatred, fostered by the Elizabethan conquest, by James' planta- 
tion of Ulster, and Strafford's attempted spoliation of Connaught, 
burst into flame now that the Earl was no longer there to check it. 

1 "Very active in his own preservation," he had recently left the royal for the 
popular party. 



482 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

Moreover, encouraged by a prospect of Catholic concessions from ths 
King, they were determined not to submit to the ascendancy of an 
ultra-Protestant Parliament. Throughout the year 1641 the Irish 
were busy shaping their plans. They failed in an attempt to take 
Dublin, but the wild and ignorant peasantry, whom the leaders 
could not or would not control, threw themselves on their enemies 
with barbarous cruelty. It is estimated that 5000 were massacred out- 
right, and that twice as many more perished from starvation, exposure, 
fright, and other causes. Rumor exaggerated the victims to fabulous 
numbers, ranging from 40,000 to 300,000. The English were horrified 
and alarmed. They attributed the outburst, not to oppression and 
extortion, but the savagery of the Irish worked on by the teachings 
of the Church of Rome. Parliament and the people saw the need of 
recruiting a large army to deal with the situation, but the leaders 
feared to trust unreservedly any considerable force to the King, be- 
cause it would give him just the weapon he needed to recover his 
power. So Pym carried a motion that Charles should either " choose 
those councilors ministers as should receive parliamentary approval" 
or Parliament would raise an army subject to its own control. This 
demand alienated many who had hitherto inclined to the popular 
side. The result was to precipitate the passage of the Grand Remon- 
strance, pushed through by Pym and his followers as a means of ap- 
pealing to the people in a more detailed and formal manner than they 
had yet done. 

The Grand Remonstrance, 1641. — During the first week after the 
opening of the Long Parliament a motion had been introduced to 
draw up such a remonstrance to the King "as should be a faithful and 
lively representation of the state of the kingdom." It was August, 
however, before the proposal was adopted, and the discussion might 
have dragged on interminably if the Irish Rebellion had not brought 
the matter to a head. The Remonstrance was read in the Commons, 
8 November; on the 2 2d it was finally discussed and passed by a 
vote of 159 to 148 ; 1 December it was presented to the King, and two 
weeks later it was ordered to be printed. Although addressed to 
the Crown, the Grand Remonstrance was, in reality as well as in 
intention, an " appeal to the nation," a statement of the case of the 
Commons against the King. It consists of a preamble and 204 num- 
bered clauses. They trace in considerable detail the King's mis- 
government, from his accession to the meeting of the Long Parlia- 
ment ; they describe the condition in which the Commons had found 
the nation at the opening of the session, the abuses which they had 
abolished, the reforms which they had prepared and effected, the 
obstacles they had met with from " evil councilors and slanderers," 
from army plots, Irish rebellion, and so on ; they explain and defend 
the scheme of the church reform of the parliamentary leaders ; and 
they outline the other remedial measures demanded: the establish- 
ment of safeguards against Roman Catholicism, of securities for the 




IRELAND 

SINCE THE 

ACCESSION OF THE STUARTS 

SCALE OF ENGLISH MILES 
2U 40 60 80 100 



9 Longitude 8 Weat 7 from 6 Greenwich 5 



BORtUV 4 C0.,EN6B'».H,Y, 



THE OPENING OF THE LONG PARLIAMENT 483 

better administration of justice, and the choice of such ministers as 
Parliament might have cause to confide in. An accompanying peti- 
tion presented the existing situation, and indicated in a general way 
what the framers desired in return for loyally aiding the King against 
the Irish. 

Its Significance. — The document is of the deepest significance 
in connection with the events leading up to the Civil War. It pre- 
sents a condensed but adequate history of the reign from the stand- 
point of the parliamentary opposition ; it is a clear, concise statement 
of the case of the popular party, and, finally, it caused a breach in 
the opposition ranks resulting in the formation of the party of Con- 
stitutional Royalists who encouraged the King to continue the struggle. 
Hyde, their leader and organizer, refused for a time to accept office 
under the King, and remained in the Commons until May, 1642 ; 
but only because he thought he could better serve the royal interests 
in that way. The earlier clauses denouncing past misgovernment 
were not opposed. The fight began over the recommendations for 
Church reform and waxed bitter over the question of printing, which 
meant submitting the whole matter to the people. Members shouted, 
waved their hats, and even drew their swords. 1 During the factional 
fights which followed, the names " Cavalier " and " Roundhead " 
first came to be employed. 

The Attempted Arrest of the Five Members. — Charles returned 
from Scotland late in November, 1641. Deceived by the splendor 
of his reception in the City and encouraged by the split in the parlia- 
mentary ranks, he not only returned an unsatisfactory answer to the 
petition, but sharpened the issue by various ill-advised acts. On 
3 January, in order to avert a rumored impeachment of the Queen, 
and at the same time to rid himself of his most dangerous opponents, 
he ordered the Attorney-General to impeach five members of the House 
of Commons, including Pym and Hampden. 2 They were charged with 
subverting the fundamental laws of England, inviting a foreign 
power to invade the kingdom, stirring up tumults, and levying war 
against the King. Egged on by his wife, Charles went the next day 
with an armed force to seize them in person. He entered the Chapel 
of St. Stephen, 3 accompanied only by his nephew the young Elector 
Palatine ; but through the open door could be seen eighty of his 
attendants who had crowded into the lobby. The accused members, 
warned of his intention, had fled by boat to the City. When Charles 
asked if they were in the House, Speaker Lenthall humbly evaded the 

1 Cromwell is reported to have said : "If the Remonstrance had been rejected, I 
would have sold all I had the next morning and never seen England any more ; 
and I know there were many other honest men of the same resolution." 

2 This was a most irregular proceeding, for impeachments had hitherto never 
originated except in the Lower House. The name of one peer was afterward 
added : Viscount Mandeville, sometimes known as Lord Kimbolton. 

3 The meeting place of the Commons in Westminster Hall. 



484 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

question with the memorable words : " May it please your Majesty, 
I have neither eyes to see nor tongue to speak but as the House is 
pleased to direct me, whose servant I am here." Charles answered: 
" Well, I see all the birds are flown," and adding that he was seeking 
traitors, but never intended any force, he went away pursued by 
cries of " Privilege ! privilege ! " The incident was regarded as one 
of tremendous import. If the leaders who had secured the recent 
political concessions and who were striving for a more satisfactory 
religious settlement were to be treated as traitors, and if the sacred 
precincts of the Commons could be invaded by the sovereign with 
an armed force at his heels, there was little hope of any safeguarding 
the liberties of the subject in a peaceful parliamentary way. 

The Struggle for the Control of the Kingdom. — Five days after 
his failure to arrest the members Charles withdrew from London with 
his family. He was never again to enter his capital except as a 
prisoner. On 13 February, 1642, a month after his departure, he 
gave his assent to two important measures: one, the Clerical Dis- 
abilities Act, depriving the clergy of their temporal jurisdiction and 
the bishops of their seats in the House of Lords ; the other, the Im- 
pressment Act, authorizing the pressing of soldiers for service in 
Ireland. The next six months were occupied in a struggle between 
Parliament and the King for the control of arsenals, fortresses, 
militia, and other military resources of the kingdom. Parliament 
saw no other way to guarantee the political and religious liberties 
of the people, while the King realized that he could only maintain 
his sovereignty by frustrating their efforts. When he was advised to 
yield the command of the militia, at least for a time, he burst out : 
" By God, not for an hour. You have asked that of me in this that 
was never asked of a King, and with which I will not trust my wife 
and children." Sir John Hotham, acting under parliamentary 
orders, managed to seize Hull, the greatest magazine in the country, 
and, 23 April, when the King sought to enter, he was refused admission. 

The Opening of the War, 22 August, 1642. — Parliament, 2 June, 
sent him Nineteen Propositions embodying their final demands. 
These included : parliamentary control of the army, of appointments 
to important political and judicial offices, of the guardianship and 
marriage of the King's children ; the suppression of Roman Catholicism; 
and the reform of the government and liturgy of the Church as Parlia- 
ment should advise. Charles refused to accept these terms. Had he 
done so he would have ceased to be King. So, aided by supplies from 
the Queen who had escaped abroad and pawned the crown jewels in 
Holland, he hastened preparations for war. Parliament did the like : 
they chose a committee of both Houses to provide for the safety of 
the kingdom ; they voted an army and appointed the Earl of Essex 
Captain-General. All this, they declared, was for " the safety of 
the King's person ; the defense of both Houses of Parliament, and those 
who have obeyed their orders and commands ; and the preservation 



THE OPENING OF THE LONG PARLIAMENT 485 

of the true religion, laws, liberties, and peace of the kingdom." 
Further futile negotiations followed. Then Charles marched south 
toward London from York, where his headquarters were. On 22 
August, 1642, he raised his standard at Nottingham and the Civil 
War was begun. 

FOR ADDITIONAL READING 

Narrative. Montague, Political History, chs. XI, XII. Trevelyan, England 
under the Stuarts, ch. VII. Cambridge Modern History, IV, ch. IX. Gardiner, 
History of England, IX, X; Lingard, VII, ch. VI; Ranke, II, bk. VIII. 

Constitutional. Taylor, Origin and Growth, II, bk. V, ch. II, sec. 8. Hallam, II, 
ch. IX. Taswell-Langmead, ch, XIV. Gardiner, Documents, introduction, pp. 
xxxii-xliii. 

Special. H. L. Schoolcraft, The Genesis of the Grand Remonstrance (1902) ; an 
excellent study. John Forster, The Grand Remonstrance (i860), and The Arrest 
of the Five Members (i860). See also chs. XXVII, XXVIII above. 

For Biography, Church, Scotland, and Ireland see also chs. XXVII, XXVIII 
above. J. A. R. Marriott, Life and Times of Lucius Cary, Viscount of Falkland 
(1907). John Stoughton, History of Religion in England (6 vols., 1881), I; from the 
Nonconformist standpoint. 

Selections from the sources. Adams and Stephens, nos. 195-206; Gardiner, 
Documents, nos. 26-56. 



CHAPTER XXX 

FROM THE OUTBREAK OF THE CIVIL WAR TO THE EXECUTION 
OF CHARLES I (1642-1649) 

The Aim of the Popular Leaders in the Civil War. — Even now that 
the issue was joined, the guiding aim of the parliamentary leaders was 
still merely so to restrict the powers of the Crown that the people 
they represented might be secure in their civil and religious liberties. 
The war which followed, and the resulting execution of the King, 
came from a final realization of the fact that Charles would not submit 
to any considerable loss of his powers, and that he was conspiring 
in every possible way to recover the ground which he had been forced 
to yield. The events of the past year had marked a decided advance 
in the parliamentary demands. Barring the settlement of the re- 
ligious situation, the great mass of the members in the autumn of 
1 64 1 had been satisfied with depriving the King of the extraordinary 
judicial powers acquired since the accession of the Tudors ; with 
securing control of the supplies ; with guaranteeing frequent sessions 
and the duration of the existing body until its work was done. By 
June, 1642, they found it necessary to demand safeguards against 
Episcopacy and Roman Catholicism, and control of the military, 
judicial, and administrative machinery of the government. Curiously 
enough, Parliament, when it raised an army to fight the King, pro- 
fessed to be levying war in his name to secure him against his evil 
advisers. 1 While during the struggle Episcopacy and monarchy were 
temporarily overthrown, it was only as a means to an end — to 
preserve Protestantism and the law. The Puritan Revolution dif- 
fered from many of the great upheavals of history in that it was not 
aimed against wealth and class privileges. It was directed by pros- 
perous, high-souled gentlemen whose subjects were ideal and not 
material. Unworthy men and unworthy motives played a part in 
the struggle; there was some self-interest and much bigotry and in- 
tolerance, but the heart of the movement was sound and wholesome. 

The Numbers and Grouping of the Combatants. — The zealous 
fighters on either side, however, were in a small minority. The 
total number in arms was about two and one half per cent of the pop- 
ulation. The bulk of those engaged on one side or the other were 

1 Essex was directed in his commission "to rescue* his Majesty's person . . . 
out of the hands of those desperate persons that were about him." 

486 



THE PERIOD OF THE CIVIL WAR 487 

forced into activity because they were preached against, plundered, or 
heavily taxed. 1 Many who had resisted the King in his encroach- 
ments against their liberties and property hesitated to draw their 
swords against him when the fatal moment for decision came. Fear 
of anarchy and dread of Puritan supremacy weighed heavily with 
numbers of them. Another powerful check was a deep-rooted in- 
stinct of loyalty. It is said that the motto, " Fear God, honour the 
King," adorned the walls of many a manor house and was an ingrained, 
inherited tradition, stronger in the minds of a goodly proportion of 
sterling country gentlemen than their love of Protestantism and 
liberty. Such men leavened the mass of " alehouse rabble," the 
roisterers and the frivolous whose course was determined by their 
hatred of Puritan austerity. The nobles generally took the King's 
side, though enough, like Essex, Mandeville, Warwick, and Brooke, 
fought against him " to make rebellion respectable." ? Others 
oscillated or " warily distributed their family to both sides." While 
the majority of the gentry also stood by the King, a considerable 
minority were to be found in the parliamentary ranks. Of the small 
freeholders or yeomen the greater part of the east and midlands were 
Parliament men ; the royalist following among this class was strongest 
in the west. As a general rule, the trading classes in the towns were 
strong for Parliament. The laboring classes were mostly indifferent, 
only fighting when they were pressed, or when it was necessary to 
defend their poor homes and their goods and chattels. The Anglican 
clergy were stanch in their royalism, as were the universities, more 
especially Oxford, which was, during the greater portion of the war, 
the King's headquarters. Most of the great Catholic families also 
threw in their lot with the Crown. 3 

Territorial Distribution of Parliamentarians and Royalists. — The 
north, the west, and the extreme southwest, the strongholds of royalism, 
were largely agricultural and pastoral, economically backward and 
under the control of landed magnates. The most productive agri- 
cultural regions and the bulk of the commerce and manufactures were 
in the south and east, the centers of advanced religious and political 
sentiment. Roughly, a line from Hull to Southampton separated 
the royal from the parliamentary districts, though ports and marts 
of trade like Bristol, Gloucester, and Plymouth in the royalist country 
were for Parliament. The resources of men and money were very 

1 One of the moderates well expressed the sentiments of the vast majority: "I 
would not have the King trample on the Parliament, nor the people lessen him so 
much as to make a way for the people to rule us all." Hobbes, the famous phi- 
losopher, stated that : " If the King had money, he might have had soldiers enough, 
for there were very few of the common people that cared much for either of the 
causes, but would have taken either side for pay or plunder." 

2 It is estimated that in the House of Lords 80 were royalist, 20 were neutral, 
and 30 for Parliament. 

3 The Marquis of Worcester, who had an income of £24,000 a year, lent Charles, 
it is said, £120,000. 



4 88 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

unequally distributed. The parliamentary territory contained about 
six sevenths of the whole population, and, to judge from the ship 
money assessments, possessed at least three quarters of the wealth 
of the entire country. Here the rich and populous London, an in- 
calculable source of strength, was situated. 

Royal Attempts to secure Alliances Abroad. — But although there 
were general lines of cleavage socially and territorially " the war was 
not one of classes or districts but of ideas." Outside England, 
Charles sought aid in various directions ; but with ill success. In 
attempting to ally himself with the Irish Catholics he lost more than 
he gained, because of the opposition which he excited among his 
English subjects. In Scotland, Montrose led the wild Highland clans 
valiantly but vainly in his cause. The Queen was tireless in her 
intrigues with continental powers. The House of Orange, which 
was allied to the English royal family by marriage, sent some help, 
but could not do much, in view of the opposition of the States General. 
In France, Louis XIII, Henrietta's brother, died in May, 1643, and 
Mazarin, who became Chief Minister, 1 preferred to see England weaken 
herself by continued strife, while, furthermore, he had his hands full 
with the Parliament of Paris and a body of disaffected nobles. To the 
Pope and Spain one heretic was as good as another, so they refused 
to listen to the entreaties of Henrietta so long as Charles continued 
a Protestant. 

Revenues of the Two Parties. — The navy declared for Parliament. 
The hated ship money had contributed somewhat to restore it to the 
state from which it had declined since the glorious days of Elizabeth, 
but the sailors, pressed into service against their will and inade- 
quately clothed and fed, had no sense of loyalty to the King. In 
the hands of his opponents the navy was a powerful weapon ; for 
it enabled them to collect customs from the ports, and to prevent 
such aid from abroad as the lukewarm powers might be inclined to 
send. Also the King could not blockade and so subdue London and 
the great ports by stifling their commerce. Aside from the customs, 
Parliament collected the King's taxes and the rents from the royal 
estates in the districts which they controlled. But they derived 
the bulk of their revenue from two new forms of taxation — 
an excise, or inland revenue duty; and a direct levy on lands and 
goods, known as the " monthly assessment," because it was ap- 
portioned in the various counties each month. Charles, for his part, 
had to subsist largely on plunder and gifts from his devoted followers. 
Having little ready money and able to collect only a portion of their 
normal rents, most of them were sooner or later reduced to melting 
their plate and sacrificing their jewels. 

The Two Armies. — Parliament directed their side of the war 
through a Committee of Safety until 1643, when they united with 

1 Richelieu had died in December, 1642. 



THE PERIOD OF THE CIVIL WAR 489 

the Scotch. Thenceforth, Scotch representatives were admitted, 
and the name was changed to the Committee of Both Kingdoms. The 
government was carried on by means of ordinances which — without 
the assent of the King and, later on, even without that of the Upper 
House — had all the force of statutes. There was no standing army 
or professional soldiery : the forces consisted of volunteers, pressed 
men, and country militia or " trained bands." Most of the county 
magazines where the arms and armor had been kept since the time of 
James I were seized by Parliament, which also held possession of 
those at Hull and the Tower of London, the two greatest in the king- 
dom. Of the various forces, the least serviceable — with the notable 
exception of those from London — were the trained bands. Men who 
could afford it had always evaded the obligations, while furthermore, 
since they were changed at every muster, they were always raw and 
inexperienced. Then, too, they were unwilling to march outside 
their own counties. The best service was rendered by volunteer 
forces raised by private persons for the King or Parliament. In some 
cases, groups of counties banded together to put an army into the field. 
The most famous of these was the Eastern Association l whose levies 
rendered notable service. It. was as commander of horse in the army 
of the Eastern Association that Cromwell developed his famous 
regiment of " Ironsides," which became the nucleus of the victorious 
New Model Army. 

At first the parliamentary party suffered from the lack of a com- 
petent commander : indeed, most of their earlier generals were chosen 
because of their social position rather than their military capacity. 
The King was head of the royal forces ; but he was slow and irresolute, 
while Henrietta Maria, who was constantly spurring him on, was 
headstrong and lacking in balance. The earlier commanders-in- 
chief who acted under him were mere figureheads. His nephew 
Rupert, who began as commander of horse and became general in 
chief toward the close of the war, was a dashing cavalry leader, but 
utterly without caution and restraint. At the opening of the struggle 
both sides made the mistake of underrating their opponents. The 
Parliamentarians saw in the King's men a body of mincing courtiers 
and profane swaggerers, while the royalists contemned their enemies 
as shopkeepers and clodhoppers. Cromwell, however, after the first 
real encounter at Edgehill, recognized the mistake his side was making, 
and said to Hampden with shrewd penetration: " Your troops are, 
most of them, old decayed serving men and tapsters, and such kind 
of fellows, and their troops are gentlemen's sons, younger men and 
persons of quality ; do you think that the spirits of such base and mean 
fellows will ever be able to encounter gentlemen that have honor and 
courage and resolution in them? You must get men of a spirit, and, 
take it not ill what I say . . . of a spirit that will go on as far as the 
gentlemen will go or you will be beaten still." 

1 Consisting of the counties of Norfolk, Essex, Cambridge, Suffolk, and Hertford. 



49 o A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

In those days, when enclosures and fences were less common than 
they came to be later, cavalry had freer play, and they formed the 
most important arm of the service. Here the royalists had the initial 
advantage, for the gentry were used to riding, hunting, and martial 
exercises, and exacted implicit obedience from the tenantry who 
served under them. The infantry were about double the number 
of cavalry. Though, in general, they played a subordinate role, it 
was the destruction of Charles' foot soldiers at Marston Moor and 
Naseby which lost him the north and the south successively. Their 
weapons were supposed to be the pike and the musket, but many had 
nothing but pitchforks and cudgels, while a few appeared with the 
primitive bow and arrow. The parliamentary artillery, greatly 
developed by Cromwell, proved very effective in reducing royalist 
strongholds after the King had been overcome. In the beginning 
there was no approach to a regular uniform. Regiments appeared 
in red, blue, green, or white, according to the taste of the colonel who 
raised them : sometimes the livery of his servants was adopted. 
In the New Model, red, which was the favorite color among the troops 
of the Eastern Association, finally prevailed. Distinguishing badges 
were often worn ; for instance, some of the Roundheads wore orange 
scarfs throughout the war. Sometimes a device was assumed for 
a particular battle. At Newbury the Roundheads wore green twigs, 
at Marston Moor white handkerchiefs, or pieces of paper in their 
hats. More frequently battle cries were employed, such as " God 
with you," on one side ; " Have at you for the King," on the other. 

The Plan of War. — In the early stages of the war neither side had 
any consistently executed plan of campaign. Charles' main aim 
was to recover London, while Parliament at first aimed merely to 
gain as much territory as possible, and, to that end, its armies wan- 
dered aimlessly about the country. It was only after the rise of 
Fairfax and Cromwell and the reorganization of the parliamentary 
forces into the New Model that a definite plan was adopted — the 
defeat of the King in battle and the capture of his person. Want 
of money, lack of discipline, and absence of enthusiasm on the part 
of the rank and file hampered both sides, and numberless petty 
engagements resulted which exhausted their energies and obscured 
the larger features of the struggle. 

The Campaign of 1642. — From Nottingham Charles marched 
west to recruit his slender forces and supplies. Essex followed him 
slowly. Suddenly the King turned back, with his pursuer hard on 
his heels, and made for London. At Edgehill, in Warwickshire, the 
first serious encounter of the war took place, 23 October, 1642. The 
result was a drawn battle. Rupert easily rode down the opposing 
cavalry ; but, since he was unable to keep his horsemen in hand, 
the infantry of Essex were able to defeat those of the King before he 
could get back. The chief consequence of the engagement was to 
convince Cromwell that his party could accomplish nothing with 




6URMAY 4 CO., IHiiHi 3. N.y. 



THE PERIOD OF THE CIVIL WAR 491 

such a miscellaneous lot. Thereupon, he went off to the eastern 
counties to organize his famous troop. Essex pressed on to London, 
while Charles established himself at Oxford, which he made his head- 
quarters during the remainder of the war. Before the close of the 
year he made one more vain attempt to reach the capital ; but his 
failure was counterbalanced by the success of royalist forces in the 
southwest and the north. The peace party which had been active 
since the outbreak of hostilities finally succeeded in opening negotia- 
tions with the King, 1 February, 1643. These negotiations, known as 
the " Treaty * of Oxford," dragged on till 14 April, 1643. The terms 
— total abolition of Episcopacy ; settlement of Church government 
on a basis determined by Parliament in consultation with an assembly 
of divines ; parliamentary control of the army and navy, and the 
handing over of the royal supporters 2 to Parliament — were such 
as Charles could not accept while he could maintain an army in 
the field. This was the last attempt to arrange a peace for two 
years. 

The Campaign of 1643. — The royalists in the campaign of 1643 
again made London the objective point. They planned to approach 
and surround the City from three directions. The Earl of New- 
castle was to force his way from Yorkshire through the hostile eastern 
counties and take up a position on the north bank of the Thames. 
Sir Ralph Hopton with the men of Devon and Cornwall was to march 
through the southern counties, occupy Kent, and thus threaten 
the City from that direction. Charles, with the Oxford army, re- 
cruited from Wales and the west midlands, was to approach between 
them and complete the line of investment. But this w r ell-de vised 
plan, in spite of some preliminary successes, was frustrated mainly 
by the narrow fears and selfishness of the local levies and the parlia- 
mentary control of the ports. The Yorkshiremen would not move 
from home while Hull remained in the hands of the enemy ; the men 
of the south were of the same mind about Plymouth, and Charles 
found it impossible to lead his forces from the west until he had made 
an attempt to reduce Gloucester, which commanded the navigation 
of the Severn. 

Newcastle's Failure in the Eastern Counties. Cromwell's " Iron- 
sides." — During the spring and early summer Newcastle with his 
" northern papist army " won for Charles practically the whole land 
from the Scotch border to the Humber, except Hull. Then he led 
his unwilling forces into the counties of the Eastern Association, 3 
a district which, because of its wealth and tough Puritan stock, formed 
the backbone of the parliamentary cause. Here Cromwell was labor- 
ing to organize a force of men of real ideals, strengthened by effective 

1 In those days the terms "treaty" and "negotiations" were synonymous. 

2 Called "delinquents" by the Parliamentarians. 

3 The original five were increased by the addition of Huntington, in May, and 
Lincolnshire in September. 



49 2 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

drill, and held together by adequate and regular pay. His famous 
regiment of horse — later known as the " Ironsides " — which was his 
particular creation, is almost unique in the history of warfare. It 
consisted of men of substance, largely freeholders. Their leader 
accepted none but " those who had the fear of God before them and 
made some conscience of what they did," yet so long as they were 
Protestants who were not " prelatists, 1 he did not care what their 
sect might be. Terrible against the enemy, they studiously refrained 
from plunder and all manner of cruelty toward non-combatants. 
With all the fire and dash of Rupert's men they had a stability and 
a restraint which their opponents lacked. Cromwell not only com- 
manded their respect by his military ability and his political and re- 
ligious principles, but won their warm affection by his " familiar 
rustic carriage," his love of merriment, and fondness for rough games. 
The new regiment first showed its strength by repulsing Newcastle 
in a cavalry skirmish at Gainsborough, 25 July, 1643. Though it 
was obliged to retreat when the latter's whole army came up, the 
reluctant temper of his forces obliged him to turn back. After 
a brief and unsuccessful siege of Hull he retired to York. Meantime, 
Parliament had sent Manchester into the Associated Counties with 
a commission to raise 10,000 foot and 5000 horse to be paid for out 
of the national taxes. 

The Failure of the Royalists from the South and West to reach 
London. — In the west Hopton succeeded in overrunning Devon, 
Wiltshire, and Dorset ; he captured Taunton, Bristol, and Exeter, and 
13 July, 1643, he cut to pieces, at Roundway Down, a parliamentary 
army under Sir William Waller. However, since Plymouth, supported 
by a parliamentary fleet, held out persistently, the Cornishmen re- 
fused to march to Kent. In the west Essex, whose army was steadily 
wasted by sickness and desertion, conducted a desultory and in- 
effective campaign centering about Oxford. In one of Rupert's 
numerous cavalry raids occurred the skirmish of Chalgrove Field, 
18 June, where Hampden was mortally wounded. In spite of the in- 
eptitude of the parliamentarians the royalist forces would not march 
on London until Gloucester was captured; so, 10 August, Charles 
encamped before the City. Owing to frequent defeats, to pressure 
of taxes, and the disturbance of trade, London seethed with dis- 
content, and angry mobs besieged Parliament, crying, " Peace ! peace ! " 
Nevertheless, since compromise and surrender were alike out of the 
question, the only hope was to fight until a signal success was achieved. 
Therefore, Essex was sent with an army of 15,000, including " citizens 
of good account " and apprentices from the London trained bands, to 
raise the siege of Gloucester. Charles, withdrawing at their approach, 
sought to block their return to London. A fierce but indecisive battle 
was fought near Newbury, 20 September, 1643. The King's powder 

1 That is, supporters of the Episcopal system. 



THE PERIOD OF THE CIVIL WAR 493 

having given out, he slipped away during the night, leaving the Lon- 
don road open to his enemy. 

The Solemn League and Covenant, 1643. — Meantime, Parliament 
had completed an alliance with " their brethren of Scotland " that 
marked the turning point of the war. The failure of the Treaty of 
Oxford and the royalist successes of the early part of 1643 turned 
the leaders again toward their former allies. The chief stumbling 
block was the attempt of the Scots to impose upon the English their 
system of doctrine and Church government. When they proposed 
that the Church of England be reformed " according to the example 
of the best reformed Churches," meaning, of course, the Presbyterian, 
Vane, one of the English commissioners, slipped in the qualifying 
words " according to the word of God," which gave a loophole to 
the many who regarded Independency, or Congregationalism, as the 
divinely ordained form. The negotiations which began in May cul- 
minated in the Solemn League and Covenant " for reformation and 
defense of religion . . . and the peace and safety of the three kingdoms 
of England, Scotland, and Ireland," which was finally accepted by 
both Houses, 25 September, 1643. All the subscribers undertook to 
preserve the reformed religion in the Church of Scotland, to reform 
religion in the kingdoms of England and Ireland, and to bring all 
three to the " nearest conjunction and uniformity " in religion, 
government, and worship ; to extirpate " Popery, prelacy . . . and 
whatsoever shall be found to be contrary to sound doctrine and the 
power of Godliness" ; to "preserve the rights and privileges of Par- 
liament and the liberties of the kingdoms " ; to" defend the King's 
Majesty's person and authority " ; and to endeavor that the kingdom 
" may remain conjoined in a firm peace and union to all posterity." 
The Scots contracted to provide an army, for the support of which 
the English Parliament agreed to furnish £30,000 a month. " No more 
important step was taken during the war. " It assured the victory of Par- 
liament ; but the introduction of the Scots and Presbyterianism into 
the struggle led to a breach in the ranks of the anti-royalists which 
encouraged the King to persevere until he finally lost his head. 

The Death of Pym, 8 December, 1643.— The alliance was 
mainly the work of Pym and was his last great undertaking ; for, 
worn out with his arduous labors, he died, 8 December, 1643. In him 
the cause lost a matchless leader as it had lost a wise counselor in 
Hampden. They were sadly missed in the troubles soon to break out 
between the military chiefs and the Houses. 

The Westminster Assembly. — As soon as it was decided to ask 
military aid of the Scots, reform of the Church on a Presbyterian basis 
became a " political necessity," and an assembly for that purpose 
met at Westminster Abbey, 1 July, 1643, nearly two months before 
the formal ratification of the Solemn League and Covenant. This 
body, notable as " the only great Protestant council ever assembled 
on English soil," consisted of ten peers, twenty commoners, one 



494 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

hundred and twenty-one divines, three scribes, and eight Scotch 
commissioners. Its formal sessions continued till 22 February, 1649. 
Unlike the Scotch General Assembly, it was under parliamentary 
control ; it considered only such matters as Parliament referred to 
it, and its recommendations had no binding force unless they were 
legalized by parliamentary ordinance. Nevertheless, the Confession 
of Faith l and the Shorter and Longer Catechisms which it formu- 
lated, though Parliament never accepted them, remain the form of 
belief and instruction in the Presbyterian Church to-day. The 
Assembly also drew up a Directory of Worship and a Form of Church 
Government. The latter was accepted by Parliament, with the 
qualification, however, that it should be under the control of a stand- 
ing committee of the Houses. Although a system of Presbyterian 
classes was established in many counties 2 the final triumph of the 
army, which stood for independency and toleration against Scotch, 
clerical, parliamentary domination, prevented the system from ever 
becoming national. Indeed, in the Assembly itself, where the Pres- 
byterians were in the majority, the Independents managed to make 
themselves felt by their courage and zeal. Outside, not only Inde- 
pendents, but all sorts of sects, Baptists, Antinomians, and others, 
grew in numbers and violence. Cromwell, who, though he cared 
little about speculative opinions, wanted to unite all Protestants 
who would fight against the King, came to be the recognized leader 
of the anti-Presbyterian party. It only fomented the discord when 
Parliament, 5 February, 1644, ordered every Englishman over eighteen 
to take the Covenant. 

The Royal Parliament at Oxford, 22 January, 1644-16 April, 1645. 
— The King summoned all members who had left Westminster to 
meet in a Parliament at Oxford, 22 January, 1644. It accomplished 
nothing, and when it began to make suggestions about economy 
and toleration unpalatable to the King, it was dissolved April 16, 
1645. In a letter to the Queen he congratulated himself on being rid 
of his " mongrel Parliament " and " the base and mutinous motions " 
it had proposed. The court at Oxford was not a place where sober 
parliamentary government could flourish. There the most diverse 
elements flocked : the Catholic who saw in a royal victory prospects 
of toleration ; roisterers who were repelled by Puritan fanaticism ; 
and those whom loyalty called with a stern voice. There was the 
center of fashion and frivolity ; of actors, playwrights, and poets ; of 
gaming, drinking, dissipation, and faction. Counsels were divided, 
political and military. And the King was unequal to a situation 
which might well have appalled a far more stable and competent man. 

Marston Moor, 2 July, 1644. — While at the beginning of 1644 he 
was still master of two thirds of the kingdom, he weakened his forces 
by trying to garrison all the territories which he held, while his sup- 

J The celebrated "Westminster Confession." 

2 The system was most effectively worked out in London and Lancashire. 



THE PERIOD OF THE CIVIL WAR 495 

plies and equipment were rapidly melting away. On the other hand, 
though the taxpayers grumbled, the parliamentary troops were well 
provided and were learning their trade in the exacting school of ex- 
perience. In January, 1644, the Scots, under the veteran Earl of 
Leven, crossed the Tweed with 18,000 foot and 3000 horse. New- 
castle, who had only 5000 foot and 3000 horse, shut himself up in York. 
In April Leven, joined by a parliamentary army under the Fair- 
faxes, father and son, sat down before the city. In June they were 
reenforced by the army of the Eastern Association under Manchester, 
with Cromwell as lieutenant-general commanding the horse. On 
the approach of Rupert, whom Newcastle had summoned to his 
relief, the parliamentarians raised the siege and took up a position 
near Long Marston, somewhat west of York, to bar his road. But 
Rupert " by a dashing manceuver " circled round them and entered 
the city from the north. On 2 July Rupert came out and offered 
battle at Marston Moor. The battle which followed was the bloodiest 
of the whole war. 1 For five hours in the long twilight of a summer 
evening the combat raged. Cromwell on the left wing, stanchly 
supported by David Leslie, succeeded in driving Rupert from the field. 
Then he wheeled about, and, by a series of daring and skillful charges, 
saved the infantry in the center and the cavalry on the right wing 
from impending defeat. While the soldiers fought magnificently, it 
was mainly Cromwell who plucked the victory from the enemies' 
hands, and he earned here from Rupert the name of " Ironsides," 
later transferred to his famous regiment. Cromwell attributed the 
success to " the Lord's blessing on the Godly party principally." 
" The left wing," he wrote, " which I commanded . . . beat all the 
Prince's horse, and God made them stubble to our sword." Though 
Rupert escaped with 6000 horse, the rest of the royalist army was 
broken up. York surrendered, and the land north of the Trent was 
lost to the King. This decisive victory for Cromwell and the " Godly 
party " marked a decided breach in the anti-royalist ranks. Fearing 
that the extremists might become dominant, Leven, Manchester, 
and Lord Fairfax before they parted sent a joint letter to the Com- 
mittee of Both Kingdoms, recommending the establishment of Pres- 
byterianism, and peace with the King. 

Surrender of Essex's Army at Lostwithiel, 2 September, 1644. — 
The Presbyterians were all the more uneasy because of the reverse 
which overtook Essex in the late summer of this same year. Charles 
was able to bottle up his opponents' army in the peninsula of 
Fowey on the Devon coast. The cavalry broke through to Plymouth ; 
Essex himself escaped by boat ; but his infantry were forced to sur- 
render at Lostwithiel, 2 September. In London the disappointment 
was bitter ; for it looked as if the great gain in the north was to be 

1 The united parliamentary armies numbered 20,000 foot and 7000 horse, the 
royalists, about the same number of horse, and 11,000 foot — the largest number 
of men engaged in England in a single battle since the Wars of the Roses. 



496 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

altogether neutralized. It was evident that Essex would have to be 
displaced. Charles, however, was not able to profit by his success 
for his supplies were short and his troops were mutinous. On his 
way north he was intercepted by a parliamentary army, twice the 
size of his own, under the command of a council of war. It was made 
up of many elements, among them the remnant of Essex's troops 
and the army of the Eastern Association which had come do\A n from 
the north. In the second battle of Newbury which ensued, 27 October, 
1644, Cromwell was completely victorious, but owing to the inertness 
of Manchester, the King was able to slip off to Oxford in the night. 

Cromwell's Plan for remodeling the Army. The Self-denying 
Ordinance. — Cromwell saw that it was necessary to get rid of generals 
like Essex and Manchester before the cause which he had at heart 
could prevail. Accordingly, he made a speech in the House of Com- 
mons in which he laid the whole blame on Manchester for the failure 
to capture Charles and his army at Newbury. Manchester was not 
only ineffective, but he was professedly half-hearted. "If we beat 
the King ninety and nine times," he declared, " yet he is King still, 
and so will his posterity after him be ; but if the King beat us once, 
we shall be hanged, and our posterity made slaves." In his reply to 
Cromwell, he denounced him as an enemy to the nobility and Pres- 
byterianism, and quoted with horror his remark that : " If he met the 
King in battle, he would as lief fire his pistol at him as at any other." 
The triumph of the men of action was assured when another attempt 
of the peace party to arrange terms by the Treaty of Uxbridge ended 
in a total failure, 22 February, 1645. 

Cromwell and his supporters saw that, in addition to getting 
rid of incompetent and unenthusiastic leaders, they must reorganize 
the whole army into an effective fighting machine, well-paid, 
equipped, and disciplined, consisting of spirited, zealous troops and 
unhampered by Presbyterian tests. He insisted that good soldiers 
should not be excluded, " because they square not with you in 
every opinion." Although his ideas of toleration were at first 
purely practical he and the army which supported him put 
the Protestant sects on the first recognized footing they had ever 
enjoyed in England. He saw that the first essential was to beat 
the King in the field and to postpone the settlement of other questions 
until that was accomplished. At his suggestion the Self-denying 
Ordinance, providing that the members of either House should throw 
down their commands, military and civil, was introduced into the 
Commons, 9 December, 1644. The Lords, who recognized its real 
purport, rejected it on the pretext that it would be unwise to change 
existing arrangements until the reorganization of the army had been 
completed. By the New Model Ordinance, introduced 23 November, 
the Commons had directed the Committee of Both Kingdoms " to 
consider of a frame and model of the whole militia." It recommended 
an army of 14,400 foot and 7600 horse to be " regularly paid from 



THE PERIOD OF THE CIVIL WAR 497 

taxes assessed on those parts of the country which were suffering 
least from the war." Sir Thomas Fairfax, a young, vigorous, and 
capable officer unattached to any sect or party, was named com- 
mander-in-chief in place of Essex, and Philip Skippon, commander 
of the London trained bands, was appointed sergeant major-general 
to succeed Manchester. The position of lieutenant-general was left 
vacant, but it was an open secret that it was reserved for Cromwell. 
The New Model Ordinance passed the Lords 15 February. One of 
the concessions to the Presbyterian majority in Parliament was a 
provision that every officer and man should take the Covenant ; 
but, largely owing to Cromwell's influence, it was rarely enforced. 
There was now no further pretext for opposing the Self-denying Ordi- 
nance, which finally became law, 3 April, 1645. No provision had been 
made against the reappointment to office of members of Parliament 
who had resigned, and, 10 June, Cromwell became lieutenant-general. 

The New Model Army. — It was so difficult to secure volunteers 
for the infantry that 8500 men had to be pressed. The cavalry were 
of a much finer type. 1 The officers in both branches of the service 
were generally of good family and godly men. Some rose from the 
ranks, and, indeed, from humble station, though the assertion is far 
from true that they were made up of " tradesmen, brewers, tailors, 
goldsmiths, shoemakers, and the like." Gradually the zeal of the 
officers, guided by Fairfax and Cromwell, welded together an irresist- 
ible force, although the New -Model never contained more than a 
third of the troops fighting for Parliament. As they grew steadily 
in strength and discipline the King's forces fell more and more into 
weakness and disorder. " Insomuch," says Clarendon, " as one 
side seemed to fight for monarchy, with the weapons of confusion, 
and the other to destroy the King and government with all the prin- 
ciples and regularity of monarchy." 

The Battle of Naseby, 14 June, 1645. The King a Fugitive. — 
Directly they had organized the New Model, Fairfax and Cromwell 
started to overcome the King. They found him wandering about 
the midlands, desirous of joining Montrose in Scotland, and yet 
hesitating to leave his base at Oxford. The decisive battle was fought 
at Naseby, 14 June, 1645. Rupert, as he had done more than once 
before, rode down the wing opposed to him, and carried the pursuit 
so far that the royal infantry were annihilated before his return. 
Charles managed to escape with half his cavalry to the Welsh border. 
He still had an army in the southwest, he held many strong places ; 
he hoped to bring together his scattered forces, and, with the aid of 
the Irish, to be " in a far better condition before winter than he had 
been at any time since this rebellion began." But, though he eluded 
capture for nearly a year and though some of his supporters held 
out even longer, his cause was doomed. A misfortune second only 

1 An indication, and a cause as well, of this superiority was the fact that cavalry- 
men and infantrymen received 8d. and 2d. a day, respectively. 



408 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

to his defeat at Naseby was the capture of his private chest containing 
drafts and copies of letters to the Queen. They were published 
forthwith under the title of The King's Cabinet Opened, and many 
of his loyal supporters were alienated to learn that he was planning 
to repeal the laws against the Roman Catholics, and intriguing to 
bring Irish and foreign troops into England. 

Montrose in Scotland, 1644- 1645. — For a time Charles rested 
great hopes on Montrose, who, beginning with a victory at Tippermuir 
1 September, 1644, had a year of triumphs, gaining battle after battle. 
But the Highlanders who composed the bulk of his army were keener 
on booty and vengeance against hostile clans than they were on 
restoring the power of the King. After each victory numbers of them 
would disperse to their mountain glens to deposit their spoil. With 
such an unstable following it was impossible to achieve permanent 
results ; moreover, the Covenanters, who opposed him on religious 
grounds, were steadily reenforced by those who were infuriated by 
the pillaging of his uncontrollable hordes. At length, 13 September, 
1645, he was defeated at Philiphaugh and forced to flee. 

Charles' Intrigues with the Irish, 1642-1645. — Charles had also 
counted much on support from Ireland. During the year following 
the Rebellion of 1641 the Roman Catholics, both of native and Anglo- 
Irish stock, had organized a Parliament under the name of " The 
General Assembly of Confederate Catholics." In order to secure 
freedom for their religion they desired to make terms with the King, 
while Charles was anxious to treat with them in order to release for 
service in England the army which the Marquis of Ormonde was 
commanding against them, and with the view also of enlisting the 
Irish rebels in his cause. So far as the King was concerned, the 
whole intrigue was unwise and dishonest : unwise since he was bound 
to lose more than he could possibly gain by employing Irish troops 
in England; dishonest, since he could not observe the promises 
which he made. After months of negotiating, a " cessation " was 
concluded, 15 September, 1643, by which both parties were to cease 
fighting, pending a definitive peace. In July, 1644, the King em- 
powered Ormonde, now Lord Lieutenant, to resume negotiations. 
When the Irish insisted upon freedom of worship and the repeal of 
the laws rejecting papal jurisdiction, knowing that Ormonde, who 
was a Protestant, would listen to no such terms, he sent the Catholic 
Earl of Glamorgan with vague instructions to treat behind the back 
of the Lord Lieutenant. Glamorgan arrived, 25 August, 1645 '■> an ^, 
although the Irish even increased their original demands, he signed 
a secret treaty granting all they asked. A copy of this treaty was 
discovered and published, and Glamorgan was arrested. Although 
Charles disavowed this arrangement, he was unable to clear himself 
from suspicion, nor had he got the least of help for all the risk he had 
run. The Queen, who had again gone abroad in November, 1644, 
was equally unsuccessful with the continental Powers. 



SCOTLAND 




THE PERIOD OF THE CIVIL WAR 499 

The End of the First Civil War, 1646. — Without any prospect of 
foreign help, it was only a question of time how long Charles and his 
few remaining adherents could hold out. The defeat of Goring, his 
general in the southwest, at Langport, 10 July, 1645, broke up his last 
field army. It only remained to reduce the garrisons and to secure 
the territories held by remnants of the royal forces. On 1 1 September, 
Rupert was obliged to surrender Bristol, whereat Charles, although 
he was quite unable to relieve the City, was so enraged that he de- 
prived him of his command and sent him a pass to go beyond the seas. 
" I confess," he admitted, when Rupert advised him to surrender, 
" that speaking as a mere soldier or statesman . . . there is no possi- 
bility but of my ruin, but as a Christian, I must tell you that God will 
not suffer rebels to prosper, or this cause to be overthrown." After 
the news of one reverse after another had reached him, he finally 
left Oxford, 25 April, 1646. The Scotch, who were besieging Newark, 
had offered their mediation, and, after considering whether he should 
not try to escape to the Continent, he finally decided to trust such 
vague assurance as they were willing to offer. Riding into their 
camp, 5 May, he only left it as a prisoner. Oxford yielded, 24 June, 
and with the surrender of Raglan Castle, 19 August, the first Civil 
War was over, though the King's flag was flying at Harlech, far off 
on the Welsh coast, till March, 1647. Effective leadership, good pay, 
discipline, and the enthusiasm of the guiding element had enabled 
the New Model to triumph. 

State of Parties at the Close of the War, in 1646. — During the 
three years from the beginning of Charles' captivity to his death 
in 1649, he was occupied in tortuous and futile intrigues to recover 
his liberty and his authority. The divided state of parties offered 
him at least a prospect of success. He could still count on a small 
body of English royalists who were ever ready to fight again if they 
got the chance, and he still nourished hopes in the Irish Catholics 
with whom he was constantly in communication. Parliament, 
which had begun the struggle in behalf of popular liberties, was 
pledged to Presbyterianism, 1 and had of late come to be chiefly con- 
cerned with stemming the rising power of Cromwell and the army, 
mainly Independents and advocates of toleration for all Protestant 
sects. It only widened the breach when the army became con- 
vinced of the necessity of doing away with the monarchy. The Scots, 
whose chief aim was to preserve their religion at home and to extend 
it in England, naturally ranged themselves with Parliament against 
the army. The bulk of the English people were anxious for peace. 
Pushed into the struggle by the fervor of the minority, they had under- 
gone much loss and suffering from the inevitable disorganization of 
trade, from increased taxes, and, in spite of the relatively humane 
character of the war, from plundering and pillage. 

1 In spite of 150 new members known as the "Recruiters," who had been elected 
to fill the vacancies caused by the desertion of the royalists, the Presbyterians 
were still in the majority. 



5 oo A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

Parliamentary Intolerance. — Notwithstanding the tireless intrigues 
of the King it might have been possible to have effected a settlement 
if the Commons had been more tolerant and conciliatory. They 
failed to realize the need of reconciling either the royalists or the army. 
To win over the former it was essential to grant them a measure of 
toleration and to show some tenderness in the matter of their estates. 
Instead of that, the dominant party agreed that the " Prayer Book 
was an abominable idol in the land " and that " it was high time to 
remove this brazen serpent and grind it to powder." So it was for- 
bidden by law, while 2000 of the Anglican clergy were expelled from 
their benefices with a reservation of one fifth of their incomes for 
their families. Besides certain royalists altogether exempted from 
pardon, others were forced to compound for their " delinquency," 
either by complete forfeiture of their estates, or, more generally, 
by " sequestration." In the latter case the estates were seized by the 
State, whence they could be recovered by their original owners only 
by yielding from a sixth to a half of their value. Sad are the tales 
of the men who chose the side of the King, and of their wives and chil- 
dren as well. 

Regrettable and impolitic as was its treatment of the vanquished 
royalists, it was the height of folly and ingratitude for Parliament 
to oppose the army which had fought and won its battles. The 
scheme of the Westminster Assembly which it had legalized remained 
chiefly a paper plan. The success of Cromwell and his Ironsides at 
Marston Moor and of the New Model at Naseby were realities which 
immeasurably strengthened the cause of the Independents and the 
sects. " I beseech you not to discourage them," wrote Cromwell 
to the Speaker after Naseby, and this plea for toleration was the con- 
stant burden of his song. Parliament's reply was repeated attempts 
to come to terms with the King, to get rid of the army, and to suppress 
the sects. In September, 1646, bills were read without a division 
" by which Unitarians and free- thinking heretics could be put to death, 
and Baptists and other sectaries imprisoned for life, solely on ac- 
count of their . . . opinions;" and, in December, the Commons 
resolved " that no layman would be permitted to preach or expound 
the Scriptures." Many of the parliamentary leaders were embittered 
from the fact that they had been excluded from the army by the Self- 
denying Ordinance, yet they were no doubt partly sincere in pro- 
testing that they were striving to check disorder and confusion. 
Also, by persecuting the extremists, they hoped to strengthen their 
hold on the sober Roundhead element and to placate the moderate 
Cavaliers to whom they denied the Prayer Book. 

The Scots deliver the King to Parliament, January, 1647. — While 
the King, since the autumn before his captivity, had been treating 
secretly both with Parliament and the Scots, he refused, in the matter 
of religion, to concede anything more than a toleration ; for, like his 
father, he believed that " the nature of Presbyterian government 



THE PERIOD OF THE CIVIL WAR 501 

is to steal the crown from the King's head." Indeed, he frankly told 
the Scots that he would rather lose his crown than his soul. The 
parliamentary commissioners presented to him the terms of the Houses 
in the Propositions of Newcastle, 13 July, 1646. They provided, 
among other things, that Charles should take the Covenant and allow 
it to be enforced on all his subjects ; that he should agree to a ref- 
ormation of the Church on a Presbyterian basis with no toleration 
for the sects ; that Parliament should control the army and navy 
for twenty years, and settle its future administration at the end of 
that time. Charles at first returned an evasive answer, and then 
framed counter-propositions which were rejected. The Queen urged 
him to take the Covenant as a means of cementing a Scotch alliance, 
but that also he refused to do. As a result, the Scots drew closer to 
Parliament, and January, 1647, they delivered up the King, in return 
for payment of arrears of pay and of the expenses which they had 
incurred in the war just closed. It is unfair to accuse them of selling 
their sovereign ; they only gave him up after they had failed to arrange 
terms on which their countrymen would support him and in return 
for what was fairly due them. Charles was escorted to Holmby 
House in Northamptonshire amid such popular demonstrations of 
loyalty, ringing of bells, and booming of cannon that he deceived 
himself into believing that the old love for the monarchy had re- 
turned, and was encouraged to persist in his crooked and complicated 
diplomacy. 

Parliament and the Army. — Parliament, with the King in their 
hands, thought that if they could manage to disband the New Model, 
they might force their terms upon him and secure a Presbyterian 
settlement. They were horrified at the increase of extremists, 
religious and political — Fifth Monarchy men, 1 Baptists, Seekers, 
Republicans, and Levelers 2 — in the army and among its supporters. 
Furthermore, they wanted to cut down military expenses, since the 
taxes which they had to impose to meet them contributed to their 
unpopularity. Their plan was to enlist some of the troops for the 
Irish service, to keep a few for garrison duty, and to disband the rest 
— about one half the New Model. The army refused to agree, 
except upon their own terms — toleration, indemnity for past acts, 
and arrears of pay — terms to which Parliament would not listen. 
" If they be thus scornfully dealt withal whilst the sword is in their 
hands," they argued, " what shall their usage be when they are dis- 
solved ! " Their attitude was so defiant that Parliament grudgingly 
offered an adequate concession of arrears. At the very same time 

1 A party who looked for the fifth kingdom, foretold in the Old Testament, when 
the saints should reign on earth. It got its name from the fact that it was to fol- 
low in succession to the Assyrian, Persian, Greek, and Roman Empires. 

2 A party that wanted to level all political distinctions, and who came to advo- 
cate manhood suffrage and fundamental laws for the preservation of the natural 
rights of man. 



5 o2 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

they were scheming to call in the Scots again, to bring down the 
artillery from Oxford, and to convey the King to London. In order 
to work more effectively, each of the regiments of the New Model 
chose two agents, called " agitators," 1 who, in combination with 
the council of the generals, acted as a rival representative body to 
Parliament. Since Fairfax had no strong religious convictions or 
ability in statesmanship, the burden of leadership fell on Cromwell. 
From his seat in Parliament and from his place in the Army Council 
he strove to be a peacemaker, urging concession on one hand and 
obedience on the other. " What we gain in a free way," he declared, 
" is better than twice as much in a forced way, and will be more 
truly yours and our posterity's." It was only after long hesitation 
that he made up his mind to extreme measures, and then he acted 
with his customary decision and energy. 

The Army secure the King and march to London. — On 31 May, 
1647, ne sent Cornet Joyce with a troop of soldiers to prevent Par- 
liament's removing the King from Holmby House. Joyce, on his 
arrival, decided to seize the royal captive and take him to Newmarket, 
where the army was then quartered. When Charles asked him for his 
commission, he pointed to his troopers, saying : " Here is my commis- 
sion." Charles replied: "It is as fair a commission and as well 
written as I have seen ... in my life." He went willingly; for, 
having failed to arrange terms with Parliament, he was glad to try 
his chances with the army. The army, who had taken a solemn 
engagement not to disband until they had obtained satisfactory con- 
cessions, began to draw toward London. They demanded that Parlia- 
ment should fix a date for its dissolution, and insisted upon the im- 
mediate suspension of eleven members whom they charged with sowing 
dissension and conspiring against the rights and privileges of the sub- 
ject. The eleven were obliged to withdraw ; but when the army 
halted on the onward march, a mob rose in the City and forced Parlia- 
ment to revoke even the inadequate concession to which it had agreed, 
and to readmit the eleven members. The army, however, would 
brook no opposition; 6 August, they entered London, and the eleven 
members again took flight. 

The Heads of Proposals. — Meantime, the army chiefs had sought 
to come to terms with the King, offering to restore him to the throne 
and to accept Episcopacy- if he would grant toleration. The scheme 
of the saner element was formulated in the " Heads of Proposals," 
sketched by Cromwell's son-in-law, General Ireton, 17 July, 1647, 
and later amended by the Army Council. While allowing Parliament 
adequate powers for the control of the sovereign and the administra- 
tion of the government, it provided checks against parliamentary 
omnipotence, and outlined a series of reforms by which the people 
should have more voice in public affairs and a more adequate repre- 

1 From an old word meaning "to act." The form "adjutator" is erroneous. 



THE PERIOD OF THE CIVIL WAR 503 

sentation. Special precautions were taken to safeguard religious 
liberty against Presbyterian intolerance. It was a far-sighted, states- 
man-like plan, but it was in advance of the times and failed to satisfy 
either party : it was too democratic and too tolerant for the royalist, 
and too conservative and too balanced for the extremists. Its pro- 
visions anticipated many principles — religious toleration, reform of 
the parliamentary system, and Cabinet government — which now 
obtain in modern England as the result of a long and painful progress. 

The Transformation in the Army. — In the debates in the Army 
Council Ireton took the lead. Cromwell, keen as he was in seeing the 
needs of the moment and swift in action, was not inclined to look far 
into the future. He still sought to mediate and still hoped to preserve 
the monarchy, which he continued to regard for some time as the only 
stable form of government. It was only when he came to realize that 
the religious freedom which he and his companions had won at the 
risk of their lives could never be secure so long as Charles Stuart 
remained king, that he made up his mind to dispose of him and of his 
royal office. While he arrived at this conclusion only slowly, he took 
the lead in carrying it into effect. Ireton and many others saw, long 
before he did, that Charles was but only playing parties off one against 
another until he could raise a sufficient force for a second civil war. 
At first the zealots in the New Model were chiefly in the cavalry ; the 
infantry, largely pressed men and hirelings, contained many men who, 
although not deep-grounded in their convictions, were rather inclined 
to support Presbyterianism and Parliament. A number of causes, 
however, tended to alter their temper. For one thing, the denial of 
their reasonable requests alienated them from Parliament. Then the 
Presbyterian chaplains, as a rule, left their regiments to enter the livings 
from which the Episcopal clergy had been expelled. The preachers 
who remained, and the officers, 1 exerted a steadily growing influence ; 
furthermore, as the star of the army rose more and more in the ascend- 
ant, volunteers flocked to replace the pressed men; the enthusiasm, 
always contagious, spread rapidly, and those who remained were 
touched with the prevailing temper. " It would do you good," wrote 
Cromwell, 3 September, 1650, " to see and hear our poor foot go up 
and down making their boast of God." 

Rise of Democratic Opinion in the Army. — The political trans- 
formation was equally striking. It was in this period that English 
democratic opinion took rise. Evolved by certain advanced thinkers, 
it was first voiced in the debates in the Army Council, and quickly 
permeated the whole body. Embodied in plans for a written constitu- 
tion which failed to survive, these fundamental ideas of democracy, 
— equality of opportunity for every man, and government by the 
people as well as for the people, or universal manhood suffrage, — after 
lying dormant for a century and more, came to the front in the Ameri- 

1 It was estimated that in June, 1647, two thirds were Independents. 



5 o4 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

can and French Revolutions. In the United States they have had a 
continuous life, while, after being crushed out for a time by the forces 
of reaction, they have come to prevail again in many countries of the 
Old World. The Levelers voiced the doctrines of democracy in their 
extremest form. Bitterly they declaimed against monarchy and all class 
distinctions. "What were the Lords of England," they demanded, 
" but William the Conqueror's colonels? or the Barons but his majors ? 
or the Knights but his captains? " and they declared that they would 
set the people free from this usurped authority and have no more 
kings or lords. " The meanest man in England," they insisted, 
" had the right to a share in the election of his rulers." It had been 
the custom, hitherto, for the leaders in the battle for liberty to base 
their claims on constitutional precedents — on the birthright of 
Englishmen. It marked a new and significant departure when Colonel 
Rainsborough, as the spokesman of the advanced party in the Army 
Council, appealed to the natural rights of man. " The poorest he 
that is in England," he said with quaint directness, " hath a life to 
live as the greatest he. And, therefore . . . it's clear that every man 
that is to live under a government ought first by his own consent to 
put himself under that government." x Republicanism and universal 
suffrage, however, were not the ideals of the majority of Englishmen 
of that day. Fearing that only confusion and anarchy would result, 
many even of the army leaders, with Cromwell in the vanguard, fought 
strenuously to preserve the law of the land. Yet the men whom they 
condemned as visionaries and fanatics, and who were unable to make 
their views prevail at that time, were contending for principles which 
are the bone and sinew of modern political life. 

The Social Levelers or " Diggers. " — On the other hand, the more 
conservative members of the party of political and religious progress 
were wise in their efforts to hold the radicals in check ; for revolutions, 
unless they are carefully guided, are bound to be wrecked by their very 
excesses. As it was, all sorts of queer sects and parties grew and 
multiplied. For example, a body of social levelers came into being 
who went far beyond the political group. Their leader was Gerard 
Winstanley, who wrote many tracts to prove that the earth was not 
made for a few but for all men. In 1649 they made a vain effort to 
plow and dig up the common on St. George's Hill, Surrey, from which 
they got the name " Diggers." In general, their principles seem to 
have been those lying at the basis of communism in all ages. 

The " Engagement," 1647. — Charles, urged on by the Scottish 
commissioners, with whom he was still treating, fled from Hampton 
Court to the Isle of Wight, n November, 1647. After an attempt 

1 The views of the political levelers were formally presented in the " Case of the 
Army truly Stated,"' p. October, 1647. Three weeks later appeared the "Agree- 
ment of the People" in which the principles stated in the previous document were 
fully developed. After the execution of the King it was submitted to Parliament 
in a somewhat modified form. 



THE PERIOD OF THE CIVIL WAR 505 

to procure a vessel in which to escape abroad had miscarried he was 
forced unwillingly to take a refuge in Carisbrooke Castle. While he 
went on negotiating with all parties, he was inclining more and more 
to the Scots with whom he signed a treaty, 26 December, 1647, known 
as the " Engagement." Charles, on his part, undertook to confirm the 
Covenant by statute, to protect those who had taken it, and to allow 
a Presbyterian settlement for three years, on condition that the Church 
should, at the end of that period, be regulated by himself and the 
Houses. In return, the Scots agreed to support the King's demand 
for the disbandment of the army, and, if this were refused, to publish 
a manifesto as a preliminary to invading England, asserting certain 
royal prerogatives, including the " negative voice " or royal veto 
power, and control over the militia and the great offices of State. It 
is practically certain that Charles had no intention of binding himself 
permanently by the Engagement. Had he succeeded in his plans he 
would doubtless have reestablished Episcopacy at the end of the three 
years, and used his " negative voice " to prevent any settlement to 
which he was opposed. For the moment, however, he was all for 
the Scots, and adopted such an uncompromising attitude toward 
Parliament that they broke off all negotiations with him. 

The Second Civil War, 1648. — The King counted on a royalist 
reaction to support the Scottish invasion, and there was much in the 
situation to encourage his hopes. Among moderate men, respect for 
Parliament was steadily diminishing, with some because of its ineffec- 
tiveness, with others because of its intolerance; many more were 
frightened at the prospect of army rule ; while the austerity of Puri- 
tanism, whether of the Parliament or of the army sort, offered a most 
unlovely prospect to the pleasure-loving Englishman. Yet it was one 
thing to manifest discontent and quite another to join in rebellion. 
The mass of the people during the Second Civil War " looked on in 
bewildered neutrality." Presbyterian soldiers in a few garrisons 
declared for the King, and so did the more pronounced Cavaliers ; but 
there were no considerable risings except in Wales, Kent, and Essex. 
The result was fatal to the King ; for the crisis brought Parliament and 
the Army together once more and healed the breach between Cromwell 
and the extremists. 

The first outbreak of the war occurred in South Wales when the 
commander of Pembroke Castle declared for the King. On his way 
to quell it, Cromwell met the Agitators at Windsor. At a solemn 
prayer meeting, lasting three days, it was resolved that : " It was our 
duty if ever the Lord brought us back in peace, to call Charles Stuart, 
that man of blood, to an account for the blood he had shed, and the 
mischief he had done to his utmost, against the Lord's cause and the 
people in these poor nations." Pembroke yielded, n July; the dan- 
ger in Wales was over, and Cromwell was free to march against the 
Scots who had crossed the border on the 8th. They were led by the 
Marquis of Hamilton, who represented the royalist party in Scotland, 



5 o6 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

which aimed to release the King and to secure the supremacy of Pres- 
byterianism in England. Arrayed against them was another Scotch 
party led by Argyle which would not fight for a monarch who refused 
the Covenant. Hamilton entered England with an army of 10,000, 
speedily increased to 24,000 by English and Irish volunteers. It was 
an ill-assorted alliance ; the soldiers were mostly raw and undisciplined, 
and their leader had "neither military ability nor decision of charac- 
ter." Cromwell intercepted them in Lancashire and made short work 
of them in the three days' running fight of Preston, Wigan, and Warring- 
ton, 17-19 August. Fairfax crushed out the revolts in Kent and 
Essex. All Charles' plans had miscarried, and he was soon to meet 
the fate which the army leaders had voiced in their prayer. 

Pride's Purge, 6 December, 1648. — For the moment, however, 
the old discord and intrigues were resumed. Though Parliament had 
joined with the army in the face of pressing danger they were still 
fearful of religious and political radicalism, 1 and were even yet ready 
to restore the King if he would agree to Presbyterianism and aid them 
to suppress the sects. When, with this end in view, they resumed 
negotiations with him at Newport in the Isle of Wight, in September, 
the army proceeded to act with decision. They issued a remonstrance 
drawn up by Ireton, declaring that it was impossible to devise terms 
that would bind the King, and that it was just to execute him as a 
traitor for his attempts to turn a limited monarchy into an absolute 
monarchy ; 1 December, they removed him to Hurst Castle, a lonely 
fortress on the Hampshire coast, and next they framed a public decla- 
ration, appealing from the existing Parliament " unto the extraordinary 
judgment of God and his people." The House of Commons was so 
defiant that nothing remained but to dissolve it or to purge it of its 
most uncompromising members. To dissolve meant to run the risk 
of a House still more hostile. So, 6 December, 1648, a force of soldiers 
under Colonel Pride was stationed at the door where the Commons 
entered. Those known to oppose the views of the army were turned 
back, and those who resisted were arrested. There were ninety-six 
of the former and forty-seven of the latter. The " Rump " that 
remained was in no sense a representative body, but merely a group 
of members depending for their places on the support of the soldiers. 
That evening Cromwell returned from the north ; while he had not 
instigated the recent steps he approved of them, and, from this time, 
on, he took the lead. 

The High Court of Justice and the Trial of the King. — The Rump 
soon showed its temper by passing a resolution that, according to the 
fundamental laws of the kingdom, it was treason in the King to levy 
war against Parliament and the kingdom. This was followed by 
three more resolutions to the effect : " that the people are, under God, 
the original of all just power ; that the Commons of England, in Par- 

1 In the previous May they had passed an ordinance making heresy and blas- 
phemy capital crimes. 



THE PERIOD OF THE CIVIL WAR 507 

liament assembled, being chosen by and representing the people, 
have the supreme power in this nation; and that whatsoever is 
enacted ... by the Commons in Parliament assembled, hath the 
force of law . . . although the consent and concurrence of the King 
and the House of Lords be not held thereunto." The term " ordi- 
nance " was now discarded, and, 6 January, 1649, an act was passed 
erecting a High Court of Justice of 135 persons to try the King, though 
only 68 appeared, 20 January, the day the trial opened at Westminster 
Hall. Sergeant Bradshaw, a lawyer of repute, was chosen president. 
When the name of Fairfax was called, a voice from the crowd answered : 
" He has more wit than to be here." The King, who had in the mean- 
time been brought from Hurst by way of Windsor, was seated in a 
crimson chair in front of the bar. He refused to acknowledge the 
jurisdiction of the court in any way. The charge set forth that: 
" Charles Stuart, being admitted King of England with a limited 
power, out of a wicked design to erect an unlimited power, had traitor- 
ously levied war against the Parliament and people of England, thereby 
causing the death of many thousands, and had repeated and per- 
severed in his offense." Accordingly, he was impeached as a " tyrant, 
traitor, murderer, and a public and implacable enemy of the Com- 
monwealth of England." Again the same voice interrupted: "It 
is a lie." The speaker turned out to be Lady Fairfax. The sentence 
was finally pronounced on the 27th; and Charles, amid cries of 
" Justice ! " and " Execution ! " was led out of the court. The death 
warrant was signed by 58 of the justices, including Cromwell and 
Ireton. 

The Execution of the King, 30 January, 1649. — Charles, after 
taking leave of Henry and Elizabeth, the only two of his children then 
in England, was beheaded, 30 January, 1649, on a scaffold in front of 
the banqueting house of Whitehall. His quiet dignity and courage 
made a wonderful impression on the multitude who, when the head, 
severed from his body, was exposed to them, answered with a deep 
groan and pressed forward to dip their handkerchiefs in his blood. 1 
In his dying speech Charles disclaimed all guilt for the Civil War, 
declared again the unlawfulness of his sentence, and said : " For the 
people truly I desire their liberty and freedom as much as anybody 
whosoever ; but I must tell you that their liberty and their freedom 
consists in having of government those laws by which their life and 
their goods may be most their own. It is not for having a share in the 
government, sirs, that is nothing pertaining to them ; a subject and a 
sovereign are clean different things." Sincere in his religious and 

1 Many, however, may have been prompted in this action by the fancied me- 
dicinal properties of the King's blood, for the royal touch was supposed to heal 
scrofula and kindred diseases. The popular sympathy was greatly accentuated 
by the appearance, a few days after the execution, of Eikon Basilike, the Portraiture 
of his Sacred Majesty in his Solitude and his Sufferings, a book reported to be by 
the King, but probably written by Dr. John Gauden, subsequently Bishop of 
Worcester. 



5 o8 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

political convictions, no doubt, he failed to understand his people. 
In his eyes those who resisted him were bad subjects and bad Chris- 
tians against whom deceit and force were legitimate weapons. There 
is a story that one night, as his body lay in state, a muffled figure 
appeared, lifted the shroud, and, gazing on the royal features, mur- 
mured: "Cruel necessity." This is said to have been Cromwell, 
who had, some days before the trial, declared: " We will cut off his 
head with the crown upon it." " The dark lantern of the spirit,'' 
that inner voice which guided all his actions, had told him that the 
recent victories were a certain sign that God approved the course of 
his people. " Cruel necessity " was the only justification. The exe- 
cution of the King went far beyond the wishes of the majority, and 
those who brought it about made the mistake of trying to cloak their 
action under forms of law. It was not a time for law or pity; for 
there was no hope of peace until Charles Stuart — the incarnation of 
obstinacy and duplicity — was dead. Many troublous years were to 
follow, and monarchy and the Church of England were to be restored; 
but, owing to the daring act of those grim men of 1649, it was not the 
same despotic monarchy or the same all-powerful Church. 

FOR ADDITIONAL READING 

Narrative. Montague, Political History, chs. XIII-XV. Trevelyan, England under 
the Stuarts, chs. VII, IX. Cambridge. Modern History, chs. X, XI (bibliography, 
pp. 884-896). Gardiner, History of the Great Civil War (4 vols., 1893) ; Lingard, VIII, 
chs. I— III ; Ranke, II, bk. IX. J. L. Sanford, Studies and Illustrations of the Great 
Rebellion (1858). 

Constitutional. Gardiner, Documents, introduction, pp. xliii-lvi; Hallam, II, 
ch. X, pt. I; Taswell-Langmead, ch. XIV. Taylor, Origin and Growth, II, bk. V, 
ch. III. C. H. Firth, The House of Lords during the Civil War (1910). 

Biography. T. Carlyle, Cromwell's Letters and Speeches (best ed. S. C. Lomas 3 
vols., 1904); an effectual vindication of Cromwell's sincerity. The best modern 
lives of Cromwell are : S. R. Gardiner (1899) ; C. H. Firth (1900) ; and J. Morley 
(1900). W. W. Ireland, Life of Sir Henry Vane the Younger (1905). E. C. Wade, 
John Pym (191 2). 

Military and Naval. C. H. Firth, Cromwell's Army (1902) ; the authority on the 
subject. T. S. Baldock, Cromwell as a Soldier (1899). C. R. Markham, Life of 
Lord Fairfax (1870); anti-Cromwellian. Fortescue, British Army, I. W. L. 
Clowes, The Royal Navy (7 vols., 1897-1903), I. Oppenheim, The Royal Navy. 
Hannay, Royal Navy. Corbett, England in the Mediterranean. 

Church. W. H. Hutton, History of the English Church, ch. VIII. Cambridge 
Modern History, IV, ch. XII, "The Westminster Assembly" (bibliography, p. 897). 
W. A. Shaw, History of the English Church, 1640-1660 (2 vols., 1900) ; an exhaustive 
treatment. Stoughton, Religion in England, I. G. B. Tatham, The Puritans in 
Power, a Study of the English Church from 1640 to 1660 (1913). 

Selections from the sources. Adams and Stephens, nos. 207-212. Gardiner, 
Documents, nos. 57-85. 



CHAPTER XXXI 

THE KINGLESS DECADE: THE COMMONWEALTH AND THE PRO- 
TECTORATE (1649-1660) 

The Commonwealth : the First National Republic. — Early in 
February, 1649, within a week after the execution of Charles, the Rump 
carried resolutions confirmed by acts passed in March, that the House 
of Lords and the office of King were unnecessary, burdensome, and 
dangerous, and ought to be abolished. Later in the same month it 
named a Council of State, consisting of 41 members, 31 of whom were 
selected from the House of Commons, to carry on the executive work 
of the government. On 19 May, England was declared to be a Com- 
monwealth. Thus the first national republic in the world's history 
had come into being. 1 Not only was the English Commonwealth a 
unique experiment in government, but it was the creation of a minority. 
" In form a democracy," it was in reality " an oligarchy, half religious, 
half military, ruling over an incomparably greater number of dis- 
affected subjects." The Anglicans, the Presbyterians, and the Roman 
Catholics wanted a monarchy, with the sects absolutely excluded 
from power and toleration. The bulk of the people were hostile to 
military domination, heavy taxation, interruption of business, and 
meddling with their pastimes. Even those who upheld the Common- 
wealth were divided among themselves. Fifth Monarchy men, 
Levelers, Communists, each wanted a freer system, or one more 
suited to their peculiar ideas. Now that the King was disposed of, 
the army too, whose pay was still in arrears, were insistent that 
Parliament should take steps either to limit its own power or fix a 
date for dissolution. 2 

The Refusal of the Rump to fix a Date for its Dissolution. — Already, 
15 January, 1649, while the King was still alive, the Army Council had 
issued an amended form of the Agreement of the People, in substance 
" a scheme of republican government based on the Heads of Proposals." 
It was designed mainly to guard against the despotism of Parliament, 

1 Ancient Athens and Rome and the medieval Italian republics were merely 
city states, in the government of which all the citizens were supposed to participate. 
Representation and federation were only imperfectly understood and employed. 
The United Netherlands were under the domination- of Holland with the chief 
executive office or stadholderate hereditary in the House of Orange. The Federa- 
tion of Swiss cantons was a mere league. 

2 Even the remnant to which they had reduced it was too independent and 
assertive. 

509 



5i° 



A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 



and provided, among other things, that the existing body should be 
dissolved, 30 April, 1649. While the Rump passed many acts in 
accordance with its recommendations, it never adopted the scheme as 
a whole, and disregarded the suggestions fixing the date of its own 
termination. There is much to be said for Parliament, unrepresenta- 
tive and masterful as it was ; its members might well hesitate to accept 
the new Constitution ; for it contained many startling innovations 
which might have been difficult to alter after they had been tested by 
practice, since there was no provision for amendments. Moreover, 
in the event of its dissolution, there was grave peril that the royalists 
might raise their heads or that the extremists might gain the upper 
hand. In the one case another civil war was inevitable ; in the other, 
confusion and anarchy. The new Government was in a very illogical 
position. It had seized control in the name of the people, but the 
bulk of the people opposed its authority. 

The Forces of Discontent and Disorder. — John Lilburne, " Free- 
born John," was the chief spokesman of the political Levelers. Twice 
he was tried and acquitted, and once in the interval was exiled by a 
special act of Parliament. The announcement of his first acquittal 
was greeted with " a loud and unanimous shout," lasting for " about 
half an hour without intermission, which made the judges for fear 
turn pale and hang down their heads." Cromwell, whom Lilburne 
had once heard declare angrily before the Council that " there was no 
other way to deal with these men but to break them or they will 
break you," aroused his bitterest ire. " You will scarce speak to 
Cromwell," he cried, " but he will lay his hand on his breast, elevate 
his eyes, and call God to record. He will weep, howl, and repent, even 
while he doth smite you under the fifth rib." While Cromwell had no 
sympathy with unrestricted parliamentary control, he was determined 
that order should be preserved. Thus, when an effort to disband sev- 
eral of the regiments led to a series of mutinies, he combined promptly 
with Fairfax in putting them down. Anarchy in England was only 
one of the many problems to be faced. Scotland, Ireland, and more 
than one of the American Colonies had declared for Charles II. A 
portion of the fleet was royalist, and, partly in the royal interest, 
partly for gain, preyed upon the commerce of their opponents. Since 
the attitude of foreign Powers was also menacing, English ships at 
sea, English merchants, and English ambassadors were in serious 
peril. Altogether, the new Government had undertaken a tremendous 
and complicated task : to set up an adequate central authority in 
place of monarchy ; to prevent the restoration of the Stuarts ; to settle 
the religious question ; to unify three kingdoms ; to maintain the sea 
power ; to secure the colonial possessions, and to safeguard the national 
commerce. Cromwell, erelong, assumed the leadership in all this 
work and maintained it while he lived. 

The Conquest of Ireland, 1649. — The danger from Ireland was 
most pressing. Ormonde, who had retired for a time in consequence 



THE KINGLESS DECADE 511 

of the King's crooked and underhanded negotiations with the Catho- 
lics, returned in 1648, and succeeded in uniting the Catholic and 
Protestant royalists. After the execution of the elder Charles they 
proclaimed his son Charles II. They secured practically all Ireland, 
except Dublin, which the parliamentary commander managed to hold 
only by the most strenuous efforts. In order to meet this crisis, Crom- 
well was appointed commander-in-chief and governor for three years; 
he arrived in August, 1649, determined to break the power of the 
royalists, to reduce the country, and to avenge the massacre of 1641. 
In September he appeared before Drogheda, where the enemy were 
strongly fortified. Setting up his siege guns, he battered down the 
walls, took the city by storm, and ordered the garrison put to the 
sword. He has been bitterly condemned for this ruthless bloodshed, 
though somewhat has been urged in defense of his conduct. It was 
the law of the day to put to the sword garrisons holding untenable 
positions and refusing to surrender, and in the Irish war no quarter 
had been given on either side. Moreover, eminent generals have 
justified such single acts of slaughter as a means of preventing a pro- 
tracted war. Cromwell himself deplored the act as a melancholy 
necessity, regarding himself at the same time as a chosen agent to 
visit the righteous judgment of God upon the authors of the massacre 
of 1641. Yet, after all has been said, the proceeding remains the 
darkest blot in his career. For the massacre of Wexford, which fol- 
lowed shortly, he was apparently less to blame. Within ten months 
he had conquered eastern Ireland, Ormonde's unstable alliance fell 
to pieces, and the backbone of the war was broken. In August, 1650, 
Cromwell, leaving Ireton and Ludlow to conquer the natives in the 
west, hurried home, for the situation in Scotland demanded attention. 
The " Cromwellian Settlement," 1652. — Two years were required 
to complete the subjugation of Ireland, at a cost, from fighting, famine, 
and pestilence, of the lives of a third of the inhabitants. The scheme 
formulated in 1652 by the Rump for dealing with the conquered is 
known as the " Cromwellian Settlement." Although the details 
were not devised by him, it was made possible by his victories, it met 
with his approval, and was carried out under his supervision. It 
extended the measures of colonization and repression which had 
replaced Henry VIII 's ill-fated attempt at conciliation. The Catholic 
religion was suppressed, and the Celtic owners were dispossessed of 
their remaining lands in Leinster, Munster, and Ulster, receiving 
nominal compensation in the wild, remote, and unfruitful Connaught. 
Their holdings were given to those who had furnished money for the 
Irish wars and to the generals and soldiers. The common people, the 
laborers and artisans, were not included in the deportation. Then 
the possessions of the lesser men among the new grantees were 
speedily swallowed up by the greater. The few yeomen who were 
left threw in their lot with the natives and swelled the ranks of the 
discontented. 



S i2 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

The Situation in Scotland. — After the crushing defeat of the 
Scottish royalists in 1648 the extreme Covenanters under Argyle be- 
came dominant. Bitterly opposed to the English Independents and 
the policy of toleration espoused by the victorious army, they offered 
to support Charles II, on condition that he take the Covenant. Al- 
though inclined to Roman Catholicism, the Prince, a typical " gilt 
mountebank," was as indifferent to religious as he was to moral prin- 
ciples. So, in the extreme necessity to which he was reduced, he 
followed the suggestion of some of his advisers " to promise anything 
and break the promise when you can." Nevertheless, it was not 
without " great passion and bitter execration " that he accepted the 
hard terms imposed upon him at Breda. Perhaps the basest act in 
his utterly selfish career was his cool repudiation of Montrose who, 
" with one small ship, a few men, and a little money," had gone to 
Scotland in March, to fight his cause. Defeated, 27 April, 1650, at 
Corbiesdale, Montrose was captured a few days later and executed at 
Edinburgh, meeting his fate with a heroism that won its own reward. 
It was easy for Charles to turn his back on those who had served him 
unsuccessfully and to declare that he had not taken the Covenant 
" upon any sinister intention and crooked design for attaining his 
own ends " ; but he had to pay a heavy price for his apostasy. He 
was not allowed to speak in council, he had to listen to long sermons, 
he was prohibited from dancing, card playing and even from walking 
on Sunday afternoons. 1 He was obliged to bewail his own sins and 
those of his house, his father's hearkening to evil counsel and his 
mother's idolatry, until he protested : " I think I ought to repent, too, 
that I was ever born." Later he declared that he would rather be 
hanged than ever set foot again in that hated land. 

The Invasion of Scotland and the Battle of Dunbar, 1650. — Fairfax, 
who had no sympathy with the policy of the Commonwealth, resigned 
his command in June, 1650. Cromwell, appointed to succeed him, 
was commissioned to invade Scotland, and crossed the border 22 July. 
He sent before him a declaration from Parliament and the army to 
the " saints and partakers in the faith of God's Elect in Scotland," 
beseeching them not to desert the cause of the brethren in England. 
When they rejected his advances, he was forced to resort to arms. 
Frustrated in an attempt to take Edinburgh by sickness among his 
troops, lack of supplies obliged him to retreat to the coast, where, 
at Dunbar, the Scots under David Leslie, succeeded in hemming him 
in between the mountains and the sea. When they had every chance 
of reducing the English in a short time, they gave way to overconfidence 
and to the impatience of the ministers and the committee of the Scotch 
Estates. Before daybreak, 3 September, 1650, they came down from 
their commanding position and offered battle. The issue was decided 
by one of Cromwell's irresistible cavalry charges. " Let God arise 

1 Golf, because it was a game "without vanity," was the only recreation al- 
lowed him. 



THE KINGLESS DECADE 513 

and let his enemies be scattered," he cried, as he dashed through their 
ranks just as the morning sun rose. 

The Scots invade England. The Battle of Worcester, 1651. — The 
remnant of the defeated army retired to Stirling, while Cromwell 
advanced and took Edinburgh. Dunbar had broken the ascendancy 
of the rigid Covenanters. The " Engagers " ! were admitted to an 
alliance, the shifty Argyle went into retirement, and, 1 January, 165 1, 
Charles was crowned at Scone. Thereupon, Cromwell, with daring 
strategy, crossed the Firth of Forth, thus cutting his enemies off from 
the Highlands upon which they depended for recruits and supplies. 
At the same time, he left the road to England open. The Scots had no 
choice but to march south across the Border, though the invasion 
would inevitably arouse the national sentiment of the bulk of the 
English. They started 31 July, 1650, by the fatal Lancashire road. 
Cromwell hastened after them along a parallel route through York- 
shire, and Charles' army, much worn down by English forces which 
had been harassing his flanks and rear, was overtaken at Worcester. 
There, 3 September, 1651, on the anniversary of Dunbar, a fierce 
battle was fought. Charles, who manfully plunged into the fray, 
after he had for some time breathlessly followed events from the 
cathedral tower, only fled when the last hope was gone. A reward of 
£1000 for a " tall man above two yards high, with dark brown hair, 
scarcely to be distinguished from black " failed to secure his capture. 
After six weeks of thrilling adventures, in which the courage and re- 
source of the fugitive were only matched by the devotion of his fol- 
lowers, he made his way to France to wait for better times. Worces- 
ter's fight was Cromwell's "crowning mercy." Never again during 
his lifetime was England in danger of invasion. Scotland soon yielded. 
Compared with the Irish, the Scots were dealt with tenderly. The 
army of occupation was kindly disposed, and the Kirk, although 
deprived of its control in the State and its power to persecute, was left 
unmolested. It now remained to establish the Commonwealth 
securely in England and to assert its power in the colonies, on the seas, 
and abroad. 

The Sea Power of the Commonwealth. — Before the close of 1651 
the fleet of the Commonwealth, chiefly through the abilities of Blake, 
who had won his spurs as a land commander during the Civil Wars, 
had successfully asserted its dominion of the seas. Prince Rupert, 
who had taken over the command of the royal navy, 2 was able to ac- 
complish little. The island possessions of the royalists in the Channel 
were forced to yield, and, after the news of Worcester, Virginia, the 
Bermudas, and the Barbadoes, which had declared for the King, and 
where many royalist exiles had taken refuge, acknowledged the author- 
ity of Parliament. Yet the notable success of the navy under the 
Commonwealth, while it enhanced the prestige of the Commonwealth, 

'The party who had signed the " Engagement" with Charles I. 

2 Many of the land commanders of the period showed this amphibious capacity. 



5 i4 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

was attended with results which contributed to the ultimate downfall 
of the Government. In the two years from 1649 to 165 1 the navy was 
more than doubled : instead of contenting themselves with keeping 
the peace and protecting commerce, the leaders were tempted to use 
the weapons which they had forged in maritime conflicts, first against 
the Dutch, and subsequently against Spain. Although they inflicted 
great injury on their adversaries and took rich prizes, English com- 
merce suffered and the heavy taxes necessary to maintain the fleet, 
abnormally large for those times, roused violent opposition. 

The First Dutch War, 1 652-1 654. — A war against the Dutch broke 
out in July, 1652. The causes of friction were commercial and polit- 
ical. In the East Indies there was long-standing rivalry which had 
led to bloody encounters ; at Amboyna, for instance, the Dutch had, in 
1623, massacred a body of English traders, a deed for which they 
steadily refused to make compensation. The English, for their part, 
refused to recognize the right of the Dutch to fish for herring in the 
North Sea ; against the latter's claim that free ships made free goods, 
they insisted on searching their ships for royalist arms ; and they 
demanded that the Dutch recognize the English supremacy in the 
narrow seas by lowering their colors when ships of the two countries 
met. These differences were all commercial, the political were equally 
serious. In 1649 the royalists at the Hague had murdered the Eng- 
lish representative, Dorislaus ; and the Estates General not only 
rejected an alliance with the Commonwealth, but refused its demands 
to expel the royalist exiles, or to proscribe the House of Orange, whose 
adherents were openly hostile to the new Government, and to whom 
the new English regime was further opposed as an hereditary dynasty 
allied by marriage to the Stuarts. Finally, in October, 165 1, the Eng- 
lish aimed a blow at the Dutch carrying trade by a Navigation Act, 
providing that no goods should be imported from Asia, Africa, or 
America save in English or Colonial ships, or from any European 
country, except in English ships or those of the country that produced 
the goods. 1 In the conflict which followed, though the honors were 
about even in actual engagements, the English, on the whole, had the 
advantage. The Dutch ships were smaller, they were less adequately 
manned, and their guns were lighter ; they had a larger commerce and 
more colonies to defend, and their internal administration had been 
weakened by discord among the various provinces since the death of 
the Stadholder William in 1650. 2 

The Growing Opposition to the Commonwealth. — While the Com- 
monwealth had asserted its power by force of arms in all directions, 
the existing arrangement failed to win the approval of the bulk of the 
nation. The Council of State was efficient and honest ; but the Rump 

1 This act, however, which was apparently not, very rigidly enforced, was not 
made a pretext for war. 

2 He left a posthumous child, later famous as William of Orange and William III 
of England. 



THE KINGLESS DECADE 515 

Parliament contained many members who were charged with self- 
seeking and corruption, in the fines imposed upon the maligriants, in 
the sequestration of royalist estates, and in the sale of Crown and 
Church lands. After the Irish and Scots had been subdued, the army, 
which objected to seeing a fragment of Parliament continuing to 
govern the country for an unlimited period, was in a position to assert 
itself. 1 Parliament, on their part, felt that an appeal to the country 
in a general election would jeopardize the whole existing system. In 
order to deal with the recent crises, they had not only been obliged to 
impose heavy taxes, but to suppress the writings of those who opposed 
their policy, and, in general, to resort to such arbitrary measures that 
they were bound to be beaten at the polls. Their austerity added 
to their general unpopularity : they put a stop to church festivals ; 
they closed the theaters ; they tried to enforce morality by law ; and 
to stifle innocent merriment in a regime of gloom. While allowing a 
fair degree of freedom to Protestants, they failed to set up a satisfac- 
tory religious settlement, or to undertake much-desired reforms in law 
and finance. 

Cromwell dissolves the Rump, 20 April, 1653. — Finally, 2 August, 
1652, the officers of the army formulated a petition, embodying the 
demands of the more progressive sort, and again insisting on arrears 
of pay. When nothing came of it; Cromwell began reluctantly to 
realize that Parliament was as serious an obstruction to the cause which 
he had at heart as Charles had been. Gradually he became convinced 
that the only hope lay in his assuming the executive 2 ; but, as usual, 
he proceeded cautiously. While he was coming to this conclusion, the 
Rump planned a step which determined him to get rid of it. The 
members, instead of providing for a general election, decided to pro- 
long their own powers by filling the vacant seats in their body with 
men of whose qualifications they should themselves be the judge. 
Directly he heard the news, Cromwell, clad in plain woolen clothes 
and worsted stockings, hurried to the House, followed by a guard of 
soldiers. With his hat on his head he strode up and down the floor. 
At the close of an angry speech in which he overwhelmed them with 
grave charges, he cried : "Come, come, I will put an end to your 
prating. You are no Parliament, I say you are no Parliament ; I 
will put an end to your sitting. Call them in, call them in." As the 
soldiers came, in response to his order, Vane began to protest in vigor- 
ous language. Cromwell turned upon him, shouting : "Oh, Sir Henry 
Vane, Sir Henry Vane, the Lord deliver me from Sir Henry Vane ! " 
Then he seized the mace, saying, " What shall we do with this bauble? 

1 It was further alienated by the excessive development of the navy and the 
Dutch war. 

2 As early as December, 1651, he declared that a "settlement with somewhat of 
a monarchical power in it would be very effectual." A little later in a private 
conversation he threw out the suggestion : "What if a man should take upon him 
to be King?" 



5 i6 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

There, take it away." The Speaker was forcibly pulled from his 
chair b'y one of the officers. Seeking to justify himself, Cromwell 
declared to the assembled members : "It is you who have forced me 
to this, for I have sought the Lord night and day that he would rather 
slay me than put me to the doing of this work." Then, snatching up 
the offending bill and putting it under his cloak, he commanded the 
doors to be locked, and hurried away. Some wag put a sign on the 
Parliament building which read : "This House to let unfurnished." 
Cromwell's action, though meant for the best, was really more violent 
than anything that Charles had attempted. It remained to be seen 
whether he could build up a better edifice than he had pulled down. 

The Nominated Parliament, July-December, 1653. — Immediately 
after the dissolution of the Rump, the army replaced the Council of 
State by a provisional council with Cromwell at the head. Fearing 
to appeal to the country at large, the new body determined to secure 
an assembly of godly men of their own way of thinking. To that end, 
they wrote to the Congregational ministers of each county asking 
them to name suitable persons, from which lists they made their 
selections, adding names of their own. Thus, they assembled a body 
of 140 members, 129 from England, 5 from Scotland, and 6 from Ire- 
land, to whom they handed over the powers of the State on condition 
that, after devising a new scheme of representation, it should bring 
its own sessions to a close within fifteen months. Thus the Nomi- 
nated or Little or Barebones Parliament, 1 as it has been variously called, 
was intended to be a constituent assembly only; but, composed of 
zealous reformers, it chose a Council of State, appointed committees 
to consider the needs of the Church and the nation ; and proceeded 
with the work properly belonging to the body it was really to usher in. 2 
Most of their proposed reforms were good in themselves ; indeed, many 
of them have since been adopted, but they were in advance of the time. 
So, 12 December, 1653, the more moderate members, who although in 
a minority voiced the sense of the majority outside, held an early sit- 
ting and resigned their powers into the hands of Cromwell. Those 
who resisted were expelled by the troops. 3 If the Rump had not been 
ready to go far enough, its successor had gone too far. The creature of 
the army, it had sought to free itself and the English people from the 
power of the sword ; it failed because it aroused the fear that it was 
going to introduce the domination of the sects and radicalism. 

The Instrument of Government. Cromwell made Lord Protector, 
December, 1653. — Upon the overthrow of the Nominated Parliament 

1 It got its name from one of its members, Praise-God Barebone, a leather mer- 
chant of London. 

2 Among their drastic reforms they proposed to reduce the laws of England to a 
code that should be of "no greater bigness than a pocket book." 

3 According to a royalist story a colonel asked those who lingered what they 
were doing: -"We are seeking the Lord," was the reply. "Then you should go 
elsewhere," he retorted, "for to my knowledge the Lord has not been here these 
twelve years past." 



THE KINGLESS DECADE 517 

the officers of the army presented a scheme known as the Instrument 
of Government, vesting the supreme power in a single person, assisted, 
and to some extent controlled, by a council and a parliament. The 
Instrument is notable as the first written constitution for governing a 
nation in modern times, 1 and the only one which England has ever had 
in actual operation. On 16 December, Cromwell accepted office as 
Lord Protector. He was to hold office for life and his successors were 
to be chosen by the Council of State. This body was to consist of 
13 to 21 members named in the Instrument. For each future vacancy 
Parliament was to name six persons, from whom the Council would 
select two, the final choice resting with the Protector. Powers of 
legislation and extraordinary taxation 2 were vested in Parliament, 
though between sessions the Protector and Council could issue ordi- 
nances which might be afterwards confirmed or disallowed by Parlia- 
ment. The Protector had no power of veto, though he could withhold 
his assent to a bill for twenty days. It was provided that Parliament 
should meet at least once in three years and that each session should 
last at least five months. The right to vote was somewhat extended, 
though supporters of the King were to be temporarily excluded and 
Roman Catholics disqualified. The Christian religion as contained 
in the Scriptures 3 was to be professed by the Nation. There was to 
be an established church, but a provision less objectionable than tithes 
was to be made for its support. Full liberty was allowed to believers 
in Jesus Christ, though this was not to extend to " Popery or Prelacy," 
or to those who disturbed the peace, or practiced licentiousness. 

The Instrument was, on the whole, a good attempt to steer between 
the despotism of a single person and a single house. The Protector 
was checked by the Council, and his acts could be reviewed by the 
courts. On the other hand, he was, to some extent, protected against 
Parliament by the fixed revenue for the ordinary needs of the State 
and by the suspensive veto. Yet the arrangement was not without 
its flaws. There was no provision for amendment, and the relations 
between the executive and the legislature were not as they are at 
present. A modern Parliament can exercise constant supervision over 
the Cabinet, which falls as soon as the majority withdraws its support ; 
moreover, it controls supplies even in ordinary times. On the other 
hand, the Cabinet can always dissolve Parliament and appeal to the 
nation, a device that the Protector was not in a position to make use of. 
His government had the support neither of traditional loyalty nor of 
the sanction of the majority. It was not through any faults in its plan, 
however, that the Instrument failed, but because Parliament refused to 
accept it, insisting, when they came together, that it was their function 
and not that of Cromwell or the army to construct the constitution. 

1 The Mayflower Compact of 1620 and the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut 
of 1639, were constitutions not for sovereign bodies, but for colonies of England. 

2 A fixed revenue was provided for the ordinary expenses of the army and navy 
and the civil administration. 3 This meant Puritanism. 



5 i8 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

Cromwell's Aims as Protector. — From 16 December, 1653, to 3 
September, 1654, when Parliament met, Cromwell was in fact if not 
in name sovereign of the three kingdoms. In his early life he had been 
busily and usefully employed in tilling his fields and rearing cattle. 
In Parliament he was known as a rather uncouth figure, active and 
determined, but chiefly notable lor his religious fervor. When the 
Civil War broke out, he was forty-three years old, and the struggle 
was well under way before he came to be recognized as an irresistible 
military force. He had overcome all who withstood the cause of 
which he had made himself the champion. Now that he stood trium- 
phant over his vanquished opponents — the King, the Irish, the Scots, 
and Parliament — he had before him the one supreme task : " The 
task, as he said himself, of healing and settling : of healing the rancour 
engendered by so many years of strife ; of settling a new order, polit- 
ical and ecclesiastical, which should rest, not upon military force, but 
upon the willing acceptance of all good citizens." Directly he as- 
sumed office he applied himself at once to legislation, and, during the 
next three months, issued some eighty ordinances covering a wide 
field. 

The Protector's Religious Policy. — The religious policy which he 
sought to enforce was one which he adopted but did not originate. 
It contemplated an established, non-episcopal church, endowed and 
supported by the State, and comprehending all Protestant sects who 
believed in Christ, save those who accepted bishops and the Prayer 
Book. For those who opposed any form of establishment the greatest 
possible toleration was to be allowed. Each congregation was to own 
its church buildings and to regulate its own form of worship, and no 
provision was made for church courts, ecclesiastical assemblies, pre- 
scribed ceremonies, or doctrinal tests. Great pains, however, were 
taken to secure proper ministers. By an ordinance of 20 March, 1654, 
a mixed commission of laymen known as the " Triers " was set up to 
test the fitness of preachers presented to livings. It was supplemented, 
22 August, by a body of " Ejectors," established in each county to 
expel ministers found to be scandalous, heretical, disaffected, or " insuf- 
ficient." Cromwell's system satisfied most of the conservatives who 
had vested interests at stake and the sectaries who desired freedom 
from persecution. Anglicans were forbidden openly to use the Prayer 
Book, but their private worship was winked at, except during moments 
when the Government felt itself in danger. Catholics, though still 
subject to the old penalties for saying and hearing mass, were no longer 
forced to attend the parish church, and the penal laws were not rigidly 
enforced. 1 The Quakers and Baptists throve lustily, were able to 
survive the Restoration and live to the present day. Moreover, the 
Jews began to return to England. In spite, however, of its generally 
tolerant attitude, Cromwell's was a Puritan regime. Its austerity, 

1 Only one priest was put to death during Cromwell's regime. 



THE KINGLESS DECADE 519 

its exclusion of the Cavaliers from political activity, and the unfair 
discrimination in financial burdens that soon came to be imposed 
upon them, kept alive a discontent that was soon to assert itself. 

Cromwell's Foreign Policy. — Cromwell's foreign policy which now 
began to shape itself had three main objects : the weakening of the 
Stuart cause on the Continent ; the development of England's colonial 
and commercial power; and the formation of a great alliance of the 
Protestant countries of Europe under the leadership of England. He 
succeeded, so long as he lived, in staving off a Stuart restoration. Also, 
he did much to carry on the old Elizabethan tradition of English mari- 
time supremacy which had been so effectively revived under the 
Commonwealth. In his third, and what he liked to believe was his 
paramount aim, he was least fortunate. After the Peace of West- 
phalia, which concluded the Thirty Years' War in 1648, religious inter- 
ests in Europe gave way more and more to those of political and com- 
mercial aggrandizement. The northern Protestant states which 
Cromwell aimed to unite fell to quarreling among themselves, and the 
two great Catholic Powers, France and Spain, whom he strove to keep 
apart, made peace in little more than a year after his death. More- 
over, the Protector himself mingled with his Protestant zeal a con- 
suming ambition to enhance England's material advantages. While 
this latter motive was most worthy, it led him into devious courses, 
in which his actions conflicted with his professions, thus enabling his 
enemies at home and abroad to charge him with hypocrisy when he 
was frequently only self-deluded. 

Peace with the Dutch, April, 1654. — The mixed motives in his 
policy were manifested shortly after he became Protector. Deplor- 
ing the continuance of the war with the Dutch, he concluded a treaty 
of peace in April, 1654, but his terms were hard and distinctly to Eng- 
land's commercial and political advantage. The Dutch agreed to 
strike their flags to English ships in the narrow seas ; to punish the 
perpetrators of the Amboyna massacre ; and to accept the Navigation 
Act. On the other hand, they were to continue to fish for herrings 
in the North Sea without payment of rent, and they maintained their 
own views on the right of search. While England desired to exclude 
the House of Orange from the government of the United Provinces, no 
stipulation was made in the treaty, though Cromwell induced Holland, 
the leading province, not to elect William's heir as Stadholder. Each 
country agreed to make compensation for damages done to the other 
in the East Indies ; concluded a defensive alliance ; and agreed 
not to harbor each other's rebels, this involving the exclusion of the 
Stuart exiles from the United Provinces. Altogether, the war was a 
heavy blow at England's greatest trade rival, and marked the beginning 
of the end of the Dutch supremacy at sea. Treaties followed with 
Sweden, Denmark, and Portugal. The latter, although a Catholic 
country, was at war with Spain against whom it was struggling to 
maintain its independence. 



5 2o A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

The Capture of Jamaica, May, 1655. The War with Spain. — 

France and Spain contended with one another for an alliance with the 
Protector. France, to be sure, was the hereditary enemy of England, 
while her king was a nephew of Henrietta Maria. On the other 
hand, Spain had been the foe who inspired the glorious achievements 
of the Elizabethan seamen, and the Spanish religious and commercial 
policy was still unbearably exclusive. When England asked for 
freedom of religion and trade for her merchants, the Spanish ambas- 
sador declared that it was like asking for his master's two eyes. Far 
from making any concessions, the Inquisition was rigorously enforced 
against Englishmen in the Spanish dominions, English settlements 
in the West Indies were persistently harassed, and English ships were 
intercepted in the surrounding waters. This accounts for Oliver's 
declaration to the Council, 20 July, 1654, that: " Providence seemed 
to lead us " to an attack on the Spanish Indies. However, he made 
the mistake of thinking that he could war on Spain in the Indies and 
remain at peace in Europe * ; furthermore, he prepared an attack 
while remaining on terms of ostensible friendship with the destined 
enemy. During Christmas, 1654, his expedition started with Ad- 
miral Penn in command of the fleet, and General Venables in 
command of the army which accompanied it. They were 
ordered to strike at the Spanish dominions in the New World, 
and to seize the treasure ships, with the twofold object of breaking 
her colonial monopoly and dealing a blow at " anti-Christ." An 
attack on Hispaniola failed dismally; but, in May, Jamaica, 
practically defenseless, was captured. In June, Blake, who, the 
previous October, had been sent to the Mediterranean to protect 
English trade and to chastise the pirates who infested that sea, re- 
ceived orders to intercept treasure ships on their way to Spain as 
well as vessels containing troops and supplies for the West Indies. 
Not till the 26 October, 1655, did Oliver declare war. While his 
grounds were sufficient, his underhanded policy is most blame- 
worthy. 

The Alliance with France, 1655 and 1657. — Two days before the 
declaration of war with Spain, he concluded a treaty with France, 
providing for the promotion of commerce and the exclusion from each 
country of the rebels of the other. The result was to throw the exile 
Charles into the arms of Philip IV of Spain. He took up his residence 
in Brussels ; he received a Spanish pension and a promise of assistance 
whenever he should invade England. The treaty between France 
and England was followed by an offensive and defensive alliance, 
23 March, 1657. In June of the next year, the French general Tu- 
renne, assisted by English troops who fought with rare bravery, cap- 
tured Dunkirk, the best port in Flanders. It was handed over to 
the Protector. He had stipulated for this cession, partly because 

1 His only excuse was the old tradition that' there was no peace beyond the line, 
the line marked by the bull of demarcation of Alexander VI. 



THE KINGLESS DECADE 521 

Dunkirk was one of the keys of the Channel, and partly because it 
was a lair for pirates who preyed upon English commerce. 

Results of the Protector's Foreign Policy. — In foreign policy 
Oliver achieved much. He gained for England a high place among 
European powers, and " was more feared and courted than any other 
sovereign of his time " ; he retarded the restoration of Charles II ; he 
advanced English commercial and colonial interests by striking hard 
at the monopoly of Spain ; and he took his country another long step 
toward that naval supremacy which she has enjoyed for the last two 
centuries. However, his cherished scheme for a great Protestant 
alliance failed. He has been charged, too, with short-sightedness in 
furthering the greatness of France, a growing power, as against Spain, 
which was on the decline ; yet it must be said that the decay of Spain 
■was not then fully apparent, while it was the slavish policy of Charles II 
far more than Oliver's alliance which contributed to the subsequent 
ascendancy of Louis XIV. A more serious indictment of Oliver's 
policy is that it took money which the country could ill spare ; it 
diverted the Protector's attention from pressing domestic problems ; 
and, by mingling material motives with religious professions, he low- 
ered his ideals and stained his prestige as a godly ruler of the elect. 

The First Parliament of the Protectorate, September, 1654- January, 
1655. — Meantime, the first Parliament of the Protectorate had met, 
3 September, 1654. Besides a small body of Republicans opposed to a 
strong executive, a stout contingent of conservatives had been elected 
who were set against war. While they desired a settled government 
they were bent on having one settled by themselves. Cromwell was 
willing that they should alter " circumstantials " in the Instrument; 
but he insisted that they should not meddle with " fundamentals." 
" I say," he declared vehemently, " that the wilful throwing away 
of this Government, such as it is, so owned by God, so approved by 
men, were a thing I can sooner be rolled into my grave and buried with 
infamy than I can give my consent to." By means of a test, to which 
he required the members to subscribe, he managed to exclude about 
a hundred of the most uncompromising ; but even those who remained 
set about to revise the Instrument in such a manner as to obtain Par- 
liamentary, sovereignty, control over the militia, and religious uni- 
formity rigidly restricting freedom of conscience. Consequently, 
'22 January, 1655, at the end of five lunar months Oliver appeared 
before them, and in a bitter speech in which he denounced them for 
multiplying " dissettlement and divisions " and " reproached them 
with their readiness to pinch other men's consciences, and their en- 
deavor to grasp the whole power of the militia," he concluded : "it 
is not for the profit of these nations, nor fit for the common and public 
good, for you to continue here any longer. And, therefore, I do de- 
clare unto you that I do dissolve this Parliament." While they had 
some ground for opposing a military despotism, the Protector was 
worthy of their trust, and he realized that, if the unnatural union of 



522 



A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 



Presbyterians and Republicans who opposed him was allowed to pre- 
vail, it would open the way for factional fights and inevitable reaction. 
It was one of the ironies of fate that he who desired above all things 
peace and healing, and who had contended against despotism both in 
King and in Parliament, could only preserve at the point of the sword 
what he had struggled to gain for the nation. 

Penruddock's Rising and the Rule of the Major-Generals, 1655. — 
The dissension between the Protector and Parliament and evidences 
of discontent outside the House encouraged the royalists to plan a 
general rising in March, 1655. The only force to appear in arms was 
a body of Wiltshire men under John Penruddock. They were speedily 
suppressed, and Penruddock, with a few of the leaders, were put to 
death, while a number of others were transported to the West Indies. 
Nevertheless, the unrest continued to be so great that, in August, the 
Protector divided the country into military districts, setting a major- 
general over each. In addition to keeping order they were com- 
missioned to enforce the Puritan moral code. They were most effec- 
tive in both capacities. They put down robberies and disorder, they 
suppressed horse racing, cockfighting and bear baiting. 1 They re- 
duced the number of alehouses ; punished tippling and profaneness ; 
and they made determined war on vagrants, strolling minstrels, and 
stage players. 2 This increased rigor served only to alienate further 
the mass of the people in whom the love of amusement was strong. 
Moreover, the Cavaliers were oppressed with singular and special 
burdens. In addition to those who were punished for participation 
in the recent rising, an income tax of 10 per cent, known as the " deci- 
mation," was imposed on all who were known to have taken part 
against Parliament in the Civil War. By this " military and magis- 
terial inquisition " and by such unwise discrimination, the Protector 
lost the chance of winning over the classes whom the Rump had failed 
to conciliate. When, owing to the need for money for carrying on 
the Spanish war, a new Parliament met, 17 September, 1656, the whole 
country was seething with discontent. 

Cromwell made Hereditary Protector, June, 1657. — The Council, 
under its authority of deciding whether new members were men of 

1 Partly because they furnished occasion for drunkenness, gaming, and other 
immoralities, partly because such gatherings offered opportunity for conspiracy. 

2 The following indictment which was gravely considered by the Court of Upper 
Bench is an indication of the minute supervision exercised by the authorities in 
this period :_ " Kent — Before the justices of the peace it was presented that, at 
Maidstone, in the county aforesaid, John Bishop, of Maidstone, in the county afore- 
said, apothecary, with force and arms did wilfully and in a violent and boisterous 
manner run to and fro, and kick up and down in the common highway and street 
within the said town and county, called the High Street, a certain ball of leather 
commonly called a foot ball, unto the great annoyance and incumbrance of the 
said common highway, to the great disquiet and disturbance of the good people of 
this Commonwealth passing and travelling in and through the same, and in con- 
tempt of the laws, etc. and to the evil example of others and against the public 
peace." 



THE KINGLESS DECADE 



523 



" known integrity, fearing God, and of good conversation," excluded 
more than a hundred possible opponents of the Protector, and about 
fifty more did not take their seats. Those who remained hoped by 
supporting Cromwell and enlarging his civil powers to secure a stable 
government and to break the power of the army. Very wisely the 
rule of the Major-Generals and the " decimation " of the Cavaliers 
was discontinued. There were two leading parties in Parliament, 
one desiring to make Cromwell hereditary Protector, the other to 
make him King. There was much to be said for the restoration of 
the kingship. For one thing, it was rooted in traditional loyalty, and 
would, for that reason, command the support of many of the con- 
servatives ; again, it was bound by recognized rules of constitutional 
limitation, while the office of Protector was more in the nature of a 
dictatorship. Cromwell professed to regard the kingly title " as a 
mere feather in the hat " ; but when it was offered him, in February, 
1657, in a revised form of the Instrument, known as the " Humble 
Petition and Advice," he hesitated. When he refused, early in May, 
it was apparently only because of the strenuous opposition of the 
army. Instead, he accepted the office of hereditary Lord Protector, 
and, 26 June, was solemnly inaugurated with regal pomp and cere- 
mony. Most of the other recommendations of the Humble Petition 
were adopted as well. Chief among them was a provision for a second 
or " other House," members of which should, in the first instance, be 
nominated by Cromwell. The Constitution thus revised, and with 
the powers of Parliament considerably enlarged, now for the first time 
received formal sanction. After legalizing the ordinances of 1654, 
Parliament adjourned till January, 1658. When it met again, the 
power of the Protector was found to have been greatly weakened by 
the admission of the members excluded in the autumn of 1656, and 
by the promotion of his stanchest supporters to the " other House." 
In the face of intrigues against his authority and disputes over the 
relations between the two Houses, he ordered their dissolution, 4 Feb- 
ruary, 1658. " I think it high time to put an end to your sitting," 
he declared, " and let God be judge between you and me." It was 
destined to be his last parliament. 

Cromwell's Death, 3 September, 1658. — The remaining few months 
of his life were marked by growing unpopularity and disappointment. 
The merchants were more and more embittered by the damage to 
their commerce inflicted by hostile powers, as the Cavaliers had been 
by the deprivation of their lands and social prestige. The strain of 
keeping up a large army and a large navy at the same time was too 
much for the nation to bear, while the need for money grew more 
pressing every day. Only Oliver's strong hand could hold in check 
the steadily mounting discontent. Although but fifty-eight years 
old and of a naturally robust constitution, the burden proved too great 
for his health to bear, undermined as it was by fifteen years of titanic 
labors. The death of his favorite daughter Elizabeth, 6 August, 1658, 



5 2 4 



A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 



proved to be the final shock from which he never recovered. Shortly 
after, he was taken with an ague and intermittent fever. On 20 August, 
George Fox, who had met him entering Hampton Court at the head 
of his guards, " felt a waft of death go forth before him." It was not 
long before he realized himself that his days were numbered : "I 
would be willing," he said, " to live to be further serviceable to God 
and His people ; but my work is done." He died 3 September, 1658, 
on the anniversary of Dunbar and Worcester. 

Cromwell's Work. — Cromwell's enemies have judged him harshly, 
and long after his death the view prevailed that, starting as a sincere 
zealot, the taste for power gradually transformed him into a hypo- 
critical fanatic. He had been in his grave nearly two centuries when 
a tempestuous but penetrating champion arose in the person of Thomas 
Carlyle to demonstrate beyond a doubt that Cromwell was " not a 
man of lies, but a man of truth." Since then, the patient investiga- 
tions of impartial historians have been able to picture him as he 
really was in the light of the problems he had to face. It was his un- 
swerving trust in God and his absolute acceptance of every victory 
which he gained in war and in politics at home and abroad, as a mani- 
festation of Divine Providence that lent color to the hostile view 
that so long prevailed. In spite of seeming contradictions, he pursued 
consistent aims — to strike at despotism under whatever form it 
• was cloaked, to stem the inrush of anarchy, and to preserve the heri- 
tage for which he fought. He fashioned the army to beat the King, 
who had been encroaching on the religious and civil liberties of his 
subjects. He overthrew the Long Parliament, because it refused to 
grant spiritual freedom to the sects and showed a determination to 
perpetuate its own power. He welcomed the abrupt termination of 
the Little Parliament, since it went too far in tearing up the roots of 
the past. Then he accepted the supreme power under a system which 
seemed to combine the best features of joint rule by a single person and 
a parliament. When Parliament proceeded to contest the basis of his 
power, he found himself forced to adopt methods more arbitrary than 
those of the King whom he had overthrown. The problem before 
him was such that neither he nor probably any other man could con- 
struct a workable system of government. While more effective as a 
destroyer than as a builder, he achieved many things. He struck a 
blow at tyranny, royal and ecclesiastical, from which it never re- 
covered ; he gave the country an actual experience in religious tolera- 
tion which helped prepar*e the way for the spiritual freedom which it 
was left to later hands enduringly to establish. He first tried the 
experiment of combining England, Scotland, and Ireland in a parlia- 
mentary union, a plan that was not completely realized for a century 
and a half. He made the name of England respected abroad, and, 
adopting the maritime and colonial policy of his great predecessor, 
Elizabeth, he carried it a stage further along toward the goal which 
Great Britain has now reached. Under his government, particularly 



THE KINGLESS DECADE 525 

during the regime of the Major-Generals, there was rigid repression 
and minute interference with private affairs. Some innocent recrea- 
tion was blighted by the enforced observance of the gloomy Puritan 
Sabbath. Some of these measures, however, were due to stern political 
necessity. Others were in the interests of a high, if somewhat dreary, 
morality, and the policy, mistaken as it was in many respects, intro- 
duced serious and sober ideals which have done much to uplift the 
English national character. 1 

Cromwell, the Man. — Cromwell the man, so simple and human 
in his bearing, was a complex personality embodying the most diverse 
traits. He was at once daring and cautious ; he was hesitant in 
council and decisive in action. Although a religious enthusiast, he 
was intensely practical in his military and state policy. In his habits 
of life he was the opposite of a " morose and gloomy " ascetic ; he 
smoked tobacco, he drank wine and small beer. He hunted, hawked, 
and was a lover of horses. He loved his jest 2 and was enthusiastic 
for games, playing bowls even after he became Lord Protector. He 
had an ear for music, and scandalized the stricter sort when his daughter 
Frances was married in November, 1657, by allowing the wedding 
party to indulge in " mixed dancing." But this lighter side only 
appeared at moments in his absorbed and purposeful life. In his last 
prayer he gave thanks that he had been " a mean instrument to do 
God's people some good and God some service." If, as a ruler, he 
came more and more to subordinate " the civil liberty and interest of 
the nation ... to the more peculiar interest of God," if to that end 
he was often abrupt and arbitrary, his aims were lofty and disinter- 
ested. " A larger soul, I think, hath seldom dwelt in a house of 
clay." Such was the tribute of Maidston, his cofferer, perhaps as well 
qualified to speak as any man who knew him. 

Richard Cromwell Lord Protector. His 1 Abdication, 1659. — 
Richard Cromwell, whom his father had named as his successor, was 
a gentle, worthy man, of pure life, personally popular even with the 
Cavaliers ; but he was a typical country gentleman and sportsman, 
without force and without training or ability in affairs of state. More- 
over, he had no hold on the army. " Queen Dick " and the " Meek 
Knight " were some of the names which his enemies came to apply to 
him. At the outset, however, all was well: he bore himself with 
dignity ; foreign governments recognized him ; and his father's coun- 
cilors supplied the wisdom and experience which he lacked. Never- 
theless, his tenure of power really depended on the army. A new 

1 On the other hand, it has been pointed out that the Puritans were at least 
partially responsible for the dissipation that came in with the Restoration, partly 
from the reaction which it engendered, and partly because their confiscations broke 
up many of the Cavalier country homes and drove the younger folk into exile 
in foreign cities, whence they returned with strange vices. 

2 Once when he was bitterly attacked by a zealous preacher, he replied by invit- 
ing him to dinner where a brother preacher said grace for three hours, Cromwell 
himself having previously dined. 



526 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

parliament met 27 January, 1659. While it contained a strong and 
varied body of anti-Cromwellians, the Republicans were unable to 
gain the upper hand. In consequence, they turned to the army 
chiefs, Fleetwood, Lambert, and Desborough, who forced Richard 
to dissolve Parliament, 22 April, 1659. After some wrangling the old 
Rump was recalled, 7 May. Though originally there had been no 
intention of overthrowing the Protectorate, but merely to " piece and 
mend up that cracked government," the Rump proceeded to pass a 
resolution for maintaining a Commonwealth. Richard, after a few 
days of hesitation, resigned. " Tumbledown Dick," as he came to 
be called, lived in retirement till 17 12. 

The End of the Long Parliament, 26 March, 1660. — The Rump 
was as unwilling as Richard's government had been, to allow the 
army to control military affairs. As a result, it was dissolved, 13 Octo- 
ber, 1659, the delay being due to threatened royalist risings during 
the summer. While the generals were trying to devise some plan of 
orderly government in which they might have the voice they desired, 
an unexpected figure arose to dominate the situation. This was 
George Monck, who commanded the army in Scotland. He had begun 
his military career fighting for King Charles : taken prisoner in 1644 
by the enemy, he had successively served Parliament, the Common- 
wealth, the two Protectors, and the restored Rump, and had shown 
unusual ability as a fighter on the sea as well as on the land. A man 
of sphinx-like reserve, he seemed absorbed in his military duties and 
indifferent to politics. Now he suddenly stood forth as the " cham- 
pion of the authority of Parliament " against the designs of the generals. 
Apparently he cared little whether England was a monarchy or a 
republic ; but, if we can believe his own professions, he was convinced 
that she should be governed by law rather than by the sword. 1 On 
2 January, 1660, he crossed the Tweed at the head of his army. Lam- 
bert made a vain effort to oppose him, but there was no enthusiasm 
for the cause of the army, and, deserted even by his own troops, he 
was obliged to give way. Monck marched south, carefully evading 
any public declaration of his intentions. However, he at length yielded 
so far to the demands of the Presbyterians as to force the Rump, which 
had been recalled again, 26 December, to readmit the members ex- 
cluded by Pride's Purge ; but he informed the body thus reconstituted 
that it must dissolve by the 6 May at the latest, and make way for a 
free parliament. The power of the Independents who had ruled 
England for eleven years was broken, though their representatives 
were allowed to retain their seats. Monck was made commander of 
the army of the three kingdoms. On 16 March, " with many sad 
pangs and groans," the Long Parliament dissolved itself after an inter- 
mittent existence of nearly twenty years. It had done much for 
England ; but had long outlived its usefulness. 

1 "I am engaged in conscience and honor," he declared, " to see my country freed 
from that intolerable slavery of a sword government, and I know England cannot, 
nay, will not, endure it." 



THE KINGLESS DECADE 527 

The Recall of Charles II and the Declaration of Breda. — Before 

dissolving it had provided for a Convention Parliament * to meet 
25 April. Royalists were allowed to vote in the elections, though 
they were not eligible to sit unless they had given some proof of 
affection to the parliamentary cause. Nevertheless, the influence of 
the Cavaliers was second only to that of the Presbyterians in the new 
body ; for many of the younger members of the party had been under 
age during the war, others had lived in the parliamentary counties 
where they had been forced to keep the peace, and others were chosen 
in flat defiance of the law. About this time Monck opened negotia- 
tions with Charles. Seeing that the people were weary of frequent 
revolutions, army rule, and heavy taxes, he may have thought that 
he would gain personally by recalling the King as a means of anticipat- 
ing an inevitable reaction. Still, it is possible that he had an unselfish 
desire to restore peace and a settled government. At any rate, " while 
the Restoration was the result of a general movement of opinion too 
strong to be withstood," 2 Monck did more than any other man to 
bring it about. As a result of the negotiations which opened, Charles, 
acting under the advice of Hyde, who was with him in exile, issued from 
Breda a declaration in which he promised : (1) a general amnesty for 
all offenders, save those excepted by Parliament; (2) liberty of con- 
science, according to such a law as Parliament might propose ; (3) such 
security for property acquired during the late troubles as Parliament 
might determine ; (4) full arrears to the soldiers according to act of 
Parliament. After a futile rising, led by Lambert, the army took 
an engagement to accept whatever settlement Parliament might make. 
" Their whole design," wrote Pepys, the famous diarist, " is broken 
. . . and every man begins to be merry and full of hope." The Con- 
vention met, 25 April, " as appointed. After both Houses had agreed 
in a declaration that, according to the ancient and fundamental laws 
of the Kingdom, the government is, and ought to be, by King, Lords, 
and Commons," Charles was proclaimed in London. 

Nature of the Restoration and the Results of the Puritan Revolu- 
tion. — Charles landed at Dover, 25 May, i66o. 3 The Restoration 
had at length come as a reaction from excessive Puritanism and army 
rule. Yet the Revolution had accomplished results which were never 

1 So-called because it was an extraordinary form of assembly, not summoned by 
royal writ. 

2 "This government," it was aptly said, " was as natural to them as their food or 
raiment, and naked Indians dressing themselves in French fashion were no more 
absurd than Englishmen without a parliament and a king." 

3 When the mayor who stepped forward to receive him, put a Bible in his 
hands, he declared with that hypocrisy with which he had once deceived the 
Scots, that " it was the thing he loved above all things in the world." 
There is another story that, when a deputation of London ministers were sent 
over, shortly before his return, to secure testimonials as to his religious attitude, 
their leader was told that he must wait because Charles was at his devotions. 
However, he was designedly left in the room next the royal closet, where he was 
" ravished to hear the pious ejaculations that fell from the King's lips," among them 



528 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

to be effaced. It had arrested the growth of absolutism ; for the 
monarchy that was restored was destined never again to be, for any 
considerable period, a monarchy completely independent of Parlia- 
ment. The Established Church was restored ; but it never again 
became the National Church, embracing every subject as such. A 
sturdy body of Dissenters had sprung up and multiplied during the 
recent upheaval, and the century had not run its course before many 
of them had obtained a recognized legal status outside the bounds of 
the Establishment. 



FOR ADDITIONAL READING 

Narrative. Montague, Political History, chs. XVI-XX. Trevelyan, England 
under the Stuarts, ch. X. Cambridge Modem History, IV, chs. XV, XIX (bibliog- 
raphy, pp. 898-904). Gardiner, The History of the Commonwealth and Protectorate 
(4 vols., 1903). C. H. Firth, The Last Years of the Protectorate, 1656-1658 (1909). 
Lingard, VIII, chs. IV-VIII. Ranke, II, bk. X; III, bks. XI-XIII. F. A. Inder- 
wick, The Interregnum (1891). Pollard, Factors in Modem History, chs. IX, X. 

Constitutional. Gardiner, Documents, introduction, pp. lvi-lxviii. Hallam, II, ch. 
X, pt. II. Taylor, Origin and Growth, II, bk. V, ch. IV. E. Jenks, The Constitutional 
Experiments of the Protectorate ( 1 890) . The Diary of the contemporary, John Evelyn 
(best ed. H. B. Wheatley, 4 vols., 1906), throws vivid lights on the period. 

For biographies see ch. XXX. Also Gardiner, Cromwell's Place in History 
(1897). G. L. Beer, Cromwell's Policy in its Economic Aspects (1902) is valuable 
for this phase of the subject. Seeley, British Policy, II, pt. III. 

For the Navy, in addition to the works cited in ch. XXIX above, see Cambridge 
Modem History, IV, ch. XVI (bibliography, pp. 905-908). 

Scotland and Ireland. P. H. Brown, Scotland, II, bk. VI, chs. IV, V. R. Dun- 
lap, Ireland under the Commonwealth (1913) ; a collection of documents with intro- 
duction. Cambridge Modern History, IV, chs. XVII, XVIII (bibliography, pp. 
909-918). 

Church. W. H. Hutton, English Church, ch. IX; Shaw, II, and Stoughton II. 

Selections from the sources. Adams and Stephens, nos. 213-220. Gardiner, 
Documents, nos. 86-105. 

the following petition : "Lord, since Thou art pleased to restore me to the throne 
of my ancestors, grant me a heart constant in the exercise and protection of thy 
true Protestant religion." 



CHAPTER XXXII 

FROM THE RESTORATION TO THE FALL OF CLARENDON 
(1660-1667) 

The New King and the Restoration. — The King in his declaration 
issued at Breda promised to settle four important particulars in ac- 
cordance with the will of Parliament, but the Convention imposed 
no conditions upon him. Nevertheless, although the monarchy, the 
hereditary upper class, and the established Episcopacy were restored, 
there was no thoroughgoing reaction. The Puritan Revolution had 
produced an upheaval and an awakening which was bound to leave 
enduring results, and Charles II was shrewd enough to sense the situa- 
tion. To be sure, he struggled to make himself supreme, and he 
ended his reign in a very strong position ; but he achieved his end 
only by timely concessions. He recognized Parliament and the 
opinion which it represented as a force which might be manipulated 
but never dominated. Whatever happened, he once remarked, he 
was determined " never to set on his travels again." 

During the years that Charles was King, neither arbitrary taxa- 
tion nor the system of extraordinary courts were revived. Moreover, 
notable gains were made, both judicial and parliamentary. The 
fining of juries was done away with in 1670, the Habeas Corpus Act 
of 1679 made the writ for protecting the subject against prolonged 
imprisonment before trial more of a reality, and the barbarous de 
haretico comburendo ceased in 1677 to disgrace the statute book. 
Parliament asserted successfully its right not only to grant taxes, but 
to appropriate them for specific purposes ; to audit accounts ; and, 
by frequent and effective impeachments, to hold the royal ministers, 
in some measure, responsible to itself. In this period, too, modern 
party organization took rise and the system of Cabinet government, 
based upon it, showed the first signs of taking shape. So much indeed 
was done that the famous Blackstone, writing a century later, declared 
that " the constitution of England had arrived to its full vigor, and 
the true balance between liberty and prerogative was happily estab- 
lished by law in the reign of Charles II." Yet, while many good laws 
were passed, bad government continued, 1 numerous traces of abso- 
lutism survived, and much that cried for remedy was left untouched 
for over a century. The judges, whose tenure was still during royal 
pleasure, continued servile to the Crown and tyrannical to the subject ; 

1 Charles James Fox described it as an "era of good laws and bad government." 
2M 529 



530 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

while ministers charged with maladministration could be removed by 
impeachment, there was no means of getting rid of those who refused 
to govern according to the will of the majority in the House of Com- 
mons ; indeed, the King, by long prorogations, avoided meeting Parlia- 
ment for extended intervals, and, during the last four years of his reign, 
never summoned that body at all. 

The Early Life of Charles II. — Charles II was thirty years old on 
the day that he entered London, 29 May, 1660. He had received 
little systematic instruction from books ; but his life had been a stir- 
ring one, full of harsh and varied lessons in the great school of expe- 
rience. As a boy of twelve he had narrowly escaped capture at Edge- 
hill ; when only fifteen, he had been put in nominal command of the 
royal army of the West, and early in 1646, by the order of his father, 
he fled from England. Then followed long years of exile. Often out 
at the elbows x ; the recipient of grudging advances from those who 
found him a burden ; disappointed, time and again, in his efforts to 
come to his own, he displayed through all his adversity the single 
virtue of cheerfulness. Once, and once only, he manifested an un- 
selfishness that was truly praiseworthy. In order to " save his father's 
head," he forwarded to Parliament a sheet of paper with his signature 
attached, offering to observe whatever conditions they might choose 
to insert. At all other times he appears simply as a " needy and 
frivolous but agreeable prince," who continually vexed his grave and 
learned councilor, Hyde, by his unwillingness to work and his loose 
habits. His brief experience in Scotland under the " sour tyrannies 
of the Kirk " led him to declare that Presbyterianism " was not a 
religion for gentlemen," and emphasized by contrast the " gorgeous 
ceremonies and easy morals " of Roman Catholicism as he found it in 
France. That became his faith, so far as he can be said to have had 
any, though he was not received into the fold of the Church until he 
lay on his deathbed. 

His Character and Attainments. — Charles' early misfortunes and 
privations did nothing to build up his character; they only made him 
more greedy of comfort and amusement when the opportunity came. 
He remained to the end indolent, fickle, untrustworthy, and absolutely 
devoid of reverence. Although utterly selfish he had an easy good 
nature and a charm of manner that captivated every one who came in 
contact with him ; indeed, it was a common saying that " he could 
send away a person better pleased at receiving nothing than those 
in the good King his father's time that had requests granted them." 
However, he was generally as ready in making promises as he was 
careless in performing them. According to Rochester, one of his 
boon companions, " he never said a foolish thing and never did a wise 
one " ; nevertheless he was keen and persistent in any matter that he 
thought worth the trouble. He had an acute, observant mind, an 

1 Once, in 1659, he was so reduced that his clothes were threadbare, and he had 
to dismiss his servants and pawn his plate. 



THE RESTORATION 531 

excellent memory, and a nimble wit. 1 A constant talker, he delighted 
in telling the adventures of his early days, never forgetting a single 
detail of any particular story except the fact that he had told it before. 
He was well read, a patron of the drama, of painting, and architecture, 
and took considerable interest in shipbuilding. His chief bent, 
however, was toward the sciences, and he actually performed chemical 
experiments himself. In person he was over six feet tall, and well 
formed, of dark, swarthy complexion, with a cynical eye, a great 
fleshy nose, and thick lips. " Odd's fish I am an ugly fellow," he said 
of himself forty years after his birth. It was only his magnificent 
physique and his devotion to athletic exercises that enabled him to 
keep his health, in view of the excesses in which he indulged. He rose 
early ; he was such a rapid and tireless walker that the courtiers who 
had to accompany him found it a sore burden ; he was a splendid 
tennis player and dancer, and a lover of dogs and horses. 

His Policy. — He was quite without scruple in pursuing his ends 
and sharp at profiting by the mistakes of his opponents. Without 
ideals, lazy, and usually indifferent, he was as incapable of harboring 
resentment against an enemy as he was of cherishing gratitude toward 
a friend, and he would callously sacrifice a minister who had served 
him well so soon as he had ceased to be useful. Although he hated 
the details of business and was too sensible to believe in the Divine 
Right of Kings, he aimed to keep as free from parliamentary control 
as possible ; to that end, he set up a standing army, he sought to re- 
introduce Roman Catholicism, to secure toleration for dissenters, and, 
furthermore, allied himself with France. He bribed, flattered, and 
managed, but, fully alive to his royal limitations, he yielded when 
popular opposition proved too strong. Thus, before the close of his 
reign, he gave up all his projects except the French alliance to which he 
clung tenaciously ; with a political cunning rare in history, he shifted 
to the Anglican side, and by playing the Anglicans and the French 
against one another, he managed to spend his last years free from 
parliamentary restraint. The Earl of Newcastle, who had been put 
in charge of his education in his early boyhood, instructed him to 
" take heede of too much booke " ; to " beware of too much devotion " ; 
" to be courteous to women " ; not to be " an anchorette, or a capuchin " 
or " a Diogenes in your tubb " ; and " to be a brave, noble, and just 
king." Charles faithfully followed all these injunctions except the 
last. 

Such was the man whom the Londoners welcomed with wild shouts 
of joy, with pealing of bells, with booming of cannon, whose way they 
strewed with flowers, who had come back to his own without one drop 
of blood being shed to resist him. 

1 When at Breda a number of persons who had done nothing but shout for him, 
sought an audience in order to obtain favors, he called for wine, drank their healths 
with great formality, and dismissed them with the remark that "he was now even 
with them, having, as he thought, done as much for them as they had done for him." 



532 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

The Supremacy of the Lord Chancellor Clarendon. — The first 
period of Charles' reign was marked by the ascendancy of Edward 
Hyde, created Earl of Clarendon in 1661, who had accompanied his 
young master into exile and had served as his chief councilor, first as 
Secretary of State and then as Lord Chancellor. He had many admir- 
able qualities : he was serious, industrious, and honest ; he was true 
to his convictions and fixed in his principles from the time he joined the 
King in 1642 until his death during his second exile, more than thirty 
years later. He was a devoted champion of the Church of England 
and an opponent of royal absolutism, unrestrained by constitutional 
checks. He had a great knowledge of men and parties, he was versed 
in letters and a judge of art. On the other hand, he was quite in- 
capable of adapting himself to changed conditions and met the usual 
fate of men who try to steer a middle course. He alienated the King 
by opposing his policy of toleration and by frowning on his pleasures, 
while he alienated Parliament by opposing what he regarded as their 
meddling in the details of administration. 

The New Privy Council. — The Privy Council formed under his 
leadership, June, 1660, was constituted both of Cavaliers and Puritans 
who had worked to bring about the Restoration. Out of thirty 
members, twelve had formerly taken sides against the Crown. The 
arrangement was a compromise between Hyde and Monck, who was 
richly rewarded for his recent services ; he was created Duke of Al- 
bemarle, made Commander-in-Chief of the army, as well as receiving 
large grants of money and lands. The most notable man of the Puri- 
tan party was Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper, later Earl of Shaftesbury, 
a former royalist, who had changed sides in 1644, had been prominent 
under the Commonwealth, and who had taken a leading part in the 
Restoration. James, Duke of York, the King's brother, was Lord 
Admiral, although much of the naval administration was in the hands 
of Edward Montague, Earl of Sandwich, an old Cromwellian. Within 
the Council the executive power was vested in a small committee, 
nominally for foreign affairs, called the " Cabinet " or the " Cabal." l 
There were not only party differences, but differences between mem- 
bers of the same party. Thus courtiers, particularly women, were 
able to prevail by intrigue, and graver gave way steadily to lighter 
counsels. 

The Convention Parliament, 25 April-29 December, 1660. — After 
the recall of the King, the Convention set about to settle the govern- 
ment. Strong in the Commons, the Cavaliers dominated the Lords, 
for, although those peers who had fought for Charles I, or who had 
been created by him since 1642 were at first excluded, they all took 
their seats before June. On the nth, by an act " for removing all 
questions and disputes," the authority of the Convention was formally 

1 " Cabinet" is'an early use of the modern word. The " Cabal" is not to be con- 
fused with the later and more famous one. 



THE RESTORATION 533 

recognized. 1 Acting henceforth as a legal body, it proceeded to take 
up the terms of the Declaration of Breda. The first to be settled con- 
cerned the fate of those who had taken part in the late troubles. The 
King had promised a pardon for all save those excepted by Parliament. 
The Commons wanted to make very few exceptions ; but the Lords 
were inclined to be less lenient. Through the efforts of Charles and 
Hyde a moderate compromise was adopted. Ten of the regicides were 
executed forthwith, and, in April, 1662, three others captured in Hol- 
land followed them to the grave. Also, in 1662, General Lambert and 
Sir Harry Vane, though they had no part in the late King's execution, 
were brought to trial. Lambert got off with life imprisonment, but 
Vane was put to death, in spite of the fact that Charles had promised 
to spare his life. Some twenty-five more of the regicides were given 
life sentences. On the whole, the arrangement was comparatively 
merciful, yet the order of the Convention, by which the bodies of Crom- 
well, Ireton, and Bradshaw were dug up, dragged to Tyburn on sledges, 
hanged in the sight of the people till sunset, and then buried at the 
gallows' foot, smacks of barbarism. Bills dealing with the Crown, 
Church, and royalist lands seized during the war failed to pass. Thos_ 3 
confiscated and sold by the State were recovered on the ground that 
an illegal government could give no valid title ; but private contracts 
were declared legal, so that many royalists who had sold their estates 
to pay fines or to help the King's cause got no redress. The Cavaliers 
grumbled that there was indemnity for the King's enemies and oblivion 
for his friends. 2 

The Disbandment of the New Model and the Settlement of Revenue. 
— The arrears due the army and fleet were paid in full, and the troops, 
about 35,000, were dismissed, except three regiments, including 
Monck's — the present Coldstream Guards. On various pretexts 
Charles increased this force until, in 1662, it numbered 5000 men, the 
nucleus of England's standing army. Another important work of the 
Convention was to settle the revenue. On the basis of a report of a 
committee appointed " to consider settling such a revenue on His 
Majesty as may maintain the splendor and grandeur of his kingly 
office and preserve the Crown from want and from being undervalued 
by his neighbors," an annual revenue of £1,200,000 was granted. It 
was estimated that this would be sufficient for ordinary expenses, but 
since no more than three quarters of the amount reached the royal 
coffers in any one year, it was found necessary, in 1662, to increase the 
excise and to impose a hearth tax. The Court of Wards, and all 
feudal dues and services, except the honorary one of grand serjeanty, 3 

1 Yet, to make assurance doubly sure, all its chief measures were confirmed by 
the next parliament which was regularly summoned by royal writ in an act which 
became law 8 July, 1661. 

2 This had reference to the late act dealing with the regicides which was called 
"An Act of Indemnity and Oblivion." 

3 Which involved attending the King's person at court or in war. 



534 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

were abolished ; all military tenures were swept away or turned into 
free and common socage 1 ; and purveyance and preemption ceased to 
be legal. For some time past, these feudal survivals had been more 
vexatious to the subject than profitable to the Crown. In return, the 
King was granted an hereditary excise of £100,000 a year on beer and 
other alcoholic beverages. All this was merely confirming measures 
of the Long Parliament and its successors. Also the Navigation Act 
of 1 65 1 was reenacted. Those acts and ordinances of the various 
parliaments passed since 1642, which the Convention did not choose to 
confirm, were declared invalid. 

The Convention makes no Provision for Religious Toleration. — 
The settlement of religion caused the greatest difficulty. Church 
affairs were in a most disordered and confused state. Episcopacy and 
the Cook of Common Prayer had never been legally abolished, al- 
though the Long Parliament had sought, by a series of ordinances, 
to set up a Presbyterian scheme ; but Cromwell and the Independents 
had superseded both by his congregational system. Within the Epis- 
copalian and Presbyterian folds there were a number of moderates 
who desired a compromise involving a curtailment of the powers of 
the bishops and modifications in the service. The Puritans, however, 
had been so oppressive in their treatment of the Cavaliers, so ruthless 
in their dismantlement of beautiful okl churches hallowed by centuries 
of pious association, and so unbending in their general attitude that 
the extremists among the opposite party, naturally narrow and intoler- 
ant enough, were determined to allow them no concessions. Charles 
was entirely without religious convictions, though he hated the Pres- 
byterians and was inclined toward Roman Catholicism. In the 
Declaration he had promised a " liberty to tender consciences," and 
that " no man shall be disquieted or called in question for differences 
of opinion in matters of religion which do not disturb the peace of the 
Kingdom ; and that we shall be ready to consent to such an act of 
Parliament, as upon mature deliberation shall be offered us, for the full 
granting of such indulgence." With the cooperation of Parliament 
he was ready, even anxious, to carry out this promise ; because under 
the guise of a general toleration to the sects, it would be possible to 
reintroduce Roman Catholicism. Nevertheless, events showed that 
he was not ready to push this policy to the extent of risking his throne. 
Except for a bill passed before the King's return, to restore the ejected 
Episcopal clergy, the Convention passed no laws relating to religion. 

The Royal Declaration, 25 October, 1660. The Savoy Conference. 
— During a recess in the session Charles published a Declaration in 
which he promised to meet the demands of the moderates in the 
matter of government and ceremonies of the Church, renewed his 
assurances made in the Declaration of Breda, and agreed to appoint 
a conference consisting of clergymen of both parties to revise the 

1 Free, non-military tenures. 



THE RESTORATION 535 

liturgy. Brought before Parliament in the form of a bill, these pro- 
posals were rejected because of the Presbyterian aversion to the King's 
design of granting toleration to Roman Catholics. They lost their 
chance of setting up at this time a broad comprehensive Establishment, 
since they never again had a majority in Parliament. The Anglicans 
were equally opposed to the royal policy in this regard ; but the Pres- 
byterians, by outbidding them, might have combined with the King, 
secured an ecclesiastical settlement in which they might have had a 
considerable voice, and have marked an epoch in the history of re- 
ligious liberty. The promised conference held at the Savoy, a royal 
chapel, in the spring and early summer of 1661, after much learned and 
subtle argumentation, accomplished nothing ; for the bishops were 
prepared to make only minor concessions. In the end, the commis- 
sioners reported that " the Church's welfare, unity, and peace, and his 
Majesty's satisfaction were ends on which they were all agreed, but 
as to the means, they could not come to an harmony." Meantime, 
6 January, 1661, a rising of the Fifth Monarchy men under Thomas 
Venner,a cooper, who was a chronic plotter, and " a fellow of desperate 
and bloody spirit," gave Charles a pretext for increasing the standing 
army and damaged the cause of the sectaries. Many, including 
Quakers and Anabaptists, were thrown into prison. In the forth- 
coming parliamentary elections the reactionaries were in the majority, 
and Anglicanism not only became once more dominant but increased 
the rigor of its persecution. The new regime differed from the Laudian, 
however, in the fact that it was directed by Parliament instead of by 
the Crown. 

The Restoration in Scotland. — The Restoration in Scotland was 
brought about by a parliament which repealed all acts passed since 
1639, reestablished the Episcopal Church, and renounced the Covenant, 
which was burned by the common hangman. The King's commis- 
sioner, Middleton, and his companions, who were almost perpetually 
drunk, carried things with a high hand. Argyle, the covenanting 
leader, was brought to trial for " compliance " with the late usurping 
Government and for various treasonable acts. The Scots had chafed 
at the army of occupation and the dominance of the Independents, 
but they were soon to learn that the little finger of the new Govern- 
ment was thicker than the loins of the old. By the new Navigation 
Act, passed in 1660, they lost the equality of the trading privileges which 
they had recently enjoyed, and by a subsequent measure, many of their 
commodities were excluded from England or burdened with heavy 
duties. All this, together with active persecution of the Covenanters, 
soon stirred up the old hostility between the two countries. 

The Restoration in Ireland. — The Restoration in Ireland was 
equally fruitful in oppression and discontent. The King was under 
obligation to the Irish Catholics, he sympathized with their aims, and 
he " pitied the miserable condition of the Irish nation." But the 
Cromwellian settlers were in possession of the broad lands, and, 



536 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

backed by English anti-Catholic sentiment, were too strong to be 
displaced. All that Charles could do was to restore a few estates to 
the greater nobles * and to procure "a small amount of land for the 
lesser men. To make matters worse, heavy restrictions were imposed 
on Irish commerce. In 1663 their ships were excluded from the 
colonial trade, and three years later the importation of Irish cattle 
into England was strictly forbidden. 

The Opening of the Cavalier Parliament, 8 May, 1661. — Charles II 
was crowned. 23 April, 1661, with great splendor, and, 8 May, a new 
parliament met. It is called the Cavalier Parliament, because of the 
preponderance of that element ; sometimes the Pensionary Parliament, 
because of the extensive bribery of its members during the political 
struggles in which it became involved. It was " chosen by a furious 
people in spite of the Puritans, whose severity had distasted them," 
and was " more zealous for royalty than the King, more zealous for 
the Episcopacy than the Bishops." The majority were young men, 
which the King declared " was no great fault ; for he could keep them 
till they got beards." As a matter of fact, the Cavalier Parliament 
lasted till 1679, having a longer continuous existence than any par- 
liament in English history. After the first outburst of loyalty was 
over, friction with the Crown began to develop. Parliament, having 
restored the King without the aid of foreign intervention, was deter- 
mined to rule 2 ; many of the members of the King's Council resented 
the King's leaning toward Roman Catholicism and toleration for the 
sects and the exercise of the dispensing power which it involved ; they 
were disquieted by his attempts to increase the standing army and 
by his alliance with France, and looked askance at the royal prof- 
ligacy and the splendor of the Court, not so much on moral grounds, 
as on account of the expenditures which they necessitated. 3 More- 
over, the country squires were discontented by falling rents, while the 
recent land settlement had satisfied neither the Puritan speculators 
nor the Cavaliers who had been forced to sell out. This Parliament 
imposed cruel restrictions on the Dissenters and sought to confine the 
political power to the Anglican aristocracy ; but it accomplished much 
besides. It successfully asserted parliamentary control, especially 
in finance, and though the extremists overreached themselves toward 
the end of the reign and left Charles triumphant, they established or 

1 It was an added grievance to the Irish that many of these broad acres went 
to the Duke of York and other favored courtiers. 

2 "This Government hath a monarchical appearance," wrote De Cominges, 
the French ambassador, in 1664, "because there is a king; but at bottom it is very 
far from being a monarchy. The members of Parliament are not only allowed 
to speak their minds freely, but also to do a number of surprising extraordinary 
things, and even to call the highest people to the bar." 

3 Since the Commons kept a tight hold on the purse strings, Charles, in seeking 
money to supply his wants, shrewdly avoided the irregular expedients to which 
his father had resorted, and obtained it generally in the form of subsidies from Louis 
XIV, though at times he threatened war with that monarch as a means of squeezing 
grants from his otherwise unwilling Parliament. 



THE RESTORATION 537 

strengthened precedents that were to be permanent parts of the Con- 
stitution in time to come. Finally, it was within its bosom that the 
two great modern English parties were developed. 

The Corporation Act, 1661. — Parliament at first showed its hot 
and masterful temper by passing a series of measures strengthening 
the power of the restored monarchy. Then with the aid of the bishops, 
now restored to their seats in the House of Lords, it proceeded to frame 
an ecclesiastical policy which, in most respects, ran directly counter 
to the intentions of Charles and which resulted in transferring the 
control of Church affairs from the King to Parliament and the bishops. 
This was accomplished mainly by a group of four acts popularly known 
as the " Clarendon Code " 1 — though the Chancellor was by no means 
responsible for all of them — which excluded Dissenters from public 
office, from any share in the Establishment, and imposed other grave 
disabilities upon them. The Corporation Act, December, 1661, pro- 
vided that no man could hold office in a corporate town unless he took 
the sacrament according to the Church of England, renounced the 
Covenant, and declared that it was unlawful, under any circumstances, 
to bear arms against the King. 

The New Act of Uniformity, 1662. — After the failure of the Savoy 
Conference, Convocation took up the revision of the Prayer Book 
and produced a new edition even more distasteful to the Puritans than 
its predecessors. 2 Parliament accepted it, and, 19 May, 1662, passed 
an Act of Uniformity providing : that on and after St. Bartholomew's 
Day 3 the revised Book should be read in all the churches ; and that 
all ministers who refused, or who had not received their holy orders by 
Episcopal ordination, were to be deprived of their benefices. School- 
masters also were required to conform to the Book, and both classes 
were further required to declare the illegality of taking up arms against 
the King. On the day appointed, nearly 2000 clergymen resigned their 
livings rather than sacrifice their convictions. Many of the most able 
men of the kingdom, in order to maintain themselves and their wives 
and children, were forced to toil as laborers or to depend upon charity. 
The Act marks an epoch in English religious history. For nearly a 
century the Nonconformists had sought to secure alterations in the 
government, doctrine, and ceremony of the Church and to remain 
within the fold ; henceforth the majority sought to secure freedom of 
conscience outside. Separation rather than comprehension became 
their aim. Years of persecution, however, were to follow before they 
even partially effected their purpose. On 22 August, 1663, a proclama- 

1 They were: the Corporation Act, 1661 ; the Act of Uniformity, 1662; the 
Conventicle Act, 1664; and the Five Mile Act, 1665. 

2 The temper of those who produced it is shown in the declaration that they 
could not expect "in such variety of apprehensions, humours and interests as are 
in the world to please all, nor can expect that men of factions, peevish and perverse 
spirits should be satisfied with anything that can be done in this kind by any other 
than themselves." 

3 St. Bartholomew's Day was 24 August. 



538 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

tion was issued directing every one to attend church under penalty of 
fine, and preachers whose words were unwelcome to the authorities were 
silenced. Every possible effort was made not only to exclude from 
power, but absolutely to suppress all who were not of the charmed circle. 1 

For Protestant as well as " Popish " Dissenters the only hope lay 
in the King. 2 Accordingly men of both extremes made an effort to 
secure from him exemption from the operations of the Act of Uni- 
formity. As a result, Charles, 26 December, 1662, issued a Declara- 
tion expressing his intention of inducing Parliament to aid him in 
softening the rigor of the Act, and to concur with him in passing a 
measure to enable him to exercise, " with a more universal satisfac- 
tion," the power of dispensing, which he regarded as his inherent 
right. He laid the matter before the Houses, 18 February, 1663, in 
a speech in which he declared that he was " in nature an enemy to all 
severity for religion and conscience." But Clarendon, backed by his 
supporters in the Council, stoutly opposed him, and the Commons 
protested so vigorously against " establishing schism by law " that 
he was obliged to give in. 

The Conventicle Act, 1664, and the Five Mile Act, 1665. — Having 
defeated the royal attempt to introduce toleration by means of the 
dispensing power, Parliament proceeded with its ecclesiastical leg- 
islation. By the " Act against Seditious Conventicles," 1664, it was 
forbidden for five or more persons, exclusive of members of a family, 
to hold meetings for religious worship where the established forms 
were not used. The penalty (for those who took part in these " seed 
plots and nurseries of seditious opinions ") was imprisonment for the 
first and second offenses and transportation for the third. Persons 
who returned to the country were liable to be put to death. The 
Quakers seem to have been the chief sufferers. Pepys, who saw 
several dragged through the streets, noted in his diary : " they go 
like lambs without any resistance. I would to God they would con- 
form, or be more wise and not be catched." In 1665 followed the 
equally cruel Five Mile Act, which provided that no Nonconformist 
minister was to teach in any schools, or to come within five miles of 
any city or corporate town unless he had taken an oath that it was 
unlawful to bear arms against the King, and had pledged himself that 

1 The dominant royalists strove in numerous ways to glorify their cause and to 
cast a stigma upon those who had opposed it. Already, 25 January, 1661, a proc- 
lamation had ordered 30 January, the day of the execution of Charles I, to be kept 
as a day of fasting and humiliation to show "the abhorrence of the nation at the 
act of those wretched miscreants" who had brought it about. A form of prayer 
was devised in which Charles was characterized as a saint and martyr. This " can- 
onization" was further manifested and perpetuated by dedicating churches to his 
name. Convocation revised and established the form of prayer and added a solemn 
thanksgiving for the anniversary of the Restoration, 29 May. 

_ 2 Their prospects were hampered from the fact that the Presbyterians were 
still unwilling to share the privileges which they desired with Roman Catholics 
or even the Protestant extremists. "As to the sectaries," declared Baxter, their 
most famous preacher, "we distinguish the tolerable parties from the intolerable." 



THE RESTORATION 539 

he would not " at any time endeavor the alteration of government 
in Church and State." This measure was peculiarly malevolent, 
because, during the Great Plague.which visited London in this year, 
many of the regular clergy fled, leaving the dissenting ministers to 
care for the sick and dying. However, since the chief strength of 
Puritanism was in the towns, it was felt that it would be unusually 
dangerous to leave them a free hand at this time. Charles assented, 
as usual ; for to resist would have disturbed his ease and endangered 
his position. Moreover, by his complaisance he was able to secure a 
much-needed grant of money. 

The Significance of the Clarendon Code. — These penal laws, 
mercilessly though somewhat intermittently enforced by vigilant jus- 
tices of the peace and paid informers, sowed bitter seeds of hatred 
between the Dissenters and the governing authorities. Presbyterian- 
ism lost the preeminence it enjoyed during the early months of the 
Restoration, and, even outside the Established Church, ceased to play 
the leading role among the Protestant sects. 1 Naturally democratic, 
the excluded bodies now became more so, partly out of increased 
resentment toward the aristocratic privileged classes, partly because 
those of their number who were desirous of political influence hastened 
to conform, leaving only the extremists in the ranks. Dissent became 
more and more confined to the lower and middle classes. Exclusion, 
however, and certainly active persecution, could not last indefinitely ; 
for one reason because it depended upon a majority in the Commons 
which might be overthrown ; for another, because the class on which 
trade, commerce, and productive enterprise depended could not be 
permanently held down and oppressed. Later it was to combine with 
the " half-hearted Anglicans " to form a powerful political party. 
Furthermore, the acute differences which developed between Anglicans 
and Dissenters made for the growth of free thought, since each side 
needed allies and hence were not too insistent on orthodoxy. 

Charles' Foreign Policy. The Portuguese Marriage, 1662. — In 
his foreign relations, as in his ecclesiastical aims, Charles developed a 
policy quite at variance with Parliament and with Clarendon, who 
" labored nothing more than that his Majesty might enter into firm 
peace with all his neighbors, as the most necessary for reducing his 
own dominion into that temper of subjection and obedience as they 
ought to be in." At the beginning of his reign the King, whose hands 
were still free, owing to the fact that he had been restored independently 
of any foreign power, was ready to attach himself to the highest bidder. 
At first he turned to the thrifty Dutch, who seemed to offer the best 
prospects for a loan ; but the passage of the Navigation Act destroyed 
any chance of help from that quarter. Next, he looked about for a 
bride. After a French and Spanish princess had both been considered, 

1 "Indeed, except to a few divines, that word (Presbyterianism) had never in 
England meant more than an artificial organization of Puritanism, with a view to 
capturing the Established Church." 



54 o A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

he at length negotiated a treaty with Alfonso VI of Portugal for a 
marriage with his sister Catharine of Braganza. By this alliance 
and the accompanying dowry England obtained Tangier, 1 Bombay, 
2,000,000 crusados 2 in money, together with commercial privileges 
and freedom of conscience for English merchants. The bride, ac- 
cording to Pepys, " was nothing charming to look at, yet she hath a 
good, modest, innocent look." She was a kindly, simple soul, but 
bigoted in religion, dowdy in dress, and without feminine graces. 
Altogether, she was totally unfitted to win Charles from his evil courses. 
He was deeply disappointed when he saw her ; but with his customary 
cheerfulness, he declared that : " it was too late to find fault and that 
he must make the best of a bad matter." Her failure to bear him a 
male heir brought about a bitter struggle toward the close of his 
reign, yet, in spite of his neglect, he loyally resisted the strong pressure 
which was brought upon him to divorce her. 

Charles draws close to France. — ■ The Portuguese marriage was 
welcomed by France as a counterpoise against Spain. Louis XIV, 
by the Peace of the Pyrenees, 1659, had promised to give no aid to 
Portugal, who was struggling to maintain her independence against 
his Catholic rival ; but England, by the treaty just concluded, agreed 
to furnish ships and money in case of need, and thus effected his pur- 
pose of holding Spain in check, without any effort on his part. In 
one way and another the bonds between the French and English 
kings were tightened. On 31 March, 1661, Henrietta, Charles' favor- 
ite sister, married Philip of Orleans, the brother of Louis XIV, and, 27 
October, 1.662, Dunkirk was sold to France. There were many reasons 
in favor of the sale. England could not well spare the men and money 
to maintain the town, it was not a strategic point, and the harbor was 
far from good. Nevertheless, the English regarded the proceeding as 
a national disgrace, and later visited their wrath on Clarendon, who, 
although the original suggestion did not come from him, conducted 
the subsequent negotiations. While Charles' chief motive in form- 
ing a close alliance with France was to secure subsidies, other reasons 
were not without weight : most important of all, he was desirous of 
extending English trade, and counted on French aid in breaking the 
colonial monopoly which Spain still retained, and in humbling the 
Dutch, the greatest sea power of the time. This policy of uniting 
with England's ancient enemy, to be sure, had originated with Crom- 
well ; but he would never have tolerated Louis' Catholic aggressions, to 
which for some years Charles lent his favor ; moreover, he would have 
dominated the alliance instead of playing the part of a subordinate 
pensionary. 

The Second Dutch War, 1665-1667. — The commercial greatness 
of England which Charles sought to foster was bound to arouse the 

1 It was abandoned to the Moors in 1684. 

2 About £200,000, though in purchasing power it would now be worth about 
three times that amount. 



THE RESTORATION 541 

hostility of the Dutch. In spite of the Peace of 1654, reenforced by a 
treaty of 1662, there were many outstanding points of friction. .The 
English court hated the Republican faction which had obtained con- 
trol in the United Provinces ; furthermore, the trading companies 
of the two countries were constantly fighting ; the Dutch refused 
compensation for certain English ships which they had seized, nor 
would they restore Pularoon, one of the East India spice islands 
awarded to England in 1654. Two acts precipitated the crisis. The 
first was the capture of several Dutch ships by Robert Holmes, who 
had been sent in October, 1663, by the Duke of York, a patron of the 
recently chartered Royal African Company, to protect the Company's 
interests on the African coast. The second was Colonel Nicolls' 
seizure, in May, 1664, of New Netherland which Charles had granted 
to his brother, the Duke (more than a year previously). The Dutch 
replied with one reprisal after another until war was finally declared, 
14 March, 1665. If the professions of the King x may be believed, he 
was pushed into hostilities by public opinion and the eagerness of 
his brother. However, these professions may have been for the bene- 
fit of Louis XIV who was bound, by a treaty of 1662, to protect the 
Dutch against actual aggression. Certainly, beyond his commercial 
ambitions, there were abundant reasons why Charles should desire 
war : he hated the Republican faction who were in control, he wanted 
to establish his nephew as Stadholder, he saw a chance of uniting his 
people in a popular undertaking and of obtaining liberal grants. 

The Sad State of the English Navy. — It is possible that the King, 
while desiring to fight at a fitting opportunity, may have desired 
delay owing to the ill-prepared state of the navy. While the system 
of administration was not as bad as has sometimes been represented, 
many of the officials were idle and corrupt, there was an appalling 
lack of money, and the credit of the Government was at a low ebb. 
Owing to poor food and uncertain pay, sailors were reluctant to enlist ; 
those who volunteered were of a very inferior sort, and it was neces- 
sary to resort freely to impressment. As a result, the crews were most 
unruly and so discontented that many who were taken prisoners by the 
Dutch, entered the service of their captors. Much was subsequently 
done by Charles and James to improve the state of the navy ; for they 
were both keenly interested, and had an efficient and devoted servant 
in Samuel Pepys ; but it did not come in time for the second Dutch war. 

The Opening Events of the War, 1665. — The primary object of 
each combatant was to protect its own shipping and to inflict all 
possible damage on the shipping of the enemy, for neither side had a 
sufficient army to effect anything by land. The first serious encounter 
occurred, 3 June, 1665, when the Dutch and the English fleets engaged 
off Lowestoft. 2 The Duke of York gained a decisive victory for the 

1 As late as September, 1664, he declared, "I find myself almost the only man 
in the Kingdom who doth not desire war." 

2 This is sometimes called the Battle of Solebay. 



542 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

English ; Obdam, the Dutch admiral, was blown up in his ship and his 
fleet. was forced to take to flight; but, owing to an unauthorized 
order, the English discontinued the pursuit during the night, enabling 
their enemy to regain their own shores in safety. Though the English 
had proved their superiority in fighting, the events of the remainder 
of the year counterbalanced their signal success. Shortage of men 
and supplies and the Plague, which raged in London during the sum- 
mer, all helped to account for this. In August, the English failed to 
capture the Dutch East India fleet which had taken refuge in the 
neutral Norwegian port of Bergen ; and de Ruyter, who had come from 
the Mediterranean, convoyed it safely home. Charles, in the mean- 
time, had allied himself with the warlike Bishop of Minister who 
invaded the Dutch frontier in September. This step, however, 
caused Louis XIV to intervene, January, 1666. Not only was he 
bound by his treaty obligations, but since the death of Philip IV of 
Spain the previous autumn offered him an opportunity to seize coveted 
lands on the Netherland border, he was anxious to keep both sides 
occupied and evenly balanced. 

The Fighting in 1666. — Louis' intervention led to an English re- 
verse in the campaign of 1666, for the possibility of a French attack 
frightened the authorities into dividing their fleet. Monck, though he 
fought bravely and skillfully, was roughly handled by a superior force 
under de Ruyter in the Four Days' Battle, 1-4 June, fought between 
North Foreland and Dunkirk. Rupert, who joined him before the 
close of the fighting, arrived too late to be of material assistance. 
However, the Dutch victory was by no means decisive. Moreover, 
Monck and Rupert, in their turn, defeated de Ruyter off North Fore- 
land 25-27 July, after which they chased the Dutch home, ravaged 
their coast, destroyed towns, and captured much shipping. Lack of 
provisions, which kept the English from remaining continuously at 
sea, and storms prevented further naval engagements. Moreover, 
the Bishop of Miinster, having made peace in April, the land opera- 
tions ceased as well. By autumn both sides were ready for peace: 
the Dutch because they wanted a free hand to resist the encroach- 
ments of Louis XIV, the English because they could no longer stand 
the expense, particularly since the Plague in London had been followed 
by a disastrous fire. 

The Peace of Breda, 21 July, 1667. — With peace in sight, Charles 
was unwilling to spend money on strengthening and refitting the fleet, 
and so threw away such advantages as had been gained. Only small 
forces were sent out " to distract the enemy and to disturb their trade," 
and nothing was done for local defense ; " the enemy can come and 
cut our throats when he likes," wrote one country gentleman whose 
words proved prophetic. Profiting by this inaction, de Ruyter en- 
tered the mouth of the Thames, passed up the Medway, and took, 
burned, and scuttled sixteen vessels, inflicting a loss that was great 
and a shame that was immeasurable. The night of his country's 



THE RESTORATION 543 

deepest humiliation it is said that Charles II was busy chasing a moth 
in Lady Castlemaine's chamber. Fortunately the Dutch did not feel 
strong enough to remain, so they withdrew to the mouth of the Thames, 
where they occupied themselves for a time in intercepting commerce. 
Before they could do any more damage the local forces were called out 
and the coast and ports put in a state of defense. Peace was con- 
cluded at Breda, 21 July, 1667. Fearing the designs of Louis XIV, the 
Dutch agreed to comparatively favorable terms : they again recog- 
nized the " right of the flag," and left New Netherland in the hands of 
the English ; on the other hand, they retained Pularoon and Surinam 
and secured a slight modification of the Navigation Act in their favor. 
They had yielded more than they realized ; for New Netherland, re- 
garded at the time as inferior in value to Pularoon, included what 
came to be the provinces of New York, New Jersey, and Delaware. 
The English seamen had outfought the Dutch ; but faults of admin- 
istration and disasters for which they were not to blame had counter- 
balanced their superiority. 

The Plague and the Fire, 1665-1666. — ■ England emerged from the 
struggle in an extremely crippled condition. The Plague in the 
summer and autumn of 1665 carried off 70,000 from London alone, 
and, during the following spring, spread through the southern and 
eastern counties. It was the first visitation for over thirty years and 
proved to be the last in English history. The great London fire which 
followed raged for five days, 2-7 September, 1666, during which in- 
terval it is estimated that 13,200 houses were burned and at least 
two thirds of the population were unroofed. The Fire was probably 
not the cause of the final disappearance of the Plague, as has been so 
frequently said, since it swept mainly through the business quarter 
and the residential districts of the well-to-do classes, sparing the slums 
on the outer edge of the city. However, in rebuilding the City the 
streets were made broader and straighter, and the houses with their 
overhanging upper stories, which cut off the air and sunshine, dis- 
appeared. A newer London arose, less picturesque, but more health- 
ful and spacious than the old. 

Growing Discontent. — The three disasters — the Plague, the Fire, 
and Dutch in the Medway — were regarded as signs of Divine wrath 
at the corruption and inefficiency of the Government. Among the 
credulous lower and middle classes the Fire was attributed to the 
machinations of the " Papists " and the French, who were thought to 
have caused it by throwing " fireballs " into the City. It was expected 
that a general massacre would fol'ow ; Catholics and Frenchmen were 
mobbed in the streets, and the way was laid for that great outburst 
of popular frenzy known as the " Popish Plot " which came ten years 
later. All together, the situation, as it is pictured by contemporaries, 
was gloomy enough. " There is a lazy Prince, no council, no money, 
no reputation at home and abroad," and " it is strange how everybody 
do now reflect upon Oliver and commend him, what brave things he 



544 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

did, and made all the neighbor princes fear him, while here is a Prince, 
come with all the love and prayers and good liking of his people . . . 
hath lost all so soon that it is a miracle what way a man can devise to 
lose so much in so little time." Meantime, Charles was consoling 
himself with waistcoats which had arrived from Paris, and in the dis- 
covery of a new actress, " pretty, witty Nell." 

The Attack on Clarendon, 1667. — The first victim of the vague 
but intense and increasing discontent was Clarendon. Charles, anx- 
ious to be rid of him, was glad to make him the scapegoat. He had 
only retained him thus long because he continued to be indispensable, 
notably in standing out against the claims of the Commons to control 
the purse by appropriation of supply and audit of accounts, and in 
raising troops and exacting money from the counties to pay for them 
without parliamentary sanction. Men of all classes looked with envy 
to the lofty height to which the Chancellor had risen and longed to 
see him overthrown, while many, indeed, nourished actual grievances 
against him. He was charged with presumption in marrying his 
daughter to James, the King's brother, September, 1660, and it was 
firmly believed that in order to secure the succession to his own de- 
scendants he had joined Charles to a princess incapable of bearing 
children. He was blamed for the sale of Dunkirk and for the disasters 
of the late war, which, as a matter of fact, he had opposed. The coun- 
try gentry hated him for opposing the Irish Cattle Act, and the Dis- 
senters were enfuriated against him as the reputed author of the cruel 
" Code " directed against them. His austere ideals were a constant 
reproach to Charles and his band of dissolute and frivolous courtiers. 
His old-fashioned and pompous bearing offered them endless oppor- 
tunity for raillery, and Buckingham, one of the King's boon companions, 
used to imitate his solemn strut with a fire shovel and a pair of bellows 
to represent the mace and the Great Seal. While honest and indus- 
trious, the Lord Chancellor was fond of luxury and display, and was 
arrogant and impatient of opposition. The chief difficulty, however, 
was his attempt to hold an untenable ground between the Crown and 
Parliament. By taking the side of the King in the raising and control 
of supply, and the side of the Houses in the regulation of religion, he 
" incurred the hostility of both." While Charles was anxious to be 
rid of him on less worthy grounds, it is only fair to say that he had 
come to realize it was futile to attempt to retain a minister to whom 
Parliament was so unalterably opposed. Clarendon warned him in his 
last interview that in yielding to their will he was but teaching them 
to know their strength : " that it was yet in his power to govern them, 
but if they found it was in them to govern him, nobody knew what the 
end would be." Charles, however, thinking that he was making an ap- 
parent, not a real, concession, 1 preferred to manage rather than to fight. 

1 In this he went against the last injunction of his father : "Never to give way 
to the punishment of any for their faithful service to the Crown upon whatsoever 
pretense or for whatsoever cause." 



THE RESTORATION 545 

His Impeachment and Flight. — In August, 1667, Clarendon was 
dismissed from his office of Chancellor. Charles, feeling that he was 
freed of an obstacle to his freedom, celebrated the event by going to 
see Jacob Hall, a famous rope dancer. In November, the Commons 
presented articles of impeachment against the fallen Minister, charg- 
ing him, among other things, with corruption, with intent to introduce 
arbitrary government, and with treachery during the late war. While 
these extreme charges were unjust, there were many serious counts 
against the Chancellor, besides the fact that he was out of harmony 
with the attempt of Parliament to supervise the administration. In 
the summer of 1667 he had advised the King to delay calling Parlia- 
ment, and, in the meantime, to raise supplies on his own authority ; 
he had arbitrarily imprisoned the opponents of the Government ; 
and he has been charged with first teaching Charles to seek money 
from France. On the King's advice he fled to the Continent. Par- 
liament ordered him to come back, and when he was unable to return 
within the time which they had intentionally made too short, they 
sentenced him to banishment for life. He died at Rouen in 1674. 

Parliamentary Gains in the Control of Finances. — The financial 
situation continued to be very disturbing. The moneys granted 
proved insufficient to meet expenses. Cries were raised of corruption 
in high places, and the King was accused of diverting huge sums for 
his private pleasures. While he was extravagant enough, the root 
of the trouble lay deeper : supplies were voted so tardily and collected 
so grudgingly that the Government was obliged to anticipate by bor- 
rowing, and the prevailing high rate of interest cut into revenues that 
at best were hardly adequate even for legitimate expenses. Nig- 
gardly as the Commons were, they were wise in keeping a tight hold 
on the purse strings and made notable gains during the Clarendon 
regime. By an agreement made in 1664 between Archbishop Sheldon 
and the Lord Chancellor the clergy discontinued their custom of vot- 
ing supplies in Convocation. Henceforth, they were taxed like lay- 
men, and Convocation ceased to have the political importance it had 
formerly enjoyed. In a grant made in 1665 a clause was inserted that 
the moneys voted should be used only for the purposes of the war. 
While suggested by a wily royal adviser, Sir George Downing, 1 to 
prevent the goldsmiths from claiming any portion of it for debts due 
to them, it marks another important step toward the practice of ap- 
propriation of supplies. Two years later, in the spring of 1667, after 
a sharp and prolonged struggle, the King made the important conces- 
sion of appointing a committee of Parliament to audit accounts. In 
1 66 1, when the Lords attempted to pass a bill to pave the streets of 
Westminster, the Commons successfully asserted the principle that 
all bills involving the expenditure of money must originate and take 

1 Downing Street, where the official residence of the Prime Minister is now situ- 
ated, gets the name from the fact that it was constructed on lands which Charles 
granted to Downing. 



54 6 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

their final form in the Lower House. The struggle was renewed in 
1671 and again in 1677. Finally, by a resolution of 3 July, 1678, 
the Commons declared that all bills of supply were their sole gift, 
that they should originate in their House and that such bills 
" ought not to be changed or altered by the House of Lords." From 
that date the Lords have never made a serious attempt to originate 
or amend a money bill. In spite, however, of these evidences of the 
growing strength of the Commons, Charles, directly his old mentor 
was disposed of, proceeded to collect about him a body of ministers 
of his own choice and to develop a policy quite at variance with Par- 
liament's, a policy which he struggled for some years to maintain. 

FOR ADDITIONAL READING 

Narrative. Richard Lodge, The Political History of England, 1660-1702 (1910), 
chs. I-IV. Trevelyan, England under the Stuarts, ch. XI ; Lingard, IX, chs. I-IV, 
Ranke, III, bk. XIV, bk. XV, chs. I-III. Cambridge Modern History (1908), V. 
chs. V, VIII, pt. 2 (bibliography, pp. 786-798, 815-818). Macaulay, History of Eng- 
land (ed. 1865), I, ch. II; a brief survey of the reign of Charles II. 

Constitutional. A. Amos, The English Constitution in the Reign of Charles II 
(1857). Hallam, II, ch. XL Taswell-Langmead, ch. XV. Taylor, Origin and 
Growth, II, bk. VI, ch. I. W. C. Abbott, "Long Parliament of Charles II," English 
Historical Review (January-April, 1906). 

Contemporary. Samuel Pepys, Diary (most complete ed. H. B. Wheatley, 9 vols., 
1893-1899). Evelyn, Diary. G. Burnet, The History of My Own Time (ed. O. 
Airy, the reign of Charles II, 2 vols., 1897-1900) ; in spite of some partisanship and 
inaccuracies, an indispensable authority. 

Biography. O. Airy, Charles II (1901) ; an admirable biography and a good survey 
of the reign. A. Browning, Thomas Osborne, Earl of Danby and Duke of Leeds 
(1913). Lady Burghclere, GeorgeV illiers , Second Duke of Buckingham (1903). W. D. 
Christie, Lift 'of the First Earl of Shaftesbury (2 vols., 1871); a scholarly vindication. 
H. D. Traill, Shaftesbury (1888) ; a brief sketch. T. H. Lister, Life of Edward, First 
Earl of Clarendon (3 vols., 1838) ; has not been superseded by the recent Life by Sir 
Henry Craik (2 vols., 191 1). A.C. Ewald, Life and Times of Algernon Sidney (2 vols., 
1873). Helen C. Foxcroft, Life and Letters of George Savilc, First Marquis of Halifax 
(2 vols., 1898). Foxcroft and Clarke, Life of Gilbert Burnet (1907). A. Fea, King 
Monmouth (1902). H. B. Irving, Life of Lord Jeffreys (1898) ; an apology. Roger 
North, The Lives of the Norths (ed. A. Jessopp, 3 vols., 1890). 

Special. G. B. Hertz, English Public Opinion after the Restoration (1902). C. B. 
R. Kent, The Early History of the Tories (1908). Seeley, British Policy, II, pt. IV. 
A. T. Mahan, The Influence of Sea Power on History, 1660-178 3 (15th ed., 1898), chs. 
I, II; an epoch-making work. 

Church. Hutton, English Church, chs. X, XL Wakeman, chs. XVI, XVII. 
Stoughton, Religion in England, chs. Ill, IV. 

Scotland and Ireland. P. H. Brown, Scotland, II, bk. VI, ch. VI. For further 
reading on Scotland and Ireland see Lodge, pp. 487-491, Cambridge Modern His- 
tory, V, pp. 825-837. 

Selections from the sources. Adams and Stephens, nos. 221-226. C.G.Robert- 
son, Select Statutes Cases, and Documents (1904), pt. I, nos. I-IX ; pt. II, no. I. 



CHAPTER XXXIII 

FROM THE FALL OF CLARENDON TO THE DEATH OF 
CHARLES II (1667-1685) 

Charles seeks to make himself Absolute, 1667. — Charles took 
advantage of the fall of Clarendon to carry out a design which he had 
been cherishing for years — to establish himself as an absolute mon- 
arch. To that end, he applied himself with renewed energy to the 
four means by which he sought to accomplish his purpose: to build- 
ing up the standing army; attaching the Dissenters by offering the 
toleration which Parliament refused to grant ; restoring Roman Cathol- 
icism ; and securing a closer alliance with the French King, to whom he 
looked for supplies and, in case of need, for troops. The obstacles, 
however, proved so formidable that he had to follow a very crooked 
course, and, before many years had passed, to alter his plans pro- 
foundly. While his subjects willingly voted the necessary forces for 
another war with their commercial rivals, the Dutch, their ardor 
soon cooled when they found that they were chiefly pawns in the game 
of the French King, who was seeking to dominate Europe. Moreover, 
the Dissenters refused to accept any religious concessions that in- 
volved the Romanists, nor were the Pope and the bulk of the English 
Catholics inclined to take any steps that might contribute to the ag- 
grandizement of Louis XIV, whom they feared and hated on political 
grounds. In sensing the situation at the proper moment, and in the 
means which he adopted to meet it, the King, who appeared to most 
of his subjects as a good-natured and witty trifler, proved himself to 
be one of the most cunning politicians of the century. 

The " Cabal," 1667-1673. — In the meantime, until the turning 
point of his policy in 1673, he governed with a body of intimate coun- 
cilors known as the " Cabal." It formed an inner circle of the Privy 
Council, and its members, who were consulted by the King singly or 
collectively or in groups of two or three, were responsible to him and 
not to Parliament. While such groups, even under that name, had 
been known in English history long before the body in question came 
into existence, some have derived the word from the initial letters 
of the names of its leading members — Clifford, Ashley, Buckingham, 
Arlington, and Lauderdale. 1 Thomas Clifford, created Baron Clifford 

1 In reality it is derived from a Hebrew word, cabala, which meant a "secret," 
hence it came to be applied to a party or faction engaged in a secret design, and, 
later, to a group of secret councilors. Charles' body, however, is the most famous 
of them all. 

547 



548 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

and Lord High Treasurer in 1672, had begun life as a gentleman of 
small fortune and had made his way by ambition, ability, and zeal for 
Catholicism and the royal cause. Free from corruption himself, he 
was largely responsible for the bribery of the members of Parliament 
which first became common in this period. Anthony Ashley Cooper, 
Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1661 to 1672, when he was created 
Lord Chancellor and Earl of Shaftesbury, was a born agitator and 
demagogue, a forerunner of the modern party leader. The contem- 
porary, Dryden, attacked him in lines of biting satire which have be- 
come classic. 

" For close designs and crooked counsels fit, 
Sagacious, bold, and turbulent of wit, 
Restless, unfixed in principles and place, 
In power unpleased, impatient of disgrace, 
A fiery soul, which, working out its way, 
Fretted the pigmy body to decay." . 

Yet, with all his ambition and his turnings against men and parties, 
he was ever consistent in the pursuit of his two ideals — civil 
liberty and toleration for all Protestants. 1 He was himself a free 
thinker. 2 George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham (1628-1687), though 
he espoused the cause of the Dissenters for a time, was not only a man 
of no religious opinions, but a libertine to boot ; indeed, he was, per- 
haps, the most disreputable of all the dissolute set who surrounded 
the King. He was a man of engaging manners, not without accom- 
plishments, and excelled in a not very high order of wit, especially 
in mimicry ; he dabbled in chemistry, wrote verses and stage plays, 
and spent much money in buildings and gardens ; but he was vain, 
unsteady, and ever striving for powers in the state which he was in- 
capable of using. He appears as Zimri in Dryden's immortal satire : 

" Stiff in opinions, always in the wrong, 
Was everything by starts and nothing long." 

Henry Bennett (1618-1685), Earl of Arlington, who was a Secretary 
of State, 1662-1674, was thought to be a Roman Catholic. While he 
was certainly a promoter of that faith and a center of the opposition 
against Clarendon, he was probably a man of no intense convictions, 
aiming solely to advance himself. John Maitland (1616-1682), Earl 
and, later, Duke of Lauderdale, was an old Covenanter, who was made 
Secretary of State for Scottish affairs in 1660. In that office he 
labored for twenty years to make the Crown absolute in his native 
country. Coarse and grotesque in manners, he was a man of tre- 

1 He was accustomed to say that : " Popery and slavery go ever, like two sisters, 
hand in hand." 

2 Once, when asked by a lady what his religion was, he replied: "The religion 
of all wise men." When she persisted further, and asked what that was, he an 
swered : "Wise men never tell." 



LATER YEARS OF CHARLES II 549 

mendous learning, of great abilities and courage, and quite devoid of 
scruple. While Charles used all these men in the development of far- 
reaching plans which, if they had been carried to completion, would 
have destroyed Protestantism and popular liberty in England, the 
" Cabal," as such, never enjoyed his full confidence, to say nothing 
of dominating him as Clarendon had done. 1 

The Triple Alliance, 1668. — In foreign affairs the King's first step 
after the Treaty of Breda was one of seeming hostility to Louis XIV, 
who had already begun against Spain the " War of Devolution," 
so-called because he maintained that the Spanish Netherlands de- 
scended by right of devolution to his queen, daughter of Philip IV by 
his first wife, instead of to Charles II, 2 who was born of a second mar- 
riage. The English were angered at the French King for taking the 
Dutch side in the late war, and apprehensive of his growing power as 
well. So Sir William Temple, Envoy to the Low Countries, put a 
partial check on his designs by joining England, Holland, and Sweden 
in a Triple Alliance, signed 23 January, 1668, by which they agreed to 
defend one another in case of attack and to bring about a peace be- 
tween France and Spain. In consequence, Louis XIV signed the 
Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, 29 May, 1668, which bound him to with- 
draw his armies from the Spanish Netherlands and from that part of 
Burgundy known as Franche Comte, which he had also overrun. In 
return, however, Spain was forced to cede to him certain towns and 
fortresses along the northeast frontier. Charles, however, who had 
all the while been negotiating with both France and Spain, soon came 
to terms with the former. Nevertheless, the short-lived Triple Alli- 
ance was not without significance. It strengthened Charles by show- 
ing to Louis that his friendship was indispensable, and effectually 
alienated the French from the Dutch. 

Charles' Roman Catholic Intrigues. The Secret Treaty of Dover, 
1670. — In Charles' mind the French alliance was closely bound up 
with the introduction of Roman Catholicism. In January, 1669, a 
meeting was held at St. James' Palace, the residence of the Duke of 
York, where, in the presence of his brother 3 and a few of his most 
trusted confidants, he stated his desire of embracing the old faith and 
of setting it up again in England. " Besides the spiritual advantage 
he should gain from doing so," as he told the French ambassador a few 
months later, " he considered that it was the only way of reestablishing 
the monarchy." In pursuance of this design, the famous Treaty of 
Dover was concluded with France, 22 May, 1670, in the presence of 

1 Less than eighteen months after the dismissal of the Lord Chancellor, Charles 
wrote to his sister Henrietta: "Whatsoever opinion my ministers had been of, 
I would and do always follow my own judgment, and, if they take any other meas- 
ures than that, they will see themselves mistaken in the end." 

2 King of Spain, 1665-1700. 

3 He had recently learned of his brother's conversion to Rome, though it was 
not publicly announced for some years yet. 



550 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

Clifford, Arlington, and Arundel. 1 Its terms long remained a secret ; 
indeed, in framing them, three of the Cabal — Buckingham, Ashley, 
and Lauderdale — were not consulted. The terms were, in substance : 
that Charles, in return for an annual grant during the period of hos- 
tilities, agreed to join Louis in making war on the Dutch, and to assist 
him in securing the inheritance which he claimed in the Spanish Neth- 
erlands. Furthermore, and this was the secret part, the English King, 
in return for a sum of money, was, at a fitting time, to declare himself 
a Roman Catholic, and, in case Charles' subjects resisted, Louis was 
to send troops to aid him. Though Charles was inclined to declare 
his conversion forthwith, the French ambassador persuaded him that 
such a step would strengthen the hands of the Dutch as champions 
of Protestantism, whereas, if the English were kept in ignorance of 
their sovereign's change of faith; they would continue to regard them 
merely as trade rivals. So, of the two objects contemplated in the 
treaty, that of the destruction of the Dutch was thrust into the fore- 
ground. Since the negotiations leading up to the secret treaty were 
known to all the Ministers, Charles commissioned Buckingham to 
negotiate a sham treaty, concluded in February, 1 671, which was prac- 
tically the same as that of the previous spring except for the provision 
concerning religion. Meantime, Charles, by nursing Parliament in the 
delusion that the Triple Alliance still held, secured large sums for the 
purpose of rendering it effective. Had he stood loyally by the Dutch, 
the designs of Louis XIV might have been checked and later costly 
and devastating wars might have been avoided. 

The Stop of the Exchequer, 1672. — In order to prevent any pos- 
sible discussion of his recently concluded alliance with France against 
the Dutch, the King held no meeting of Parliament from April, 1671, 
to February, 1673. Since, however, the grants which he had received 
from that body and the subsidies from Louis proved insufficient to 
meet his expenses, he resorted to a new device suggested by Clifford. 2 
It was known as the " Stop of the Exchequer." For years it had been 
the custom of the Government to borrow from London goldsmiths on 
the security of taxes voted but not collected. The goldsmiths, who 
were the forerunners of the modern bankers, paid their depositors 
6 per cent and charged 8 per cent for their loans. Suddenly, in Jan- 
uary, 1672, they were informed that none of the capital which they 
had advanced to the State would be repaid for a whole year. Natu- 
rally this caused a panic among the merchants and tradesmen whose 
funds were thus tied up. As a matter of fact, not a penny even of 
interest, was paid until 1674, and then only 6 per cent without ar- 
rears. Although the liability was at length incorporated in the Na- 
tional Debt, many years after, it is estimated that the bankers and 
their depositors lost fully £3,000,000. 

1 From the fact that it was managed by Charles' favorite sister, Henrietta, 
Duchess of Orleans, who came to Dover with an imposing train, it is sometimes 
known as le traite de Madame. 

2 He was made Lord Treasurer a few weeks later. 



LATER YEARS OF CHARLES II 55I 

The Declaration of Indulgence, 1672-1673. — The religious situa- 
tion was such as to cause " all Protestant hearts to tremble." On 
15 March, 1672, the King issued a Declaration of Indulgence, 1 sus- 
pending " all manner of penal laws in matters ecclesiastical against 
whatsoever sort of Nonconformists or recusants ... as well for the 
quieting of our good subjects as for inviting strangers ... to come 
and live under us, and for a better encouragement for all to a cheerful 
following of their trades and callings." Although the Declaration 
only granted to Catholics liberty of private worship, while all Prot- 
estant sects were to be allowed to worship in public, men suspected 
it was issued mainly in the Catholic interest. Nor did it allay the 
suspicions, particularly of the Presbyterians, when the jails were 
opened and hundreds of Quakers and other Dissenters were released, 
although a large body of the Nonconformists sent the King a depu- 
tation to express their gratitude. When Parliament met, in Febru- 
ary, 1673, the opposition was intense, and Charles, for once in his 
life, tried to bear it down by a show of bluster. The Commons, how- 
ever, refusing to give way, 2 carried a resolution : " That penal stat- 
utes in matters ecclesiastical cannot be suspended but by act of 
Parliament," and respectfully petitioned that the laws be once more 
put in force. In the face of such opposition and in return for a grant 
of money which he sorely needed, the King announced, 8 March, that 
he would cancel the Declaration. 

The Test Act and the Break-up of the Cabal, 1673. — To clinch 
their victory, Parliament passed the famous Test Act providing that 
all holders of civil and military office must receive the sacrament ac- 
cording to the Church of England and take an oath declaring their 
disbelief in transubstantiation. That test excluded Roman Catholics 
and conscientious Dissenters for over a century and a half. 3 The 
immediate result of the Test Act was the break-up of the Cabal Min- 
istry. The Duke of York gave up his office of Lord High Admiral, and 
Clifford was forced to resign the Lord Treasurership. Shaftesbury, 
the lifelong friend of religious liberty, who had been one of the in- 
stigators of the Declaration, but who, on gaining an inkling of the real 
purport of the Treaty of Dover and the King's Catholic designs, had 
reversed his policy and had lent his support to the Test Act, was dis- 
missed from the office of Lord Chancellor recently conferred upon him. 
" It is only laying down my gown and buckling on my sword," he de- 
clared, and became the most active leader and organizer of the op- 
position party forming against the Court. Lauderdale, who had stuck 
closely to Scotch affairs, together with Buckingham and Arlington 

' In February, 1668, he had made an effort, which proved futile, to carry through 
another scheme for the comprehension of Presbyterians and the toleration of the 
sectaries. 

2 It was asserted in debate that the Declaration repealed more than forty acts 
of Parliament. 

3 Many Nonconformists did not scruple to qualify by taking the sacrament, 
and from 1727 they were protected from violating the law by an annual indemnity. 



552 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

were all bitterly attacked in Parliament, and the two latter, at least, 
soon ceased to play any considerable part in the royal councils. 1 
The anti-Catholic party had renewed cause for apprehension when 
James, whose first wife, Anne Hyde, had died the previous year, 
married in the autumn of 1673, Mary of Modena, a graceful child of 
fifteen, who had been destined for a nun and who " screamed two days 
and nights " at the prospect of changing her estate. The nuptials 
were brought about in the teeth of parliamentary address, praying 
that the Duke should not wed any person but of the Protestant re- 
ligion. The Commons replied by refusing supplies, on account of 
" the danger of Popery and popish counsels and counselors." 

The Third Dutch War, 1672-1674. — Another reason for the 
parliamentary reluctance to grant money was the growing opposition 
to the Dutch War which had resulted from the Treaty of Dover, and 
which was now drawing to a close. At the outset, the war had been 
popular ; for the English, as yet unaware of Charles' Catholic designs, 
welcomed the chance of French aid to crush their commercial rivals 
and avenge the invasion of the Medway. While the two countries 
were still at peace and while De Witt, the Grand Pensionary, was 
making every effort to avert a conflict, Charles ordered an attack on a 
Dutch fleet from Smyrna as it passed up the Channel. This inexcus- 
able act of bad faith, which deservedly failed, led to a declaration of 
war four days later, 17 March, 1672. The situation seemed very 
serious for the Dutch. In the previous war the English victories at 
sea had been barren of results, because of their inability to follow them 
up by land attacks. Now with the armies of Louis operating on the 
frontier, they had every prospect of crushing their opponents. Neither 
side, however, was well prepared, and the first battle off Southwold 
Bay, 2 28 May, 1672, was indecisive. To be sure, the Duke and the 
Earl of Sandwich forced de Ruyter to retreat ; but he managed to 
escape in a fog, leaving the English so crippled that they had to sail 
home to refit. Sandwich was blown up in his ship. An attempt, 
made by the allies later in the season, to land on the Dutch coast was 
frustrated by the Dutch Admiral, with the help of his superior knowl- 
edge of the foggy, sandy shores. 

The Close of the War. — The next year Prince Rupert succeeded 
the Duke of York who had to give up his command in consequence of 
the Test Act. Several engagements proved as indecisive as that off 
Solebay. In the hottest of them, fought off the Texel, n August, 
Rupert might have prevailed but for the failure of the French and some 
of his own captains to understand his signals. He complained bit- 
terly that " it was the greatest and plainest opportunity ever lost at 
sea." The feeling between the French and English in the allied 
fleets became intense : it was said openly that the French " must 
either excuse their cowardice by their treachery or their treachery by 

1 Buckingham was dismissed in 1674. 2 Or Solebay. 



LATER YEARS OF CHARLES II 553 

their cowardice." Increasing numbers of Englishmen, who had al- 
ready begun to fear the designs of Louis XIV more than the commercial 
rivalry of the Dutch, became convinced that their sailors were being 
used to fight the battles of the French, and it was the common opinion 
in London that " unless this alliance with France be broken the nation 
will be ruined." About the same time a revolution in Holland re- 
stored Charles' nephew to the stadholderate of his ancestors, and 
De Witt and his brother were murdered in the streets. Although the 
young Stadholder, contrary to expectation, threatened to die on the 
last dike rather than yield to the enemies of his country, both sides 
were really ready to come to terms. So a treaty was signed at Lon- 
don, g February, 1674, 1 by which the Dutch again acknowledged the 
honor of the flag and restored New York, which they had captured 
in the previous July. While they had fought bravely in an apparently 
irresistible combination, the showing of the English had been in- 
glorious ; they had been unable to gain a decisive victory, or to land 
a single army on the Dutch coast. Something was due to the lack of 
cooperation on the part of the allies ; the rest may be explained by 
corrupt and ineffective administration, by the shortage of men, money 
and supplies and the reversal of English public opinion. 

The Turning Point in the Policy of Charles. Danby made Lord 
Treasurer. — With the passage of the Test Act and the close of the 
Third Dutch War, Charles quietly dropped his design of making 
England Catholic. Sir Thomas Osborne (1631-1712), a Yorkshire 
baronet of small estate, succeeded Clifford as Lord Treasurer in 1673 
and was created Earl of Danby the following year. A devoted sup- 
porter of the royal prerogative, he was opposed to Catholicism and 
French ascendancy. He showed great financial ability, though he was 
unscrupulous in filling his own pockets and in attaching supporters 
by bribery and patronage. Indeed, his control of Parliament by 
financial corruption was carried to such an extent that he has been 
accused frequently of introducing the practice ; but Clarendon 
lamented its use in his own day, while Clifford also, on occasion, sought 
to gain the support of influential men in this way. Danby only or- 
ganized the system and extended it to the rank and file. His policy 
was to strengthen the Crown by allying with the High Church party 
and crushing out Dissent. Charles readily went to the lengths of 
deserting the Catholics for the High Anglicans, and of consenting to 
the persecution of the Nonconformists ; but he clung to his project 
of a standing army till 1678, and, except for brief intervals, he con- 
tinued in the pay of France till his death, though after the peace with 
the Dutch he never gave Louis any active support, receiving his sub- 
sidies in return for neutrality. 

The First Years of the Danby Regime. — The domestic situation 
during the next few years was a dreary one. The new Lord Treasurer 

1 Known as the Peace of Westminster. 



554 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

managed to reduce expenditures below revenue ; but he had to bribe 
right and left to carry out his policies, and even stooped to gain the 
favor of the new royal favorite Louise de Keroualle, 1 Duchess of 
Portsmouth, who drove a thriving trade in the sale of offices. In 
the midst of intrigue and license which ran riot at court, the King went 
comfortably on pursuing his pleasures, conversing, when the mood 
seized him, with learned men, toying with learned subjects, and re- 
fusing to " vex and disquiet " himself any more than possible " with 
that foolish, idle, impertinent thing called business." Having ceased 
to press his Roman Catholic designs, the hopes of that party came to 
center more and more round his brother, the Duke of York. It was 
the aim of Danby, supported by his rOyal master, to unite the Court, 
the Cavaliers, and the Church in a solid phalanx, not only against the 
Catholics, but against the Nonconformists. To that end, he aimed 
to exclude from office and public life all who would not make a dec- 
laration that it was unlawful to take up arms against the King " on 
any pretext whatsoever " and swear never to attempt " any altera- 
tion in the government or religion established by law." This famous 
non-resisting test, in the form of a " Bill to prevent Dangers which may 
arise from Persons disaffected to the Government," was introduced 
in April, 1675, and, in spite of heated and stubborn opposition, might 
have become law but for a dispute which arose between the Lords and 
Commons. 2 This was fostered so deftly by Shaftesbury that the 
King was obliged to prorogue Parliament. 

The Beginning of the Modern Party System. — It was during the 
fight against Danby and the Court policy in the session of 1675 that 
the Country Party, which had been taking shape for some years, was 
definitely organized under Shaftesbury in the Lords and by William 
Sacheverell in the Commons. Built on the principles of parliamentary 
supremacy and toleration, it soon came to be known as the Whig 
party, a name which it bore until well into the nineteenth century. 
It survives to-day in the present Liberal party. While Danby was 
the first to organize a Government machine, his opponents put on a 
permanent footing one of the two great modern political parties. 
The center of activity of the Country party was the Green Ribbon Club, 
founded in 1675, with its headquarters in the King's Head Tavern at the 
foot of Chancery Lane. A very busy organization it was, too, for the 
next few years, spurred by the feverish energy of its president Shaftes- 
bury. Antigovernment men of all sorts gathered at its meetings, and 
there petitions were drawn up, and thence speakers, agents, and pam- 
phlets were sent to spread their views, throughout the city and country. 

The Marriage of William of Orange and Princess Mary, 1677. — 
The question of the succession was gradually getting to be acute. 

Popularly known as "Madam Carwell." She had first attracted the King's 
attention when she came from France in the train of his sister Henrietta of Orleans. 

2 This case, Shirley vs. Fagg, is important from the fact that it established the 
right of the House of Lords to hear appeals from Chancery. 



LATER YEARS OF CHARLES II 555 

In 1676 James became a professed Roman Catholic. Early in the 
following year, Danby introduced a bill into the House of Lords to 
secure the Protestant religion in the event of a Catholic successor. 
Though it passed the Upper House, the bill was stoutly resisted in 
the Commons, and ultimately defeated because of its implication 
that one of the Roman Catholic faith might become ruler of England. 
This marks the beginning of the famous struggle to exclude the Duke 
of York from the throne, which came to a head two or three years later. 
When Parliament, elated by its victory, sought to induce the King to 
break loose from his French connection and to submit to them all 
projected foreign alliances, he replied by an adjournment, 1 and, in 
a conversation with the Dutch ambassador, threw his kerchief in the 
air, declaring " I care just that for Parliament." Nevertheless, 
and in spite of the fact that he was in the pay of France, he agreed, 
upon zealous pressure from Danby, that Mary, 2 the eldest daughter 
of James and his first wife Anne Hyde, should marry William of 
Orange. The marriage, which had already been discussed in 1674, 
was celebrated, 4 November, 1677. Charles' motives were: to force 
more money from Louis by coquetting with his enemy ; to strengthen 
himself with his Anglican supporters ; and to obtain supplies of 
money and men from them by a threatened demonstration against 
the power which they hated. At a public banquet, Danby gave the 
toast : " Confusion to all that are not for a war with France," and, 10 
January, 1678, a treaty was signed at the Hague between England and 
Holland to force Louis XIV to make peace. 3 

A Tortuous Foreign Policy. The Peace of Nymwegen, 1678. — 
The course of English foreign policy was most tortuous, and the re- 
lations between Charles and his Parliament were most complicated. 
At times the King, in order to strengthen his army and to secure sup- 
plies from the Commons, was threatening war with France ; yet, all 
the while, he was treating with his old paymaster, now breathing de- 
fiance, then promising to dissolve his Parliament, always with the view 
to making the best financial terms possible. While Parliament voted 
him considerable sums for the war, there was generally a strong op- 
position against him. Many were fearful as to the use to which he 
might put the men and money which he sought, others wanted to get 
rid of Danby, and not a few had been corrupted by French gold. 
The aim of Louis XIV in subsidizing the Opposition 4 was to strengthen 
the party opposed to Danby, and, while the session lasted, to keep 
Charles so embroiled that he could not carry out his threat of inter- 

1 In recent years he had employed adjournments and prorogations as his chief 
weapon. 

2 She had been brought up a Protestant, though her mother died in the Church 
of Rome. 

3 He had continued the war of conquest after England and Holland had come 
to terms by the Peace of Westminster in 1674. 

4 It was estimated at one time that more than two thirds of the members were 
in the pay either of Charles or of Louis. 



556 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

vening in behalf of the Dutch. When, in spite of his bribes and in- 
trigues, the English King finally prepared to send a force to assist 
William of Orange, he was obliged to put an end to the war. Terms 
of peace with Holland were signed at Nymwegen, 10 August, 1678. ' 
They were much more favorable, however, to Louis than those made 
at Aix-la-Chapelle, ten years before, for he now secured Franche Comte 
and several additional strongholds on the northeast frontier. While 
Charles gained nothing by the actual terms of the peace, the events 
which led up to it had greatly strengthened his position. He had in- 
creased his standing army, and he had drawn large sums of money both 
from Parliament and Louis, by playing one against the other. Such 
was the situation when startling disclosures of Titus Oates, an unscru- 
pulous informer and liar, threw England into a violent panic. The 
anti-Catholic frenzy aroused by the so-called " Popish Plot " 2 gave 
the Country party a momentary ascendancy which they failed to 
maintain because of their unbridled violence. 

Titus Oates and His Story. — Titus Oates was the son of a Baptist 
and former chaplain of one of Cromwell's regiments. Deserting his 
father's faith, he had first taken orders in the Church of England, and 
then in 1677 joined the Church of Rome. His motives were base: 
either to obtain profitable employment as an agent in Catholic in- 
trigues, or to sell their secrets to the English Protestant party. Al- 
ready in the course of a checkered career he had been found guilty of 
false witness and of offenses even more loathsome. This malicious 
and mendacious creature, while not the first or the last of the flesh 
flies who fattened on the political and religious disorders of the period, 
was the most infamous. His appearance was as grotesque and dis- 
gusting as his designs ; heavy and squat in build, bull-necked and 
bow-legged, he had small sunken eyes, a long chin, a purple face, and 
a rasping voice. During brief residences at the Jesuit colleges of 
Valladolid and St. Omers, from each of which he was successively 
expelled in 1677 an d 1678, he learned from scraps of conversation that 
Charles II was thought to stand in the way of the Romanist conver- 
sion of England for which he had once striven so zealously; that 
Roman Catholic hopes were now centered on his royal brother ; that 
Coleman, secretary first to the Duke and later to the Duchess of 
York, was busy corresponding with the French Jesuit, Pere la Chaise, 
and that a Jesuit congregation had been held in London, April, 1678. 
Disappointed of a career in the Church of Rome, he went to London, 
and, with one Dr. Tonge, a fanatical anti-Catholic pamphleteer, 
worked up his story from such materials as he had gathered. It 
was, in substance, that there was a hellish plot to fire the City, 
to rouse rebellion in Ireland, to invade England with a French 

1 Peace with Spain followed 17 September, 1678, and with the Emperor, 6 Febru- 
ary, 1679. 

2 It has been more fitly called the "Popish terror ... the last and impudentest 
attempt upon the credulity of mankind." 



LATER YEARS OF CHARLES II 557 

and Irish army, to massacre the Protestants, and to murder the 
King. 1 

The Murder of Sir Edmund Bury Godfrey, 1678. — These dis- 
closures were read before Charles and the Council, and a copy of the 
charges was put into the hands of Sir Edmund Bury Godfrey, a justice 
of the peace, who, though a Protestant, was intimately acquainted 
with Coleman and other prominent Roman Catholics. In spite of 
the fact that Oates was twice caught in falsehood and contradiction 
during his examination before the Council, an investigation was set 
on foot which resulted in the discovering of Coleman's correspondence 
with Pere la Chaise. This was the only evidence that could be found 
to support the story of Oates. In view, however, of the intrigues 
with France, partly known and partly suspected, the people were 
ready to believe anything; therefore, when, 17 October, 1678, the 
dead body of Godfrey was found in a ditch, their fears mounted to a 
panic. The mystery of Godfrey's death has never been solved. Some 
maintain that he committed suicide ; others, that Oates and his gang 
murdered him to lend color to their assertions ; others, again, insist 
that he was made away with by the Jesuits because he knew dangerous 
secrets. If that be the case, they were guilty of a stupendous blunder ; 
for , it served to precipitate the gathering superstition and terror 
which culminated in the sacrifice of the lives of so many innocent 
Catholics. 

Causes Promoting Belief in the Plot. — Oates, though he told a 
lying story, had some ground to work upon ; in other words, there was, 
to some extent, a real as well as a sham plot. Charles, by the Treaty 
of Dover, had entered into a definite engagement for the Catholicizing 
of England. When the turn of events caused him to abandon these 
designs, and particularly after he had given his sanction to the mar- 
riage of William of Orange and had allied himself with the Dutch, 
Catholics, at home and abroad, far from giving up hope, began to 
look to his brother to accomplish the work which he had deserted. 
While they worked earnestly at their plan of converting the country 
and securing the succession of James, there is no proof that they ever 
plotted to murder the reigning King. As a matter of fact, the English 
Jesuits did hold their provincial synod of April, 1678, in the apart- 
ments of the Duke in St. James' Palace. This, had it been known, was 
a more damning circumstance than Oates' deposition that they had 
met in the White Horse Tavern. But it was his further assertion that 
they " had taken counsel to murder the King," which furnished the 
party leaders with what they wanted. Those on both sides sought 
to make use of the " Plot " for their own ends. Danby thought by 
fostering the excitement he could divert the steadily increasing attacks 

1 This last was to be amply provided for : Charles was to be poisoned by the 
Queen's physician, he was to be shot by silver bullets as he walked in St. James 
Park, and he was to be set upon by four hired ruffians and stabbed with a conse- 
crated knife a foot long. 






558 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

against himself and his administration. 1 But he soon found that 
instead of " sharing the popularity of nursing it " he was like a man 
trying to hold a " wolf by the ears ; he could neither hold it nor let 
it go, and for certain it bit him at last." 

But his opponent Shaftesbury was the most active of all in foment- 
ing the excitement. " Let the Treasurer cry never so loud," he de- 
clared, " against Popery, and think to put himself at the head of the 
Plot ... I will cry a note louder." Oates gave him the weapons 
he sought, to fight the succession of James and the Catholic line. His 
zeal was amazing in procuring informers and in hounding them by 
threats or bribery or whatever means proved most effective. Danby 
and Shaftesbury were unscrupulous partisans ; but Lord Russell, 
perhaps the noblest man of the time, firm in the belief " that Popery 
is, and was, breaking upon us like a flood," joined in the cry ; and such 
a broad-minded, philosophic statesman as Halifax declared that " the 
Plot must be handled as if it were true." 

Charles' Share in the Responsibility. — Charles must bear a heavy 
share of the responsibility for the whole matter. By his manifest 
favor to Roman Catholics in the early part of the reign, and by his 
intrigues with France, he had aroused the popular apprehension to 
the point of believing any tale however ridiculous ; moreover, he had 
placed himself in a position such that he could not. make light of the 
whole affair without laying himself open to suspicion. So, though he 
did not believe a word of the Plot, and even declared to his intimates 
that he regarded the chief informers as liars and rogues, he remained 
passive, letting events take their course. He allowed innocent men to 
go to their death on the testimony of rascals, and even allowed Oates, 
the arch villain of them all, to lodge in splendor at Whitehall and to 
receive a large weekly pension from the privy purse. Yet this was 
the man who could tell one of his courtiers that " he would never do 
a base or wicked thing, and that he looked on a falsehood and cruelty 
as the greatest crimes in the sight of God." He showed himself to 
be an adroit politician, but a very base or a very weak man. It was 
the natural outcome of his extravagant, selfish life and his tortuous 
courses that, when a crisis came, he was too lazy and too cowardly 
and too far compromised to stand up at once for what he knew to be 
right. It was not till he realized clearly that Shaftesbury and his 
party were aiming, with the aid of Oates and his kind, to force him to 
divorce his queen, 2 to exclude his brother from the throne, 3 and to 
recognize as his successor his illegitimate son, James, Duke of Mon- 

1 Some authorities, however, deny this and insist that he refused openly to credit 
the Plot from the first. 

2 "She was a weak woman and had some disagreeable humors," he declared to 
a confidant, "but was not capable of a wicked thing, and, considering his own 
faultiness to her in some things, he thought it a horrid thing to abandon her." 

3 He told Danby privately that he would be "content to pare the nails of a 
Popish successor, but he would not suffer his own brother to be taken away from 
him, nor the right line of succession interrupted." 



LATER YEARS OF CHARLES II 559 

mouth, that he roused himself, dashed their plans, and fought them with 
amazing ability and determination during the rest of his reign. Yet, 
before that happened, he had allowed his subjects to pass through a 
stage of madness which was an abiding disgrace to him and them. 

Parliament imposes New Tests upon Roman Catholics, 1678. — 
Parliament met 21 October, 1678, and continued in session until 
30 December. Its first step was to hurry through a resolution that 
" there has been, and still is, a damnable and hellish plot contrived 
and carried on by Popish recusants, for the assassinating and murder- 
ing of the King, and for subverting the Government, and rooting out 
and destroying the Protestant religion." None dared dissent for 
fear of being thought implicated. Fear rose to panic. Elaborate 
precautions were taken against fire, men went about armed, and the 
" Protestant flail " was invented, — ■ a handy little club for striking 
suddenly a threatened assailant. The City and the royal palace were 
guarded with troops and cannon. The prisons were filled with sus- 
pects, and, while their trials were proceeding, measures were framed 
to exclude Roman Catholics from the Government, to drive James 
from the royal presence, and to bar him from the succession. A new 
test, passed 28 October, 1678, obliged members of both Houses to 
take the oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance and subscribe to a decla- 
ration that worship according to the Church of Rome was idolatrous. 1 
Although the Duke of York was excepted from the parliamentary 
test, it was moved that he be no longer allowed to sit in the King's 
Council. A proposal excluding him from the succession was not em- 
bodied in a bill until the next Parliament. The most commendable 
achievement of the Country party in this session was in forcing Charles 
to disband the standing army which they protested was raised " for 
an imaginary war." 2 

The Victims of the Plot. — For months the trials of those accused 
of participation in the Plot went on. Coleman was the first to die. 
He was guilty of the charge of treason in trying to " subvert the Protes- 
tant religion as it is by law established ... by the aid and assistance 
of foreign powers," though he was probably innocent of the accusa- 
tion that he had conspired to assassinate the King. Urged to make 
disclosures, he replied that " he knew there was enough already to 
take away his life, and he did not know enough to save it." Upwards 
of twenty more met the same fate ; most of them innocent of any 
crime except that of being Roman Catholics and attempting to 
propagate their faith. The judges were brutal and biased, the 
witnesses told what they knew to be lies ; but, it must be said, the 
procedure was no more unfair than it had been for a century and more. 

1 In the course of the debate in the House of Peers a noble lord was roundly 
cheered for declaring that he " would not have so much as a Popish man or woman 
to remain amongst us ; not so much as a Popish dog . . . not so much as a Popish 
cat mew or purr about the King." 

2 "These redcoats," they declared, "may fight against Magna Carta." 



560 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

In constant fear of danger from without, of treason and rebellion from 
within, with no adequate police or military force, the Government 
saw no safety except in swift, ruthless convictions. Thus the law 
courts were concerned, not so much in saving the innocent, as in acting 
as " citadels against treason," in making examples of those who seemed 
guilty. One particular injustice under which the Catholics labored, 
as has been pointed out by the most brilliant writer on this period, 
was that neither people, judges, or juries attached any belief to the 
testimony of their witnesses, since many of them were Jesuits, and 
since it was commonly supposed that Jesuits were taught to lie in 
the interest of the Church. While the Popish Terror was at its 
height, the courts as well as the places of execution were threatened 
by howling mobs, so that the judges could acquit no one without 
the greatest risk to their own safety. The turn of the tide came in 
July, 1679, with the acquittal of George Wakeman, the Queen's 
physician, whose case was bound up with that of his royal mistress. 
Chief Justice Scroggs — a coarse, dissipated person like too many of 
his contemporaries on the bench — acted a courageous part in setting 
him free. He was bitterly attacked and reviled, and, even though he 
acted on a hint from the Court, he staked not only his career but his 
life on the decision. More trials there were ; but they grew fewer and 
fewer, 1 though two victims of high rank remained yet to be sacrificed 
to the popular fury. In December, 1680, Lord Stafford, an aged peer 
of the notable family of Howard, was sent to the block, and in the 
ensuing summer he was followed by the Roman Catholic Archbishop 
of Armagh, the last of the accused to suffer. 

The Fall of Danby, 1678-1679. — Meantime, Danby had fallen, and 
the Cavalier Parliament was no more. The Lord Treasurer was 
overthrown by the combined hostility of the Shaftesbury party and 
the French King. The agent was a disappointed office seeker, Ralph 
Montague, ambassador at Paris, to whom Danby had refused the 
position of Secretary of State. Moved by revenge and by a bribe from 
Louis XIV, he published instructions which he had received from 
Danby, in March, 1678, to offer the dissolution of Parliament in return 
for a French loan. Parliament demanded the dismissal of the Lord 
Treasurer forthwith. It was urged in vain that, disapproving of the 
proposal, he acted solely in accordance with the royal orders. Charles 
tried to save him by proroguing and then dissolving Parliament. 
The new Parliament, which met, 6 March, 1679, resumed the attack. 
Meantime, Danby, who had been rewarded with the title of Marquis, 
had been dismissed and was in hiding. When a bill of attainder was 
passed against him, he appeared to defend himself. He was ultimately 
committed to the Tower, where he remained for nearly five years. 
Danby's case is of great political and constitutional significance. It 
marks another step in the process of calling ministers to account, and 

1 For a long time, however, priests were tried and convicted under a law of 
Elizabeth which made it treason for them to remain in the land. 



LATER YEARS OF CHARLES II 561 

it put an end to the Parliament which had grown steadily more corrupt 
during the eighteen years of its life, a Parliament in which he had 
organized his political machine. Moreover, during the proceedings 
against him several important points were raised. It was maintained, 
for instance, that a dissolution did not put an end to an impeachment, 1 
and that a royal pardon was no bar to an impeachment. 2 

The " Habeas Corpus Act," 1679. — This Parliament which 
disposed of Danby, secured notable gains to the subject in connection 
with the writ of habeas corpus. Charles I had evaded the spirit, 
if not the letter, of the great concession which he had made in the Peti- 
tion of Right, and, though the act abolishing Star Chamber contained 
a provision that persons might not be imprisoned by the King's com- 
mand or that of the Privy Council, repeated instances of arbitrary 
imprisonment occurred after the Restoration, especially under Clar- 
endon's regime. One bill after another was introduced ; but it was 
not till 1679 that an act 3 was passed, mainly through the efforts of 
Shaftesbury, to make the execution of the writ more effectual. 
Hitherto, the jailer had not been bound to make an immediate return, 
and he might avoid giving up a prisoner by shifting him from prison 
to prison. Moreover, it was not clear whether any but the court of 
the King's Bench could issue the writ, or whether a single judge could 
do so during the long vacation. The act of 1679 provided that any 
prisoner held on a criminal charge must, on the issuance of the writ, 
be brought before the judge within an interval of twenty days to de- 
cide whether he should be released on bail or held for trial ; and that 
a man accused of treason or felony must be tried at the next gaol 
delivery or released on bail, unless witnesses for the Crown could not 
be procured ; and if untried at the gaol delivery following, he should 
be discharged. Henceforth, the writ might be obtained from any 
court, while during the long vacation a single judge might issue it. 
Furthermore, except in special cases persons could not be imprisoned 
beyond the seas, and the writ was to run in the counties palatine and 
other privileged jurisdictions. Evasions were punished by heavy 
fines. Even yet the remedies were still inadequate. A judge might 
require bail too excessive for the prisoner to obtain, jailers might 
make a false return, and the provisions applied to criminal cases 
only. The first was remedied by the Bill of Rights, the two latter 
by an act of 1816. 4 

1 This, however, was not finally established till the celebrated Warren Hastings' 
Case in 1791. 

2 This assertion was soon confirmed by the Act of Settlement, 13 Wm., Ill c. 2. 

3 Popularly known as the "Habeas Corpus Act," it was really entitled: "An 
act for the better securing the Liberty of the Subject, and for prevention of Im- 
prisonment beyond the Seas." 

4 It is said that the act of 1679 only passed the House of Lords by an accident, 
since a very fat lord was counted, in jest, as ten ; two, according to another account. 
At any rate, more votes were cast than the records show to have been present on 
that day. 

2 o 



562 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

The First Exclusion Bill, 1679. The Whigs and Tories. — Charles 
ratified the act in order to placate the Opposition which was bent on 
excluding the Duke of York from the succession. A bill for that 
purpose passed the Commons, and the King only prevented it from 
going to the Lords by proroguing Parliament, 27 May, 1679. That 
body did not meet again till the autumn of 1680. During the interval 
the struggle waged furiously. In order to prevent Charles from 
forming another inner circle of the ministers, as he had done in the case 
of the Cabal, Sir William Temple got him to remodel the Council on 
a plan which he had devised. Instead of fifty there were to be thirty 
members, half ex-officio, half selected from the popular party. Charles 
accepted the scheme merely to gain time and took care that it should 
fail. He rarely consulted the new body. With cool irony he made 
Shaftesbury president, dismissed him in October, 1679, and gradually 
froze out his supporters. When in January, 1680, Russell and others 
asked permission to withdraw, he answered : " With all my heart." 
Halifax, Essex, and Sunderland — the latter came into disagreeable 
prominence later — stayed on, and managed affairs under the title 
of the " Triumvirate." Charles played a waiting game, hoping by 
repeated prorogations to keep Parliament in check or to drive the 
Opposition to violence. Petitions poured in from all parts of the 
country, begging him to call Parliament. These were answered by 
counter-petitions from his supporters, declaring their abhorrence of 
such petitions. The names " petitioners " and " abhorrers " came to 
be applied to the two great parties, who, however, soon received their 
more enduring names of " Whigs and Tories." 1 

Second Exclusion Bill, 1680. The Oxford Parliament, 1681. — 
Truly these months were a " crazy time everywhere." The Duke of 
Monmouth, one of the King's illegitimate sons, a " weak, bad, and 
beautiful young man . . . popular, good-natured, and charming as 
his reputed father," had gained some popularity by suppressing a 
Presbyterian rising in Scotland, and Shaftesbury, disappointed of 
forcing Charles into a divorce and a Protestant marriage, aimed to 
set him in the place of the Duke of York as heir to the throne. In 
the early winter of 1680 he aroused hot discussion by circulating stories 
about a certain " Black Box," said to contain papers proving the 
marriage of Charles to Monmouth's mother, Lucy Walters. When 
Parliament met in October, a second exclusion bill was introduced. 
Passing the Commons, it was defeated in the Lords chiefly by the 
eloquence of Halifax, who favored Charles' plan of a Catholic suc- 
cession with limitations and expedients which the Opposition regarded 
as a " little gilding to cover a poisonous pill." They insisted that 

1 Whig is thought to be a shortened form of " Whiggamore," a name applied to 
the Scotch covenanting party, from "Whiggam," the cry by which they encour- 
aged their horses, though some derive it from a word meaning "sour whey." 
"Tory" originally meant an Irish outlaw. It was first applied by Oates to those 
who disbelieved in the plot and passed from them to the opponents of the Exclusion. 



LATER YEARS OF CHARLES II 563 

the King supported his brother because "'it is good to have a suc- 
cessor they like worse than himself." The Houses were prorogued, 
and finally dissolved in January, 168 1. The King's last Parliament 
met 21 March, 1681, at Oxford ; for he dared not allow it to assemble 
in London. The Whigs, greatly in the majority, and backed by bands 
of armed followers, were determined to force through their exclusion 
measure, to restrict the royal right of proroguing and dissolving 
Parliament, and to set up a Protestant Association to govern the 
country under Monmouth. Charles, in order to secure his supporters 
against attack, had the road to Oxford lined with armed men and 
made other preparations for defense. Moreover, he secured another 
large grant from Louis XIV, and when the Opposition again refused 
to accept a bill of limitations, he put an end to the session after eight 
days, the members dispersing with " dreadful faces and loud sighs." 
It was "as if a gust of wind had suddenly scattered the leaves from 
the trees." His waiting policy had been crowned with success, the 
Whigs had overreached themselves by their own violence, and never 
again while Charles lived were they to recover their lost ascendancy. 
Their leaders kept up the struggle, but their following was a body of 
desperate agitators, — an " exploded, scanty, and forsaken " remnant, 
not a popular political party. 

Flight and Death of Shaftesbury. The Royal Attack on the Munic- 
ipal Corporations. — Loyal addresses came pouring in from all sides, 
couched in the most abject and fulsome language. The Tory doc- 
trines of non-resistance and absolute devotion to absolutism became 
all the more fashionable by way of reaction against the Whig notions 
which had dominated the last three parliaments. Charles was now 
ready to assume the aggressive. The first blow was aimed against 
Shaftesbury, who was charged with plotting against the King and with 
attempting to set up a republic. Although the grand jury refused 
to bring in a true bill against him, 1 the fiery popular leader, after a 
year of furious agitation and busy intrigues, fled to Holland in Decem- 
ber, 1682, where he died the following January. The Middlesex 
jury who had thus defied the royal will was appointed by the London 
sheriffs, who, in their turn, were chosen by the City, where the Whig 
element remained strong. Accordingly, Charles, in order to revenge 
himself, and at the same time to gain control of the government of 
London, had a writ of quo warranto brought in the King's Bench call- 
ing on the City to show why, by what warrant, it should not forfeit 
its charter, on the ground that it had abused its privileges by imposing 
certain tolls on goods brought into the City markets and by demand- 
ing a parliament, December, 1679, in an inflammatory petition which 
had been circulated through the country. In June, 1683, the judges 
rendered a decision that the charter should be forfeited. However, 
it was proposed that the charter might be retained on certain condi- 

1 They brought in a verdict of "ignoramus." 



564 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

tions, the most important being that the election of the chief officials 
should be submitted for royal approval. When the City refused to 
submit to this arrangement, Charles proceeded to appoint men of his 
own choice. He next extended the attack against other munici- 
palities. His object was not only to increase his supporters in influen- 
tial centers, but, since many corporations chose borough members 
in Parliament, to strengthen his party in the House of Commons in the 
event of another session. Some resisted, some surrendered their 
charters when suit was brought against them. 1 It was said that when 
Judge Jeffreys, who became so notorious in the next reign, went on 
the northern circuit, " he made all the charters, like the walls of Jericho, 
fall down before him." Altogether, nearly seventy charters were for- 
feited or remodeled. 

The Ryehouse Plot and the Executions of Russell and Sidney. — 
Meantime, the Duke of York had resumed office in violation of the 
Test Act, and the persecution of Dissenters had been resumed. With 
the City in the hands of the Tories the Whigs determined to try a 
final stroke. A council of six from the Green Ribbon Club, with 
Shaftesbury as president, and including Monmouth, Russell, Algernon 
Sidney, and Essex, met and discussed plans for forcing the King to 
call a Parliament and even for stirring up an armed rising. It was the 
failure of these schemes which led to the flight of Shaftesbury. An- 
other plot, however, was devised by certain old Cromwellians to 
murder the King and his brother as they returned to London from 
Newmarket, in April, 1683. This attempt, known as the Ryehouse 
plot, from the abode of one of the conspirators, whence the attack 
was to be made, miscarried, because the royal brothers came down a 
week before they were expected. The discovery of this plot brought 
the other less criminal one to light. Russell and Sidney were tried 
with the customary scant regard for justice and were executed. Essex 
died in prison by his own hand. Monmouth was forgiven but sent 
into exile. 

The Triumph and Death of Charles, 1685. — Charles was now 
triumphant. The country was prosperous, trade was flourishing, and 
the price of land was high ; the furious partisanship of the Whigs, 
the dread of another revolution, and the King's adroitness in giving up 
his Catholic designs and in playing his adversaries 2 until they had 
risen to the bait had left him supreme. Yet he had won at a tremen- 
dous sacrifice. For the sake of French gold he had acquiesced tamely 
in Louis XIV's plans of ascendancy which caused untold misery to 
generations to come. But his motto was, " If I can be well so long 

1 The charges were usually flimsy : at Oxford the election of a town clerk with- 
out the royal approval ; at York, the refusal to allow a mountebank, recommended 
by the King, to erect a stage. 

2 He had put the extremists in the wrong by offering a series of concessions which 
he knew they would refuse, but which satisfied the bulk of the moderates — ex- 
clusion of the Catholics from Parliament and public office ; limitations on the power 
of a Catholic successor. He had also ratified the Habeas Corpus Act. 



LATER YEARS OF CHARLES II 565 

as I live, I care little what happens afterwards." However, he did 
not live to enjoy long the repose which he had so basely gained. He 
was stricken with apoplexy, 2 February, 1685, and only survived four 
days. Witty to the end, he apologized to those about him for being 
" such an unconscionable time in dying." In his last hours he was 
received into the Church of Rome by Father Huddleston, a priest 
who had saved his life during the flight after the battle of Worcester. 

FOR ADDITIONAL READING 

Narrative. Lodge, Political History, chs. V-X. Trevelyan, England under the 
Stuarts, chs. XI, XII. Cambridge Modern History, V, chs. V, IX. Ranke, III, 
bk. XV, chs. V-XII, IV, bk. XVI. Lingard, IX, chs. IV-VI, X, ch. I. Mac- 
aulay, History of England, I, ch. II. 

Constitutional. Sir J. F. Stephen, History of the Criminal Law (3 vols., 1883), 
I, pp. 325 ff., for judicial procedure in the seventeenth century. Hallam, II, chs. 
XII, XIII. 

Biography. Lord John Russell, Life of William Lord Russell (4th ed., 1853). 
Anonymous, Adventures of James II (1904); very sympathetic as regards James. 

Special. John Pollock, The Popish Plot (1903); the authority on the subject ; pt. 
IV deals with the procedure in the treason trials. Mahan, Sea Power, ch. III. 

Contemporary. J. S. Clarke, The Life of King James the Second, "collected out of 
memoirs writ of his own hand" (1816). For further works relating to this chapter 
see ch. XXXII above. 

Selections from the sources. Adams and Stephens, nos. 228-232. Robertson, 
Select Statutes and Cases, pt. I, nos. X, XI; pt. II, nos. II- VII. 



CHAPTER XXXIV 
JAMES II AND THE "GLORIOUS REVOLUTION" (1685-1688) 

Strength of the Monarchy at the Accession of James, in 1685. — 

Charles, though lazy, dissipated, and unprincipled, was tactful and 
wary, and left his brother in a position of unusual strength. The 
Whig opposition was crushed and discouraged ; the municipal corpo- 
rations were under royal control ; France stood in need of the friend- 
ship of the English King, while the Dutch, the Protestant princes of 
Germany, Spain, the Empire, and the Papacy, all of whom dreaded 
French ascendancy, courted his alliance. Moreover, James, during 
the first few months of his reign, steadily strengthened his position ; 
he obtained an ample grant from Parliament, and in xirder to face a 
rebellion which was easily suppressed, he secured a large standing 
army. Had he been content with the religious situation as Charles 
had left it, he might have ruled long and successfully, but his rash 
ambition to reestablish the Church of Rome alienated even the most 
devoted of his supporters, the Tory High Churchmen, drove them 
into the ranks of the opposition, and led to his overthrow. 

Personal Traits of the New King. — James was nearly fifty-two 
years old. 1 Like his brother's, his youth had been one of adventure. 
As a boy of fifteen he had escaped to the Continent. He had served 
in four campaigns under Turenne, the greatest general of the age, and 
later had fought in the Spanish army under Turenne's famous rival 
Conde. Then, and afterwards, as a commander in the Dutch wars, 
he had shown himself to be brave and not without ability. As Lord 
High Admiral he had proved to be an efficient administrator. The 
instructions which he drew up for the government of the navy were 
not superseded until the last century, while the scandals which flour- 
ished in his time cannot be laid at his door. He was industrious, 
fond of details, and, for a man who lived at court in those days, com- 
paratively free from vices of drunkenness and gambling. But here 
his virtues ended. His personal life was little purer than that of 
Charles. He was dull and obstinate. " Charles could see things if 
he would, James would see things if he could." 2 He was ready to 
sacrifice everything for the advancement of his Church, and was a 
stout opponent of concessions, believing that those which his father 
had made had cost him his head. He was devoid of foresight and 
imagination, and, toward the end of the reign, became exceedingly 

1 He was born 14 October, 1633. 

2 Buckingham is the reputed author of this shrewd distinction. 

566 



JAMES II AND THE "GLORIOUS REVOLUTION" 567 

timorous. His reputation for truthfulness was doubtless overrated, 
owing to his harsh obstinacy ; certainly, he began his reign with a lie. 
Much of the cruelty charged to him may have been due to the agents 
whom he trusted ; but a chief duty of rulers should be to choose worthy 
servants and upright counselors. James' failure to do this was a 
main cause of his downfall. It was equally unfortunate that he sus- 
pected and repulsed good men who differed with him. 

The First Measures of the Reign. — Though James, at his acces- 
sion, 6 February, 1685, was received without great joy, 1 there were 
no signs of disorder, and, until the autumn following, he was generally 
supported by the moderates, while the Tories manifested the most 
ardent devotion. To be sure, he celebrated mass at St. James with 
open doors, " that all the world might see " ; yet it was commonly 
believed that he would confine his Catholicism to his own household. 
Indeed, he had declared to the Council : " I will make it my endeavor 
to preserve the Government in Church and State as it is by law es- 
tablished," and a loyal preacher assured the people that: "We 
now have the word of a King and of a King who was never worse 
than his word." To judge by his latter acts, if he did not deliberately 
break his promise, he must have regarded the old pre-Reformation 
Church, not the Elizabethan, as the legal Establishment. He made 
Rochester, his brother-in-law, Lord Treasurer and head of the Admin- 
istration. Halifax, who, although he had defeated the Exclusion Bill, 
was an enemy to despotism and Roman Catholicism, was " kicked 
upstairs " from the office of Lord Privy Seal to the more dignified 
but less important post of Lord President of the Council. The vacant 
place was given to Rochester's brother, the Earl of Clarendon. The 
unscrupulous and insinuating Sunderland retained his position as 
Secretary of State and became a favorite adviser. Many Catholics 
and Quakers 2 were released from prison ; but the penal laws were 
rigidly enforced against the bulk of the Dissenters. Oates, already 
under sentence of perjury, received a flogging from which it is a 
marvel that he survived. In addition, he was sentenced to prison 
for life and to be pilloried five times a year. 3 

Parliament meets and grants James a Fixed Revenue. — Parlia- 
ment met, 19 May, 1685, the Commons, owing to the royal control of 
the corporations, being composed largely of the supporters of the 
King. James, who had been collecting the customs granted to his 
brother for life, 4 was anxious to secure a fixed income. The revenues 

1 It was regarded by many as an evil omen that the crown tottered .; nd nearly 
fell from his head at his coronation on St. George's Day. 

2 They were persona grata with the sovereign because non-resistance was one of 
the chief tenets of their religion. 

3 After the revolution of 1688 he was released and given a small pension. 

4 It has been urged that had he not done so, merchants, during the interval, 
would have brought in quantities of goods, to the detriment of those who had paid 
duty. But that fact does not excuse him from using the money after he had col- 
lected it. 



568 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

of the late King were readily granted to James for life, together with 
certain additional duties, which, added together, gave him about 
£1,900,000 a year, a sum which, considering that he was a thifty 
monarch, abundantly sufficed for his ordinary needs. His other main 
project — to remove the tests excluding Catholics from office — 
met with quite a different reception. Indeed, Parliament, far from 
acceding, insisted that the anti-Catholic laws be enforced. Suddenly 
news came that Monmouth had landed on the south coast. Pausing 
only to pass an act of attainder against him and to set a price on his 
head, the Houses adjourned, 2 July, 1685. 

The Exiles. The Landing of Argyle in Scotland. Failure and 
Execution. — Following the final triumph of Charles, crowds of 
bitter-tempered exiles had fled to the Low Countries. Their hopes 
centered in Monmouth, who, until his father's death, had been con- 
tent to shine as a social leader at the Hague. Next to him in impor- 
tance was Archibald, ninth Earl of Argyle, son of the famous cove- 
nanting Marquis who had been executed after the Restoration. Under 
sentence of death himself, the young Argyle had escaped to Holland. 
He was regarded as a valuable ally, because he was the chief of the 
great clan Campbell. Egged on by the busy plotters, who had little 
in common except hatred of James and a desire to return to their 
native land, Monmouth and Argyle were induced to attempt simul- 
taneous invasions of England and Scotland. Argyle, who started 
in May, 1685, finally reached the land of his own people on the west 
coast ; but, owing to dissensions, desertions, inadequate supplies, and 
lack of enthusiasm for the cause, he failed miserably. His forces 
were scattered, he himself was captured and taken to Edinburgh, 
where, 30 June, 1685, he was beheaded, meeting his fate with lofty 
resignation. 

Monmouth's Rising and its Failure, 1685. — Meantime, n June, 
Monmouth landed at Lyme Regis on the Dorset coast. There at 
the market cross a Declaration was read which charged James with 
all manner of horrid and unlikely crimes — such as burning London, 
strangling Godfrey, and poisoning his late brother — and stated that 
the young Duke had come to deliver the land from " Popery " and 
tyranny, and to submit his claims to a free and lawful Parliament. 1 
The peasants from the country round about pressed eagerly to join 
him ; but the gentry held aloof. At Taunton, Monmouth, contrary 
to his promise, proclaimed himself king. He soon had to reckon 
with a royal army, compo'sed partly of regular troops and partly of 
local militia. They camped, 5 July, at Sedgemoor, in the midst of 
Somerset marshes, three miles from the point where, after much 
marching and countermarching, Monmouth had established his head- 
quarters. In an attempt to surprise the King's army by a night at- 
tack his forces were repulsed and scattered. They fought valiantly ; 

1 This document was the work of one Ferguson, an unprincipled rascal, who 
was at once a plotter and a Government spy. 



JAMES II AND THE "GLORIOUS REVOLUTION" 569 

but raw levies mounted on cart horses, and many of them armed only 
with farm tools and scythes tied on poles, were no match for the 
trained soldiery, who, in addition, were protected by a ditch which 
drained the marsh. The battle of Sedgemoor was the last important 
battle fought on English soil. Monmouth, who fled when he found 
the battle was going against him, was discovered two days later, 
hiding in a ditch, disguised as a shepherd. Although he pled abjectly 
for his life, it proved of no avail. He was beheaded J 15 July, 1685. 
Monmouth's popularity among the peasants of Somerset and Dorset 
amounted to veneration. Refusing to believe that he was dead, they 
cherished for years the hope that he would reappear to lead them. 

" Kirke's Lambs " and Jeffrey's " Bloody Assize," 1685. — The 
vengeance of James was swift and terrible. First, Colonel Percy 
Kirke with his regiment of " Lambs " 2 butchered scores without 
trial, enriching himself, however, by sparing those from whom he 
could extort money. 3 The neighborhood of the insurrection was, if 
a contemporary account can be believed, " crowded with gibbets and 
ghastly carcasses. The trees were laden almost as thick with quar- 
ters as leaves, the houses and steeples were covered as close with heads 
as at other times with crows and ravens." Those held in jail met 
the same fate under form of law. In the infamous " Bloody Assize, " 
held by Jeffreys in the autumn, more than 300 were hanged, drawn, and 
quartered, and 800 more were transported. 4 For generations there 
were spots in the countryside that the natives would not pass after 
nightfall, from the gruesome memories preserved of bodies swinging 
in chains and of heads and quarters fixed on poles. During the trials 
Jeffreys, who afterwards boasted that he had hanged more traitors 
than any of his predecessors since the Conquest, roared, swore, and 
joked at the trembling victims in a way that made his name a terror 
for years to come. All that can be said for him is that he was only 
a degree worse than the typical judge of the century, and that, owing 
to a painful malady, he drank so heavily that he was scarcely ever 
sober. Although not a man of great learning, he was exceptionally 
keen as a trial judge, and, by his usefulness to the Court party, had 
risen to be Chief Justice before the close of the late reign. The 
prisoners transported to the plantations were sold as bondsmen, but 
many were so reduced by the hardships of the voyage that they had 
to be fattened before any master would take them. These sales, the 
confiscations, and the money wrung from those who were spared, fur- 
nished large profits for the judges, informers, and the courtiers who had 

1 His executioner was John Ketch; hence the name "Jack Ketch," still applied 
to the hangman. 

2 So-called from a device on their banner representing the Lamb of God. 

3 Of late the view has been gaining ground that the charges against Kirke may 
have been exaggerated. 

4 The execution of Elizabeth Gaunt, which took place in London, is notable as 
the last case of a woman being executed for a political offense. 



570 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

influence enough to get a share. The maids of honor of the Queen, 
and even the Queen herself, have been accused of receiving a portion 
of the plunder. Some have tried to excuse James from responsibility 
for the acts of his brutal judges ; but to those who appealed for mercy 
he showed himself harder than the marble chimney piece in his audi- 
ence chamber ; and he not only rewarded Jeffreys with the Lord 
Chancellorship on his return from the west, but honored him with 
his fullest confidence throughout the reign. 

The Turning Point in the Reign. Foreign Relations. — In spite of 
the hatred smoldering in the west, the power of James seemed un- 
assailable. He had crushed and overawed those who dared to rise 
against him. The Church and the bulk of his subjects were still 
loyal, he had an adequate regular revenue, and a strong standing 
army. Nevertheless, the autumn of 1685 marked a decisive turn in 
the tide of his affairs. The situation abroad and the execution of 
Monmouth, followed by a long succession of follies, led to his downfall 
within the space of three years. The intrigues of Charles and the 
disclosures of the Popish Plot had, in the popular mind, bound the 
cause of the Stuarts with that of Louis XIV. Louis, as it happened, 
although a Roman Catholic, was not, at this time, a devoted subject 
of the Pope, nor were the Jesuits who advised him. They were 
pursuing a policy known as " Gallicanism," of which the essential 
feature was the freedom of the Church of France from papal control 
in all matters of government. Consequently, the Pope was at one 
with Spain and the Empire in opposing French ascendancy, which, 
of course, was also the aim of the Protestant princes of Europe. Had 
James thrown his lot on their side he might have preserved his throne. 
While he gave Louis no active assistance, he received subsidies from 
him, and was popularly supposed, at home and abroad, to be a partner 
in his designs. By putting Monmouth out of the way he removed a 
great cause of dissension between his opponents, some of whom 
supported the late Duke as the successor to the English throne. 
Now all parties united for William of Orange. So when James began 
to make it clear that he was bent on reintroducing Catholicism into 
England, the ground was prepared for an irresistible combination 
— European and English — against him. Such being the situation, 
it was most unfortunate for the prospects of James that Louis, in 
October, 1685, revoked the Edict of Nantes which, in theory at least, 
had protected his Huguenot subjects for over a century. Many of 
them took refuge in England, and the tales they told revived the terror 
which had somewhat subsided after the discrediting of Oates and his 
gang. What Louis had done in France James might do in England. 

James breaks with his Parliament, November, 1685. — It was at 
this unfortunate juncture that James began to show his hand. 1 He 

1 Probably with a view of allaying suspicion he at first received the refugees 
kindly, but, by his subsequent acts, he soon neutralized whatever effect this may 
have produced. 



JAMES II AND THE "GLORIOUS REVOLUTION" 571 

had three measures which he was determined to put through : to main- 
tain intact the standing army, which had been increased from 6000 
to 20,000 in consequence of Monmouth's rising ; to obtain the repeal 
of the Test Act, for the purpose of retaining a number of Catholics 
who already held office in the army and to make it possible to put 
others in military and civil positions ; and, finally, to repeal the 
Habeas Corpus Act which prevented him from dealing summarily 
with those who were disposed to resist his authority. Parliament, 
which met 9 November, 1685, stoutly opposed these projects. This 
so angered the King that he prorogued the Houses before they had 
passed a money bill to pay for the expenses incurred in suppressing the 
recent insurrection. He also dismissed from office many who had voted 
against his measures. Parliament never met again during the reign. 

James' New Counselors. — The chief power soon fell into the 
hands of Sunderland, according to Princess Anne, " the subtillest, 
workingest villain ... on the face of the earth." While, perhaps, 
not so black as he is usually painted, he was inordinately ambitious, 
never hesitating to change his politics or his religion whenever he 
thought he saw a chance to advance his interests. Though he did not 
profess himself a Roman Catholic till the summer of 1688, he attached 
himself, not long after James broke with Parliament, to a small 
group of extremists whose policy was decidedly French and Jesuit. 
Among them were Father Petre and Richard Talbot ; the latter, com- 
monly known as " lying Dick Talbot," was a crafty intriguer who 
masqueraded as a jovial roisterer. To these men and a few others 
who used to meet every Friday night at Sunderland's house, some of 
the King's most ill-advised measures were due. Their designs were a 
source of grave apprehension to the moderate Roman Catholics, es- 
pecially to the nuncio and the vicar apostolic whom the Pope had 
sent over to restrain the zeal of James, and to counteract the intrigues 
of France. 

The Case of Sir Edward Hales, June, 1686. — James awakened 
concern by one rash act after another. Since Parliament had refused 
to sanction the repeal of the Test Act, he determined to render it void 
by filling offices in spite of its restrictions. However, in order to give 
his procedure a show of legality in the eyes of his subjects, he decided 
to extort from the judges a decision in his favor. Four, together 
with the Solicitor-General, who refused to do his bidding were replaced 
by others more pliant. To bring the case before the courts, the coach- 
man of Sir Edward Hales was employed to begin suit against his 
master for holding a commission in the army contrary to the Test 
Act. Eleven of the twelve judges decided that, notwithstanding the 
provisions of the act, he was entitled by a royal authorization to hold 
office. Thus fortified, James, in July, admitted four Roman Catho- 
lics to the Privy Council. More startling still, he proceeded to invade 
the two strongholds of Anglicanism, the Church and the Universities. 
He issued dispensations enabling Roman Catholics to hold eccle- 



572 



A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 



siastical benefices. Obadiah Walker, a concealed Romanist, was 
allowed to retain the mastership of University College, whereupon he 
appointed Jesuit chaplains and set up a press for printing controversial 
pamphlets. A professed Romanist was made Dean of Christ Church, 
while Samuel Parker, a Roman Catholic at heart, was appointed 
Bishop of Oxford. The archbishopric of York was kept vacant. It 
was thought that James intended it for Father Petre ; but was pre- 
vented by the Pope from granting him the office. 

The Court of Ecclesiastical Commission, July, 1686. — It was 
necessary, if the King was to control the Church, to have a means of 
punishing those who refused to obey him. To that end, he revived 
what was, in substance, the Court of High Commission, 1 which had 
been abolished by the Long Parliament and which had not been 
restored at the Restoration. James called his body the Ecclesiastical 
Commission, and insisted that it differed from the tribunal suppressed 
by Parliament, in that its jurisdiction was confined to the clergy. 
It consisted of seven commissioners chosen from the leading officials 
in Church and State. Sancroft, Archbishop of Canterbury, managed to 
excuse himself from serving, on the plea of ill health and pressure of 
other business ; but he ceased to be summoned to the Privy Council 
in consequence. The first work of the Commission was to deprive 
Henry Compton, Bishop of London, of the administration of his 
see, because he had refused to suspend the Dean of Norwich, who had 
preached against a royal proclamation aimed to silence controversial 
sermons denouncing " Popery." 2 

Popular Excitement and Opposition. — By virtue of a wholesale 
issue of dispensations, Roman Catholic chapels were set up all over 
the country, and a church and school for Jesuits was set up at the Savoy. 
In November, 1686, the new Royal Chapel was opened at Whitehall 
" with all the musiqueof the Italian." Evelyn, the diarist, who describes 
the " Cringes " at the altar and " the world of mysterious ceremony," 
declares, and he was a stanch royalist : " I could not have believed 
I should ever have seen such things in the King of England's palace, 
after it had pleased God to enlighten this nation." Monks and friars 
in their religious garb appeared again in the streets of London, and so 
alarmed and enraged the people that riots were of frequent occurrence. 
When a mob attacked a chapel of the minister of the Elector Palatine 
and set up the crucifix on the parish pump, crying, " No wooden gods," 
the trained bands summoned to quell the disturbance murmured, 
" We cannot in conscience fight for Popery." In order to overawe 
the unquiet, 13,000 men of the standing army were quartered on Houns- 
low Heath ; but the camp became a great resort for Londoners who 
flocked there on Sundays, and the soldiers came to share more and 
more in the sentiments of the citizens. From the pulpits throughout 

1 Curiously enough he did this by virtue of his position as Supreme Governor o{ 
the Church which he was striving to weaken. 

a Compton, however, was allowed to retain his palace and his revenues. 



JAMES II AND THE "GLORIOUS REVOLUTION" 573 

the land, sermons were preached against " Popery," while floods of 
pamphlets defending the Protestant faith issued from the press. 
" The discontent," wrote Barillon, the French ambassador, " is 
great and general : but the fear of incurring still worse evils restrains 
all who have anything to lose." In spite of the growing opposition 
and of the reproaches even of the Pope and the moderate Roman 
Catholics, the King went on stubbornly and the situation grew more 
and more tense. 1 

The Situation in Scotland under Charles II. — In Scotland, too, 
there was grave discontent. The Restoration had been welcomed 
because of Cromwell's military rule and because of aversion to the 
domination of Presbyterians. But the result had been disappoint- 
ment. The Scots had changed governors ; but arbitrary government 
continued in a form more cruel and oppressive than ever before, and 
became corrupt as well. The Presbyterians were kept down rigidly, 
and the Episcopalians were mere creatures of the Government. Trade 
and commerce, too, suffered because of the Dutch wars and the abo- 
lition of the free trade existing under the Commonwealth and the 
Protectorate. Furthermore, the nobles were disappointed; for they 
gained nothing as a class ; it was only the select few who were favored. 
Practically all power was vested in the Privy Council and the bishops, 
who were pledged to carry out the royal will. Parliament merely 
registered their acts. By an act passed in 1663, popularly known as 
the " Bishops' Drag-net," heavy fines were imposed on all who did 
not attend the parish church. Those who remained obdurate, and 
they were mainly centered in the southwestern counties, suffered 
cruelly at the hands of the King's dragoons, who were quartered in 
their houses and who ruthlessly searched out and broke up their " field 
conventicles," as the meetings were called, which they held in lonely 
and remote places to evade the arm of the law. An attempt which 
some of the more desperate made in 1666 to march on Edinburgh was 
frustrated ; they were driven into the Pentland Hills, and the rising 
only resulted in harsher measures of repression. After a bloody car- 
nival of execution and torture for which the Primate of Scotland, 
Archbishop Sharp, rather than King Charles, must bear the blame, 
Lauderdale did try milder measures ; but when, in consequence, 
conventicles began to multiply again, he reverted to a policy of system- 
atic coercion. A most ruthless step was taken in 1678, when the so- 
called " Highland Host," a body of 6000 Highlanders and 3000 Low- 
land militia, was quartered in the southwest in a vain attempt to crush 
out disaffection. 

The Rising of the Covenanters, 1679. — A crisis came in the year 
1679 with the murder of Sharp, whom the Presbyterians detested as 

1 On one occasion the King gave the Duke of Norfolk the sword of State to carry 
before him to his chapel. When he stopped at the door, James said : "Your father 
would have gone farther." Whereupon Norfolk replied, "Your Majesty's father 
would not have gone so far." 



574 



A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 



a treacherous deserter from their cause, and as a bloodthirsty perse- 
cutor. Then followed another revolt in which the royalist commander, 
John Graham, of Claverhouse, was routed at Drumclog, i June. The 
insurgents failed to take Glasgow, and, 22 June, were defeated at 
Bothwell Bridge by the Duke of Monmouth, who had been sent from 
London to take the command against them. Although Monmouth 
was for a mild treatment of the vanquished, the Government showed 
the same revengeful spirit that it had manifested after the Pentland 
Rising. A notable consequence of the rebellion of 1679, was the 
removal of Lauderdale from the control of Scotch affairs. In Decem- 
ber, 1679, the Duke of York was sent to Scotland to govern the coun- 
try. 1 During the period of his regime he began a policy which he 
continued as King and which alienated the great mass of Scotsmen from 
his cause. At first, however, he had to devote his main energies to 
suppressing the Cameronians, a body of irreconcilable and fanatical 
Presbyterians who, in 1680, broke away from the mass of their brethren 
because some of them had taken advantage of a religious indulgence, 
or compromise, which Monmouth had obtained for them after his 
return to England. As the agent of James in the warfare against the 
Cameronians, Graham earned the name of " Bloody Clavers." 2 

Scotland in the Reign of James II. — The accession of James was 
marked by even greater severity against the Covenanters than had been 
employed under Charles II, and was known as " the black year " 
and " the killing time." Not content with renewing the law which 
made the taking of the Covenant treason, the first parliament of the 
reign slavishly passed an act providing that all persons, preachers or 
hearers, proved to have been present at a conventicle, were to be pun- 
ished with death and confiscation. At the time of Argyle's ill-starred 
invasion the majority stood by the Crown ; but when various members 
of the Privy Council declared themselves Roman Catholics, when 
religious tests were disregarded and preachers were forbidden to 
speak against " Popery," the popular discontent rose to a high pitch, 
and manifested itself in riots so serious that the troops had to be called 
out. When the Estates met again, 29 April, 1686, James sent a royal 
letter recommending the repeal of the penal laws against his " innocent 
subjects, those of the Roman Catholic religion." When they returned 
a hesitant answer, he closed the session. Then he proceeded to carry 
out his policy by means of the Privy Council ; he did away with the 
tests, he allowed Roman Catholics to worship in public, and removed 
from office those who opposed his will. This roused such a storm that 
he forthwith issued letters of indulgence allowing to Presbyterians 
the same privileges which he had accorded to Roman Catholics. In- 
stead, however, of increasing the number of his supporters and allay- 

1 He was soon recalled, but, in July, 1681, appeared again for a brief sojourn, as 
Royal Commissioner. 

2 Modern authorities are inclined to think that he does not deserve all the op- 
probrium that has been heaped upon him. 



JAMES II AND THE "GLORIOUS REVOLUTION" 575 

ing dissatisfaction, as he had hoped, the measure was fatal for James' 
power in Scotland: for it led to the return of many Presbyterian 
preachers of the extremer sort who organized an opposition which 
lost him the throne of Scotland. 

James' Irish Policy. — In Ireland, where there was a Roman 
Catholic majority, the aims of the King were more far-reaching. He 
designed to make the old faith dominant and to employ the Irish as 
an instrument in his efforts to bring about the conversion of the two 
neighboring kingdoms. And he had good ground on which to work. 
To be sure, in spite of the restrictions on the wool trade and the Cattle 
Act of 1667, the country had prospered since the Restoration; for 
the restrictions had not been enforced, while the linen industry had 
flourished. But the trade shackles were galling; the Episcopal 
Church had power and revenues in inverse proportion to its size ; 
and the bulk of the land, as well as the political power, lay in the hands 
of the English and Scotch colonists. The native Irish yearned to 
recover the possessions of which they had been deprived, and the 
Catholic extremists were eager for ascendancy. The " real director 
of Irish affairs " was Richard Talbot, created Earl of Tyrconnel and 
Commander-in-Chief, who, in 1687, replaced Clarendon as Lord 
Lieutenant. 

James' Efforts to win over the Dissenters. The " Closetings," 
1686-1687. — Clarendon's fall was preceded by that of his brother 
Rochester, who, for some time, had been a mere figurehead in the 
Council. The pretext for getting rid of him was his refusal to adopt 
Roman Catholicism. The office of Lord Treasurer was intrusted to 
a commission. Once James began to put out of office his own relatives, 
stanch supporters of the monarchy — experienced, and formerly 
trusted counselors — simply because they scrupled to abet him in 
his Catholicizing policy, it was clear that he would stop at nothing 
to gain his ends. Some conversions followed, but the adherents were 
few, and, on the whole, men of little reputation. 1 Finding that he 
could hope to do little with the men of the Church of England, James 
turned to the Dissenters, to whom he offered the benefits which he 
was striving to secure for Roman Catholics. In the winter of 1686- 
1687, he laid his plans to assemble another session of Parliament which 
was to be controlled by men bound to support his policy of repealing 
the tests and the penal laws. To this end, he called various persons 
into his presence whom he tried to win over by promises, threats, and 
bribes. But these " closetings " served only to show him how few 
there were upon whom he could depend. The judges who were com- 
missioned on the circuits to secure supporters, were equally unsuc- 
cessful. 

The First Declaration of Indulgence, 4 April, 1687. — Despairing 
of achieving his purpose in a parliamentary way, James determined 

1 A notable exception was John Dryden, "the greatest living master of the Eng- 
lish language." 



576 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

to proceed on his own authority. So, 4 April, 1687, he published a 
Declaration of Indulgence granting to all his subjects the free exercise 
of their religion, suspending the execution qf all penal laws in matters 
ecclesiastical, and removing all oaths and tests for the holding of mili- 
tary and civil offices. This went far beyond Charles' Declaration of 
1672, which had only ventured to suspend the penal laws and to allow 
the Roman Catholics liberty of private worship. The High Church 
Tories, struck with amazement and terror, thereupon began to make 
overtures to their old enemies, the Dissenters. All they could offer, 
however, was remote and uncertain, while the relief tendered by James 
was immediate. On the other hand, his proffered relief was not only 
unsanctioned by Parliament but coupled with concessions to the 
Roman Catholics. The result was a split in the Nonconformist 
ranks. A minority accepted gratefully. 1 The majority, including 
such men as Baxter and Bunyan, stoutly refused. An attempt was 
made to secure the approval of William of Orange ; but while he 
welcomed the repeal of the penal laws, he objected flatly to the 
removal of the tests : " You ask me to countenance an attack on my 
own religion," he declared; " I cannot with a safe conscience do it, 
and I will not, no, not for the crown of England, nor for the Empire 
of the world." 

Dykevelt's Mission to England, 1687. — It was about this time 
that many began seriously to look to William as their champion 
against James and Roman Catholicism. Hitherto, he had held aloof 
from English politics, but now, while not yet ready to strike, he 
undertook to prepare the way for a possible intervention by sending 
an envoy, Dykevelt, under the cover of a special mission, to the Eng- 
lish Government, to sound the opposition leaders. William was thirty- 
six years old. Small in stature, of a frail and sickly constitution, cold, 
and rough in manner, except to a few chosen intimates, nevertheless 
his piercing eye, his prominent eagle-like nose, and his thin, compressed 
lips marked him as an extraordinary man, fitted for his high destiny. 
Excluded as a mere child from the inheritance of his father, his country 
had chosen him, during the fateful year 1672, to be Commander- 
in-Chief and Stadholder. As a statesman and diplomatist he showed 
a fortitude and a perseverance rarely equaled in history. As a general 
he lost more battles than he won; but he gained results which few 
other men would have drawn from victories. His sole aim was to 
check the growth of France in order to preserve the liberties of the 
Dutch. His main reason for desiring the crown of England was that 
he might secure the resources of that country to aid him in his great 
work. Dykevelt, during his brief stay, strove busily to ingratiate 
himself with all classes. He assured High Churchmen of his master's 
friendship for Episcopacy and the Book of Common Prayer ; he held 
out to Nonconformists the prospect of toleration and comprehension ; 

1 The King's chief agent in attaching them to his cause was William Penn, a 
sincere, if somewhat ill-advised advocate of toleration. 



JAMES II AND THE "GLORIOUS REVOLUTION" 577 

and to Roman Catholics the repeal of the penal laws. He entered 
into conference with the great leaders of both parties, and, on his 
return to Holland, took with him letters from a number of the most 
prominent public personages. 

About the same time, William's Grand Pensionary, Fagel, published 
an adroit letter which greatly strengthened him with his allies on the 
Continent, Catholic and Protestant alike. The former were impressed 
by his willingness to repeal the penal laws, the latter by his determina- 
tion to stand by the tests. James, on the other hand, was continually 
making enemies for himself, abroad as well as at home. He quarreled 
with the Dutch over the recall of English regiments in the Dutch 
service, and over the publication in Holland of English books and 
pamphlets attacking his policy. He had the papal nuncio publicly 
consecrated as Archbishop x in St. James', and deprived the Duke of 
Somerset of all his offices for refusing to follow in his train. Somerset 
had been advised that he could not do so without breaking the law. 
"I will make you fear me as well as the law," declared James. " Do 
you not know that I am above the law? " " Your Majesty may be 
above the law, but I am not," replied the Duke, " and while I obey 
the law I fear nothing." 

The Royal Attack on the Universities. — James took one of the 
rashest steps in his headlong course when he ventured to attack the 
Universities who were traditionally as hostile to Roman Catholicism 
as they were devoted to monarchy. He began at Cambridge when 
the Vice-Chancellor and the Senate protested against a royal order to 
confer the degree of master of arts upon a Benedictine monk. The 
Vice-Chancellor was deprived of his office by the Ecclesiastical Com- 
mission, and the deputies who accompanied him, among them Isaac 
Newton, were dismissed by Jeffreys with the injunction : " Go your 
way and sin no more, lest a worse thing happen to you." But the 
bitterest struggle was waged at Oxford when James insisted upon 
putting in a candidate of his own as President of Magdalen College. 
When the Fellows, to whom the right of election belonged, refused to 
admit the legality of the proceeding, they were ejected, September, 
1687, and declared incapable of holding any ecclesiastical benefice, 
while Magdalen was for a brief period turned into a Roman Catholic 
seminary. Oxford was thrown into a state of defiant excitement, and 
subscriptions were raised all over the country for the victims of the 
royal wrath. 

James' Attempt to pack a Parliament, 1687-1688. — Realizing 
that the existing Parliament was unalterably opposed to his policy, 
James had finally dissolved it in July, 1687. 2 Nevertheless, since he 
desired to secure parliamentary sanction of his abrogation of the tests 
and the penal laws, he made preparations to pack a body pledged to 
do his will. His first step was to appoint a board of regulators who, 

1 v. below, p. 953. 2 It had never met since the autumn session of 1685. 

2 p 



578 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

with the aid of local subcommittees, should remodel or regulate the 
municipal corporations which Charles II had filled with High Church 
Tories. Also, the lords lieutenants were directed to summon the deputy 
lieutenants and justices of their respective counties in order to question 
them as to how they would act in the event of a general election, and 
to furnish lists of Catholic and' Protestant Dissenters who might re- 
place those who proved to be unpliant. Nearly half of the lords 
lieutenants, including the representatives of the most ancient peerages, 
refusing to carry out the royal orders, 1 were dismissed. Their places 
were filled by Roman Catholics or supple courtiers. The result of 
the inquiry proved most discouraging to the King; for the great 
majority would give no further assurance than that, if elected, they 
would act according to their conscientious convictions, and that they 
would vote only for candidates whose views agreed with their own. 
When the list of sheriffs for the year was published, it was found to be 
filled with royalist supporters, though the Roman Catholic country 
gentry, who had little sympathy with James' Roman Catholic court- 
iers, refused to serve. Moreover, many of the new town councilors 
proved untractable, and some municipalities were regulated three 
times in a single month ; in a few instances the charters recently 
granted were taken away altogether, and the right of voting was 
vested in a small group bound by oath to support the King. In places 
where he could prevail in no other way, the King even quartered troops. 
Promises of support, with the alternative of dismissal, were also exacted 
from officials in all the public departments. One poor customs house 
officer declared that he obeyed for fourteen reasons, a wife and thirteen 
young children. 

The Second Declaration of Indulgence and the Protest of the Seven 
Bishops, April-May, 1688. — On 27 April, 1688, James issued a second 
Declaration in which he repeated the provisions of that of the pre- 
vious year. Also he stated that he had dismissed those who had refused 
to assist him in making them into law, that he would proceed in the 
same way with others who declined to obey him, and that he purposed 
to call a parliament in November. This was followed by an Order 
in Council, published 7 May, ordering the clergy to read the Declara- 
tion on two successive Sundays, and directing the bishops to distribute 
copies throughout their diocese. By way of reply, Archbishop San- 
croft, whose hands were greatly strengthened by the support of a 
large body of the Nonconformists, called a meeting at Lambeth Palace 
on the evening of 18 May, where he drew up a petition, in which it 
was declared, with great professions of loyalty, that the Declaration 
was illegal and that the petitioners could not be parties to its public 
reading during divine service. It was signed by the Archbishop and 
six of the assembled bishops, after which the six bishops crossed the 

^The reply of the Earl of Oxford was typical: "I will stand by your Majesty 
against all enemies," said he, "but this is a matter of conscience and I cannot 
comply." 



JAMES II AND THE "GLORIOUS REVOLUTION" 579 

Thames and delivered it to the King at Whitehall. James was fu- 
rious. " This is a standard of rebellion," he cried, and, as was his cus- 
tom when deeply moved, he repeated the same phrase over and 
over again, while the bishops protested that they were no rebels. 
That night the petition was printed, and circulated rapidly through- 
out the city and country. How it happened no one knows; for the 
audience with the King was private. The excitement grew in inten- 
sity all through Saturday, and, when Sunday came, the Declaration 
was read in only four of the hundred churches in and about London. 1 
By the following Sunday a few more clergymen had been whipped 
into line ; but in most cases the congregation got up and left to avoid 
hearing the hated Declaration. 

The Birth of the Prince, 10 June, 1688. — Although Sunderland 
recommended moderation, the King, on the advice of Jeffreys, ordered 
the bishops to be tried for libel. On 8 June, 1688, they were examined 
before the Privy Council and, refusing to give surety to appear in 
Court, they were committed to the Tower. As they passed down the 
Thames, crowds in boats thronged the river, and others ran along the 
banks, crying.: " God bless your Lordships." Even the soldiers who 
led the prisoners into the Tower asked their blessing, while those off 
duty drank their healths. A deputation of Nonconformists came to 
visit them to assure them of their support. On Sunday, 10 June, 
while they were still awaiting their trial, a son was born to King 
James. This contributed more than any other single event to precip- 
itate the crisis soon to follow ; for, hitherto, many had consoled them- 
selves with the thought that, since James was nearing sixty, he must 
within a few years make way for his.daughter Mary, who was a Protes- 
tant. Now the prospect of an endless Roman Catholic succession 
suddenly loomed up. A story was at once started that no child had 
been born to the Queen, that the little Prince, now proclaimed as such, 
had been secretly introduced into the Queen's chamber and passed off 
as the royal heir. While the tale was generally believed and while 
none but Roman Catholics and professed courtiers were present at 
the birth, there is little doubt that the charge of trickery was absolutely 
baseless. However that may be, the popular leaders now made up their 
minds, when a fitting moment came, to send for William of Orange. 

The Trial of the Seven Bishops, June, 1688. — When the day fixed 
for the trial of the Seven Bishops arrived, the excitement had spread 
everywhere from Scotland to Cornwall. 2 They were charged with 

1 Samuel Wesley, father of the celebrated founder of Methodism, took for his 
text : "Be it known unto thee, O King, that we will not serve thy gods; nor wor- 
ship the golden image which thou hast set up." 

2 Trelawney, Bishop of Bristol, one of the Seven, came from a well-known Corn- 
ish family, and inspired a ballad which has been famous ever since : 

"And shall Trelawney die, and shall Trelawney die? 
Then thirty thousand Cornish boys will know the reason why." 
Deep below the earth it is said the grimy Cornish mines roared : 
"Then twenty thousand under ground will know the reason why." 



580 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

" having written or published in the County of Middlesex, a false, 
malicious, and seditious libel." Their counsel at first rested their 
defense on the technical ground that the petition had not been pub- 
lished in Middlesex. Fortunately for the cause of liberty, they were 
frustrated in this by the unexpected testimony of Sunderland. There- 
upon, led by John Somers, a rising young lawyer who became the 
most eminent statesman and jurist of the succeeding reign, they shifted 
their line of argument, and proceeded to prove that the paper in ques- 
tion was not false, malicious, or a libel, but a respectful petition set- 
ting forth facts known to be true and delivered privately into the hands 
of the King with no intention of stirring up strife. The jury remained 
closeted from nightfall until six o'clock the next morning. Arnold, 
a brewer to the palace, was the last to hold out. 1 He was only brought 
over finally by the determination of Thomas Austin, a wealthy 
landed gentleman: " Look at me," he said, "I am the largest and 
strongest of the twelve, and before I find such a petition a libel I 
will stay here till I am no larger than a tobacco pipe." As the jury 
left the court after their verdict of acquittal had been announced, 
the people surged around them, crying: " God bless you! " " You 
have saved us all to-day." The city and the country, as the news 
spread, rang with shouts of joy. Even the soldiers in Hounslow 
Heath cheered lustily. James, when he heard the sounds, asked the 
meaning of it all. " Nothing," he was told, " the soldiers are glad 
the bishops are acquitted." " Do you call that nothing? " he an- 
swered, " So much the worse for them." The Opposition had won a 
great victory on the broad constitutional grounds that James' exer- 
cise of the dispensing power was illegal and that his subjects had the 
right of petition against it. 

The Invitation to William, 30 June, 1688. — All distinctions of 
politics and religions were, for the time being, merged in a general 
combination against the King. The prosecution of the bishops and 
the birth of the Prince, following upon the Declaration of Indulgence, 
altered profoundly the attitude of the High Church Tories toward the 
lawfulness of resistance. During their supremacy they had argued 
that the laws of God as well as the laws of man demanded unquestion- 
ing obedience to the civil authority. Now that they had had a taste 
of persecution many were ready to contend : " that extreme oppres- 
sion might justify resistance . . . and the oppression which the nation 
suffered was extreme." Others, who shuddered at the notion of active 
resistance, were ready to go as far as passive resistance, asserting that, 
in view of his late acts, they were not bound to obey the King. Such 
was the state of the public mind when, 30 June, 1688, the day of the 
acquittal of the Seven Bishops, Admiral Herbert, disguised as a 
common sailor, crossed the Channel bearing a letter inviting William 

1 He was in a sad dilemma. "Whatever I do," he complained, "I am sure to 
be half ruined. If I say ' Not guilty,' I shall brew no more for the King, and if I 
say 'Guilty,' I shall brew no more for anybody else." 



JAMES II AND THE "GLORIOUS REVOLUTION" 581 

of Orange to come to England. It was signed by seven of the great 
leaders of the two parties, 1 the Whigs and Tories, and was the result 
of negotiations with William, and canvassing at home, which Edward 
Russell and others had been conducting for weeks. The letter assured 
William that nineteen twentieths of the people of England would 
rally to his support, and that the army of James was full of disaffection. 

William, however, realized that the undertaking bristled with diffi- 
culties. If he landed without an army, he was very likely to meet 
the fate of Monmouth. On the other hand, English patriotism might 
resent an invasion of foreign troops. Furthermore, there was great 
difficulty in raising an adequate force in his own land ; it required not 
only the consent of every province but of every municipality, and 
many of the latter, headed by Amsterdam, were bitterly opposed to 
him. Finally, if he crossed the Channel as the champion of Protes- 
tantism, there was a chance that his Catholic allies might turn against 
him. It was only William's courage and resource, aided by favoring 
circumstances and the stupidity of his enemies, that overcame all 
these obstacles. To the princes of northern Germany he emphasized 
his Protestantism ; to Austria and Spain, the dangers of French as- 
cendancy and the harm which James was doing to Catholicism by his 
rashness. All the while, he was quietly preparing his army and his 
fleet. At the same time, Louis managed to force the pious and thrifty 
burghers over to William's side by an ill-judged persecution of Dutch 
Protestants, and by a decree excluding Dutch herring from his realm. 
Also, by untimely displays of arrogance, he embroiled himself still 
further with the Pope. James, on his part, who was beginning to dis- 
trust the loyalty of his army, committed a blunder more serious than 
any in his long career of folly by ordering over recruits from Ireland. 
His English subjects, who regarded the Irish as barbarians and recalled 
the horrible tales of 1641, were thrown into such a panic that they 
were ready to receive even an invading army with open arms. Lilli- 
bullero, a popular song satirizing Tyrconnel and the Irish, was taken 
up everywhere, and the author, Thomas Wharton, later boasted that 
he had sung a king out of three kingdoms. 

William's Declaration and James' Belated Concessions. — William 
prevented Louis from rendering James any effectual aid by sending a 
force under Count Schomberg 2 to occupy the southeastern frontier. 
With the French army thus employed, he was free to devote his atten- 
tion to England. In order to prepare the way for his coming, he 
caused a Declaration to be published in which he rehearsed James' 
violation of the fundamental laws, his favor to Roman Catholics, and 
his oppression of Protestants. Disclaiming any thought of conquest, 

1 The Earls of Devonshire, Shrewsbury and Danby, Lord Lumley, Bishop Comp- 
ton, Edward Russell, and Henry Sidney. 

2 Schomberg, who had the reputation of being " the greatest living master of the 
art of war," although a German and a Protestant, had been a marshal in the French 
army until the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. 



582 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

he declared that he was going to submit the issues at stake to a full and 
free parliament. James, awaking at last to the gravity of the crisis, 
made a belated effort to conciliate the Tories who had once been so 
devoted to him. In the last weeks of September, 1688, he reversed 
one after another of his late unpopular acts. First, he promised to 
protect the Church of England, to maintain the Act of Uniformity, 
and that he would not insist upon the admission of Roman Catholics 
to the House of Commons. Next, he declared that he would replace 
all the lords lieutenants and magistrates whom he had dismissed. He 
reversed the suspension of Compton, abolished the Ecclesiastical Com- 
mission, restored the forfeited charters and agreed to undo what he 
had done at Magdalen. It was felt, however, that these belated con- 
cessions were only drawn from him by the impending danger, while, 
even yet, he refused to give up his dispensing power or to remove 
his Catholic supporters from military and civil office. 1 

William's Landing at Torbay, 5 November, 1688. — William, after 
delays and difficulties caused by contrary west winds and storm, at 
length succeeded in landing, 5 November, at Torbay, on the coast of 
Devonshire. The " Popish " weather which caused his supporters to 
chafe and curse, had been succeeded by a Protestant east wind which 
held the fleet of James for some time in the mouth of the Thames, 
while it blew William swiftly along the Channel to his destination. 
From Torbay he marched to Exeter, which he selected for his first 
headquarters. Although the magistrates tried to close the gates 
against him, crowds flocked to welcome him as a deliverer. His army 
of Dutch, Swedish, and Swiss veterans struck the simple west country 
folk with awe ; but the restraint in which they were held won their 
confidence. At first, so few men of rank came in that William talked 
of returning to Holland. But, as a means of deceiving James, he had 
originally directed his course toward the Yorkshire coast, and his 
landing in the south had been unexpected. When the mistake was dis- 
covered he had no cause of complaint. 

James joins his Army at Salisbury, but returns hastily to London. — 
London was in a ferment of excitement. James hastened to Salisbury, 
whither he had sent his army to face the invaders. Just as he was 
about to start, however, he was waited on by a deputation of peers, 
spiritual and temporal, who petitioned him to call a parliament to 
treat with William. The proposal threw him into a rage, and he de- 
clared that he would call no parliament while the Prince remained in 
the country. When he reached Salisbury, he found the situation most 
alarming ; for, encouraged by the defection of men in higher station, 
the western counties had risen, and the gentry who had joined William 
at Exeter had bound themselves together in a formal organization, to 
secure their liberties and religion. The north, too, was up in arms. 
William, however, was anxious to avoid fighting, for fear of arousing 

1 Yet very wisely he did get rid of Sunderland, who, in spite of his brazen as- 
surances, was suspected of treasonable correspondence with the invaders. 



JAMES II AND THE "GLORIOUS REVOLUTION" 583 

English national sentiment. James, on his part, was keen for bring- 
ing on an engagement at once ; but he was suddenly taken with a 
hemorrhage of the nose which kept him inactive for three days. 
When he recovered, he was so disheartened by rumors of treason 
among his officers that he decided to retreat. The flight of John 
Churchill, his most efficient general, was a crushing blow. Churchill 
was an ambitious climber ; but, if his own word can be relied upon, 
he was guided, in the present instance, solely by his attachment to 
Protestantism. His wife, though thoroughly devoted to him, was a 
selfish intriguer who had the Princess Anne under absolute control. 
Anne's husband, Prince George, fled also. " What ! Est-il possible, 1 
gone, too? After all a good trooper would have been a greater 
loss " was James' comment when the news was brought to him ; but, 
though personally George was a nonentity, his position lent great sig- 
nificance to his act. Retreat and constant desertions demoralized the 
army. Fearing for his capital, James hastened back to London, where 
he found that Anne herself had fled from Whitehall by night, escorted 
by a guard led by Bishop Compton arrayed in a buff coat and jack 
boots and armed with a sword. " God help me, " cried the unhappy 
King; " my own children have forsaken me." 

The Flight of James, 11 December, 1688. — In his extremity, 
James called a council of the peers, and, acting on their advice, issued 
writs for a parliament to meet 13 January, 1689. Also, he appointed 
a commission, consisting of Halifax, Nottingham, and Godolphin to 
treat with William in the meanwhile, and issued a proclamation grant- 
ing full pardon to all who were in arms against him. This was merely 
to gain time. Already, he had made up his mind to escape ; for the 
eastern counties had now risen, and there were scarcely any left about 
him upon whom he could depend. While the commissioners were 
arranging terms with William, James hastily made preparations for 
flight. His first care was to send the Queen and the little Prince safely 
out of the country ; after this, he annulled the writs for the promised 
parliament, destroying those which had not yet been sent out. On the 
morning of n December, 1688, he rose at three o'clock, and was rowed 
a short distance down the Thames in a wherry, dropping the Great 
Seal in the river as he proceeded. At Sheerness he boarded a hoy, 
which he had engaged to transport him to France. 

His Capture and Second Flight. — The news of his flight aroused 
a storm of excitement. The Lords held a meeting under the presi- 
dency of Archbishop Sancroft, sent an urgent message to William to 
hasten his march to London, and arranged to assume the provisional 
government pending his arrival. That night lawlessness broke loose. 
Roman Catholic chapels were sacked and burned, private houses were 
attacked, and even the residences of foreign ambassadors were not 
spared. Jeffreys, who had sought to escape, was discovered in an ale- 

1 This was his stock expression when he heard an important piece of news, and 
the name became fixed to him. 



584 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

house in Wapping. Though disguised as a collier he was recognized 
by a scrivener who had never forgotten his terrible eyes. Protected 
by a strong guard from the howling mob, he was taken to the Tower, 
where he died a few months later, petitioning in vain for a pardon and 
acknowledging that his crimes were " as numerous as his enemies." 
Suddenly, in the midst of the confusion, the rumor spread that James 
had been caught and was being brought back to London. The captain 
of the hoy, in attempting to procure more ballast, lost a tide. Before 
he could get under way, his craft was boarded by a band of fishermen 
in search of plunder and escaping Jesuits. The King was taken ashore, 
where he was recognized and held as a prisoner. The news embarrassed 
both parties equally. The Tories had hoped to justify their acceptance 
of William from the fact that James had deserted the throne, while 
the Whigs, though they repudiated him without scruple, realized that 
his return would greatly complicate the situation. 

William, who received the tidings at Windsor, was grievously dis- 
appointed ; but he quickly made up his mind that, without making it 
too evident, a second chance to escape must be pressed upon James. 
So he was removed from Whitehall, whither he had been taken, to 
Rochester. There the house in which he lodged was left unguarded in 
the rear so that he was able to slip out through the garden to the 
banks of the Medway. Thence he was rowed down the river in a 
skiff until he found a fishing smack which conveyed him to France. 
Louis XIV received both James and his Queen with great ceremony 
and hospitality, lodged them at St. Germain, and provided them with 
an ample revenue. It is even said that he registered a vow that he 
would not sheath his sword until the exiled King had been restored. 

William's Arrival in London, 18 December, 1688, — William, on his 
arrival in London, was waited on by numerous deputations. 1 Though 
some extremists pressed him to declare himself King, forthwith, William 
remained true to the promise in his Declaration to settle the govern- 
ment in a parliamentary way. As a preliminary step he summoned the 
Lords spiritual and temporal, the members of the Commons who had 
sat in the House of Commons in the reign of Charles II, 2 and a deputa- 
tion of the London magistrates. This body advised William to assume 
the provisional government and to call a convention to effect a perma- 
nent arrangement. 

The Six Plans for Regulating the Succession. — At least six plans 
were offered for settling the future form of government. A few 
reactionaries wanted to restore James without conditions, while a few 
radicals proposed to set up a commonwealth under William as presi- 

1 Among those who came was Sergeant Maynard, ninety years old. "You 
must have survived all the lawyers of your standing," said the Prince. "Yes, 
sir," was the reply, "and but for your Highness, I should have survived the laws 
too. " 

2 The members from the first and only parliament of James were excluded be- 
cause the remodeling of the corporations had interfered with the free choice of the 
electors. 



JAMES II AND THE " GLORIOUS REVOLUTION" 585 

dent. 1 Three of the more moderate plans emanated from the Tory 
ranks. One suggested the restoration of James with conditions. It 
was difficult, however, to frame limitations more binding than those 
to be found in the Coronation Oath and the laws which he had already 
broken ; indeed, it was evident from the manifestoes which he had 
sent forth since his exile that he was fixed in the policy which he had 
pursued as King. The second 'of these plans, put forth by Sancroft, 
contemplated vesting the administration in a regent chosen by the 
Estates of the Realm, on the assumption-that James was as incapable 
of governing as if he were a child or one bereft of reason. But, since 
neither of these assumptions was true, there was no more legal warrant 
for a regency than for a deposition. Moreover, if the heirs of James 
continued in the Roman Catholic faith, this two-headed government 
might last till the end of time, with constant danger of uprisings to 
restore the nominal monarch to actual power. The third plan was 
Danby's. It assumed that James had abdicated, that the birth of the 
Prince was so shrouded in mystery as to invalidate his claim, and that 
the throne fell to Mary as the next legal heir. As such, she might 
make William her first minister, or even, with the consent of Parlia- 
ment, raise him to the position of royal consort. Though this scheme 
also rested upon false assumptions, the chief obstacle in the way was 
that William refused to come to power solely by right of his wife. The 
plan finally adopted was that of the Whigs. Its chief advocate was 
Halifax, who, trimmer as he was, assumed the leadership of the opposi- 
tion when he found that James, after putting him on the commission 
to treat with the Prince, had left him in the lurch. 2 He argued that 
the Government was a contract between the King and his subjects, 
and that a sovereign who broke this contract by abuse of his power 
could be deposed. Furthermore, even if the Prince were the true heir, 
he would, in all likelihood, be unfit to govern, while, in any event, it 
would be advisable to break the line of succession in order to destroy 
the exaggerated king worship which had prevailed since the Restoration. 
The Convention and the Settlement of the Succession. — The 
Convention, which met 22 January, 1689, framed, after some discus- 
sion, a resolution declaring : " that King James, having endeavored 
to subvert the Constitution of the Kingdom by breaking the original 
contract between King and People, and, by the advice of Jesuits and 
other wicked persons, having violated the fundamental laws, and hav- 
ing withdrawn himself out of the Kingdom, had abdicated the Govern- 
ment and that the Throne had thereby become vacant." The King 
had violated the laws, and he had been misled by bad advisers, but it 
was his flight rather than his arbitrary policy which had brought 
about the vacancy. However, this clumsy and illogical resolution was 

1 The advocates of these two extreme views did not, it is estimated, comprise 
more than a twentieth of the population. 

2 There seems to be no truth in the story that he wrote a letter to James, urging 
him to flee. 



586 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

adroitly designed to suit all parties : the reference to the original con- 
tract was framed for the Whigs, the reflection on the Jesuits for the ex- 
treme Protestants, and the assertion regarding the abdication, for those 
Tories who held that subjects had no right to depose their sovereign. 
In the Lords it was debated long and hotly, the other plans were dis- 
cussed, and a conference was even held between the Houses. The 
matter was only finally settled by the firmness of William. Conse- 
quently, the resolution was adopted, and it was decided that William 
and Mary should be joint sovereigns with the administration in the 
hands of William. 

The Declaration of Rights. — It was necessary, next, to determine 
the conditions upon which the crown should be conferred. The result 
was the Declaration of Rights, which, like its two great predecessors, 1 
deals not with vague general principles, but with tangible facts, 
with actual grievances of the last two reigns, which were to be safe- 
guarded against for the future. After enumerating the recent attacks 
made by James on the Protestant religion and the laws and liberties 
of the kingdom, it declared : that the pretended power of suspending 
laws and of dispensing, as it has been exercised of late, the court of 
Ecclesiastical Commission and other courts of a like nature, and levy- 
ing money without consent of Parliament were all illegal ; that it was 
the right of subjects to petition the King, and that all prosecutions for 
such petitioning were illegal ; that maintaining a standing army, 
except by consent of Parliament, was illegal ; that election of members 
to Parliament ought to be free ; that freedom of speech, debate, or 
proceedings in Parliament ought not to be impeached in any court 
or place outside the two Houses ; that excessive bail ought not to be 
required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punish- 
ments inflicted ; that jurors in cases of high treason ought to be free- 
holders ; and that, for amending and preserving the laws, parliaments 
should be held frequently. 2 The Declaration concluded by settling 
the crown upon William and Mary, and upon the heirs of Mary, Anne, 
and William, respectively. 

William and Mary proclaimed, 13 February, 1689. — Mary arrived 
from Holland 12 February, 1689. She was so " laughing and jolly," 
she took such childish delight in the furnishings of Whitehall, 
that many thought she showed a heartless disregard of her father's 
misfortunes ; but she " was fain to force herself to more mirth than 
became her at that time " by the express wish of William, lest people 
might suspect that she was disappointed because Parliament had put 
the government into his hands. The new sovereigns were proclaimed 
13 February, in the presence of shouting crowds. 

The Peculiar Character of the Revolution of 1688. — Thus ended 
the " Glorious Revolution." Although, so far as possible, every an- 

1 The other two being Magna Carta (1215) and the Petition of Right (1628). 

2 A review of the reign of Charles II, and more especially that of James II, will 
serve to show how these principles and practices had been violated. 



JAMES II AND THE "GLORIOUS REVOLUTION" 587 

cient form had been complied with, it was, from the strictly legal 
standpoint, a real revolution. The Convention which settled the 
crown on William and Mary was not properly a parliament, for it had 
been summoned by no royal authority. To be sure, the new sover- 
eigns later declared it a legal body ; but since they were its creatures, 
their assertion could not make it such. Nevertheless, defective as 
were its proceedings when viewed in a purely legal light, the Revolu- 
tion can be justified, both from the issues at stake and the moderation 
with which the movement was conducted. Macaulay, in his classic 
work on this period, has pointed out that it was a " preserving " not a 
" destroying " revolution, in which all parties joined — Whig and Tory, 
Churchmen and Dissenters — to preserve the fruits of the Reforma- 
tion and the Puritan Revolution, to maintain Protestantism, the su- 
premacy of Parliament, and the freedom of the subject. The funda- 
mental laws were not changed but defined and secured ; the old line 
of kings, however, was set aside, and thus a final blow was struck at 
the theory of Divine Right upon which James I had laid such stress 
and which had been the ruin of his son and grandson. Never since 
the expulsion of James II has there been a revolution in England. 

FOR ADDITIONAL READING 

Narrative. Lodge, Political History, chs. XI-XIII. Trevelyan, England under 
the Stuarts, ch. XIII. Cambridge Modem History, V, chs. IX, X. Lingard, X, 
chs. II-rV. Ranke, IV, bks. XVII-XVIII. Macaulay, History of England, II, 
chs. IV-X ; in spite of its obvious faults, it remains the classic treatment of the sub- 
ject. Sir James Mackintosh, Review of the Causes of the Revolution of 1688 (1834) 
contains a large collection of documents in the appendix. 

Constitutional. Hallam, III, ch. XIV. Taylor, Origin and Growth, II, bk. VI, 
ch. II. 

Biography. Viscount Wolseley, Life of Marlborough (vols. I, II, 1894) ; an apology 
for Marlborough, left uncompleted at 1702. 

Scotland. P. H. Brown, Scotland, II, bk. VI, ch. VII. Lodge, ch. XIV; (Ireland) 
ch. XV. 

Church. Hutton, English Church, ch. XII. 

For further references see chs. XXXII, XXXIII above. 

Selections from the sources. Adams and Stephens, nos. 233-234. Robertson, 
Select Statutes, pt. II, nos. VIII, IX. 



CHAPTER XXXV 
PURITAN AND CAVALIER ENGLAND 

Characteristics of Seventeenth-century England. — The period 
from 1603 to 1688 is crowded with incident and notable achievements. 
It opened with a struggle of Parliament against the attempt of the 
first Stuart to maintain and strengthen the Tudor absolutism in Church 
and State, a struggle which culminated in civil war resulting in the 
defeat and execution of a king, the temporary overthrow of monarchy 
and episcopacy, and the establishment of a republic. The experi- 
ment proved premature, and was followed by the restoration both of 
the Stuarts and the Established Church. Nevertheless, the Puritan 
Revolution had not been in vain ; henceforth, in spite of occasional 
reassertions of absolutism, Parliament became the supreme power in 
the State, while Dissent not only survived and nourished, but ob- 
tained, before the close of the century, a substantial if imperfect legal 
recognition. The party system began to take shape, and distinct 
gains were made in law reform. A standing army was established, 
while the navy grew and obtained a really effective organization. 
Long strides were taken in the direction of commercial and colonial 
ascendancy. Manufactures became more varied and wealth increased, 
together with new comforts and luxuries. Coal was introduced in 
London in place of charcoal ; tea and coffee appeared and became the 
beverages of the city folk and the well-to-do country families ; travel 
and communication were fostered by coaches and packet boats, and 
amusements multiplied. The newspaper came into being, and the 
spread of printing, together with the growth of the party system, re- 
sulted in myriads of caricatures and satires. There was a striking 
development in political and economic thinking, as well as in religious 
and philosophical speculations. Literature, while not reaching the 
heights of the wonderful Elizabethan Age, was interesting and varied, 
enriched by contributions of note, and manifesting new and striking 
tendencies. Mathematical, physical, and physiological sciences showed 
a marked advance. In architecture there was a transition from "Ital- 
ianate Elizabethan " and " Jacobean Gothic " to a " majestic classi- 
cism." Such are some of the features of this complex and throbbing 
age. 

Regulation of Trade and Manufactures under James I and Charles I. 
— While the monopolies and privileged companies, fostered by James I 
and Charles I, have been severely attacked, there is little doubt that 



PURITAN AND CAVALIER ENGLAND 589 

both these monarchs aimed to regulate the economic life of the nation 
in the interests of the whole, to maintain high standards of production 
and to keep the subject employed as well. In order to best control 
the situation, they endeavored to confine trades and industries to special 
companies, and appointed officials to supervise the manufacture of 
various wares. Such national regulation, however, was not only diffi- 
cult to enforce effectively and impartially, but it went against the 
modern spirit of emancipation from the restrictive policy of the medi- 
eval gilds. Moreover, the Stuarts mingled with their zeal for the 
public welfare a tendency toward favoritism and a proneness to utilize 
their grants as sources of revenue. Thus the system tended to abuse 
of privilege, to the curbing of healthy competition, and to the dis- 
couragement of those outside the pale. Men of ability and enterprise 
were excluded from trade, especially with foreign markets, or joined 
the ranks of the interlopers. 

Industrial Situation under the Two First Stuarts. — Nevertheless, 
the period was one of material progress rather than decline. Foreign 
refugees flocked to the country, the population increased, old indus- 
tries developed and new ones were introduced. Exports and imports 
which totaled £4,628,586 in 1613, had reached £4,939,751 in 1622, 
though, under a freer system than that of company control, there might 
have been a far better showing. While it is estimated that the volume 
of money doubled under James I, and while interest fell from ten to 
eight per cent, the decline in prices which followed in the first decade 
of the reign of Charles I, indicates that the increase was swallowed up 
by the demands of the growing trade and population. While the prof- 
its of the producing classes suffered, the wage-earning consumer must 
have benefited somewhat. The silk manufacture began to flourish, 
though to nothing like the extent noticeable after the influx of French 
Huguenots which followed the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 
1685. 1 The cutlers of Sheffield had been incorporated in 1624, but 
what is now a city of half a million and the chief center of the cutlery 
industry of the world, was then the possession of a manorial lord who 
leased the furnaces to the manufacturers. The total population 
scarcely exceeded two thousand, a third of whom were dependent on 
charity. There was a great opposition to the smelting of iron ore 
because of the enormous quantities of charcoal required, which ex- 
hausted the forests and threatened the supply of timber for ship- 
building. Dud Dudley (1 599-1684) devised a successful process in 
which pit coal was substituted. Although he obtained patents in 1619 
and 1639, the jealousy of rivals frustrated his efforts, and little was 
done toward applying the method of smelting till the following century. 
Coal, which was beginning to be employed extensively for fuel in Lon- 

1 Between 1670 and 1690, in consequence of Louis XIV's persecutions, no less 
than 80,000 persons crossed the Channel. In 1689 as many as 40,000 families lived 
by the silk industry, which, during the half century following the Restoration, in- 
creased twentyfold. 



59o A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 






don, was brought by boat from Newcastle and hence was known as 
sea coal. The wool trade was practically stationary until after the 
Restoration. In order to encourage the home consumption, an act 
was passed for burying in wool : nevertheless, there was complaint 
that many persisted "in adorning their deceased friend's corpse with 
fine linen, lace, etc., though so contrary to our own true national in- 
terest." In spite of the opposition of the wool manufacturers, calicoes, 
chintzes, and muslins were imported from India, while, in 1676, Flem- 
ish immigrants introduced the art of calico printing into England. 

The Period of the Civil War, the Commonwealth, and the Protector- 
ate. — ■ The Civil War, and the disorders that followed, naturally in- 
terrupted trade, both foreign and domestic. Yet the harm was less 
serious than might be expected. Owing to decline in prices and ad- 
vance in wages, the laborers were even better off though they enjoyed 
less holidays than in the old days before the Puritan ascendancy. 
The return of the Jews under Cromwell gave considerable impulse 
to trade, and the protests of London merchants against them were 
based, apparently, rather upon commercial jealousy than religious 
intolerance. Though most of those who came to England had origi- 
nally fled from the Inquisition in Spain and Portugal, they had, in the 
majority of instances, spent an interval in Italy or Holland, where they 
had mastered the most recent methods of banking and credit. The 
chief agent in negotiating their readmission was Manasseh Ben Israel, 
a Jew who had settled in Amsterdam. In an interview with Crom- 
well and the Council, he explained the advantages which his people 
would bring to England by their financial knowledge, while, in addi- 
tion, he offered on their behalf to lend considerable moneys at five per 
cent. Although the judges decided that the law did not permit them 
to live in England, Cromwell admitted them on his own authority. 
Charles II, who refused to reverse the Protector's policy, allowed them 
to open a synagogue in London. 

Trade during the Restoration. — Systematic supervision of trade 
and industry on the part of the sovereign, which ceased with the per- 
sonal government of Charles I, was not revived at the Restoration. 
Commercial regulation passed, to a large extent, from the Crown and 
Crown officials to Parliament. Some new companies were founded ; 
but, in general, encouragement took the form of tariffs and bounties 
rather than special privileges to " particular groups " of subjects. 
The cessation of rigid supervision led to some falling off in the quality 
of goods ; but that was counterbalanced, somewhat, by competition 
and the use of trade-marks. On the other hand, there was a general 
increase in trade, especially the carrying trade. The merchant 
marine doubled in thirty years. The Navigation Acts were only 
partly responsible; for the act of 1651 was not vigorously enforced, 
the measure of 1660, which renewed and extended it, was evaded by 
the Dutch until they were driven from New York in 1664, and they 
were not outstripped by the English until they had been exhausted by 



PURITAN AND CAVALIER ENGLAND 591 

the wars of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. Many 
other factors account for the great colonial and commercial expansion 
of the post-Restoration period. In addition to the changed attitude 
toward the privileged companies, Cromwell's idea of a great Protes- 
tant Alliance was abandoned. Charles' Portuguese marriage brought 
to the country Tangier and Bombay, together with increased facilities 
for trade with the Azores, Madeira, and the other Portuguese posses- 
sions. Tangier was soon abandoned ; but Bombay proved a valuable 
asset to the East India Company. Spain granted to England the 
privileges of the Netherlands and other most favored nations. Also, 
treaties were made to protect the Levant trade from Turkish pirates, 
and though they were humbling to national pride, they proved effec- 
tive. In accordance with a practice established under Charles I and 
employed by Cromwell, a permanent committee of the Privy Council 
was organized, which, reenforced by representatives from the great 
companies to furnish expert advice, constituted a Council for Trade. 
American planting was vigorously pushed. In a word : " the basis 
for the English conquest of India, and the Anglo-Saxon predomi- 
nance in America " were laid in this period. 

Colonial Expansion. — The Elizabethan Age was one of discovery 
and exploration ; the Stuart period marked the beginning of coloniza- 
tion. Although the Dutch still overshadowed the English in the 
East, notable steps in advance were taken. In the reign of James I 
the Persian trade was first " enterprised " by English merchants 
from India. Thomas Roe, who went in 161 5 as first ambassador to 
the Great Mogul for the purpose of negotiating a commercial treaty, 
helped to lay the foundations of the British Indian Empire, while, 
before the close of the century, the East India Company was securely 
established at Bombay, Calcutta, and Madras, and the Royal Africa 
Company had flourishing possessions on the Gold Coast and at other 
points on the continent of Africa. In America, several of the West 
India Islands were acquired, and all but one of the thirteen American 
colonies 1 were established. While Spain and Portugal were mainly 
concerned with the search for precious metals, and while the French 
devoted themselves to founding trading posts and missionary stations, 
the English, if not free from the delusions of their time, were the first 
to establish the policy of home building in the New World. 

Agriculture under the First Two Stuarts. — Under the Stuarts the 
agricultural progress, so marked during the reign of Elizabeth, prom- 
ised to continue. The process of enclosure, though provocative of 
suffering and discontent among the small holders, had stimulated 
enterprise. Then the rise in prices, due to the increase of precious 
metals and the growing demand for food, had intervened to check the 
turning of arable land into sheep pasture. With the prospect of in- 
creasing profits from corn and meat, renewed energy was devoted to 

1 Georgia in 1733. 



59 2 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

improving conditions of cultivation and reclaiming waste lands. The 
efforts of landlords, tenant farmers, and yeoman freeholders were 
quickened and guided by resourceful writers on agriculture who sug- 
gested more scientific care of cattle and poultry as well as improved 
methods of treating the soil. Much was learned from the Italians 
about irrigation and the utilization of water meadows. Rotation of 
crops by the planting of turnips and clover was urged as a substitute 
for fallow * ; potatoes and carrots began to be cultivated ; and in- 
creasing attention was paid to orchards and gardens. It was in this 
period that the work of draining the fens in the eastern counties was 
first seriously undertaken. It was a vast area of nearly 700,000 acres, 
consisting of marshes and pools, with here and there an island: " af- 
fording little benefit to the realm other than fish or fowl, with an over- 
much harbor to a rude and almost barbarous sort of rude and lazy 
people." Ever since Roman times occasional attempts at reclamation 
had been made, especially by the monks who made their homes on the 
islands dotting the watery and boggy expanse. Of the projects now 
undertaken the most extensive, and the one carried furthest toward 
completion, was that of the Earl of Bedford and thirteen " gentlemen 
adventurers," who in 1630 agreed to drain the Cambridge district 
in return for a grant of 95,000 acres. Work was interrupted during 
the Civil War, but resumed during the Commonwealth. Similar under- 
takings met with various setbacks. Some of the work was badly 
done by " mountebank engineers, idle practitioners, and slothful, im- 
patient slubberers," though the greatest difficulty came from the 
" riotous letts and disturbances " of the natives who received no com- 
pensation for their rights of turf cutting, fowling, fishing, hunting, 
and pasture, and it was not till after the lapse of a century and more 
that the results of their destruction was repaired. 

The Period of the Civil Wars and the Restoration. — The agri- 
cultural progress of the first forty years of the century was greatly 
checked by the war. This was due not so much to the absorption of 
the population in fighting as to the fear that the hostile armies at any 
time might swoop down and destroy the fruit of a season's toil, or 
demand, for King or Parliament, the crops gathered by painful labor. 
The period of the Commonwealth and the Protectorate was marked 
by new progress, to which Cromwell contributed by his enlightened 
support. Under Charles II, however, another period of stagnation 
set in. Many facts beside the blighting effects of the war explain why 
the early promise of the century was not fulfilled. For one thing, 
most of the writers who urged wise and necessary improvements 
proved to be failures in practice, so that their example did not inspire 

1 Apparently first introduced in the reign of James I, by Sir Richard Weston, 
who had served as ambassador to the Palatinate ; turnips had the additional ad- 
vantage that they could be used to feed cattle over the winter. Formerly most 
of the cattle had been killed and salted. But turnips and clover did not come into 
general use until the eighteenth century. 



PURITAN AND CAVALIER ENGLAND 593 

confidence. Then, the system of common tillage and open fields, 
which still survived in large parts of the country 1 till the close of the 
eighteenth century, was an obstacle to individual enterprise. More- 
over, the cavalier estates had been heavily embarrassed by the seques- 
trations and exactions from which they had suffered during the Civil 
War, while those of the other party who had acquired their lands were 
uncertain of their tenure after the Restoration. Landlords were un- 
progressive, grasping, and niggardly in advancing capital ; tenants 
were discouraged from making improvements when the only prospect 
was increased rent or eviction in the interest of the landlord or of some 
one who would offer a higher bid. Roads were bad and canals as yet 
non-existent, so that new ideas spread slowly, and the producer was as 
yet limited to local markets. The great development in agriculture 
was not to come for almost a century. 

Roads and Travel. — Traveling was not only difficult, but danger- 
ous. On dark moonless nights the traveler stood in grave danger of 
losing his way in the unenclosed heaths and fens that, in many parts of 
the country, lay on either side of the road. If he managed to keep a 
straight path, he was, in wet seasons, constantly liable to mire his 
horse or his coach, and sometimes his progress was altogether cut off 
by floods. The coach from London to Oxford — a distance of fifty- 
four miles — took two days of thirteen hours each. Great was the 
amazement of the good people of the time when, in 1669, a " Flying 
Coach " was started which made the journey between 6 a.m. and 
7 p.m. of the same day. In spite of storms of opposition at the 
great risk involved in going at such a reckless speed, " flying coaches," 
which averaged fifty miles a day in summer and thirty in winter, 
were started, before the close of the reign of Charles II, from most of 
the chief towns south of York and east of Exeter. Many still traveled 
by post horses rented at various inns along the road. The coaches 
were great lumbering affairs, drawn by four or six horses. There were 
stage wagons for merchandise, though, on the by-roads and on the 
main highways in the north and west goods were transported on the 
backs of pack horses. The parishes were responsible for keeping the 
roads in repair, and supplemented the rate with personal labor exacted 
from the peasantry. Owing to the inadequacy of this system, the first 
Turnpike Act was passed in the third year after the accession of 
Charles II. Work was begun on the road from London to York ; but 
no further legislation on the subject was undertaken for thirty-two 
years, and the roads continued in the same old state. 

Highwaymen. — To add to the woes of the traveler, there were 
the highwaymen who infested the roads in every direction, especially 
those which led to London. Men made their wills before undertaking 
a journey and started out with pistols in their holsters, blunderbusses 
in their coaches, and often guarded by armed attendants. In 1669 

1 The enclosures had been practically confined to eight counties, while, in four- 
teen, open or intermixed fields were still the rule. 

2Q 



594 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

it is recorded that the Tuscan Grand Duke Cosmo left Dorchester, 
" convoyed by a great many horse soldiers belonging to the country." 
Some of the outlaws of the period were almost as famous as the legen- 
dary Robin Hood. 

Inns and Ale Houses. — Happily English inns were famous for 
their plenty, comfort, and good cheer. The larger ones were equipped 
with monstrous supplies of beef and mutton, hogsheads of ale, cellars 
of wine, and well-stocked stables. Besides, there were many of the 
humbler sort : " with the cleanly swept brick floor, with the ancient 
ballads stuck on the walls, with the linen fragrant with the scent of 
lavender, with the open fire and the snowy curtains, and every mate- 
rial detail savoring of comfort and repose. ..." Since the passing 
of the stagecoach and the advent of the railroad, the country inns have 
become largely a thing of the past. There were also in rural villages 
simple alehouses, whither the natives, from the squire to the humblest 
toiler, came to talk and to doze. 

Social Classes. — The gradations of classes in rural England were 
the nobility ; country gentry, who possessed broad acres ; the yeomen 
or small freeholders ; the tenant farmers, and the agricultural laborers. 
In addition, there were the country parsons who occupied a somewhat 
anomalous position. While class distinctions were deeply rooted and 
most folk died in the station in which they were born, there was a 
degree of close friendly association. High and low often mingled in 
the village school and the grammar schools of the market towns. In 
cases where the sons of nobility and gentry were educated at home by 
tutors, boys of lesser rank were admitted, not infrequently, as com- 
panions or pages, to share their studies. After this preliminary train- 
ing the noble and the wealthy, and even a favored few of the lesser 
sort, might proceed to the great endowed schools such as Eton, Win- 
chester, and Westminster. Many of the elder sons, after painfully 
struggling with the elements of learning, settled down at once upon 
their estates with a stock of knowledge not much in excess of the 
humble clodhopper. Others were sent with a tutor to make a grand 
tour of the Continent. Others, again, before traveling abroad, went 
for a time to Oxford or Cambridge. At the Universities there were 
marked distinctions of rank ; for the teaching and clerical professions 
were recruited largely from the middle class, from the sons of farmers 
and tradesmen. Many had to earn their own way, as servitors or 
" sizers," making the beds, sweeping the chambers, and performing other 
menial duties for the affluent gentlemen commoners. Not a few of the 
younger sons of the gentry found a career in the law or medical pro- 
fessions, although some took holy orders. The former went to London 
to reside for a specified number of terms at the Inns of Court, or to en- 
roll in the College of Physicians and walk the hospitals. Others 
sought service in the continental wars or engaged in commerce, either 
in the city or in the neighboring provincial town. These latter formed 
a link between the landed and the trading classes. Frequently, they 



PURITAN AND CAVALIER ENGLAND 595 

married rich tradesmen's daughters, while, on the other hand, mer- 
chants who had become wealthy bought estates and set up as country 
gentlemen. 

The Nobility and Country Gentry. — At the accession of the Stuarts 
many of the older nobility, especially of the soberer sort, began to 
travel abroad or to retire to their estates, leaving the pleasure seekers 
and the climbers to seek their "diversion or to push their fortunes at 
court. And their country homes were pleasant places — fine palaces 
and manor houses — their huge walls paneled with somber, splendidly 
carved woods and adorned with trophies of the chase, with coats of 
arms, and family portraits. In the adjoining grounds were gardens 
and magnificent parks of trees. Hunting was the chief sport, indeed, 
the engrossing occupation of most of the rural nobility and gentry. 
Deer hunting was confined to the upper classes and to poachers. Others 
had to confine themselves to less noble game such as otters, badgers, 
hares, and foxes. Fowling with the hawk or net was still a fashion- 
able pursuit. After a hard morning's run, an afternoon dinner fol- 
lowed, either at home or in a neighboring alehouse, a repast which 
the men of the company rarely finished in a sober condition. The 
nobility — there were about 160 temporal lords at the Restoration — 
lived with the greatest profusion. The Duke of Beaufort, for in- 
stance, had, at Badminton near Bristol, huge retinues of servants on a 
vast estate that was almost self-sufficing. The rural gentry — though 
there were exceptions like Hampden and Hutchinson — were rude in 
their manner of life, prejudiced and often illiterate. Few left home 
save at the most infrequent intervals, and such fragments of book 
learning as they had acquired were soon forgotten amid the business 
and pleasures of their rural seclusion — management of land and 
cattle, dickering at market, riding and hunting, and huge dinners. 
Without newspapers and periodicals, and with few opportunities for dis- 
cussion with men of affairs and information, they were naturally the 
reverse of open-minded or rational in their opinions. Nevertheless, 
ignorant and uncouth as they often were, they had a pride of family, 
which, if it made them overbearing and impatient of contradiction, 
impelled them to cherish high standards of honor. It was from this 
class that the officers of the army, the navy, and the militia were re- 
cruited, as well as the justices of the peace, and their experience and 
responsibility were bound to develop self-reliance and executive 
capacity. 

The Yeomen and the Farmers. — Next below the landed gentry 
were the yeomen and the tenant farmers. The former were freeholders 
who tilled their lands with the help of a few servants and laborers. It 
is estimated that, with their families, they comprised about a seventh of 
the total population. They were a sturdy class, many of them Dis- 
senters, who, with the city tradesmen, had helped to recruit the parlia- 
mentary armies during the Civil War and were among the stoutest 
opponents of the Court after the Restoration. As a body, they went 



596 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

far to counterbalance the Toryism of the squirearchy and the country 
parson. Toward the close of the period, however, they were already 
on the road to extinction ; for the large landowners had already begun 
the practice of buying them out, a process which was carried well- 
nigh to completion in the next century. Moreover, their lands were 
eagerly sought by well-to-do city merchants anxious to found estates. 
The farmers who hired their lands, with holdings averaging from 40 
to 50 acres, formed a body almost as numerous as the freeholders. 
Competition was keen, rents were high, and they were destined to go 
the way of the freeholders, to give way to tenants of large holdings and 
capitalist cultivators. 

The Clergy. — There were, in the Restoration period, about 10,000 
clergymen of the Church of England, four fifths of whom received an 
income of not more than £50 each. While there was a great difference 
between the bishops and town clergy, on the one hand, and the do- 
mestic chaplains and country parsons, on the other, the poverty and 
menial status of the latter probably has been exaggerated by the 
satirists, the novelists, and by the historian Macaulay, who drew a 
famous picture of them. Many there were, no doubt, with large 
families in poor parishes, who had to eke out their scanty stipend by 
working small farms ; who, with few or no books, denied the advantages 
of travel, and deprived of uplifting associations, were in a state not far 
above the peasants of their flocks. There were, too, chaplains who 
were household drudges, for whom the cook or the lady's maid was 
thought a fitting match. On the other hand, there were many younger 
sons of gentlemen, or even nobles, who sought a career in the Church ; 
not a few of the seventeenth-century poets were rural clergymen, and 
a long list of works on divinity will testify to the erudition of many 
others. Moreover, during the interval from the Restoration to the 
death of Anne the clergy as a whole exercised great political influence. 

The Agricultural Laborers. — Out of an estimated population of 
about 5,000,000 toward the close of the century, the rural portion 
totaled approximately 3,500,000. Of these, over 700,000 were 
laborers and small cotters, who, together with their families, made up 
about half the inhabitants of England. They lived on intimate terms 
with the small farmers and yeomen who employed them, and, if un- 
married, they ate at the farmers' tables, sharing in all except puddings 
and special delicacies. Yet their state was a miserable one. Wages 
were low, though they were supplemented to some extent by surviving 
rights on the common lands, by the domestic system of spinning and 
weaving, and the employment of the women in the fields at harvest 
tide. There were times when work was slack in particular localities, 
and the laws of settlement kept the poor from wandering beyond the 
boundaries of their parish; while, in the towns, the strict laws of ap- 
prenticeship and the monopolies of trading companies and surviving 
gilds were almost insuperable obstacles to the enterprising youth who 
had nothing to aid him but his talents and his ambitions. It was in- 



PURITAN AND CAVALIER ENGLAND 597 

finitely harder to rise from the rank of laborer to that of trader or 
merchant, than for the latter to attain the grade of gentry. The poor 
E no" fresh meat during the greater part of the year no wheaten 
bread and as yet no tea or coffee. Their houses were still mere hovels 
S walls of mud and roofs of thatch, with rarely more than a sing le 
chimney, and no glazed windows. Sanitary _ condi ions were still 
wo se The plague did not cease its visitations till 1665, infant 
mortality was appalling, and medicine was only emerging into a 
See The humbler folk slept crowded together in stuffy rooms; 
the advantages of bathing and fresh air were not yet understood, and 
both the atmosphere and the water were contaminated by sewage and 

fe Prevalence of Superstition. - Many superstitions were rife, some 
of them cruel and terrifying. Even at the close of the century the 
bulk o? the people still believed in witches - malicious spiteful old 
women who had sold their chances of future salvation and had leagued 
Themselves with the devil, creatures who blighted the crops and maimed 
the cattle of their neighbors and held nightly revels m ^ce Uars and 
larders They were supposed to ride on broomsticks, and to be at- 
tended by familiar spirits in the form of toads and cats. While in 
EUzabeth's time, the laws against witchcraft were Jhc nuld^t m Eu- 
rope, a new and ferocious act followed the advent of James I and be 
fore 1680, 70,000 poor creatures had been executed. Thanks to the 
good sensJand humanity of Cromwell, the persecution ^abated 
during the Commonwealth and was not resumed after the Restoration 
with anything like the old rigor, though so learned a judge as Matthew 
Sale continued to nourish the delusion. If witches were the victims 
of pop! superstition and hatred, - though they were often sought 
for their charms to ward off diseases and, in the case of lovers, to win 
he affections of some coy village damsel - alchemist, , fro bf- 
and fortune tellers -many of them thieves and sharpers - throve 

UI S^SSSS^ y rf the Age. -On the other hand, many 
current beliefs illumined the pervading monotony ^ with 1 touches jo 
poetry. Men told of the lubber fiend, or Lob-he-by-the-fire who , aime 
down the chimney after the household was asleep swept the flows, 
and did all manner of work, if placated by a h ™\ oi ™ e r£ll d Z 
side. It caused pleasant shudders to think that gb?sts ha unted the 
church yards, that goblins peopled the fields after "g^^^ 
fairies sported in the dark recesses of the forests M °£Over there 
was much that was picturesque and charming about the life oj toe 
neriod Except for London, there were no crowded cities, and the 
teeming factories with their ceaseless din and smoke were as yet far 
1 the future. People, even in the provincial towns were surrounded 
by orchards and gardens; they were within sight of field wood and 
stream. All this, together with the picturesque and ^acrf^architoc- 
ture _ the rambling manor houses, the quaint homes of the lesser folk, 



59 8 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

and the spacious inns, — lent a variety and beauty to life which was 
reflected in the songs and verses of the period. Before and after the 
gloomy interval of the Puritan regime, ancient games, festivals, and 
pastimes flourished. At Christmas the Yule log was burned, and all 
classes indulged in brave feasting. There were pretty ceremonies on 
St. Valentine's Day, and on May Day, when, in the early dawn, the 
youths and maidens went to the woods and fields and wove garlands 
to hang on doors and windows. There was cockfighting and bull 
baiting, wrestling, and football played with inflated bladders of 
swine, and there were masks and pageants. 

The North Country. — The balance of wealth and population was 
still in the south. The northern counties were scantily inhabited, 
poor and wild. Peel towers l continued to be used as refuges, and 
manor houses were built of stone and fortified. Judges on circuit 
were usually accompanied by a strong bodyguard. Parishes kept 
bloodhounds to protect property, and local taxes were levied to main- 
tain bands of armed men. 

The Towns. — Except for London, which had a population of not 
far from half a million, there were, so late as the Restoration, only 
four towns with more than ten thousand inhabitants — Bristol, Nor- 
wich, Exeter, and York. Small as they were, the provincial towns 
were far more important social centers than they are to-day. The 
great county families resorted to them instead of to London for pleas- 
ure as well as for business. While the assizes, the quarter sessions, 
and the markets occupied the early part of the day, the evenings were 
made gay with balls and all sorts of social activities. Owing to the 
restrictive policy of the gilds and the apprentice laws, excluding the 
unskilled labor from the rural districts, the population of the towns 
was a picked one. The gild system, however much may be urged 
against it, inadequate as it was to meet the growing needs of the 
country, was not wholly without advantages. It kept up the stand- 
ard of production, and not only furnished skilled workmen but pro- 
vided a means of education when schools were few and costly. Where 
the apprentice had a churlish, avaricious master his lot was sad indeed, 
what with long hours, hard words, and beatings ; but under happier 
circumstances, he had the blessings of a sympathetic home training. 
After his seven years of service he began work as a journeyman. 
Often he prospered sufficiently to set up in business for himself, or 
he might marry his master's daughter and take over the very craft 
or trade to which he had been bound. But, outside the old centers, 
the gilds were giving way more and more to the domestic system, 
especially in the cloth industry ; more and more, in the villages and 
through the countryside, spinners and weavers were working in their 
own cottages. Moreover, some towns, like Norwich and Hull, were 
wise enough to slacken their restrictions, and, by admitting the sons 

1 Square fortified towers with overhanging battlements under which the cattle 
were placed. 



PURITAN AND CAVALIER ENGLAND 599 

of gentry and -yeomen, forged ahead of York and other places which 
clung to their traditional policy. Also, by welcoming Huguenots — 
and here London was in the vanguard — they gained an advantage 
which France threw away. While most of the municipal charters of 
the Tudor and Stuart period placed the government in the hands of 
a narrow, self-perpetuating oligarchy, there were many cities and 
boroughs where the householders retained a voice in the elections and 
other public business. Even where the franchise was on a narrow 
basis, the municipalities were citadels of local autonomy — rarely in- 
terfered with except for a few years in the reigns of Charles II and 
James II — and the training which the merchants and traders got in 
local self-government was an important factor in the constitutional 
development of the country. 

London. — London at the close of the seventeenth century was, 
with the possible exception of Amsterdam, without a commercial 
rival in the world, as well as the center of the social, political, and in- 
tellectual life of England. Its aspect was very different from to-day 
when the population within the metropolitan district 1 numbers 
seven millions, and the great army of those who have business in the 
City go every night to the suburbs and the adjoining country. In 
those days even the wealthy merchants occupied houses surrounded 
by walled gardens, which have long since given place to crowded 
streets, banks, shops, and warehouses. Artificers and tradesmen 
lived with their families and apprentices over or behind their shops. 
The London of the Restoration had few or no suburbs and most of 
the now fashionable West End consisted of fields and orchards with 
here and there a great nobleman's estate. Outside the city walls 
were the " liberties," a region of slums where the poor, the wretched, 
and the criminal were herded together in miserable novels in dirty 
alleys. The city streets were narrow and crooked ; the overhanging 
upper stories of the buildings on either side presented a quaint ap- 
pearance, but cut off fresh air and sunlight. The rebuilding which 
followed the Great Fire of 1666 led to improved sanitary conditions 
at the sacrifice of medieval picturesqueness. This, however, was 
preserved in a few old-time ceremonies, in the pageantry of the livery 
companies, and the other occasions of state, when the Lord Mayor 
appeared in his black velvet hood, his gold chain, and jewels. Then, 
too, a touch of varied charm was added by the signs which designated 
different houses — numbers would have been of very little help, 
since few coachmen, chairmen, or porters could read. The pavements 
were wretched, and the gutters, clogged with decayed vegetables and 
animal refuse, became raging torrents during rainy weather and 
flooded the streets with watery filth. This was splashed upon the 
pedestrian by passing coaches and carts, so that " taking the wall " 
was a much-sought privilege which caused many a fight. The street 

1 The City proper has only 19,657 inhabitants. 



600 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

vendors kept up a constant din, crying their wares, and the air was 
choked with the smoke of sea coal which arose from the fires of brewers, 
dyers, soap boilers, and lime burners. Mixed with fog it often en- 
veloped the City in almost impenetrable gloom. At such times as 
well as at night it was dangerous to be abroad, what with the slippery, 
foul, and uneven pavements, the countless thieves and cutthroats, 
and bands of roistering young men of fashion — known as hectors, 
scourers, and Mohocks — who took delight in attacking and mauling 
peaceful citizens. Although dueling, which came in at the beginning 
of the century, was a custom much to be deplored, it had the merit 
of superseding, to some degree, the custom of seeking revenge against 
an enemy through hired assassins and bullies. But murders and 
robberies were all too frequent under the shroud of darkness. Until 
the reign of Charles II the only lights came from links, lanterns, and 
torches, borne by pedestrians or their attendants. Finally, an enter- 
prising person obtained an exclusive patent for lighting the City, 
placing a light at every tenth door between the hours of six and twelve ; 
but only on moonless nights and during the season from Michaelmas 
to Lady Day. There was no metropolitan police force until well into 
the nineteenth century. The decrepit constables, who served by day, 
and the night watch, largely composed of superannuated and feeble 
men, afforded little protection. Prosecutions often failed because 
witnesses dared not appear for fear of the vengeance of the criminal 
classes who ran riot through the City. The apprentices were a par- 
ticularly turbulent element. In their pretended zeal for liberty, 
frequently a mere cloak for lawlessness, they were often on the ram- 
page, cudgeling those who came in their way, and even pulling down 
buildings, so that sometimes even the soldiery had to be called out to 
suppress them. They led in the prejudice of the London rabble 
against foreigners, particularly Frenchmen, who were jeered at, pur- 
sued by cries of "French dog" and " Mounzer," and pelted with 
stones and filth. 

Whitefriars, Paul's Walk, Westminster, and Whitehall. — Noisy, 
disorderly, and dirty as were the other quarters of the City, there was 
one district on the western edge, near the Temple, that was particu- 
larly unsavory and horrid. It was known as Whitefriars, from the 
site of a Carmelite monastery, founded in the thirteenth century. A 
sanctuary for criminals in the pre-Reformation period, it still retained 
the privilege of protecting debtors from arrest. It was the haunt of 
abandoned wretches of all sorts, gamblers, forgers, cheats, murderers, 
and highwaymen. Officers sent to make arrests were, at the cry of 
" Rescue! " driven away by furious mobs, so that it often required a 
troop of soldiers to execute a warrant. Between the hours of eleven 
and twelve in the forenoon and three and five in the afternoon " Paul's 
Walk," the central aisle in the Cathedral, was still the haunt of busi- 
ness and pleasure. Vendors of wares, lawyers seeking clients, and 
beaux exhibiting their fine raiment wandered up and down, filling the 



PURITAN AND CAVALIER ENGLAND 601 

sacred place with the buzz of profane conversation. Westminster 
Hall, the ancient palace begun by William Rufus and the scene of 
famous State trials, was given over to hucksters on one side and law- 
yers on the other. The court at Whitehall was a center of politics, 
gayety, and dissipation. Those who had suits to press, or who sought 
offices, together with the gay libertines who were boon companions of 
the " Merry Monarch," thronged at his levees. The galleries of the 
palace were rilled with curious crowds watching him " at his meals 
or as he and his courtiers and mistresses gambled or danced in the 
evening." They listened eagerly, too, for scraps of news about affairs, 
foreign and domestic, and greedily devoured such crumbs of gossip 
and scandal as they were able to get hold of. 

Coffeehouses. — What was learned at the royal palace was spread 
rapidly, through the coffeehouses which filled the places of the news- 
papers and public meetings of later times. Originating in the sample 
room of a Turkish merchant about 1656, the coffeehouses multiplied 
so rapidly that there were three thousand in the City and suburbs 
before the close of the century. Becoming centers for political dis- 
cussion, they soon aroused the suspicion of the Government. As early 
as 1666, Clarendon suggested that they be placed under espionage, 
and, in 1675, Charles II ordered them to be closed; but the popular 
opposition was so intense that the order was revoked within two weeks, 
on the promise of the landlords to do their best to stop seditious talk 
and the circulation of libelous books and pamphlets. There were 
coffeehouses for all classes, professions, and shades of opinion, for fops 
and courtiers, for medical practitioners and lawyers, for Puritans, 
Quakers, Romanists, and even for Jews. At " Wills," the chief resort 
for men of letters, Dryden was the presiding genius with the warmest 
seat by the chimney corner in winter and a bench on the balcony in 
summer. There were various political clubs as well, the " Rota " or 
" Coffee Club," a Puritan organization frequented by Milton ; the 
Old Royalist Club, or " Sealed Knot " ; and also, Rump and Calves' 
Head Clubs, founded by Cavaliers and Puritans respectively. 

The Post. — Although newspapers, or, rather, newsbooks or pam- 
phlets, began to appear about the middle of the century, news was 
chiefly circulated by coffeehouses and newsletters * until after the 
expiration of the licensing act in 1695. Postal arrangements were 
still very primitive and inadequate. A system set up by Charles I 
was overthrown by the Civil War ; but was resumed during the Com- 
monwealth. After the Restoration the proceeds of the post office 
were granted to the Duke of York. The mail bags were carried on 
the backs of horses who traveled by day and night at an average rate 
of five miles an hour. Ordinarily, the mails went and came on alter- 
nate days ; but in the remote districts letters were not received or 
dispatched more than once a week. Rates were very high, averaging 

1 Written by city hacks to the country magnates and to the inns of provincial 
towns and villages. 



602 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

twopence for a single letter for eighty miles and increasing with the 
weight and distance. When the Court was traveling from place to 
place, arrangements were made for a daily service with London. In 
the reign of Charles II, one William Dockwray established in London 
a penny post with a delivery six or eight times a day in the City and 
four times in the suburbs. While he was able to withstand the out- 
cries of the porters, he was obliged to yield to the Duke of York, who, 
complaining that the enterprise encroached upon his monopoly, took 
over the profits. 

Dress, Food, and Recreations. — In dress, as in many other things, 
there was, after the Restoration, a decided revolt against the sim- 
plicity of the Puritan regime. Periwigs appeared for men, and women 
of fashion began to paint their faces and to adorn them with black 
patches ; they also adopted the practice of wearing vizards, or masques, 
on occasion, and, with their features thus concealed, grew more bold 
in their conduct. There was an inordinate rage for gambling, and all 
sorts of new card games came in after the return of Charles II. Among 
the pleasure resorts, Vauxhall Gardens, with a great hall for prome- 
nading and dancing and arbors for dining, was the most popular, if 
not the most respectable. Although the fare was simpler than now- 
adays, there was such an excess of eating and drinking, and medicine 
had made so little progress that the fashionable found it good, at 
certain periods, to take the waters and live on restricted diet. Tun- 
bridge Wells and Bath were the most famous health resorts. The 
former was still a small village, and the latter had none of the elabo- 
rate social codes or fine buildings and elegant appointments for which 
it was celebrated in the eighteenth century. All of that followed the 
advent of Beau Nash in 1705. The ordinary London citizen con- 
tented himself with Epsom, where for the past hundred years and 
more the Derby races have been held. There were many fields near 
the capital where the lesser folk, particularly the apprentices, went 
for walks on evenings and holidays. In contrast to the upper classes, 
the working people kept very early hours, beginning the day at six or 
seven, dining at one, and going to bed at sunset. 

Anglican Theology. — The drama, the choicest of the choice pro- 
ducts of Elizabethan literature, began to decline at the end of the 
reign of James I, and, notwithstanding the appearance of poetry of 
enduring note, the remainder of the century was preeminently an age of 
prose. The exuberance of the Renascence had spent its force, the 
growing Puritan spirit developed acute religious controversies, and 
pressing political problems claimed the energies of active minds. 
The Bible, in the magnificent King James version, became the dominat- 
ing influence among the graver people, high and low alike. It fos- 
tered independence of thought and stimulated the imagination even 
of the common man and prompted him to noble forms of expression, 
while it furnished a literary model of singular dignity and beauty for 
the man of letters, and provided an arsenal of weapons for the con- 



PURITAN AND CAVALIER ENGLAND 603 

troversialist. Both in political and theological discussions there are 
hosts of names, some furious partisans only to be remembered in con- 
nection with the questions of the day, others whose productions have 
survived as literary classics. Among the latter were many Anglican 
divines. 

The Latitudinarians. — The mean between Laudian extremists 
and Puritan fanatics was represented by the " Latitudinarians," who 
clung to the " sweet reasonableness " of Hooker, who aimed to em- 
phasize the essentials of faith and to minimize minor differences of 
dogma and Church polity. While recognizing the claims of Divine 
revelation, they sought to harmonize them with the conclusions of a 
natural theology, of reason and experience, and they laid stress on 
righteousness of conduct rather than correctness of opinion. Taking 
its rise in Holland, Latitudinarianism was promulgated chiefly by a 
small group of broad-minded thinkers who, on the eve of the Civil 
War, gathered round " that martyr of lucidity of mind and largeness 
of temper," Lord Falkland, at Great Tew. It was there that William 
Chillingworth (1602-1644) wrote his chief work, The Religion of 
Protestants (1638), a defense of Anglicanism on rational grounds. 
Another of the Latitudinarians was the " ever memorable John Hales 
of Eton," who would often say that " he would leave the Church of 
England to-morrow, if it obliged him to believe that any other Chris- 
tian should be damned, and that nobody would conclude another to 
be damned who did not wish him so." In 1646, appeared The Liberty 
of Prophesying, by Jeremy Taylor (1613-1667), " intended to secure 
religious freedom against spiritual tyranny." Taylor, who owed his 
early advancement to Laud and who was a pronounced royalist, is 
chiefly remembered for his Holy Living (1650) and Holy Dying (1651), 
rare among devotional works for its profound human appeal and the 
splendor of its style. " Quaint old Tom Fuller " (1608-1661), be- 
loved in his own day and by generations of readers in aftertimes for 
his sprightly wit and playful fancy, was among those who sought to 
steer a moderate course. His peculiar charm is best manifested in 
his Worthies of England (1662). 

The Latitudinarian tradition was continued by the " Cambridge 
Platonists," a small body of scholars at the University who, opposing 
the " sourness and severity " of the extreme Puritans on the one hand, 
and materialism on the other, advocated a sort of Christian Platonism. 
They were mystics whose philosophic temper was held in check by 
spiritual humbleness. In the troubled days of the Interregnum and 
in the first years after the Restoration, the teaching and influence of 
the Cambridge Platonists was almost the one oasis in the educational 
aridity which prevailed at the Universities, where the students had to 
depend rather upon themselves than their tutors. 1 The principles of 

1 The pursuit of learning, however, as distinguished from teaching, was far 
from dead, particularly at Cambridge, since that university furnished many dis- 
tinguished members to the Royal Society which began to flourish early in the reign 
of Charles II. 



604 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

the early Latitudinarians and the Cambridge Platonists were pre- 
served and developed by a long line of post-Restoration divines, among 
them Stillingfleet, Tillotson, and the historian Burnet. Though most 
of these men were statesmen rather than Christian philosophers, they 
strove manfully to maintain liberty of thought, to conciliate the Non- 
conformists, and to open wider the doors of the Establishment. As a 
body, the Latitudinarians enriched English theology with much good 
literature, they stood for peace in an age of bitter controversy, and for 
a toleration that was strange alike to the Laudians and their oppo- 
nents. 1 Moreover, they furnished examples of holy living only equaled 
by the best among the Puritans. 

Philosophy. — Among the speculative thinkers of the period, the 
two greatest names are Thomas Hobbes (i 588-1679) and John Locke 
(1632-1704). Hobbes, during his long and busy life, produced va- 
rious works on ethics, metaphysics, and political philosophy. His chief 
contribution was the Leviathan (published 1657), in which he likens 
the State to the fabulous sea monster in the book of Job, and then to a 
mortal god who exercises ab'solute control over the subject. This 
power, in his opinion, rested upon an original social compact 2 between 
the people to obey the sovereign in return for peace and protection 
against war and anarchy — the natural state of mankind. In addi- 
tion, he insisted upon the complete subordination of the Church to the 
State. His doctrines were such as to expose him to furious attacks 
from the extremists of both the opposing camps. The parliamen- 
tarians were alienated by his absolutism, while the royalists, with their 
notions of the Divine Right of kings, would not accept his explanation 
of the origin of government. Moreover, he was denounced as an 
atheist who conformed to the Church of England merely because it 
was established by the State. However, his political theories have 
had far-reaching consequences. They were taken up by Rousseau 
and the French Encyclopedists who furnished the intellectual prepara- 
tion for the French Revolution, while, furthermore, they profoundly 
influenced the English Utilitarians who contributed so much to popu- 
lar progress during the nineteenth century. The mouthpiece of the 
Tory absolutists was Sir Robert Filmer, whose Patriarcha, or the 
Natural Power of Kings Asserted, was first published in 1680, twenty- 
seven years after the author's death. While agreeing naturally with 
Hobbes as to the supreme authority of the State, he sought its origin 
in the power of the patriarchs, beginning with Adam, from whom the 
Divine Right of kings is derived by hereditary descent. Another 
famous political theorist of the period was James Harrington (161 1- 
1677), who published his Commonwealth of Oceana in 1656. It was a 

1 Richard Baxter (1615-1691), author of the Saints' Everlasting Rest, who ended 
his career as a Presbyterian, was one of the most notable and, certainly, the most 
prolific of the writers among the Nonconformist clergy. 

2 An ancient doctrine, long dormant, which had been recently revived by Hooker, 
Grotius, and others. 



PURITAN AND CAVALIER ENGLAND 605 

plan of a new republican constitution for England, based on the model 
of Venice and suggested by the writings of Machiavelli. But the only 
political thinker of the century to compare with Hobbes was Locke. 
He was a man of astonishing versatility. He was a tutor at Oxford. 
As secretary to the Council for the Plantations he drafted a constitu- 
tion for the Carolinas ; he had a share in the restoration of coinage in 
1696 ; he practiced medicine ; and, according to John Stuart Mill, he 
was the " unquestioned founder of the analytic philosophy of the 
mind." His writings include four letters on Toleration; two Treatises 
on Civil Government ; an Essay concerning Human Understanding; 
Thoughts on Education ; and a work on the Reasonableness of Chris- 
tianity. His political treatises are at once a reply to Filmer and a 
defense of the Revolution of 1688. Accepting the views of Hobbes 
as to the origin and end of government, he went beyond him in insist- 
ing upon the supremacy of the legislature as the voice of the people ; 
the responsibility of the prince to the subject ; and the right of resist- 
ance when the governors of the State failed to observe their trust. 

Economic Theory. — While the seventeenth century marked a 
considerable output of economic writing, most of the works were 
written for practical purposes and paid little attention to principles. 
Political economy as yet had no independent name; it was regarded 
merely as a branch of statecraft and business. The writers on the 
subject were, as a rule, merchants or politicians concerned with in- 
creasing the power, the treasure, the fisheries, and shipping of the 
country. Chief among them was a group which was principally en- 
gaged in defending the privileges of the East India Company. Thomas 
Mun (1571-1641), one of the directors, although a pronounced mer- 
cantilist, defended the company's export of bullion for the purchase of 
goods from the Orient. In his Discourse of Trade (162 1) he argued 
that a goodly proportion of such goods were sold on the Continent at a 
profit; thus, in the long run, bringing to England a margin of treasure. 
Furthermore, he contended that, since oriental products would be im- 
ported anyway, it was cheaper for the Company to bring them by 
sea, which was cheaper than the alternative overland route. He de- 
veloped his arguments in England' 's Treasure by Foreign Trade, prob- 
ably written in 1632, though not published till 1644. Sir Josiah Child 
(1630-1699), who managed the affairs of the Company in the time of 
Charles II and James II, advanced many steps beyond his predecessors 
in economic thinking. He recognized that gold and silver were only 
commodities themselves though used as a measure of other commodi- 
ties, and while he defended monopoly on the ground that it made for 
national power if not for national wealth, he realized the commercial 
advantages of free trade. Though he succeeded in grasping some of 
the fundamental principles of political economy, he was primarily a 
shrewd, experienced business man who treated the subject as an art 
rather than a science. His New Discourse of Trade appeared in 1665. 
His slightly older contemporary, Sir William Petty (1623-1687), really 



606 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

contributed more toward exposing the fallacies of mercantilism. He 
wrote on money and taxes, and was a pioneer in advocating the use of 
statistics in economic studies. But perhaps the most advanced 
thinker among seventeenth-century economists was Nicholas Barbon 
(1640-1698), who anticipated Adam Smith — the creator of modern 
political economy and the first great apostle of free trade — in such 
fundamental terms as his definition of the true nature of wealth. He 
further prepared the way for his great successor by developing the 
argument that restriction of imports meant restriction of exports as 
well. 

Scientific Progress. — The early part of the seventeenth century 
was marked by two notable scientific achievements — the inven- 
tion of logarithms by John Napier (1550-1617) and discovery of the 
circulation of the blood by William Harvey (1578-1657). These 
advances, however, were in striking contrast to the survival of popular 
superstitions, such as the belief in witchcraft shared by many eminent 
men, while scientific learning continued long in disrepute. Sir Walter 
Raleigh " was notoriously slandered to have enriched a school of 
atheism because he gave countenance to chemistry, to practical arts, 
and to curious mechanical operations, and designed to form the best 
of them into a college." The study of mathematics was not only much 
neglected but abhorred as a diabolical pursuit, so that when Sir Henry 
Savile, in 1619, instituted a professorship of geometry and astronomy 
at Oxford, many of the gentry refused to send their sons to the Uni- 
versity lest they might be " smutted by the black art." But the dawn 
was beginning to break. Bacon did much for the advancement of 
experimental science, though more by what he suggested than by any 
achievements of his own. Then the work of Galileo and Kepler on 
the Continent in time produced its effect in England. A new scientific 
era was heralded by the establishment of the Royal Society for the 
promotion of " Physico-Mathematical Experimental Learning." 
Starting as the " Invisible College " in 1645, it was incorporated under 
its present name in 1662. A distinctive feature of the Restoration was 
a new rationalism, a new scientific temper. Charles II and the ver- 
satile Buckingham toyed with chemistry. The National Observatory 
was built at Greenwich, and signs of advance were manifested in 
various fields. Robert Boyle (1627-1691), one of the founders of the 
Royal Society and " the father of modern chemistry," established the 
relation between volume and pressure of gases known as Boyle's Law. 
Encouraging work was also done in botany and zoology, though none 
of these subjects got beyond the most rudimentary stages. The 
great scientific genius of the age, however, and one of the greatest of 
any age, was Sir Isaac Newton (1641-1724), who made no less than 
three contributions to human knowledge — the discovery of the law 
of gravitation, the theory of fluxions or differential calculus, and the 
compound nature of white light. The former discovery, his supreme 
achievement, was made in 1666, and announced in his Principia in 



PURITAN AND CAVALIER ENGLAND 607 

1687. Altogether, much was being done to wring secrets from " na- 
ture's close reserve." 

Prose Literature. — In pure literature the age is remarkable for 
a few rare products of scholarly leisure, as delightful in form as they are 
learned in content. Among them is the Anatomy of Melancholy 
of Robert Burton (1 577-1640), a monument of erudition, abounding 
in fantastic reflections on men and things, and, strangely enough, 
considering the subject, permeated with whimsical humor. Sir 
Thomas Browne (1605-168 2), a physician of Norwich, famed for his 
garden and his collection of books and natural specimens, was a many- 
sided scholar who ranged over wider fields even than Burton. In his 
Religio Medici, his Enquiries into Vulgar Errors, his Urn Burial, and 
his Garden of Cyrus he displays not only vast knowledge and richness 
of imagination, but a pomp and magnificence of diction rarely equaled 
in literature. Izaak Walton (1593-1683), an unpretentious London 
ironmonger, had a love of nature, a genius for friendship, and a 
sweet simplicity and a cheery humor which is reflected in his Com- 
plete Angler and in his lives of Hooker, Donne, Herbert, and Wotton. 
John Bunyan (1628-1688), a humble, self-educated tinsmith, while a 
prisoner in Bedford jail, wrote his immortal Pilgrim's Progress (1678), 
which stands with the Divine Comedy and the Faerie Queene among 
the world's great allegories. With a unique gift for direct, vivid 
narration and realistic character portrayal, as well as an inspired under- 
standing of the spiritual needs and hopes and fears of the people 
among whom he lived, he embodied them in enduring form in a work 
which is at once a sublime religious tract and a forerunner of the 
modern novel. 

Non-dramatic Poetry. — While as a whole not so distinctive as the 
prose, the poetry of the period is noteworthy both in volume and 
character, and altogether too varied in type to be comprehended within 
any single generalization. John Donne (1 573-1631) was the first 
and greatest of the " Fantastic School," a long line who survived 
even beyond the Restoration. Another was George Herbert (1593- 
I0 33), who gave up glittering worldly prospects to settle down as a 
simple country parson. They essayed the formidable task of em- 
ploying the poetic medium for interpreting profound metaphysical 
and religious problems. Moreover, by their " conceits " or far-fetched 
images and analogies, they heightened the obscurity of their themes, 
and tended to become extravagant and bizarre. Nevertheless, we 
owe to them passages of rare beauty, flashing light on spiritual aspira- 
tion and experience. While none of them were Puritans,, the Puritan 
influence goes far to explain their earnestness and intensity. A stage 
in the transition from the fantastic to the prosaic poets of the eigh- 
teenth century was marked by Andrew Marvell (1621-1678). He 
turned to party politics during the Interregnum, and, after the Restora- 
tion, was chiefly active as a satirist and pamphleteer. Then there was 
a group of Cavalier poets — Richard Lovelace and John Suckling — 



608 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

who flourished at the court of Henrietta Maria ; they were notorious 
for their irregular lives and produced mostly amatory verse. Also, 
there were pastoral poets, who continued the Spenserian tradition. 
Best of them all was Robert Herrick (i 591-1674), who wrote exquisite 
verses breathing the sweet air of the countryside and reflecting the 
pleasures of the rustic folk among whom he lived for many years as a 
parson. In view of the prose and lyric poetry which appeared about 
the middle of the century, it cannot be said that either Puritanism or 
the Civil Wars stifled literary production. 1 

John Milton. — The finest flower of Puritan culture was John 
Milton, in whom the influences of the Renascence and the Reforma- 
tion were strangely mingled; for he combined finished classical 
scholarship with a profound and reverent knowledge of the Bible. 
As an undergraduate at Cambridge he began to write Latin verses, 
and, in 1629, the year in which he took his degree, appeared his splendid 
Ode to the Nativity. This was followed, in 1632, by V Allegro and 
II Penseroso, which contrast in exquisite lines the joyous mood of 
morning with that of the sadness of evening. The next year came his 
masque, Comus, a hauntingly beautiful double allegory of the peren- 
nial struggle of virtue against vice and of the pending conflict of the 
two parties in the State. His next notable publication was Lycidas, 
an elegy on the death of a college friend. Here in the form of a pastoral, 
reminiscent of Spenser and teeming with pictures of nature and with 
mythical lore, he fiercely attacked the corruptions of the existing es- 
tablishment. As the Civil War approached, he became increasingly 
serious, and, turning from poetry to prose, argued for religious and 
political freedom in language of harsh or impassioned eloquence. 
His Areopagitica (1644) is a noble plea for the liberty of the press, 
and his Defensio pro Populo Anglicano is regarded as the finest defense 
of the Commonwealth ever penned. While his prose writing is marred 
by want of method, by bitter partisanship, and occasionally by over- 
elaboration, his glowing enthusiasm for liberty, guided by Divine order, 
and the loftiness and magnificence of his best passages, give his work 
a value far beyond any practical importance it may have had. In 1649 
he became Latin secretary to the Council of State, retaining the post 
till the accession of Charles II, though he had, in the meantime, lost 
his eyesight. A fugitive for a short time after the Restoration, he was 
arrested, but soon released with a fine. From his youth up he had 
contemplated the dedication of his poetic talents to the production 
of a great work illustrating the Divine plan of the universe. Now, 
living in retirement, embittered by the failure of the cause he had 

1 Samuel Butler (1612-1680), during the years from 1663 to 1668, published his 
Hudibras, in which, detailing the adventures of a Puritan knight and his squire, 
after the manner of Don Quixote, he bitterly ridicules the intolerance and hypocrisy 
which he seems to regard as typical of the party. Although packed with learned 
allusions and enlivened by brilliant phrases, his work is prevailingly coarse and 
superficial — more of a caricature than a satire. 



PURITAN AND CAVALIER ENGLAND 609 

espoused, by unhappy domestic experiences, by poverty, and blindness 
he completed, between 1663 and 1667, his sublimest literary achieve- 
ment, Paradise Lost. The vastness of the design and the marvelous 
harmony of the blank verse give it a place among the highest produc- 
tions of the world's literature. Yet it is one of the works which all 
too many are content to admire from afar rather than to read, and Mil- 
ton received for it just £ 10. Paradise Lost, which deals with the temp- 
tation and fall of man, was followed in 1671 by Paradise Regained, 
which tells of man's redemption through Jesus Christ. From its 
perfection of technique it is essentially a " poet's poem " ; and was 
pronounced perfect by Wordsworth and Coleridge ; but, owing to 
its austere restraint, it has never made such a general appeal as 
its predecessor. Samson Agonistes, which appeared at the same 
time, is a tragedy of the old Greek type, though it relates the 
Scriptural story of Samson fighting against the Philistines. In 
it Milton mirrored his own heroic but futile strivings against the 
opposing forces of his day. 

John Dryden, 1631-1700. — - The representative man of letters of the 
Restoration period was John Dryden, poet laureate and historiog- 
rapher, 1670-1689, who reflects in his writing his varying political 
and religious views. Beginning as a Commonwealth man, he bewailed 
Cromwell's death in Heroic Stanzas in 1658 ; then he welcomed the 
Restoration in A strcea Redux, 1 660, and a Panegyric, 1 66 1 . He attacked 
the " Papists " in the Spanish Friar, 1681, and defended Anglicanism in 
Religio Laid, 1682 ; but, converted to the Roman Catholic faith the 
year after the accession of James II, he denounced the Church he had 
discarded and eulogized the one he had adopted in the Hind and the 
Panther. The best that can be said of him is that, after the Revolu- 
tion of 1688, he made no attempt to gain the favor of the new Govern- 
ment by repudiating Roman Catholicism. His highest achievements 
were in satirical verse, a domain in which he has no peers among Eng- 
lish writers. His keen and dexterous thrusts at his opponents have 
" damned them to everlasting fame." The best known of his politi- 
cal satires are Absalom and Achitophel, 1681 ; the Medal, 1682 ; and 
MacFlecknoe. The two former are directed mainly against Shaftes- 
bury, while in the latter he lashed Thomas Shadwell — his successor 
as Poet Laureate — as one who " never deviates into sense." Two 
magnificent odes to St. Cecilia, 1687 and 1697, the latter known as 
Alexander's Feast, reflect Dryden's gentler and nobler mood. His 
Fables, consisting of paraphrases from Chaucer, from Ovid, and other 
classics, together with some original pieces, also take a high rank in 
English verse. He was, in addition, a busy and productive playwright, 
beginning with the Wild Gallant in 1663 and ending his dramatic ca- 
reer with Love Triumphant, a tragi-comedy, in 1694. His aim was to 
cater to the court and the town, who, influenced by the French taste 
acquired by the Cavaliers in exile, craved novelty, and scorned the 
great products of the Elizabethan and Jacobean age. This " refined 



610 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

age," wrote the diarist Evelyn, was " disgusted " with the " old 
plays," but it was a refinement of fashion, not of literary or ethical 
standards. 

The Drama. — While there was growing taste for masques during 
the reigns of James I and Charles I, the first thirty years of the century 
witnessed a constant succession of excellent plays, well acted and 
enthusiastically received by the public. However, the decline began 
to set in during the decade preceding the ordinance of September, 1642, 
closing the theaters. This was due, in some degree, to the aggressive 
hostility of the Puritans, 1 who turned the soberer folk against the 
playhouses and forced the dramatic authors to appeal more and more 
to the classes, both among the fashionable and the rabble, who were 
bound by no scruples of taste or morals. James Shirley (1 596-1666) 
was in his tragedies the last of the Elizabethans, while in his comedy 
Hyde Park (licensed 1632, printed 1637) he was the forerunner of the 
Restoration. In this age of extravagant revolt against the recent 
Puritan regime, the Elizabethan spirit, which the reign of the saints 
had helped to kill, was not revived in the Restoration drama. As 
in so many other fields, a new era of experiment began. Tragedies in 
heroic couplets and prose comedies of wit and manners — both form 
and content markedly influenced by French models — took the place 
of the older tragedies and romantic comedies in blank verse. The 
pioneer of the new drama was Sir George Etheredge (i635?-i6qi), 
who adapted Moliere's style to English conditions, and in his Comical 
Revenge (1664) gave the public a tragi-comedy in the rhymed heroic 
couplets. In the Man of Mode, 1676, his third and last play, he 
furnished the model for the later prose type. The French models 
were frequently immoral enough ; but transformed into English dress, 
or rather undress, they were all too often insufferably coarse and cynical. 
For this Charles II and his courtiers were largely responsible, by mak- 
ing sensuality and cynicism the mark of a fine gentleman. The come- 
dies, disagreeable as most of them are, have great historical value 
as reflections of contemporary life, especially of the upper classes in 
London, and because the prologues and epilogues were used, partic- 
ularly by Dryden, for airing political animosities. The foulest of 
the Restoration playwrights was William Wycherley (1640-17 15). 
Queen Mary, setting her face against the prevailing tendency, did 
somewhat toward purifying the drama, and Jeremy Collier, the most 
learned of the Non-jurors, registered a vigorous protest in his Short 
View of the Prof oneness and Immorality of the English Stage, 1698. 
Dryden admitted the justice of the rebuke, but improvement was slow 
in coming. Sir John Vanbrugh (1666-17 26) * s almost as bad as 
Wycherley, while William Congreve (1670-1729) and George Farquhar 
(1678-1707), though somewhat better, embody, to a large extent, 

1 It has been well said that the Puritan did harm to the stage by fixing the stamp 
of frivolity upon it; but contributed to poetry by lending it the force of spiritual 
imagination. 



PURITAN AND CAVALIER ENGLAND 611 

the unpleasant features of the Restoration drama. Real reform only 
came with the sentimental comedy initiated by Richard Steele. 

Literary Criticism. — Literary criticism, which first begins to make 
substantial progress during the years following the Restoration, also 
owes much to France, especially to the French exile Saint-Evremond 
(1613-1703). Dryden shone in this as in so many other forms of liter- 
ary activity. His critical essays, and indeed those of most of his fellow 
craftsmen, appeared mainly in prefaces to plays. Nowhere is the 
French influence more marked than in the new prose style. Truly, 
the Court of Louis XIV and Paris were dictating the fashions in writing 
as well as in dress. The majestic, musical, but overinvolved and elab- 
orate style of the Elizabethans gave way to a clearer, simpler form of 
writing, more adapted for scientific exposition, for controversy, and 
for narrative and description — the language of the novel, destined to 
become the typical literary product of the next two centuries. 

Art, Architecture, and Music. — While pride of ancestry prompted 
many to employ Dutch and Flemish artists to execute family portraits, 
and while the Earl of Arundel, the Duke of Buckingham, and Charles I 
were collectors of no mean repute, there was, nevertheless, no general 
appreciation of art among seventeenth-century Englishmen. Nor, 
except in miniatures, were there any native portrait painters of real 
note. Of the foreign artists in England, the most famous were Rubens 
(1577-1640) and Vandyke (1599-1641). The former during a brief 
sojourn, in 16 29-1 630, painted several portraits and received an order 
for the decoration of Whitehall. The latter remained in England most 
of the time from 1632 till his death. He was appointed court painter 
and executed several fine pictures of Charles I and his family, as well 
as of prominent men of the time. Cromwell, who was fond both of 
music and painting, had as official painter Robert Walker, though in 
addition he gave his patronage to Peter van der Vars (1618-1680), 
better known as Peter Lely. Charles II inherited none of his father's 
taste for art, but Lely became his court painter, and is famous for his 
portraits of the royal favorites. Samuel Cooper (1609-1672), a gifted 
miniature painter, once described as " Vandyke in little," executed 
likenesses of the prominent men, both of the Commonwealth and the 
Restoration. 

In architecture the century was dominated by Inigo Jones (1573- 
1652) and Christopher Wren (1632-1723). This fact marks a signifi- 
cant departure from the traditions of the Middle Ages, when the style 
and not the man was the distinguishing factor. Jones was profoundly 
influenced by the Italian Palladio, notable for his composite adaptation 
of the ancient Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian forms. Almost no new 
churches were built during the first half of the century ; but Jones did 
much in the way of restoring ecclesiastical edifices and public build- 
ings. Wren, his famous successor, was active as an architect from 
1663 to 1718. The fire of London gave him an opportunity to rebuild 
St. Paul's as well as about fifty parish churches. Marlborough House 



6i2 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

and the royal hospital at Greenwich are among the other works of his 
long and busy life. Unfortunately, his two principal buildings do not 
show him at his best ; for St. Paul's was not completed according to 
his original designs, while Greenwich hospital was decidedly marred 
by the dramatist Vanbrugh, who succeeded him as architect. Van- 
brugh, who sacrificed proportion and grace in attempts at grandeur, 
and who achieved " gloomy solidity," is chiefly known as the designer 
of Blenheim, the country seat of the Dukes of Marlborough. 

With the striking exception of Cromwell, the Puritans were notori- 
ously hostile to music. Charles II, in contrast to his indifference to 
other forms of art, was an enthusiastic patron of music. Henry Pur- 
cell ( 1 658-1 695), recognized as England's greatest musical genius, 
came to the front in his reign. As an organist in the Royal Chapel 
he composed an ode for the King's birthday. His famous grand opera 
Dido and JEncas (1675) was the first ever written to an English poem. 
His anthems and church music are well known ; but his greatest work 
was the Te Deum and Jubilate composed for St. Cecilia's Day, 1694. 

Final Summary of the Period. — Thus, aside from epoch-making 
political events, the century was a notable one. It witnessed the later 
plays of Shakespeare as well as those of Ben Jonson and hosts of other 
dramatists, the writings of Milton, and of innumerable poets be- 
sides ; compositions in stately prose of men of letters and divines ; 
treatises on political philosophy, trade, and economics ; and, what 
was big in future results, the foundation stones of empire were laid 
in America and in India. 



FOR ADDITIONAL READING 

General conditions. Traill, Social England, IV, chs. XIII-XV. Trevelyan, 
England under the Stuarts, chs. I, II ; an admirable picture of the life of the upper and 
lower classes in the early Stuart period. Macaulay, I, ch. Ill ; a famous description 
of conditions in the Restoration period. W. F,. Sydney, Social Life in England, 
1660-166Q (1892). 

Social and industrial. Cunningham, English Industry and Commerce, "Modern 
Times," pt. II, sees. 183-208. Unwin, Social and Industrial Organization. Pro- 
thero, English Farming, chs. V, VI. Rogers, Agriculture and Prices, chs. V, VI. W. 
A. Hewins, English Trade and Finance, chiefly in the Seventeenth Century (1892) . Eliza- 
beth Godfrey, Home Life under the Stuarts (1903) and Social Life under the Stuarts 
(1904). A. H. Hamilton, Quarter Sessions from Elizabeth to Anne (1878) relates 
chiefly to Devonshire. Lady Verney, Memoirs of the Vemey Family (4 vols., 
1892-1899). H. B. Wheatley, Samuel Pepys and the World he lived In (1880). 
Rose M. Bradley, The English Housewife in the XVII and XVIII Centuries (1913). 

Literary and intellectual. Moody and Lovett, chs. VII-IX (reading guide, pp. 
392-396). Taine, English Literature, bk. II, chs., V, VI; bk. Ill, ch. I. Cambridge 
History of Literature, VII, VIII (bibliographies at end of vols.). Lodge, Political 
History, ch. XX; Jusserand, ch. III. Cambridge Modem History, IV, ch. XXVI; 
V, chs. Ill, VI, XXIII (bibliographies, IV, pp. 948-0; V, pp. 775-779, 799-808, 
903-910). E. Dowden, Puritan and Anglican (1900). Masson, Milton; the stand- 
ard work. There are short Lives of Milton by Mark Pattison (1879, 1906) and 
Sir Walter Raleigh (1900). See also Macaulay's essay on Milton. Saintsbury, 
Dryden (1881, 1902). 



PURITAN AND CAVALIER ENGLAND 613 

Religion and Church. Hutton, English Church, chs. XVI-XIX. J. Hunt, Religious 
Thought in England (3 vols., 1870). J. H. Overton, Life in the English Church, 1660- 
1714 (1885). Babington, Mr. Macaulay's Character of the Clergy (1849). Cam- 
bridge Modem History, chs. XI, XXIV (bibliography, pp. 838-839, 911-917). 

Contemporary. Pepys, Diary. Evelyn, Diary. R. Baxter, Narrative of the Most 
Memorable Passages of his Life and Times (ed. M. Sylvester, 1696). George Fox, 
Journal (1694, ed. W. Armistead, 2 vols., 1852) ; a great spiritual autobiography. 

Political philosophy. Sir Robert Filmer, Patriarcha, or the Natural Power of 
Kings (1680, ed. 1903, introd. by Henry Morley). Thomas Hobbes, The Leviathan 
(1651, ed. A. R.Waller, 1904). John Locke, Two Treatises on Civil Government 
(1690, ed. 1903, introd. by Henry Morley). 



CHAPTER XXXVI 

THE EARLY YEARS OF THE NEW DYNASTY AND THE OPENING 
OF THE GREAT WAR. WILLIAM AND MARY 1689-1694 

The Three Leading Characteristics of the " Eighteenth Century." — 
The period between the Revolution of 1688-1689 and the passage of 
the Reform Bill of 1832 x does not on the surface present any striking 
features of organic growth. The course, both of domestic and 
foreign affairs, appears to be perplexed, meaningless, and unfruitful : 
the former little more than a constant scramble for office, power, and 
profit between the various factions, usually of the dominant party 2 ; 
the latter occupied chiefly in a series of wars, complex and bewildering 
in their causes and their results. In each case, however, an impor- 
tant issue was being worked out. The political struggle at home 
produced the existing system of Cabinet and party government, while 
the wars abroad made Great Britain the world power she is to-day. 
Moreover, the period was marked by a veritable industrial revolu- 
tion. A brief preliminary examination of the origin and growth of 
two of these features of eighteenth-century development — the origin 
and growth of the Cabinet and party system and the expansion of 
England — will serve to make clearer the history of the period. 

The Cabinet and Party System. — The English Cabinet and party 
system is especially notable from the fact that its machinery is the 
most perfect which has yet been devised for speedily and peacefully 
voicing the will of the people 3 and because it is the system which has 
been adopted, with more or less variation, by the chief European 
governments in recent times. It is essentially a government by an 
executive committee of Parliament 4 whose members represent and 

1 Because of certain prevailing characteristics, all of this period is sometimes 
referred to as the "Eighteenth Century." 

2 It was only occasionally that the two great parties were evenly balanced ; 
for during the earlier part of the period the Tories were generally out of favor be- 
cause of their devotion to the exiled Stuarts ; while later the Whigs fell under an 
eclipse because they were identified with the cause, first of the American, then of the 
French revolutionists. 

3 That is the test which distinguishes an absolutism from a constitutional gov- 
ernment. Under the former, the people have no means of expressing their will in 
a regular normal way, and must resort to revolution when they can no longer bear 
with their rulers. 

*The Cabinet is also spoken of as a committee of the Privy Council; but 
while every Cabinet minister must be a member of the Privy Council, that is a 
mere formality, since he is always made such if selected for a Cabinet office. The 
Cabinet is an inner circle of the Ministry ; many ministers chosen to be heads of 
departments are not admitted to the Cabinet. 

614 



THE OPENING OF THE GREAT WAR 615 

are responsible to the majority of the House of Commons, which, 
in its turn, represents the qualified voters of Great Britain. 1 Just as 
soon as the majority withdraws its support the Ministry either resigns, 
or dissolves Parliament, and submits to the verdict of a general election. 
Contrary to the earlier practice, the sovereign no longer arbitrarily 
appoints and dismisses his ministers, and, ordinarily, he does nothing 
without the advice of the body which has superseded him as the 
actual head of the State. 2 The Cabinet is united under a head known 
as the Prime Minister, and its members are both jointly and severally 
responsible to their party. Except in rare cases, if one goes, they all 
go. The Cabinet system is essentially a post-Revolutionary product ; 
for, it has been well said, while the Puritan Revolution determined 
that Parliament should be supreme, it was the subsequent course of 
events which determined how the sovereignty should be exercised.' 

The Responsibility of Ministers before the Restoration. — Never- 
theless, from the time when the barons rose against John, attempts 
were made to force particular measures on the Crown and to control 
its choice of ministers. Several efforts, particularly of the latter sort, 
were made under Henry III, which were repeated under Edward III, 
who made a notable but temporary concession in 1341. A significant 
innovation came in 1376, when the Good Parliament first made use 
of impeachments to call royal servants and favorites to account. 
For a time, during the " constitutional experiment in government " 
under the Lancastrians, Parliament was supreme over the Council, 
appointing its members and supervising its acts. As yet, however, 
there were no recognized parties ; but merely factions led by the great 
nobles. Under the Yorkists and Tudors the Council again became an 
instrument of royal despotism, and it was not till the accession of the 
Stuarts that Parliament once more made any attempt to call the King's 
ministers to account. It is only necessary, in this connection, to recall 
the impeachments of Buckingham and Strafford. 

Ministerial Responsibility after the Restoration. — Great strides 
in this direction were taken after the Restoration. Clarendon, though 
Charles II was ready to throw him over, was really forced out of office 
by a parliamentary attack, while Danby had to be dismissed, in spite 
of the King's efforts to save him. Even yet, however, Parliament 
had not recovered its voice in appointments and had no means of 
removal except by impeachments on serious charges. Meantime, the 
practice had become common of governing with the advice of a small 
group of men selected usually from the larger Privy Council. Charles 
II had more than one such Cabinet or Cabal, and so had James. 

The Rise of Modern Parties. — While these advisers were still 
responsible to the King, the parties were already in making who were 
later to assume that control. Under the name Whigs and Tories they 

1 The name of the country since the parliamentary union with Scotland in 1707. 

2 Since 1 707 there has been no case of a royal veto of a bill that has passed Parlia- 
ment. 



616 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

began to assume permanent and tangible form during the Exclusion 
Struggle, although their beginnings may be traced back to the Cavalier 
and Country parties. The Roundheads, of course, had been broken 
up by the Restoration, nor did they form a party in the modern sense ; 
since they had no recognized voice in the regular and normal control of 
the Administration, which is the present function of the party in 
power. It remained for William, some years after his accession, to 
take the decisive step that resulted in a form of government controlled 
and administered by a body of men representing a particular policy. 

Progress of Cabinet and Party Government under William III. — 
William's first Cabinet was composed of men of diverse opinions, for he 
aimed to balance parties. While the Tories, in general, favored 
James II, there were reasons, as will be seen later, why he hesitated 
to put himself altogether in the hands of the Whigs. Early in his 
reign, however, two ministers in succession, Halifax, in 1689, and 
Shrewsbury, in 1690, resigned in consequence of opposition in the Com- 
mons and when they were in no danger of impeachment. An innova- 
tion came when William, acting on advice given him by Sunderland, 
in 1693, began to choose his ministers exclusively from the Whig 
party — which was then in a majority in the Lower House — gradually 
got rid of his Tory ministers, and depended for a few years mainly 
on a body of Whig ministers. William, however, remained the real 
head of the Government ; he was his own Foreign Minister, acting often 
independently, sometimes in opposition to his ministers, and frequently 
consulting outside advisers. Nor was there as yet any ministerial 
solidarity; for Parliament held individuals, not the whole body, re- 
sponsible for a particular policy. Moreover, William had no notion 
of introducing a new principle into the Government; his aim was simply 
to secure a greater efficiency in administration and more united support 
for his wars. By 1699 his leading Whig ministers had fallen out of 
favor with the House of Commons and, one by one, they were forced 
to resign. But the principle that was in the end to prevail — that the 
duties and responsibilities of government belonged not to the Privy 
Council as a whole, but to a small body chosen and retained largely 
because of their ability to command a majority in the Lower House — ■ 
had been advised and tried. Anne, who succeeded in 1702, though a 
weak sovereign, was anxious for personal rule, and succeeded in re- 
tarding somewhat the progress of the new system. A Whig ministry 
was forced upon her in the middle of her reign ; but, taking advantage 
of a popular reaction, she dismissed it, in 171 1, while it still commanded 
a majority in the Lower House. 

The Completion of the System under the Hanoverians. — It was 
under the first two sovereigns of the House of Hanover, George I and 
George II, that the Cabinet system took practically its modern form. 
Not only was the lost ground regained, but the Prime Minister took 
the place of the Sovereign as head of the Cabinet; gradually he 
became less dependent on the King and rather the leader of the 



THE OPENING OF THE GREAT WAR 617 

majority party in power in the House of Commons, dependent on their 
support more than on royal favor ; x while the Cabinet members came 
to act "as a unit under him," and came — at least more and fre- 
quently — to be responsible jointly as well as individually for their 
acts. Many reasons explain this striking development. For one 
thing, the new monarchs threw no obstacle in the way. George I, 
ignorant of the language and customs of the country, and taking little 
interest in English affairs, soon ceased to attend Cabinet meetings, 
and George II followed his example. Moreover, their title was parlia- 
mentary rather than hereditary, and they had been called in by the 
Whigs, whose policy was to diminish as far as possible the royal pre- 
rogative. 2 Another important factor was the ascendancy of Sir 
Robert Walpole, who, during the years of his supremacy, 1721-1742, 
dominated his colleagues, though often with much difficulty. 3 Further- 
more, under him the Commons grew steadily in power, partly because 
of the increasing importance of financial questions in which they had a 
decisive voice through their control of the purse, and partly through the 
passage of the Septennial Act of 17 16 which increased their independ- 
ence by lengthening the possible duration of Parliament to seven years. 

The Perfection of the System by the Extension of the Electorate. — 
George III attempted for a time to restore personal, in place of minis- 
terial rule ; but the new system had become too firmly established to 
be permanently shaken ; consequently, he had to give in before he had 
half finished his reign. The crowning step was taken in the nine- 
teenth century, when, by a series of reform bills, the House of Commons 
was made truly representative of the people. Cabinet and party 
government as it exists to-day, while it is not the result of any prin- 
ciples embodied in the Revolution of 1688, was made possible by events 
which developed in consequence of that movement. 

The Wars of the Eighteenth Century and their Significance. — 
Passing to the external history of the period, the most evident feature 
is the constant succession of wars. During the interval of one hundred 
and twenty-seven years which elapsed between the Revolution of 
1688 and the overthrow of Napoleon at Waterloo in 181 5 there were 
seven, occupying sixty-four years, or more than half the period. 4 

1 George I did dismiss his leading minister, Townshend, in 1716-1717 ; but that 
was because he opposed him in a matter of foreign policy, a subject in which the 
King was vitally interested. 

2 The Tories, too, were for a long time enemies of the prerogative because the 
Hanoverians occupied the throne. 

3 It has been recently shown that Walpole was more dependent on royal sup- 
port than has been commonly supposed. 

4 They were : 

1. " King William's War," 1689-1697. 

2. The War of the Spanish Succession, 1702-1713. 

3. The War of the Austrian Succession, 1 739-1 748. 

4. The Seven Years' War, 1756-1763. 

5. The War of the American Revolution, 1775-1783. 

6 and 7. Two wars with France, 1 793-1802 and 1803-1815. 



618 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

They not only convulsed all Europe, but extended over a wide area 
of the globe as well. While, at first sight, they seem to have no unity 
of cause or result, a single issue, so far as Great Britain is concerned, 
really connected them all. Five began and ended with France, and, 
though the third began with Spain and the fifth with the American 
Colonies, France became involved in both before the close. The chief 
result of this persistent duel was that England — at the cost of 
thousands of lives and a public debt of £840,000,000 — gained an 
unrivaled commercial ascendancy and vast colonial possessions, chiefly 
at the expense of France. In King William's War, which was directed 
mainly against the ascendancy in Europe of Louis XIV, these issues 
were not yet evident ; but the crippling of French resources had an 
important bearing on the subsequent struggles. 

In the war of the Spanish Succession many causes were operative, 
but commercial questions played a leading role ; for the English 
entered the conflict largely from fear of the colonial monopoly which 
might result in case the House of Bourbon should acquire the Spanish 
inheritance, and secured, by the Peace of Utrecht, trade concessions 
and territories in the New World. In the three wars from 1739 to 
1783, 1 although many other questions were involved, a most significant 
factor was a prolonged struggle between England and France for the 
control of America and India. Great Britain lost the thirteen colonies, 
but she secured from France the territory now known as the Dominion 
of Canada and gained the upper hand in India. Even in the Napo- 
leonic wars colonial issues were by no means overlooked. Napoleon, 
who recovered Louisiana, the territory west of the Mississippi which 
Spain had held since 1763, designed to make it the basis of a western 
empire, a plan from which he was only diverted by an insurrection 
in Haiti. He also led an expedition to Egypt to strike at the British 
power in India, but was frustrated by the genius of Nelson. In this 
" gigantic rivalry between England and France " it will be necessary 
to search for the causes which led England to prevail. 

The Rise of the Atlantic Seaboard States and the Decline of Portu- 
gal, Spain, and the Dutch. — Up to the middle of the fifteenth century, 
the Mediterranean remained the center of commerce, and the chief 
seats of business and wealth were the Italian cities. But the capture of 
Constantinople by the Turks in 1453, which blocked the overland trade 
routes from the East, led men to search for new routes by sea to India 
and China. With their discovery, and the discovery of a new con- 
tinent as well, the Atlantic took the place of the Mediterranean as a 
highway of commerce. Italy, harassed at the same time by invasions 
of rival sovereigns contending for dominion and by the depredations 
of the rising Turkish sea power, rapidly declined. Gradually, the 
five Atlantic seaboard states — Portugal, Spain, the Dutch, France, and 

1 So far as Great Britain and France were concerned they were really "varying 
phases of one war"; for throughout the period their forces were righting pretty 
constantly in America and India. 



THE OPENING OF THE GREAT WAR 619 

England — came to the front. The first three, one after another, fell 
back in the race, in spite of promising starts, leaving France and 
England to fight for the ultimate supremacy. 

Reasons why Great Britain prevailed over France. — France had 
great resources, broad territories, and industrial aptitude, yet she 
failed to prevail. Certain local causes were operative in America, — 
her object was to trade and to advance the Roman Catholic faith 
rather than to send colonists who would found homes, and her pos- 
sessions were inferior both from the standpoint of climate and strategy 
to those of the English, — but the chief reason for her failure was that 
her energies were divided between the New World and the Old. At 
the very time that she was contending for colonial supremacy she was 
obliged to fight constantly in Europe to maintain her ascendancy, 
frequently to defend her own borders. Great Britain entered com- 
paratively late in the race for maritime supremacy. At the close of 
the Middle Ages, and even after Portugal and Spain had penetrated 
into unknown seas and mastered broad territories in the New World, 
she remained chiefly an agricultural country. She first became a 
recognized sea power in the time of Elizabeth, and it was not till the 
following century that she acquired any considerable colonial pos- 
sessions. By her buccaneering expeditions and her repulse of the 
Armada she was a powerful factor in breaking down the supremacy of 
Spain. Under the first two Stuarts, English colonies were established 
in Virginia, New England, and Maryland. Under the Commonwealth 
and the Protectorate, with the navy developed to an effectiveness 
hitherto unequaled, war was begun with Holland, and another blow 
struck at the monopoly of Spain. The progress continued after the 
Restoration. Charles II obtained Bombay by his marriage, New York 
and Delaware were captured in the second Dutch War, and the 
Carolinas and Pennsylvania were founded. After the Restoration 
Great Britain united for a time with her former commercial rival, Hol- 
land, in a common effort to check France and Catholicism. Holland, 
however, who never recovered from the effect of her earlier wars with 
her present ally, was further exhausted by the strain of the great ef- 
forts against the French and ceased to be formidable. While Great 
Britain's only remaining antagonist was, seriously handicapped, the 
British were protected from European attack by intervening waters ; 
they were not obliged to send armies abroad unless they chose, and, as 
a matter of fact, confined themselves largely to subsidizing allies in 
the continental struggles, thus leaving their energies free to develop 
their navy, and to extend their colonial possessions. 

The Significance of the Reign of William and Mary. — The reign 
of William is significant from the fact that, as " that champion of 
Protestantism and the liberties of Europe against French Ascendancy," 
he plunged England into a whirlpool of European war and diplomacy 
which led to such momentous results. The internal progress of the 
period is also noteworthy. Fundamental constitutional questions 



620 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

were defined and settled : the order of succession was regulated in the 
Bill of Rights, and in the Act of Settlement which supplemented it ; 
a Toleration Act was passed ; the National Debt was founded ; the 
Bank of England was established ; the censorship of the press came 
to an end ; procedure in treason trials was reformed ; and Cabinet 
and party government began to take modern shape. 

The Reaction against William, 1689. — In spite of the joy mani- 
fested at his accession, a reaction against William soon set in. It 
was due partly to the King's own character and policy, partly to the 
nature of the situation. He was cold and unsympathetic, he loved 
Dutchmen and Dutch ways, he distrusted Englishmen and chafed at his 
necessary residence in England as a joyless exile. Patient and coura- 
geous in great matters, he was irritable and impatient of opposition in 
little things, while his manners left much to be desired. 1 Then his 
policy was a disappointment to the Whigs who had led the movement 
to place him on the throne ; for he was no friend of popular liberty 
and had ousted James primarily to break up the royal alliance with 
France and to secure English resources for his great work. Further- 
more, he had to face a most difficult situation ; for, impelled by a 
common fear of James, the most diverse elements had combined 
momentarily to support him. Truly, Englishmen and Dutchmen, 
Whigs and Tories, Churchmen and Nonconformists made strange 
bedfellows. The English and the Dutch were old trade rivals who 
had been three times at war within half a century. The Whigs were 
for a limited monarchy and toleration, and had old scores to settle 
with the party who had oppressed them during the reign of Charles II 
and the early years of James II. The Tories, who stood for Divine 
hereditary right and an exclusive Establishment, directly the excite- 
ment was over, came to be ashamed of the part they had taken in 
expelling the Lord's anointed. The extremists began to excuse 
James' misdeeds, while many, even of the moderates, revived the ar- 
gument that it was possible to restore him with guarantees. Many 
of the Whigs, too, were dissatisfied ; some because they felt themselves 
insufficiently rewarded, others because their advice in ordering public 
affairs was neither sought nor heeded. Although the really disaffected 
were in a minority, they were, so vociferous and busy that they might 
have caused serious trouble but for the fact that Louis XIV, by under- 
taking to restore James by force, and with the aid of the dreaded 
Irish in the bargain, forced the moderates of both parties to cling to 
William. 

The Convention turned into a Parliament. The Mutiny Act, 1689. 
— William, in selecting his first ministry, sought to balance parties. 
Halifax, whom he made Lord Privy Seal, was, from his moderate and 
conciliatory temper, a great aid to him while he remained in office. 
The Tory Earl of Nottingham and the Whig Earl of Shrewsbury, 

1 Once when a dish of green peas, the first of the season, was brought in, he ate 
them all without offering any to Anne, who was a guest at his table. 



THE OPENING OF THE GREAT WAR 621 

the latter a man of rare personal charm but unstable character, were 
made Secretaries of State. In view of the critical situation abroad 
William took charge of foreign affairs himself. Directly after the 
Convention had settled the crown on William and Mary, the new 
sovereigns had returned the compliment by declaring it to be a Parlia- 
ment. One of the most pressing questions which confronted it was 
the settlement of the revenue ; but, after voting temporary supplies, 
the matter was laid over until the following year. 1 The mutiny of an 
English regiment at Ipswich led to the passage, in this session, of a 
measure which was bound, in any case, to have come before long; 
for, according to the existing law, there was no adequate means of 
dealing with such crises. The Mutiny Act, which began by declaring 
courts martial and military discipline illegal, conferred upon William 
authority to provide for the exercise of such extraordinary jurisdiction 
for six months. 2 Later the act was regularly renewed, but never for 
longer than a year. It is now called the Army Act. 

The Toleration Act, 1689. — Also in this eventful year the Protestant 
Dissenters, for the first time, obtained legal recognition and tolera- 
tion. William, now the official head of the Church of England, but a 
Calvinist by training and a Latitudinarian by conviction, was a prime 
mover ; but Nottingham, who feared for the stability of the Church 
if the promises which her leaders had made in adversity were disre- 
garded, was an able second. Moreover, rationalistic views were com- 
ing to prevail more and more, views which were voiced by the cele- 
brated philosopher John Locke in his Letters on Toleration, in which 
he took the ground that the State had no right to interfere with the 
way men might choose to worship. William and his supporters had 
three objects at heart : freedom of worship ; comprehension, or the 
opening the doors of the Establishment to let in all moderate Protes- 
tant sects ; and the admission of all Protestants to civil office. Of 
these only the first was attained at this time ; the second was hope- 
lessly defeated ; while the third was not legally recognized for nearly 
a century and a half. The Act of 1689, while it did not repeal the 
existing penal laws, suspended their operation against those who 
absented themselves from the services of the Established Church and 
attended other places of worship, provided they took the Oath of 
Allegiance and Supremacy and subscribed to a declaration against 
transubstantiation. Dissenting ministers, however, had to subscribe 
to thirty-five of the Thirty-nine Articles and to a greater part of two 
more. But Quakers, who scrupled to take oaths, were allowed to 
hold their assemblies undisturbed on condition of signing the declara- 
tion against transubstantiation, making a confession of Christian 

1 The Hearth Tax, however, which was a great hardship to the poor, was abol- 
ished forthwith. 

2 It is a striking commentary upon the habits of the time that the court martials 
were to be held between 6 a.m. and 1 p.m., because there was little chance that offi- 
cers would be sober after dinner. 



622 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

belief, and promising fidelity to the Government. " Papists " and 
those who did not believe in the Trinity 1 were expressly excluded 
from the benefits of the Act. Although the toleration thus granted 
was far from complete, "it removed a vast mass of evil without 
shocking a vast mass of prejudice." 

The Non-jurors. The Failure of Comprehension. — Since the 
Tories would not vote for the admission of Nonconformists to office, 
William insisted that all the beneficed clergy should take a new oath 
of allegiance, a requirement which he would otherwise have consented 
to waive. Out of a total of about 10,000, some 400, including the 
Primate and six bishops, refused. The " Non-jurors," as they were 
called, continued in schism till 1805, when the last of their bishops died. 
A comprehension bill was discussed in Parliament, but relegated to 
Convocation. Though favored by the liberal bishops in the Upper 
House, it was finally given up, largely because of the opposition of 
the country parsons of the Tory party who were in control of the 
Lower House. It should be said, however, that the leading Non- 
conformist ministers, particularly in the cities, viewed the scheme 
with distrust, because they received large voluntary offerings, together 
with a consideration that they could not hope for within the Estab- 
lishment. 

The Bill of Rights, 1689. — After a recess of two months, the old 
Convention met for its second session, 19 October, 1689. The chief 
work of the session was to turn the Declaration into a Bill. A few 
new provisions were introduced. One provided that any sovereign 
professing the " Popish " religion should be incapable of reigning in 
England, and in case he married a " Papist " his subjects were to be 
absolved from their allegiance ; but no attempt was made to define 
the term, nor was any machinery devised for carrying the provision 
into effect. Furthermore, the dispensing power which, according 
to the Declaration, was illegal only " as it hath been exercised of late," 
was now done away with altogether. 2 The Whigs were most active 
and vindictive all through the session, but when they went so far as 
to block an Indemnity Bill by attaching to it a bill of pains and penal- 
ties 3 against a number of Tories, William dissolved Parliament in 
disgust. 

The Moderate Tories come to Power. The Settlement of the 
Revenue. — The Moderate Tories now obtained control. Danby, 
created Marquis of Carmarthen at the coronation, became the head 
of the Ministry, and, under his practical guidance, a systematic policy 
of corruption in electing and managing parliaments was resumed. 
William accepted it as a disagreeable necessity. ' ' Nobody hates bribery 

1 I.e. Jews and Socinians, the latter being forerunners of the Unitarians. 

2 At least, that was the result ; for it was provided that exceptions might be 
enumerated during the session, and none were made into law. 

3 Such a bill differs from an attainder merely from the fact that its penalties do 
not extend to capital punishment. 



THE OPENING OF THE GREAT WAR 623 

more than I do," he complained, " but I have to do with a set of men 
who must be managed in that vile way or not at all. I must strain a 
point or the country is lost." In his opening speech to the new 
Parliament which met 20 March, 1690, he urged a speedy settlement 
of the revenue and the passage of an act of indemnity. " Let us not 
be engaged in debates," he said, " while our enemies are in the field." 
After some discussion, the Commons voted that William should have, 
in addition to the hereditary Crown revenue, amounting to £400,000 
a year, the income from the excise, which yielded some £300,000 
annually. This sum, about £700,000 in the aggregate, which came to 
be known as the Civil List, 1 was to be devoted to the maintenance of 
the royal household, the payment of civil officials, and, in general, to 
the non-military expenses of the State. The income from the cus- 
toms, variously estimated between £400,000 and £600,000, was 
granted only for four years. Although the outbreak of the war neces- 
sitated the grant of extraordinary supplies, Parliament adhered to 
the principle that a fixed amount only should be allowed to the King 
for the ordinary needs of the State. Moreover, in the future all grants 
were appropriated annually and for specified purposes. Thus the 
principle of appropriation of supply, foreshadowed in the reign of 
James I and Charles II, 2 became a regular practice. 

The Act of Grace. — William, who desired a free hand for the great 
war in which he had embarked, had hoped to obtain a revenue for 
life at least as large as that granted his predecessor. He was so 
bitterly disappointed that he talked of withdrawing to Holland. 
" The gentlemen of England," he complained, " trusted King James, 
and they will not trust me by whom their religion and their laws have 
been preserved." He was assured that it was not a question of per- 
sonal confidence but of principle ; that many evils had arisen from in- 
discriminate grants to bad kings, and that by acquiescing in the 
limitations imposed upon him, he might be a deliverer to future 
generations. He yielded only grudgingly. Finding it hopeless to 
obtain an Act of Indemnity, but impressed with the folly of alienating 
the Tories by ill-timed harshness, he secured the passage of an Act 
of Grace, 3 20 May, 1690, from which, for the sake of placating the 
opposition, he excepted about forty persons. Then he prorogued 
Parliament, for the situation in Ireland claimed his personal atten- 
tion. 

James appears in Ireland, March, 1689. — The attempts of James, 
through Tyrconnel, to make Ireland a Roman Catholic stronghold, 

1 Later, Parliament took over the payment of all public expenses, leaving to the 
sovereign merely the maintenance of the royal household. The income which 
he has for this purpose is still, curiously enough, known as the Civil List. 

2 In conjunction with the Mutiny Act it insured, for the future, annual sessions 
of Parliament. 

3 It differs from an act of indemnity from the fact that it originates with the 
sovereign and cannot be amended by Parliament, which must pass or reject it as a 
whole. 



624 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

the transfer of the administration, civil, judicial, and military, into 
the hands of members of that faith, the remodeling of the municipal 
corporations, the insults, the attacks, and rumors of worse to come, 1 
had thrown the Protestants into a panic. Many fled to England, 
others prepared to defend themselves. Tyrconnel, while he dallied 
with the terms offered by William, hastened to gather his forces, 
seized cattle and supplies, and sent for James. Leinster, Munster, 
and Connaught he speedily reduced. In Ulster, which contained the 
bulk of the Protestant element, numbers fled for refuge to London- 
derry and Enniskillen, leaving their lands and goods at the mercy 
of their exultant and infuriated enemies. William, scantily provided 
with troops and supplies, occupied with the settlement of English 
affairs, with a Jacobite rising in Scotland, and with the launching of 
his great European coalition, at first did nothing, and was loudly 
blamed for his inaction. James arrived in Dublin, 24 March, 1689. 
Louis XIV refused him an army, partly because he distrusted his 
abilities, partly because he needed his troops at home. Nevertheless, 
he gave him a fleet, together with arms, money, and officers to drill the 
Irish. 

The Irish Parliament. — There were two factions in the Irish Coun- 
cil. One aimed primarily to recover Ireland for the Irish, to make the 
Catholic religion supreme, and was bitterly opposed to any English 
rule, even under the restored James. The other regarded Ireland 
merely as an instrument with which to make James again King, as a 
basis of operations, and hence were opposed to any measure calculated 
to alienate English supporters. The Irish faction proved the stronger. 
It absolutely dominated Parliament, which met 7 May, and which 
was made up of men devoid of experience in public affairs and burning 
to avenge the wrongs of their religion and their race. James succeeded 
in passing a Toleration Act ; but he was obliged to consent to a series 
of measures calculated to alienate utterly his English supporters. 
The authority of the English Parliament was repudiated. The tithes 
of the Roman Catholics were transferred to their own clergy and the 
Act of Settlement was repealed. All lands forfeited in consequence 
of the Rebellion of 1641 were restored. To provide for this, the estates 
of absentees who had adhered to William of Orange were confiscated, 
and a famous act of attainder was passed, comprising over 2000 names. 
The property of those included on the list was appropriated forthwith, 
and though the owners were ordered to appear for trial before a certain 
date to prove their innocence, it was at the risk of being hanged, drawn, 
and quartered, in the event of almost certain conviction. To relieve 
the deplorable financial condition, an issue of base money was author- 
ized. Buttons, kettles, indeed, all sorts of brassware, were pressed 

1 The alarm spread that there was to be a general massacre of all Protestants, 
o December, 1688; although Tyrconnel denied it with the most solemn assevera- 
tions and dashed his hat and wig into the fire to prove his sincerity, it was generally 
believed. 



THE OPENING OF THE GREAT WAR 625 

into service ; a tariff of prices was fixed, and those who refused to part 
with their goods on such terms were brutally treated. After a ten 
weeks' session Parliament, having passed more than thirty-five drastic 
measures, was prorogued in July. 

The Siege and Relief of Londonderry. Newton Butler, 1689. — 
Meantime, 19 April, 1689, the siege of Londonderry had begun. 
Threatened with starvation, and exposed to constant attacks against 
the weak walls of the city, the dauntless garrison held out with grim 
determination. At length, 28 July, Colonel Kirke, who had been 
sent out in May with a relieving force, obeyed the positive orders of 
Schomberg and broke the boom in the river Foyle by which the 
besiegers had guarded the approach from the sea. After a siege of 
one hundred and five days, during which the garrison was reduced 
from 7000 to 4000, to say nothing of the fugitives slaughtered and 
starved outside the walls, the troops of James withdrew, 1 August. 
The joyous news of the relief of Londonderry was immediately fol- 
lowed by the tidings that the men of Enniskillen had saved themselves 
by repulsing an attacking force at Newton Butler, 2 August. Schom- 
berg arrived in Ireland the same month ; but his army, consisting 
largely of raw recruits, was in no condition to fight. What with heavy 
autumn rains and bad food, supplied by greedy and dishonest Eng- 
lish contractors, a pestilence broke out. He was obliged to go into 
winter quarters, while the mass of Englishmen, who did not understand 
the situation, howled at his inaction and at the sufferings to which his 
troops were exposed. Admiral Herbert, recently created Earl of 
Torrington, was supposed to guard the Channel. Although of un- 
questioned courage, his love of ease and luxury won for him the name 
" Lord Tarry-in-Town." He kept no discipline, he was the prey of 
contractors, and proved so inactive that English merchant fleets 
had to make use of Dutch privateers for protection. Such was the 
situation when William started for Ireland in June, 1690. 

The Battle of Beachy Head, 29 June, 1690. — Scarcely had he gone 
when Tourville appeared in the Channel with a French fleet from 
Brest. Torrington, whose combined English and Dutch fleet was so 
unprepared that he dared not fight, retreated up the English coast, 
until he received positive orders from the Queen to engage. On 29 
June, 1690, he was defeated at Beachy Head, after which he con- 
tinued to retreat and took refuge in the Thames. The Dutch were 
furious because he had put their ships where they had to bear the brunt 
of the fighting. At a court martial, subsequently held, it developed 
that their own recklessness was to blame, and Torrington was ac- 
quitted, though he never received another command. Truly it was 
an anxious time for Englishmen. The Channel was left undefended, 
the country was swarming with Jacobites, while, to cap all, news ar- 
rived that the French had won a victory in the Netherlands at Fleurus. 
Queen Mary, in the depths of despair, wrote : "I believe never was 
any person left in greater straits of all kinds." Fortunately, however, 



626 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

the sudden fear that Louis XIV might send over an invading army from 
Dunkirk was enough to unite practically the whole country in defense 
of the Crown. Many who wanted to see James restored had no desire 
to see it done at the cost of a great national humiliation. The prospect 
was still dark enough when William sent back word of a notable victory. 

The Battle of the Boyne, i July, 1690. — On 30 June he had come 
face to face with the enemy drawn up behind the river Boyne. " I 
am glad to see you, gentlemen," he is reported to have said ; " if you 
escape me now, the fault will be mine." In the famous battle of the 
Boyne, which took place the next day, the English forced their way 
across the river, and scattered their foes in the utmost confusion, in 
spite of the stubborn resistance of the Irish cavalry. Unfortunately, 
the veteran Schomberg was among the slain. James, who had lost 
the bravery of his youthful days, watched the fighting from a safe 
distance, and hurried away as soon as he foresaw the result. In a 
speech at Dublin Castle he declared that he would never command an 
Irish army again. From Dublin he hastened to the coast, sailed for 
Brest, and posted off to urge Louis to invade England while William 
was absent. The French King, though polite and non-committal, 
would do nothing further just then. Tourville, who had cruised 
along the coast unopposed after the battle of Beachy Head, met with 
a hot reception directly he sought to land. The men of Devonshire 
and the neighboring counties made speedy preparation for defense, 
the militia were everywhere mustered, and it was not long before all 
England " was up in arms on foot and on horseback . . . and rang 
with shouts of ' God bless King William and Mary.' " The chief 
result of Tourville's hostile demonstrations was to undo the work of 
English Jacobites. 

The Siege and Treaty of Limerick, 1691. — After the battle of the 
Boyne the bulk of the Irish army took refuge in Limerick. William, 
after failing to take the town by assault, 27 August, 1690, was soon 
forced to raise the siege, owing to heavy rains and lack of powder. He 
himself returned to England ; but the garrison finally capitulated to 
his army, 3 October, 1691. Two treaties were framed. By a military 
treaty it was provided that all officers who desired should be trans- 
ported to France. In a civil treaty the Roman Catholics -of Ireland 
received a promise that they " should enjoy such privileges in the exer- 
cise of their religion as were consistent with the law, or as they had 
enjoyed in the reign of Charles II." The bulk of the soldiery elected 
to go to France ; many afterwards deserted ; but numbers won high 
distinction in the ensuing wars. Those who remained in Ireland were 
so cowed that the country was free from formidable insurrection for 
over a century. 

The Violation of the Treaty. Oppressive Restrictions and Penal 
Laws. — Unhappily, England did not temper her victory with mercy 
or wisdom ; but allowed intolerance, greed, and oppression to prevail. 
A new statute was passed by Parliament at Westminster, not only 



THE OPENING OF THE GREAT WAR 627 

excluding Roman Catholics from office, but enacting for the first 
time that they could not sit in the Irish Parliament. That body, con- 
sisting henceforth of the representatives of the Protestant minority, 
passed laws, in 1695, providing that no " Popish " teacher should be 
allowed in schools or private houses, forbidding " Papists " to carry 
arms or to own a horse worth more than £5. In 1697, in distinct viola- 
tion of the Treaty of Limerick, all Roman Catholic prelates were 
banished from the kingdom ; and Roman Catholics and Protestants 
were forbidden to marry. These were the forerunners of a penal code 
which was carried to completion in the reigns of Anne and the first 
two Georges. They were not only cruelly oppressive but degrading, 
since every inducement was offered to informers and to those who 
would desert the faith of their fathers ; for example, in the inheritance 
of property the nearest Roman Catholic heirs were passed over in 
favor of the more remote, provided they were Protestants. All that 
can be said is that the more ferocious were seldom enforced. Added 
to the religious restrictions, binding shackles were imposed on Irish 
industry and commerce. The Irish were excluded from the English 
colonial trade, and, by an Act of 1699, the export of their wool and 
woolen goods was practically prohibited. About 20,000 Ulstermen 
migrated to America, and Ireland was left largely to the native peas- 
ants, tenants of absentee landlords, and mostly under the influence of 
priests. The tyranny and avarice of the Protestant minority slowly 
but surely bore bitter fruit. 

The Revolution in Scotland. — The Revolution in Scotland was not 
accomplished without excitement, disorder, and even a brief period 
of war. A Convention Parliament met in Edinburgh, 24 March, 1689. 
Since the castle was held by the Duke of Gordon in the interest of 
James, the Whigs, to protect themselves during the session, brought 
up a body of western Covenanters, whom they concealed in cellars 
about the city, while William sent a fleet and three regiments from 
England. In the Convention it was declared that James by his mis- 
deeds had forfeited the government, and William and Mary were 
named as his successors. Following the English precedent, a Claim 
of Right was promulgated which declared the existing law, and enumer- 
ated a list of grievances to be redressed by new laws. The Claim of 
Right having been accepted by William and Mary at Whitehall, 
they took the coronation oath, n May, 1689, and became King and 
Queen of Scotland. The forces of opposition, however, were various 
and vehement. One discontented faction, known as the Club, con- 
sisted of original supporters of the new dynasty who had been dis- 
appointed in the distribution of offices. The Club was joined by all 
who were opposed to a strong monarchy or to any monarchy at all. 
Then there were the Covenanters, who were unwilling to recognize an 
uncovenanted King — a Calvinist who had proved false to his faith by 
conforming to the Church of England. But the only serious armed 
revolt came from the Highlanders. 



628 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

The Rising of the Highland Clans under Dundee. — This pic 
turesque and beautiful region was then, to the mass of Englishmen, 
and even of the Lowland Scots, an unknown country, described by the 
few who had dared to penetrate its rugged mountains and bleak moor- 
lands as a grim, unlovely waste, inhabited by savage tribes, utterly 
ignorant of the ways of civilization and regardless of life and the laws 
of property. " It -is a part of the creation left undressed," wrote a 
traveler in 1694; " rubbish thrown aside when the magnificent fabric 
of the world was created, as void of form as the natives are indigent of 
morals and good manners." Their southern neighbors, who knew the 
Highlanders as cattle stealers and murderous enemies, were as little 
acquainted with their virtues — their courage, their hospitality, their 
dignity, and their devotion to clan and family — as they were with the 
beauties of their scenery. Thither Dundee sought recruits, after he 
had fled from the Whig-dominated Parliament at Edinburgh. The 
clans pressed to join him, as they had joined Montrose half a century 
before, not so much out of attachment for the Stuart cause as from 
hatred of the Campbells, whose chief, the Marquis of Argyle, had 
taken the side of William. Another motive, of course, was the pros- 
pect of fighting and plunder. They mustered in May, 1689, at 
Lochaber, near the home of the venerable Sir Ewen Cameron of 
Lochiel, " the Ulysses of the Highlands." Dundee's difficulties were 
enormous. Each clan was a unit in itself. Many nourished long- 
standing feuds and jealousies ; the chiefs were so proud and sensitive 
that it was next to impossible to weld the discordant elements into an 
army. " I would rather," he declared in his despair, " carry a musket 
in a respectable regiment than be a captain of such a gang of thieves." 
However, he succeeded in eluding for weeks Hugh Mackay, the com- 
mander sent against him. 

Killiekrankie, 27 July, 1689. The Collapse of the Highland 
Rising. — At length, the two armies met in the pass of Killiekrankie. 
Mackay was driven from the pass and retreated over the mountains to 
Stirling ; but the victory of the Highlanders was more than offset by 
the death of Dundee, who was shot during the triumphant charge. 
Mackay soon rallied his men, 1 but the Highlanders had lost the only 
leader who could hold them together. Before the end of August the 
whole force had dispersed to their homes. It was not long either 
before the Club had ceased to exist. Some became Jacobites, others 
were bought up by the Government. In spite of the opposition of 
the Episcopalians and the extreme Covenanters, Presbyterianism 
was again reestablished in 1690. William was embittered by having 
to contend with so many elements of opposition. " I wish Scotland 
were a thousand miles off," he once declared, " and then I should be 

1 Mackay's defeat led him to make a contribution to the art of war by inventing 
the modern bayonet fixed outside of, instead of fitting into the gun barrel. He 
attributed the loss of the battle largely to the fact that his men after they fired 
could not attach their bayonets quickly enough to meet the charging Highlanders. 




THE OPENING OF THE GREAT WAR 629 

rid of it." Unhappily his triumph was marred by a brutal crime, due 
to his carelessness or indifference, to the vindictiveness of the Camp- 
bells, and the desire of the Master l of Stair — the King's chief adviser 
— to root out the most unyielding of the clans. 

The Massacre of Glencoe, 1692. — A proclamation was issued from 
Edinburgh offering pardon to every rebel who, before 31 December, 
1691, should swear to live peaceably under William and Mary. The 
chief of the Macdonalds of Glencoe 2 waited stubbornly until the very 
last day, when he presented himself before the governor of Fort Wil- 
liam. This official, who was not empowered to take the oath, sent him 
with a letter to the sheriff of Argyleshire. The sheriff, after some 
hesitation, accepted the submission and forwarded the certificate to 
Edinburgh, 6 January. This the Master of Stair suppressed, after 
which he secured William's signature to an order authorizing the ex- 
termination of the clan. On 1 February, a company of soldiers under 
Captain Campbell was dispatched to Glencoe, where they stayed for 
nearly tw r o weeks enjoying the rude but plentiful hospitality of the 
clan. Suddenly, in the early morning of the 13th, they rose up and 
began to massacre their hosts. But they made the mistake of shooting 
instead of stabbing their victims, while the troops detailed to block 
the exits of the Glen failed to arrive in time, so that a majority escaped. 
Many of them, however, perished of exposure ; their homes were set 
on fire, and their cattle driven off. Stair's only regret was that so 
many got away. His enemies, however, and the opponents of the 
Government raised such an outcry that William, though he regarded 
the deed as a wholesome example visited on a gang of thieves and out- 
laws, was forced to consent to a commission of inquiry. Stair was 
retired and remained in private life till the next reign. 

The Alliance against France, 1689. — Meantime, William, in the 
autumn of 1689, had completed an alliance against France on which 
he had been laboriously working for years. It included the Empire, 
Spain, England, and the Dutch. Parliament, which might otherwise 
have been reluctant to engage in a continental war, was won over 
because of Louis XIV's interference in Ireland. After his authority 
had been established in the neighboring kingdoms, William was free 
to turn his attention abroad. He departed, 18 January, 1691, to meet 
the allies in a congress at the Hague. Though his combination seemed 
an overwhelming one it had almost ho cohesion. Each of the Powers, 
determined on giving as little and getting as much as possible, counted 
on leaving the Dutch and English to bear the brunt of the fighting and 
the expense. They quarreled with one another about points of pre- 
cedence, they were separated by trade rivalries and religious differences, 
while, Louis, fighting on inside lines, was master of the resources of his 
kingdom, and, ably assisted by Louvois, the greatest war minister, 

1 The title of the eldest son of a viscount in Scotland. 

2 Meaning literally Glen of Weeping. It was a dreary, inaccessible spot on the 
western coast. < 



630 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

Luxembourg, the greatest general, and Vauban, the greatest engineer 
of the age, could direct, singly and unopposed, the operations of his 
armies. William had not only to manage his allies and to keep up 
their enthusiasm, but to face one Jacobite plot after another. Even 
those in whom he had placed the greatest trust, Russell, Godolphin, 
and Marlborough, 1 all entered into treasonable negotiations with the 
enemy. Russell was Admiral of the Fleet and Treasurer of the Navy, 
but he was not satisfied with the grants and revenues he had received. 
Godolphin, first Commissioner of the Treasury, a cautious man who 
feared for the stability of the new Government, was merely laying his 
plans to be on the safe side in case of change. Marlborough's schemes 
were more far-reaching. 

The Campaign of 1691. The Dismissal of Marlborough. — In the 
campaign of 1 691, Louis struck the first blow by sending a force which 
captured Mons, one of the strongest fortresses in the Spanish Nether- 
lands. William, hampered as he was, arrived too late to relieve it. 
During the summer he was unable to accomplish anything against 
Luxembourg, though his army — the first which had been led abroad 
by an English king since Henry VIII took Boulogne — gained valu- 
able experience. It was a serious loss that throughout the war he was 
deprived of the aid of Marlborough, destined to prove himself in the 
next reign the most remarkable of England's generals. Marlborough 
had intrigued with the Jacobites to get rid of William. His plan was 
to involve Parliament in a quarrel with the King over the removal of 
his foreign favorites, to get an army to support parliamentary liberties, 
and then use it to proclaim, not James, but Anne. The Jacobites, 
becoming suspicious, disclosed his designs, which led William to dismiss 
him, 10 January, 1692. 

The Naval Victory of La Hogue, 1692. — Early in 1692, James, 
counting on the discontent of Russell, who commanded the Channel 
fleet, prepared an invasion of England. Having assembled a fleet and 
mustered an army of French and Irish at La Hogue, whence they were 
to be transported to the English coasts, he issued a stupid and ill-timed 
Declaration, in which he not only expressed no regret for the past and 
gave no promises for the future, but breathed dire vengeance against 
all who should oppose his return, and even published a list of those 
whom he had marked out for punishment, Indeed, it was so damning 
that the Government had it licensed and freely distributed. Some of 
the Non-jurors even went so far as to pronounce it false and to issue a 
forged paper promising a free pardon, with only a few exceptions. 
Few were deceived, however, and the Declaration, together with the 
prospect of attack from the French and Irish, roused the intensest 
patriotism. Russell, who, after all, was a stanch Whig and zealous 
for the fame of the English navy, declared : " Do not think that I will 
let the French triumph over us in our own sea. Understand this, that 

1 John Churchill had been created Earl of Marlborough at the coronation. 



THE OPENING OF THE GREAT WAR 631 

if I meet them, I fight them, aye, though his Majesty himself should 
be on board." Vigorous preparations for defense were made, the 
few dangerous Jacobites were locked up, and Mary gained the waverers 
in the fleet by a touching appeal. So when Tourville again appeared 
in the Channel, he was met by a combined force of the English and the 
Dutch, who drove his ships back to the Norman coast and burned the 
bulk of them in the harbor of La Hogue before the very face of James 
and his army. The battle of La Hogue, 19-24 May, 1692, marked a 
decisive step in the supremacy of the English sea power over the 
French ; for Louis was too much occupied with his land wars to repair 
the destruction of his fleet. 

William's Loss of Namur and Defeat at Steenkerke, 1692. — 
William, however, was unable to prevent the French from capturing 
Namur, June 1692. This town, situated at the confluence of the 
Meuse and the Sambre, was commanded by a citadel which had never 
before been taken. On 3 August he was defeated and driven back 
at the Battle of Steenkerke, in an attempt to surprise Luxembourg, who 
was guarding the road from Namur to Brussels with a force of 80,000 
men. These reverses, together with the repulse of an attack on the 
French coast at St. Malo, combined to counterbalance the triumph 
of La Hogue. When the King returned to England in October, after 
narrowly escaping an attempt on his life hatched in the French war 
office, the situation was altogether discouraging. English merchant- 
men were suffering from the pillaging of the enemy's privateers ; an 
earthquake in Jamaica had destroyed Port Royal ; the harvest had 
failed, owing to heavy rains ; and the insecurity and discontent were 
aggravated by a startling increase of crime. Housebreakers and 
footpads were so bold and active that William had to detail cavalry to 
guard the roads to the capital, and take the sternest measures to put 
down disorder. Having, with the greatest difficulty, secured supplies 
for the coming campaign from a parliament torn by faction, he started 
back for the Netherlands, 24 March, 1693. 

William's Defeat at Neerwinden, 19 July, 1693. — In the early 
spring, the court at Versailles, tired of supporting James in his uncom- 
promising attitude, forced him to issue a new Declaration framed to 
conciliate the English. But it came too late. Moreover, most people 
distrusted its sincerity, as well they might ; for James' secretary 
accompanied the copy sent to the Pope with the assurance that : 
" After all, the object of this Declaration is only to get us back to Eng- 
land. We shall fight the battle of the Catholics with much greater 
advantage at Whitehall than at St. Germain." This year Louis took 
the field in person, hoping by moving quickly to capture either Liege or 
Brussels. When the appearance of William made a battle necessary, 
he hastened back to Versailles ; for he was always careful of his own 
safety. The allied army took a strongly intrenched position, where 
Luxembourg attacked it, 19 July. The battle of Neerwinden — or 
Landen, as it is sometimes called from a neighboring village — the 




632 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

bloodiest battle of the century and one of the most terrible ever fought 
in the Netherlands, resulted in another defeat for William. 1 But 
Luxembourg, though he drove him from the field, did not follow him 
up, either because his forces were too crippled or because he lacked 
energy. William, with the wonderful power of recovery for which he 
was famous, rallied his forces at Brussels, and ended the year's cam- 
paign in a position fully as strong as when it began. Moreover, the 
French resources were nearly exhausted. Bread was cheap in Paris, 
to be sure, but the rural districts were starving. 

The Failure of the Expedition to Brest. English Successes in the 
Mediterranean, 1694. — The French plan of war for 1694 was to con- 
centrate its energies against Spain in the Mediterranean. The Eng- 
lish planned to send out two naval expeditions, one against Brest, the 
other to the Mediterranean. The destination of the first was be- 
trayed by Marlborough, who can by no means be exonerated on the 
ground that Godolphin had disclosed the secret before him. He 
apparently had a double motive : to secure himself in case William's 
enemies triumphed, and to discredit his ablest rival, Talmash, who was 
in command. The expedition, delayed also by contrary winds, failed 
in its object and accomplished nothing beyond devastating a few unde- 
fended points along the French coast. Russell, however, who went to 
the Mediterranean, was able to save Barcelona from an attack of a 
combined French army and fleet and to force Tourville to take refuge 
under the guns of Toulon, after which he went to Cadiz to refit for 
the winter. His success, by checking Louis XIV's Spanish designs, 
exercised an effective influence on the subsequent course of the war. 

The Death of Queen Mary, 28 December, 1694. — On 28 Decem- 
ber, 1694, Queen Mary died of smallpox at the early age of thirty- 
two. Her birth had " pleased nobody," since a male heir to the Eng- 
lish throne was wanted. By her marriage, however, with William of 
Orange she became a great factor in frustrating the designs of James 
II and checking the growing ascendancy of Louis XIV. At first the 
union was not a happy one. William, twelve years her senior, was an 
old young man, who, confronted with tremendous problems, neglected 
her sadly. But she bore it with cheerful resignation, and, learning to 
appreciate his mission and his great qualities, came to love him so 
exclusively that when he started on his expedition to England, she 
declared " that if she lost him, she should not care for an angel." 
For him she sacrificed her father and the affections of her sister. Her 
amiable qualities and her absolute devotion gradually won William's 
heart, especially when she readily renounced her hereditary rights 
that he might be the more a king. She endeared herself to the Dutch, 
and her popularity with the English went far to soften the animosity 

1 Macaulay, in one of his striking passages, points how this battle, led on the 
one side by a "hunch-backed dwarf," on the other by an "asthmatic skeleton," 
illustrates the remarkable change in the art of warfare since the Middle Ages. 
Yet William is said to have performed prodigies of valor in person. 



THE OPENING OF THE GREAT WAR 633 

against her sour consort and his Dutch favorites. While she had 
no desire to mingle in public affairs, she was ever ready to do all she 
could to take William's place during his frequent absences. She was 
very charitable, and she did much to raise the standard of religion 
and morals at court. TI13 King's grief at her loss was terrible. As a 
memorial to her he caused the splendid palace which had been begun 
by Charles II at Greenwich to be turned into a hospital for aged and 
disabled seamen, a plan which she had suggested after the battle of 
La Hogue. But the Jacobites exulted over the news of her death, one 
Non-juring divine preaching on the text : " Go : see now this cursed 
woman and bury her, for she is a king's daughter." James, who hoped 
that now he would have a better chance of overthrowing William, 
forbade any one at his court to wear mourning. 

FOR ADDITIONAL READING 

Narrative. Lodge, Political History, chs. XVI. Trevelyan, England under the 
Stuarts, ch. XIV. Cambridge Modern Historv, V, ch. X. Macaulay, History of 
England, III, IV, chs. XVII-XX. Ranke, IV, bk. XIX, V; bk. XX. 

Constitutional. Maitland, English Constitutional History, period IV , pp. 281-293. 
Hallam, III, ch. XV. Taswell-Langmead, ch. XVI. Taylor, Origin and Growth, 

II, bk. VI, ch. III. Mary T. Blauvelt, The Development of Cabinet Government 
(1902) ; a good brief sketch. For scholarly treatments of the origin and growth of the 
Cabinet, see H. W. V. Temperly and Sir William Anson, English Historical Review, 
XXVII, 682 ff. and XXIX, 56-78, and E. R. Turner, American Historical Review, 
XVIII, 751-768, XIX, 27-43. A. S. Turberville, The House of Lords in the Reign 
of William III (19 13). 

Army and Navy. Fortescue. Clowes. Mahan, Sea Power, ch. IV. Corbett, 
England in the Mediterranean, I. 

Scotland and Ireland. P. H. Brown, Scotland, III, bk. VII, chs. I, II. Macaulay, 

III, chs. XII, XIII. For a full bibliography, see Cambridge Modern History, V, 
pp. 825-837. 

Special. Seeley, British Policy, II, pt. V, and The Expansion of England (1895) ; a 
luminous treatment. 

Contemporary. Burnet, History of His Own Times (ed. 1833), chs. Ill, IV. 

Church. Hutton, English Church, ch. XIII. Stoughton, Religion in England, 
III, IV. 

Selections from the sources. Adams and Stephens, nos. 235-240. Robertson 
Select Statutes, pt. I, nos. XII-XVII. 



CHAPTER XXXVII 

THE COMPLETION OF THE REVOLUTION OF 1688. WILLIAM 
ALONE (1694-1702) 

The Assassination Plot, 1695-1696. — The death of Mary, though it 
broke one of the strongest links between William and the English 
people and revived the hopes of the Jacobites, helped the King to this 
extent, that it paved the way for a reconciliation with Marlborough. 
The Earl now realized that the best way to secure the succession of 
Anne was to support the reigning sovereign, who was a childless 
widower not likely to live very long. Meanwhile, the supporters of 
James planned another attempt to restore him, this time by means of 
an assassination plot, later coupled with a scheme for raising an insur- 
rection assisted by an invasion from France. The attempt on William's 
life was delayed by his departure for the Netherlands in May, 1695. 
During the campaign of that year he recovered Namur ; for Luxem- 
bourg, who had died a few hours after Mary, was succeeded in the 
command of the French army by Villeroy, a royal favorite of inferior 
military ability. The Duke of Berwick, a natural son of James, who 
came to England, in January, 1696, to prepare the way for the projected 
invasion, failed to induce the Jacobites to rise, while, in February, 1696, 
a design to intercept and kill the King as he was returning to Kensing- 
ton House after a hunting party at Richmond, was betrayed. The 
kingdom was hastily put in a state of defense, the Habeas Corpus Act 
was suspended, provision was made to continue Parliament for six 
months in the event of the King's death, and an association was formed 
to protect the royal person. 

The Attainder of Fenwick, 1697. — Most of the conspirators were 
arrested, though, owing to the King's wise forbearance, only eight were 
executed. Among them was Sir John Fenwick, who was captured in 
June as he was trying to escape to France. Though he had once 
publicly insulted the late Queen and was implicated in the projected 
insurrection, he seems to have had nothing to do with the attempt to 
murder his sovereign. As a means of saving himself he made a con- 
fession, in which, on hearsay, he accused Russell, Marlborough, 
Godolphin, and Shrewsbury of Jacobite intrigues. William, to whom 
all that was disclosed was an old story, at once sent the confession 
to Shrewsbury with the magnanimous comment that Fenwick had 
only accused the King's friends without saying anything of the plans 

634 



COMPLETION OF THE REVOLUTION 635 

of the Jacobites. Fenwick was brought to trial, but, after his friends 
succeeded in getting one of the two witnesses against him to flee the 
country, 1 a bill of attainder was framed against him. He was ex- 
ecuted 28 January, 1697. 2 

The Restoration of the Coinage, 1696. — Meantime, the great war 
was drawing to a close. In the campaign of 1696 the movements of 
both armies were hampered by lack of money. France was reduced 
to a state of downright misery, while England was suffering from a 
temporary financial stringency, due largely to a restoration of the 
currency. ' In spite of severe penalties, old clipped and mutilated coins 
circulated freely, while new ones with milled edges were hoarded or 
melted down and sold as bullion. The evil was bound to continue so 
long as those under weight were accepted at their face value. The 
matter was finally taken up by four remarkable men, John Locke, 
Lord Somers, Charles Montagu, and Sir Isaac Newton, recognized 
respectively as the greatest political philosopher, the greatest lawyer 
and statesman, the greatest financier, and the greatest natural philos- 
opher of the age. Locke outlined the scheme, Somers framed the bill, 
Montagu secured its passage, and Newton, as master of the mint, 
carried it into effect. The Recoinage Act, passed in January, 1696, 
provided that the old damaged coins should cease to be legal tender by 
4 May. The Government agreed to replace at their face value old 
coins that were turned in ; but, though the new issue was made with 
unprecedented rapidity, it did not come fast enough at first to supply 
the place of the money drawn from circulation. It was not till March, 
1697, that the crisis was past. However, the establishment of a sound, 
stable currency was well worth the temporary hardship. 

The Peace of Ryswick, 1697. — When William met the Houses in 
October, 1696, he was able to inform them that overtures for peace 
had already been made by Louis XIV ; but he pointed out that an 
adequate force was necessary if England was to hold her own in the 
negotiations. Parliament responded loyally by voting supplies for 
40,000 seamen and an army of 87,000. On 9 May, 1697, a congress of 
the allies assembled at Ryswick, but it occupied so much time in cere- 
monious display and trifling points of precedence that William decided 
to open negotiations with Louis on his own account. Accordingly, in 
the month of June, he sent his trusted agent, the Earl of Portland, to 
confer with Marshal Boufflers, one of the most efficient of the French 
generals, whom Louis had selected as his representative. Before the 
end of July they had settled all the terms in which England and France 
were concerned, while the Congress was still wrangling over tedious 
formalities. " It is odd," declared Harlay, the French plenipotentiary 
at Ryswick, " that while the ambassadors are making war, the gen- 

1 Nominally, though the law was often strained, two witnesses were required 
to convict a man of treason. 

2 Curiously enough, it was Fenwick who had moved the attainder of Monmouth 
in 1685. He was the last man in England to be executed under a bill of attainder. 



636 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

erals should be making peace." So, 30 September, 1697, the Treaty of 
Ryswick was signed by England, France, the United Provinces, and 
Spain, the latter power having been whipped into line by the cap- 
ture of Barcelona in the Old World and Carthagena in the New. Ac- 
cording to the terms of the peace, William was acknowledged as King 
of England and Anne his successor, and Louis promised not to aid in 
plots against him. All conquests made during the war were restored, 
though Louis was allowed to retain certain places which he had " re- 
united " 1 since the peace of Nymwegen, and the chief fortresses in the 
Netherlands were garrisoned with Dutch troops as a barrier against 
France. The Emperor thus isolated made peace with France, 30 
October. 

Significance of the Peace of Ryswick. — While Louis regarded the 
peace simply "as a breathing time " until he could make ready to 
resume his conquests, the mass of Englishmen hailed it with joy as the 
completion of the Revolution of 1688. In spite of crushing defeats, of 
threatened dangers in Ireland and Scotland, of Jacobite intrigue and 
party strife, Louis had been checked for the first time in his victorious 
career, and had been forced to acknowledge William in place of James. 

Internal Progress in England since the Outbreak of the War. — 
During the years that war raged on the Continent, a series of measures 
were passed in England of far-reaching importance in financial, eco- 
nomic, political, and legal developments. 

The New East India Company, 1 698-1 708. — The East India Com- 
pany, now nearly a century old, had become a great monopoly. 
Shortly after the Revolution, however, the independent traders began 
a determined agitation for a share in the lucrative business which it 
controlled. Though the old Company, by the efforts of its able leader, 
Sir Josiah Child, and by a-lavish use of bribery, was able to obtain a 
renewal of its charter, its opponents gained a victory in the end. By 
an act which received the royal assent 5 July, 1698, a new General 
Society was authorized which was to contribute £2,000,000 to the 
State. Members consisted of subscribers to the fund, who received 
exclusive trading rights in the East Indies in proportion to the amount 
subscribed. It was provided in the Act that members might, under 
royal charter, form joint stock companies within the Society, or the 
whole Society might form itself into a single joint stock company. 
During the course of the struggle the House of Commons passed 
a notable resolution, declaring that no power except Parliament alone 
could grant exclusive trading privileges to English subjects, either 
individuals or companies. Finally, in 1708, the old East India Com- 
pany and the General Society were consolidated under the name of 
the " United Company of Merchants of England trading to the East 
Indies." It survived for over a century and a half, though toward 
the end with steadily diminishing powers. 

1 I.e. appropriated on the ground that they had once belonged to France. 



COMPLETION OF THE REVOLUTION 637 

A New Financial Era. — The £2,000,000 subscribed by the General 
Society in 1698 was only one indication of a new financial era which 
had opened in England. Since the accession of William a series of 
measures had been inaugurated of momentous importance both abroad 
and at home. Louis, during the late war, had declared that the Power 
with the last gold piece would win, and it was due largely to the effec- 
tive financial organization begun in this period that England won her 
successes in the great European conflicts of the eighteenth century. 
Moreover, it resulted in the ascendancy of the Whigs and the perma- 
nence of the Revolution Settlement. The moneyed classes — the 
merchants and traders — belonged mainly to the Whig party, which 
grew in strength and influence as the State turned to it more and more 
for loans. Then, naturally, men who had invested their funds under 
the existing Government would struggle to uphold it ; since the return 
of James meant repudiation of the debts which it had contracted. 

The Beginnings of the National Debt. — The new policy was chiefly 
the work of a remarkable politician and financier, Charles Montagu 
(1665-17 1 5), created Baron and later Earl of Halifax. At the very 
beginning of King William's War it became evident that, in spite of 
new and increased taxes, the annual, revenue was insufficient to cover 
expenses. The experience of the goldsmiths, in consequence of the 
Stop of the Exchequer, made the prospects of obtaining further loans 
in the ordinary way very discouraging. However, there was a surplus 
of capital in the country and few opportunities of placing it safely and 
profitably. Many were reduced to hoarding their savings in strong 
boxes or burying them in the ground. In consequence, stockjobbers 
and fraudulent companies, with all sorts of speculative schemes, began 
to multiply alarmingly. There was, for instance, a Royal Academies 
Company for the education of young gentlemen in every branch of 
learning, and a Diving Company to recover lost treasure from the sea. 
Following the example of Italy, France, and the Netherlands, which had 
long had permanent debts, Montagu determined to secure for the 
use of the Government some of the surplus capital which was lying 
idle or being wasted in futile speculation. To that end he framed a 
measure, which became law in January, 1693, for borrowing £1,000,000. 
The subscribers were to receive life annuities of 10 per cent till 1700 
and 7 per cent after that date. As the annuitants died off, their 
yearly portions were to be divided among the survivors until only 
seven were left. Henceforth the payments, guaranteed by special, 
taxes, were to go to the State. Such was the beginning of the National 
Debt. 1 

The Foundation of the Bank of England, 1694. — Neither the loan 
of 1693 nor various new devices which were adopted 2 proved adequate 

1 It amounted to £50,000,000 at the Peace of Utrecht in 1713, to £240,000,000 
at the close of the American Revolution in 1783, and in 1815 to £840,000,000. 

2 One was a state lottery loan of which the details were arranged by a profes- 
sional gambler. 



638 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 



to meet the constantly swelling expenses of the war, whereupon Monta 
gue adopted another expedient — the founding of the Bank of England. 
Already, in the reign of Charles II, men had begun to intrust their 
money to the goldsmiths who had special facilities for the safe keep- 
ing of the precious metals which they employed in their business. 
The depositors received notes which they circulated in their transac- 
tions, while the goldsmiths frequently let out at interest the funds 
intrusted to their care. In this way the banking business in England 
began. Before the close of Charles' reign the question of a national 
bank commenced to be discussed. At Genoa there had been such an 
institution for almost three centuries, and there was a Bank of Amster- 
dam nearly a hundred years old. Various plans were suggested to the 
English Government, some wise and some foolish. The one adopted 
by Montagu in 1694 had been outlined in a pamphlet three years 
previously by William Paterson, a brilliant but erratic Scotchman 
destined soon to attain unenviable notoriety. The new project 
provided that the Government should borrow £1,200,000 at 8 per cent 
and that the subscribers should be incorporated as the " Governor and 
Company of the Bank of England." The corporation was authorized 
to engage in private banking ; it could borrow at 4 per cent and lend 
upon security ; it could deal in bullion and bills of exchange, but was 
prohibited from dealing in merchandise in any form. It could issue 
notes, though they were not legal tender, nor was the institution in any 
sense a monopoly. 

The Bank, during its early years, had to struggle against formida- 
ble obstacles. It was fiercely attacked, chiefly by the Tories and the 
disappointed authors of rival schemes. The most absurd and con- 
tradictory arguments were advanced to discredit it. Some denounced 
it as a republican institution, apparently on the ground that no bank 
had ever existed in a monarchy, while others prophesied that it would 
be an agent of despotism. Any possible danger of the latter sort 
was met by a provision that it could not loan any money to the Crown 
except by act of Parliament. Some of its noisiest opponents had a 
scheme for creating a bank which should lend money and circulate 
notes on the security of land, and, on the promise to lend the Govern- 
ment £2,500,000 at 7 per cent, they got a bill through Parliament 
authorizing the establishment of such an institution. Fortunately the 
land bank project collapsed, because its chief advocates were land- 
owners who wanted to borrow, while men who had money to lend 
were so distrustful that only a few thousand pounds were subscribed. 
A more serious danger came from certain goldsmiths who bought 
up notes and presented them for payment during the money stringency 
caused by the recoinage act. The directors met the attempted run by 
refusing to cash such notes, though they endeavored to care for those 
who honestly needed money. The Bank advanced the funds required 
to pay the expenses of the recoinage and also the sum which the land 
bank had promised to loan. In consequence it was granted new priv- 






COMPLETION OF THE REVOLUTION 639 

ileges in 1697 : it was made a monopoly until 17 10, and was allowed 
to issue notes payable on demand. 

The Triennial Act, 1694. — An attempt at parliamentary reform 
resulted in a new Triennial Act in 1694. The act of 1641 had been 
concerned primarily to secure frequent parliaments, but the practice 
of passing the Mutiny Act and of appropriating supplies annually had, 
since the accession of William and Mary, rendered a precaution of this 
sort no longer necessary. A crying evil, however, was the corruption 
and bribery which had come to flourish so rankly, particularly since the 
early days of the Pensionary Parliament. If members were only 
called to account by their constituents at long and infrequent intervals, 
they were bound to barter their votes all the more readily. 1 The 
Tories preferred a measure excluding all placemen from the Commons, 
but that did not reach those who took bribes of money, and, further- 
more, the Place Bill which they introduced in 1692 went too far in 
excluding the great ministers of State as well as minor officials. If 
that practice had been permanently incorporated into the Constitution, 
the present system of Cabinet government would have been impossible. 
A bureaucracy would have grown up, or the sovereign would have 
chosen his advisers solely from the House of Lords, and the Lower 
House would never have secured that direct control over the ministers 
which it now enjoys. By the Triennial Act of 1694, the Whigs carried 
their plan, first introduced in 1692, which was to limit the duration of 
Parliament to three years. 

The Act regulating Trials for Treason, 1696. — While the Habeas 
Corpus Act had made it difficult to hold accused persons in prison 
without cause and while juries were no longer answerable for verdicts 
contrary to the wishes of the Government, 2 the case of a prisoner 
brought before the courts was grievous. He was not shown a copy of 
his indictment before the trial, and so did not know of what he was 
accused until he appeared at the bar. He had no power to compel 
the attendance of witnesses, nor to force such as came to testify under 
oath, and he was denied the benefit of counsel. After the Tories had 
got a taste of what the Whigs and Nonconformists had long suffered, 
they began to join in seeking a remedy. In the session of 1690-1691 a 
bill for regulating trials in cases of high treason was introduced into the 
House of Commons, where it passed by a large and enthusiastic major- 
ity. Then a sudden obstacle arose. Peers accused of treason and 
felony were tried by their own House under the presidency of a High 
Steward appointed by the sovereign. When Parliament was in session 
the whole Upper House acted as judges, at other times the High 

1 One Titus, who had been in public life since the days of the Commonwealth, 
put the matter with as much truth as quaintness when he declared in a speech, 
that: "Parliament resembled the manna which God bestowed upon the chosen 
people. They were excellent while they were fresh : but, if kept too long, they 
became noisome, and foul worms were engendered by the corruption of that which 
had been sweeter than honey." 

2 Decided in Bushel's case, 1670. 



640 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

Steward arbitrarily selected twelve peers from his court. To remed> 
this obvious injustice, the Lords, when the treason bill reached them, 
introduced an amendment providing that in all cases, whether Parlia- 
ment was in session or not, peers should be tried by the whole House. 
The extreme Whigs objected to this amendment and held out for some 
years, with the result that the act did not finally pass till 1696. Its 
main provisions were : that no person could be convicted of a treason 
committed more than three years before the indictment was found ; 
that every person accused of high treason should be allowed the bene- 
fit of counsel ; that he should be furnished with a copy of the indict- 
ment at least five days before the trial, and a list from which the jury 
was to be taken; that his witnesses should be sworn ; that they should 
be cited by the same process as those summoned against him; and 
that there must be for conviction two witnesses to the same overt act 
or to two related acts of the same treason. 1 

The End of the Censorship of the Press, 1695. — Meantime, a long 
step had been taken toward the emancipation of the press. For a great 
while the Government had sought to muzzle the expression of public 
opinion by a strict censorship over all printed matter. Nothing could 
be published without a license and the official censor exercised a wide 
and oppressive discretion. Milton, in the Areopagitica, made a noble 
but futile plea against such a state of things. At length, in 1693, when 
the licensing act came up for renewal, a curious quarrel, in which the 
official licenser became involved and which had no bearing on the 
merits of the question, led to the first debate in Parliament on the 
liberty of the press, with the consequence that the act was renewed 
only for two years and then allowed to expire. This final renunciation 
of the censorship of the press was based, not on any broad grounds of 
principle, but was due to petty abuses connected with the administra- 
tion of the act. The new era of the modern newspaper now began. 
Hitherto, since the Restoration, the only authorized newspaper had 
been the London Gazette, 2 which contained nothing but such official 
news as the Secretary of State was pleased to allow to be published. 
Now appeared the English Courant, followed by others in quick suc- 
cession. With the removal of the censorship the temper of the 
pamphlets and papers improved perceptibly; for, up to this time, 
only the violent and reckless had dared to defy the law. Even yet 
the press was far from being absolutely free. The law of libel was 
strictly enforced, and from the time of Anne until the nineteenth cen- 
tury heavy stamp duties operated to keep down the number of cheap 
newspapers. 

1 Anthony Ashley Cooper, grandson of the famous Shaftesbury, is said to have 
furthered the final passage of the act by breaking down in his speech and then com- 
paring his case to that of a poor prisoner brought suddenly before his accusers. 
Prisoners in ordinary criminal cases had to wait till the nineteenth century before 
their lot was appreciably bettered. 

2 Started in 1665 as the Oxford Gazette. 



COMPLETION OF THE REVOLUTION 641 

William turns toward the Whigs, 1693. — The press came to be the 
chief organ for informing and expressing public opinion — an essential 
factor in party government. It was in this period that ministers were, 
for the first time, chosen because they represented the party dominant 
in the House of Commons. As early as 1690, Shrewsbury had advised 
William to govern exclusively through Whig ministers, for the reason 
that the Tories were chiefly Jacobites. William, however, disliked 
to bind himself absolutely to the Whigs. While the Tories, as a party, 
were inclined to the exiled James, they were supporters of prerogative 
and their leaders were experienced in administration. The Whigs, 
on the other hand, had been so long out of office that few of their 
number were well versed in public affairs, and they were opposed to 
giving the King a free hand either at home or abroad. But, gradually, 
William's own political sagacity and the arguments of Sunderland, 
who had wormed himself into his confidence, had convinced him that 
the success of his contest against Louis could best be secured by con- 
fining himself to ministers who commanded the support of the Whig 
party, which controlled the Commons, was financing the war, and of 
which the commercial prosperity, property, and religious and political 
security depended upon its favorable issue. Its leaders at that time 
consisted of a group of four men of remarkable ability and influence, 
known as the " Junto." 

The " Junto " and the First Party Cabinet, 1 694-1 697. — Edward 
Russell, later Earl of Orford, in spite of his treasonable intrigues l and 
his wayward temper, was distinguished as a member of one of the lead- 
ing English families and for notable services to his country and the new 
dynasty. John Somers was a sagacious, many-sided man ; not only 
was he one of the most eminent jurists and statesmen of his time, 2 but 
he was famous as a connoisseur of art and a patron of scholars. Mon- 
tagu was already recognized for his financial ability and skill in debate. 
Thomas Wharton, author of Lillibullero, was the most picturesque 
member of the group, unrivaled in the tricks of electioneering and as 
a party organizer. Known as " Honest Tom " by his adoring fol- 
lowers, and endowed with rare personal charm and courage, he was, 
nevertheless, dissipated, shameless, and an unprincipled liar. The 
Tories, disunited and disorganized, had no effective leaders to pit 
against this combination ; for their ablest men had lost their influence. 
Yet William, who disliked Russell and Wharton and valued the services 
of Carmarthen, Nottingham, and Godolphin, only slowly and of neces- 
sity got rid of his Tory advisers. In 1693, in consequence of disputes 
between Russell and Nottingham over the management of the fleet, 
he reluctantly dismissed the latter. In 1695, Carmarthen, now Duke 
of Leeds, was forced to retire, owing to charges of bribery in connec- 
tion with the renewal of the charter of the Old East India Company. 

1 They were not known to the rank and file of his party. 

2 Recently, however, some historians have come to think that, owing to the in- 
fluence of Macaulay, the attainments and integrity of Somers have been overrated. 



642 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

In 1697 Goldolphin resigned as a result of the disclosures of Fenwick\ 
Thus, at the time when the nation was celebrating the conclusion of tht 
Peace of Ryswick, the Cabinet was entirely Whig, though William con- 
tinued to consult such unofficial advisers as Sunderland and his Dutch 
favorite the Earl of Portland. 

The Reduction of the Standing Army, 1697-1698. — No sooner was 
the war over than Parliament came into violent conflict with the King 
by insisting on a reduction of the standing army. The step was due 
partly to economy, for the public debt had increased to £17,000,000, 
and partly to the prevalent view that a standing army was not only 
contrary to the Constitution but dangerous to liberty. People remem- 
bered the power that Cromwell had been able to wield with the New 
Model at his back and the strife which his generals had caused after 
his death ; they remembered how James had tried to overawe London 
with his force on Hounslow Heath ; and they recalled with shudders 
the excesses of Kirke's Lambs and Dundee's bloody suppression of the 
Covenanters. In a hot pamphlet war which preceded the debates in 
Parliament, Somers contributed his famous " Balancing Letter," in 
which he contended that the militia were by no means sufficient for 
the defense of England, and argued ably for an adequate standing force 
dependent on parliamentary support and control. In spite of all, the 
army was reduced from 87,000 to 10,000, though a liberal grant was 
made for the maintenance of the navy. An attempt on the part of 
the extreme Tories to strike a blow at William's favorites by annulling 
all grants of Crown lands made since the Revolution was cleverly 
frustrated by the Ministry, who coupled with the measure bills to 
include the grants made by Charles II and James II. The King, who 
was firmly convinced that such a wholesale reduction of the army was 
the surest way to precipitate a new war, and who had frankly stated 
his views in a speech to the Houses, was provoked to the unconstitu- 
tional step of leaving sealed orders, when he went to Holland at the 
close of the session, that 16,000 men should be kept on foot. As a 
result, a bill was forced on him in the autumn of 1698 reducing the 
army from 10,000 to 7000. It was further provided that it should 
consist of Englishmen alone, thus necessitating the exclusion of the 
Dutch guards. The King was so disgusted that he again talked of 
quitting the country. 1 

The Irish Forfeitures, 1699-1700. — In another quarrel between the 
Crown and the Commons, neither side appears to great advantage. 
It had been decided to devote a large share of the property of James' 
adherents in Ireland to the public service. Although the sovereign 
had a legal right to dispose of such forfeitures at will, William had 
agreed, in answer to an address from Parliament, 20 January, 1690, to 
make no grants until the matter had been acted upon in the next 
session. Nothing was done, apparently owing to the obstruction of 

1 The story is probably not true that William stamped furiously about the room, 
declaring : "If I had a son, by God, the guards should not leave me." 



COMPLETION OF THE REVOLUTION 643 

Government agents, whereupon the King proceeded to make lavish 
grants to his favorites. Finally, in 1699, the Commons appointed a 
committee to investigate the question and to frame a plan of resump- 
tion. In order to prevent the Lords from amending the measure, it 
was " tacked " to the Land Tax Bill ; for it was the rule that the Upper 
House must pass or reject a money bill in the form in which they 
received it. In the next year a Resumption Bill, based on the major- 
ity report of the committee, was passed, again by tacking. Unfor- 
tunately, the act included in its " resumptions " Irish lands which had 
never been forfeited. This was especially unjust to those who had 
stood by William, as well as to some who had been induced to accept 
the new dynasty on the distinct understanding that they should retain 
their estates. While the lavishness, the favoritism, and sharp practice 
of the King cannot be defended, the temper and methods of the Com- 
mons are scarcely less blameworthy. 

The Break-up of the Whig Ministry, 1699. — -The defeat of the 
King in his attempt to prevent the reduction of the army and the 
resumption of the Irish forfeitures are only the chief indications of the 
failure of his Ministry to control Parliament after the general election 
of 1698. The Tories did not get an actual majority until the Parlia- 
ment of 1 701 ; but, reenforced by the malcontent Whigs, they were 
able to obstruct the Junto at every turn. There was blame on both 
sides; for while the Commons were meddlesome and overbearing, 
Montagu, who had once been such an effective parliamentary mana- 
ger, spoiled by his success, had grown haughty and uncompromising. 
Orford retired from the position of First Lord of the Admiralty in 
May, 1699 ; Montagu resigned the Chancellorship of the Exchequer 
and the First Lordship of the Treasury in the autumn, while Somers 
was deprived of the Great Seal in the following year. In the later, 
more developed stage of the party system they would have retired in a 
body directly a hostile majority was formed against them, or have 
appealed to the country in a general election. However, the fact that 
William dismissed Somers in consequence of a parliamentary attack 
marked another stage in the progress of party government. 

The Act of Settlement, 1701. — One measure of great significance 
stands out in the midst of the strife and confusion of these years — 
the Act of Settlement, which formed a necessary supplement to the 
Bill of Rights. It was occasioned by the death, in July, 1701, of the 
Duke of Gloucester, Anne's last surviving child. In providing for the 
succession the Bill of Rights went no farther than the descendants of 
Anne. The new Act, excluding all other claimants, provided that, 
in the event of the death of Anne without heirs, the crown should pass 
to Sophia, Electress of Hanover, and her descendants. She was the 
granddaughter of James I and the nearest Protestant representative 
of the English royal house. 1 Various limitations were also embodied 

1 She was a daughter of Elizabeth and Palsgrave Frederick, and had married 
the Elector of Hanover. Two branches of the House of Stuart were nearer in the 



644 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

in the Act, some to take effect only when the new line came to the 
throne. Eight of the provisions are specially important, (i) Who- 
ever shall come to the throne of England shall join in communion with 
the Church of England. (2) In case such sovereigns shall not be 
natives of England they shall not engage the nation in war in defense 
of territories not belonging to the crown of England except by consent 
of Parliament. (3) Such a sovereign shall not go out of the realm 
without parliamentary consent. (4) No foreigner shall be a member 
of Parliament, hold any office, or have any grant of land from the 
Crown. (5) All matters relating to the well governing of the kingdom 
properly belong to the whole Privy Council, shall be considered there, 
and all resolutions taken shall be signed by all members that advise 
and consent. (6) No person having an office or place of profit under 
the king, or who receives a pension from him, shall sit in the House of 
Commons. (7) Judges shall hold office during good behavior (quam- 
diu se bene gesserint) and shall only be removed upon an address of 
both Houses. (8) No pardon may be pleaded in bar of an impeach- 
ment. 

While the first four of these provisions were designed as safeguards 
in the event of a foreign sovereign coming to the throne, the last four 
dealt with distinctly domestic problems. The attempt to revive and 
extend the powers of the old Privy Council was aimed at the royal 
practice of consulting unofficial advisers and at the practice of transact- 
ing State business in Cabinet meetings where no formal records were 
kept. But ministers were not inclined to accept the increased respon- 
sibility of attaching their names to the measures which they supported, 
and sovereigns did not care to be bound to the whole Privy Council, 
so the measure was repealed in the reign of Anne. The provision 
relating to officeholders not sitting in Parliament was simply the old 
Place Bill, to which all the former objections could be urged. It was 
modified by an Act of 1705, which remains in force today. That Act 
provided that holders of offices created after that date should be in- 
eligible to sit in the House of Commons, 1 while a member of the Lower 
House appointed to an office which existed earlier must resign his seat 
and submit himself for reelection. The seventh provision merely 
remedied the evil of appointing judges during the royal pleasure, a 
power which the first two Stuarts had so grossly abused. The last 
was a legal confirmation of the attitude taken by Parliament in the 
impeachment of Danby in 1678. 

The War of the Spanish Succession. The Claimants to the Spanish 
Throne. — Meantime, England had been drifting into another great 

line of descent, but were both excluded because of their Roman Catholic faith. 
The elder line, descended from James II, became extinct with the death of his 
grandson Henry, Cardinal of York, in 1807. The younger was descended from the 
sister of James II who married the Duke of Orleans. It is at present represented 
by Mary, wife of the King of Bavaria. 

1 This, however, does not prevent Parliament in an act creating a new office 
from providing that the incumbent may sit in the House of Commons. 



COMPLETION OF THE REVOLUTION 645 

continental war occasioned by a scramble for the Spanish inheritance. 
Spain had been nominally ruled since 1665 by Charles II, who had 
ascended the throne as a boy of four. In spite of its vast European 
and colonial possessions, the country was in a state of misery and 
decay, bankrupt, and priest-ridden. Under Philip IV, Portugal had 
recovered her sovereignty, and the Northern Provinces of the Nether- 
lands had secured the recognition of their independence. Charles II, 
feeble in mind and body, had been forced to yield Franche Comte, and 
many border territories in the Spanish Netherlands to France. Now 
Louis XIV and the Emperor Leopold I were impatiently waiting the 
death of the shadow King to seize the residue of the monarchy, the one 
for the House of Bourbon, the other for the House of Hapsburg. Both 
had a claim on the inheritance, while still a third claim was advanced 
in behalf of Joseph Ferdinand, the infant son of the elector of Bavaria. 1 
Since, in the interest of the European balance of power, neither England 
nor Holland would consent to a union of Spain either with France or 
the Empire, Louis urged the Bourbon claim in behalf of his second 
grandson, Philip, while Leopold put in his for his second son, Charles. 
The First and Second Partition Treaties, 1698 and 1700. —The 
pride of the Spanish demanded that the monarchy should be handed 
on intact, while a partition between the claimants seemed the only 
possible solution of the vexed question. The French King played a 
double game. While his ambassador, Harcourt, was laboring at the 
Spanish court to secure the whole of the Spanish inheritance, Louis 2 
and William negotiated the First Partition Treaty, 3 signed October, 

1 Philip III 



Louis XIII m. Anna Maria Philip IV Maria Anne m. Ferdinand III 

I 

LouisXIV m. Maria Theresa Charles II Margaret m. Leopold I m- Eleanor of New- 



I. 
Louis 

I 



Louis Philip Max Emanuel of Bavaria m. Maria Antonia 



burg, 3d wife 
1 

r~ 1 

Joseph Charles 



Joseph Ferdinand 

Both Louis XIII and Louis XIV had married elder daughters of Philip III and 
Philip IV, respectively ; but both Infantas had renounced on their marriage any 
claim to inherit the throne of Spain. Louis XIV, however, denied the validity of 
these renunciations. Philip IV by will had left the crown, in the event of the 
death of Charles without issue, to the heirs of Margaret. Their daughter Maria 
Antonia, however, had renounced her claim in favor of any son that her father 
might have from a subsequent marriage ; but this step was not recognized as legal 
by the Spanish. 

2 He feared that, in case Harcourt failed, William might come to terms with the 
Emperor. 

3 John Arbuthnot wrote a witty satire entitled The History of John Bull, in which 
he represented England and Holland as a clothier and a linen draper undertaking 
to settle the estate of a bedridden old gentleman. The name, now applied to the 
typical Englishman, may be traced to this work. 



646 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

1698, whereby the Electoral Prince of Bavaria was to have Spain, the 
Spanish Netherlands, and the colonies, while the remainder of the 
Spanish possessions should be divided between the Bourbons and the 
Hapsburgs. The Emperor, who was to receive only the Duchy of 
Milan by the arrangement, was indignant enough when the news 
leaked out; but the Spanish were furious. "They will rather," 
wrote the English ambassador, " deliver themselves up to the French 
or the devil, so they may all go together, than be dismembered." In 
consequence, Charles II, 14 November, 1698, proceeded to confirm the 
will of Philip IV, leaving the whole dominion to Joseph Ferdinand. 
This arrangement, however, was upset by the sudden death of the 
Electoral Prince, 5 February, 1699, of smallpox, it was said, though 
many believed he was poisoned. Thereupon, a second Partition 
Treaty was framed between England and France which was finally 
signed in February, 1700. It provided that Spain, the Netherlands, 
and the Colonies should go to the Archduke Charles, while the French 
dauphin was to have Naples, Sicily, and Guipuzcoa. In addition, 
France was to receive Lorraine, while the Duke of that country was to 
be indemnified with Milan. The Emperor, who wanted the whole 
Spanish inheritance for his House, hung off. 

King Charles, when the news was communicated to him, " flew 
into an extraordinary passion, and the Queen, in her rage, smashed 
to pieces everything in the room." French diplomacy, supported 
by the Church, now worked so effectively upon him and his advisers 
that he signed a final will, 3 October, 1700, less than a month before 
his death, leaving all his dominions to Philip of Anjou on condition 
that they should never be united to France. Louis forthwith threw 
over the Second Partition Treaty. 

The Impeachment of William's Whig Ministers, 1701. — War 
was now inevitable ; but it seemed at first doubtful whether William 
could carry England with him ; for the Tories, whose policy was peace 
with France, were in a majority in the new Parliament which opened 
in February, 1701. One of their first acts was to impeach Portland, 
Orford, Halifax, and Somers for negotiating the Partition Treaties. 1 
As a matter of fact, William had employed only Portland, without 
even consulting the others, to whom he presented only the barest 
outline of the treaties for signature after all the terms had been settled. 
This was the most high-handed action of William's whole reign ; but, 
considering that the parliamentary action had reduced his standing 
army to almost nothing, he had made even better terms than they 
had a right to expect. They overreached themselves by their parti- 
san zeal, and antagonized the Lords by their overbearing demands, 
so that all the proceedings had to be dropped. 

1 In the case of Halifax and Somers other charges were complicated with those 
relating to their supposed share in the Partition Treaties. Halifax was accused of 
misuse of public funds, and Somers with contributing to the expedition of the fa- 
mous Captain Kidd. 



COMPLETION OF THE REVOLUTION 647 

The Tories forced to join the War Party. — However, the realiza- 
tion that Spain was to be used as a pawn in Louis' great game of es- 
tablishing the political and commercial ascendancy of France aroused 
such a storm of anti-French wrath throughout England that even the 
Tory House of Commons was forced to join in the cry for war. The 
Spanish ambassador at Paris first aroused disquiet by declaring : 
II riy a plus de Pyrenees} Then Louis showed his hand : in 
December of 1700 he declared that Philip by mounting the throne of 
Spain did not renounce his place in the line of succession to the crown 
of France ; in February, 1701, his troops took possession of the barrier 
fortresses in the Spanish Netherlands ; and what touched the great 
mercantile class in England even more closely, he issued a proclama- 
tion that France would be treated as the most favored nation in the 
Spanish-American trade. A stream of pamphlets appeared — one of 
them by Daniel Defoe, later famous as the author of Robinson Crusoe 
— unfolding vehemently the dangers which threatened the country 
and her commerce. 2 Public opinion demanded immediate action, and 
a famous petition from Kent, 8 May, 1701, voiced the prevailing senti- 
ment in begging the Commons to " turn its loyal addresses into bills 
of supply " and to enable the King " powerfully to assist his allies 
before it is too late." The House, though it showed its resentment 
of the proceeding and attempted to punish those who introduced the 
petition, nevertheless voted William a generous sum for aiding his 
allies to the extent of waging war if necessary. 

The Grand Alliance, 7 September, 1701. — In July, negotiations 
were opened, with the result that the treaty of the Hague, known as 
the Grand Alliance, was signed 7 September, 1701. By it the Spanish 
possessions in the Netherlands and Italy were to be secured for the 
House of Austria, while England and Holland were to have any con- 
quests which they might make in the western world. The Emperor 
had hoped that the Allies would back him in his attempt to secure the 
whole of the Spanish kingdom for his son Charles ; but, for the present, 
they refused to go so far. The general purposes of the war were to 
check the growth of France, to protect the Netherlands by an ade- 
quate barrier, and to secure English and Dutch trade. With the 
Emperor political considerations dominated, while the interests of 
the English were primarily commercial, and, except for the defense 
of her borders, this was equally true of Holland. 

The Death of James II, 6 September, 1701. — Although William 
had not heard of it when he signed the treaty of the Grand Alliance, 
another event had occurred which accentuated the growing hostility 
to France. James II died 6 September, and Louis, visiting him on 
his deathbed, promised solemnly to recognize his son as James III, 

1 Literally, "There are no more Pyrenees," meaning that henceforth France 
and Spain were one. 

2 England did much legitimate business with the Spanish possessions in the way 
of carrying on trade and exchange of wares, and still more smuggling. 



648 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

King of England. William was so affected by the news that he pulled 
his hat over his face to conceal his emotions. In a splendid speech, 
the last he ever made to Parliament, he emphasized eloquently the 
danger which this recognition involved to the Protestant religion and 
to the " present and future tranquillity and happiness of the country." 
The Houses, in reply, begged him to insert a provision in the treaty 
that no peace would be made without a further guarantee of the Prot- 
estant succession ; they voted an army of 40,000 soldiers, together 
with an equal force for the fleet, and, early in 1702, passed an Abjura- 
tion Bill. It attainted the son of James of high treason, made it 
treasonable to have any dealings with him, and imposed a new oath 
on certain classes, acknowledging William as the rightful heir and 
lawful King and abjuring the Pretender. 

Death of William, 8 March, 1702. — William did not live to open 
the spring campaign ; the great work which he had begun was taken 
up and carried to a splendid fulfillment by Marlborough, who had 
once sought to betray him. All through the winter of 1701 William 
was steadily failing in health. On 20 February, 1702, as he was 
riding in Hampton Court Park, his favorite horse, Sorrel, 1 stumbled 
and threw him to the ground. He never recovered from the shock, 
and died, 8 March. Although he had come to England as a deliverer, 
he had never been popular with the mass of his subjects. His faults 
of temper, his dislike of the country and the people, his weak health 
and engrossing occupations, which gave him little opportunity to 
cultivate his subjects, go far to account for this. But the explanation 
lies even deeper. In order to concentrate his resources for his supreme 
task — that of frustrating the designs of France — he labored to 
maintain a strong executive at a time when the tendency was toward 
increased parliamentary control. Many of the chief constitutional 
reforms of the reign, such as the Triennial Act, the Act regulating 
Treason Trials, and the Act of Settlement, not only did not originate 
with him, but were only accepted by him as inevitable concessions. 
The Public Debt and the Bank, though occasioned by his financial 
necessities, were the work of others. He directed his own foreign 
policy without consulting his ministers any more than he was abso- 
lutely obliged to ; he was opposed to the Whigs and to parliamentary 
inquiry ; and he struggled throughout his reign for a standing army 
and an independent revenue, commonly regarded as the instruments 
of despotism. Yet his merits and achievements were great. Men 
who did not love him respected his courage and his steadfastness. 
He forced the Act of Grace on the angry and revengeful Whigs, he 
was largely responsible for the Toleration Act, and he was the first 
to put into operation the system of party government. Finally, 
though he did not appreciate what was to come, his expulsion of the 
Stuarts made possible the great Revolution Settlement which so pro- 

1 Curiously enough, a horse which had once been owned by Fenwick. 



COMPLETION OF THE REVOLUTION 649 

foundly affected the subsequent development of the English Constitu- 
tion, and his wars with France prepared the way for Great Britain's 
commercial and colonial supremacy. 

FOR ADDITIONAL READING 

Narrative. Lodge, chs. XVII-XIX. Macaulay, IV, chs. XVII ff. V. Ranke, V., 
bks. XX, XXI. 

Special. C. F. Dunbar, Theory and History of Banking (2 ed., O. M. W. Sprague, 
iooi),ch. XI; an excellent brief account of the Bank of England. A. Andreades, 
History of the Bank of England (tr. C. Meredith, 1909). 

Selections from the sources. Adams and Stephens, nos. 241-243. Robertson 
Select Statutes, pt. I, nos. XVIII-XX. 

For further references, see ch. XXXVI above. 



CHAPTER XXXVIII 

THE END OF THE STUART DYNASTY. ANNE (1702-1714) 

The Character of Anne. — Anne was thirty-seven years old when 
she succeeded William, 8 March, 1702. Naturally meek and sluggish 
and of a limited understanding, she was incapable of dealing inde- 
pendently with the great problems at home and abroad which confronted 
her. She had strong prejudices and warm affections, she allowed her 
friends to influence her, and, like her father, obstinately regarded 
those who disagreed with her as unworthy of all confidence. Her 
life was full of unhappiness and illusions. Her mother died when she 
was six years old, religious differences estranged her from her father, 
the designs of unscrupulous intriguers alienated her from William 
and Mary, while necessity forced her to support the party whose 
political and religious principles were absolutely antagonistic to her 
own. Nor could she have been more unfortunate in her closest as- 
sociates. Prince George of Denmark, whom she married as a girl of 
eighteen, was a kindly gentleman who either had no capacity or 
lacked the force to assert it, and who, as the years went on, did little 
but grow fat and become more and more addicted to his bottle. Sarah 
Jennings (wife of John Churchill, Earl of Marlborough), with whom, 
as a girl, she had contracted the most intimate of friendships, gained 
a complete ascendancy over her, which lasted well into the new reign. 
Waiving the formalities of royalty, the favorite, under the name of 
Mrs. Freeman, addressed her nominal mistress as Mrs. Morley. 
Sarah was a beautiful and capable, but a designing, avaricious woman. 
Utterly without scruple, her interests were thoroughly bound up with 
those of her husband, though she often quarreled with him, as she 
did with every one who came within range of her shrewish tongue. 
Yet, while she embittered all Anne's family relationships and fomented 
party strife, her efforts to advance her family contributed greatly to 
the triumph which England achieved in the war about to open. 

Her Relation to Parties and to her People. — Anne abhorred fac- 
tion ; but she was passionately devoted to the Church, 1 and she hated 
the Whigs, whom she regarded as hostile alike to the Establishment 
and to the prerogative. . This led her to meddle busily in the adminis- 
tration of the government, to attend cabinet councils and debates in 
the House of Lords, and to assert herself in appointments of Church 

1 She wrote to Mary in 1688 that " she would rather live on alms than change her 
religion." 

650 



THE END OF THE STUART DYNASTY 651 

and State officials. Thus she came into sharp conflict with the grow- 
ing tendency toward party government. Her activity, however, was 
confined largely to politics. She took little interest in the learning 
and literature of the period. Nor did she care for art, either in build- 
ing, painting, or music. All in all, however, she was popular. Never 
a beauty, she grew very fat in her last years ; but she had a comfort- 
able, placid appearance ; she was very amiable, until the persecution 
of Mrs. Freeman made her suspicious and irritable ; her domestic 
life was beyond criticism ; and the fact that she was a woman always 
appealed to the mass of her subjects. Then, too, she was generous 
and charitable. 1 More important still, she represented the cause of 
Protestantism against the Pretender, while she supported the con- 
tinental war until the zeal of her subjects was spent, until they began 
to grumble over the expense and to ask themselves what they were 
getting in return for all they had done for the allies. 

The Tories. — While Anne's prejudices, worked upon by " court 
intrigues and faction," played a great part in the history of the reign, 
the two great parties came to exercise a steadily increasing influence. 
The Tories, composed largely of the most conservative element in 
the realm — the squirearchy and the country parsons — set them- 
selves obstinately against the changes which followed in the wake of 
the Revolution. They were opposed bitterly to toleration for Dis- 
senters as a serious menace to true religion ; to the National Debt 
and the Bank, which tended to enhance the power of the moneyed classes 
over the landed ; and to a standing army raised primarily against 
the monarch who sheltered their true king. The great Whig lords 
were abominable in their eyes ; since many of them were new men, 
not a few sprung from trading and dissenting stock, and most of 
them allied with that class. The Whig bishops and Low Churchmen 
they classed as free thinkers or Presbyterians. Many who did not 
love going to church enjoyed pulling down Dissenting meeting houses ; 
indeed the religion of this sort consisted chiefly in hating their op- 
ponents, in which class they included Huguenot and Lutheran 
refugees, who furnished more recruits for their opponents and who 
seemed to them all the more odious from the fact that they brought 
new industries into the country. " Trade," they cried, " would be 
the ruin of the English nation." Although the majority were stanch 
supporters of the existing sovereign against the Pretender, they were 
seriously handicapped from the fact that, in principle, they still ad- 
hered to their anti-Revolutionary doctrines, a fact which caused their 
loyalty to Anne and the Hanoverian succession to be seriously doubted. 

1 One of the lasting monuments of her reign is Queen Anne's Bounty. As a 
means of augmenting the incomes of the poor clergy she furthered a measure, which 
passed in the session of 1 703-1 704, for devoting to this purpose the tenths and the 
annates which Henry VIII had appropriated for the Crown. At that time amount- 
ing to only £14,000, it has since been increased by parliamentary grants and private 
donations until it now amounts to several millions. 



652 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

The Whigs. — The Whigs, made up of the great lords, the bulk of 
bishops and town clergy, the Nonconformists, the army men, the 
merchants, the financiers, and the small freeholders, were, in general, 

— although their practice did not always accord with their principles ] 

— the party of progress, of popular as distinct from class interests, 
favoring the growth of commerce and toleration and the limitation of 
the prerogative. While they carried the war too far and had to yield 
to their opponents the credit — such as it was — of the peace, they 
achieved notable results. They broke up the great combination be- 
tween France and Spain and all the dangers which it might have in- 
volved to national independence, Protestantism, and freedom of trade. 
They secured the Dutch by an adequate barrier and the transference 
of the Spanish Netherlands, and checked France's expansion in the 
Mediterranean by lopping off her Italian possessions. For England 
the Whigs secured important possessions in the New World and a 
share in western trade as well as Gibraltar, the key of the Mediterra- 
nean. The union with Scotland and the peaceful accession of the Han- 
overians, with all that was involved, were also the work of the Whigs. 

The Resources of France and the Allies at the Opening of the War. 

— On 4 May, 1702, the Allies at London, the Hague, and Vienna all 
declared war on France, while the Imperial General had already begun 
fighting in Italy during the previous year. In many respects Louis 
XIV seemed to have even greater advantages than in the previous 
struggle. Not only was he fighting on inside lines, but his flanks were 
guarded by Spain on the south and by the fortresses in the Nether- 
lands on the north, while his alliance with the Elector of Bavaria 
thrust a wedge between the Dutch and the Austrians. He had an 
army of 400,000 men well disciplined and full of confidence. His 
fleet numbered no men-of-war, of which 60 carried 104 guns apiece. 
He had a revenue of 100,000,000 livres. On the other hand, the tre- 
mendous strain due to the expenses of the " Sun King's " magnificent 
court and his constant wars had begun to tell. His debts were so 
enormous that he could only borrow money at 15 to 20 per cent, and 
it took half his annual revenue to pay the interest. Of the Allies, 
Holland had a small army but a strong fleet and extensive public 
credit, while the Emperor, who could furnish large contingents, had 
no money to pay them. The burden of the war fell more and more 
on the English. When it opened, they had a fleet of 174 men-of-war, 
24 of them carrying no guns each, besides numerous fireships and 
gunboats, " yachts " as they were called. Their standing army con- 
sisted of only 7000 troops in England and 12,000 in Ireland, though 
adequate forces were soon equipped and sent into the field. The 
total debt was £17,500,000; but £6,750,000 of this was funded 2 and 

1 This was more especially true during their long tenure of power later in the 
century. 

2 That is, put on a permanent footing with the interest guaranteed by special 
taxes. 



THE END OF THE STUART DYNASTY 653 

money could be borrowed at 6 per cent. Though the annual revenue 
was only £2,400,000, this was speedily swelled by extraordinary sup- 
plies. On the other hand, though the Tories at first supported the 
war, party strife soon became acute, while the Allies, who had nothing 
in common but the desire to crush France, were torn by conflicting 
.interests. 

General Features of the War. — There were four main theaters of 
war : the Dutch border ; the valley of the Danube, which commanded 
the road to Vienna ; the Po valley, the key to southern France ; and 
Spain, where Philip V had been set up as King. William had been 
unable to recover any of the ground gained by Louis during the long 
years of his aggression, and it seemed impossible to succeed where he 
had failed. Nevertheless, the Allies drove the French out of Ger- 
many in 1704, out of Italy in 1706, and out of the Netherlands in the 
years from 1706 to 1708. 1 This was due to their two remarkable 
leaders, Marlborough and Prince Eugene ; 2 to the invaluable lessons 
which the allied troops had learned from their defeats under William ; 
and to the diminished French resources, caused by Louis' dazzling 
but costly conquests. At sea, while there were no noteworthy battles, 
the English naval supremacy over France was carried a stage further, 
and a permanent foothold was secured in the Mediterranean. 

Marlborough and Godolphin. — In spite of Marlborough's at- 
tempted treason, William, recognizing his remarkable military and 
diplomatic ability, had employed him in the negotiations leading up 
to the Grand Alliance. Now, owing to the influence of his wife, he 
was made Captain-General of the English forces, 3 while the Dutch 
made him Commander-in-Chief of their army as well. 4 He fought 
nobly for England in court and camp ; but he was so consumed with 
ambition and so sordid in his love of money that one is bound to be- 
lieve that with him personal considerations counted more than love 
of country. Otherwise, unless the loftiest and most misguided of 
patriots, it is difficult to explain why he later sacrificed his self-respect 
and the interests of his party to remain in office. But if he was a 
base, he was a splendid figure ; his beauty, his charm of manner, his 
tact and patience made him irresistible. And he had many virtues 
besides ; he was a devoted husband and father, he was sincere in his 
religious beliefs, and he was humane in war. As a general, in planning 
campaigns and in conducting battles and sieges, he showed a courage 
and energy, a boldness tempered with caution, and gained a degree 

1 Indeed it was only in Spain that they failed to gain ground. 

2 Eugene was of the ducal House of Savoy. He was a son of the Count of Sois- 
sons and had begun his military career in France. In 1683, at the age of twenty, 
after Louis XIV refused him a command, he fled the country, took service under 
Leopold, and became the most brilliant Imperial commander of the century. 

3 Prince George had the nominal command as Generalissimo and Lord High 
Admiral. 

4 William left no one to succeed him as Stadholder, and the Grand Pensionary 
Heinsius succeeded to the control of civil and military affairs. 



654 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

of success which no English general has ever equaled. In his di- 
plomacy, brilliant as it was, he made the ultimate mistake of pressing 
Louis too far, possibly because he wanted to continue the war for his 
own glory, possibly because he honestly felt that there could be no 
safety for Europe until his opponent was absolutely crushed. Sid- 
ney Godolphin, who, as Lord Treasurer, provided funds for his cam- 
paigns, was in many respects a very unedifying person. He was known 
as " Baconface " from his heavy features ; he had no gifts as an orator 
and no love for culture, spending his leisure in drinking, card playing, 
cockfighting, and horse racing. He was timid and cautious, and a 
timeserver, who did not hesitate even at treasonable intrigue to secure 
his personal safety. On the other hand, he had a remarkable knowl- 
edge of trade and finance and was so honest that he died a poor man. 

Their Relation to Parties. — Both Marlborough and Godolphin 
started as moderate Tories ; but as that party cooled in its warlike 
zeal and lost control of the Commons, 1 they threw themselves on the 
support of the Whigs. This brought them into conflict with Anne, 
while the violence of Mrs. Freeman, who became a furious Whig 
partisan, only widened the breach. It was a period of transition 
from ministers who were individually servants of the Crown to the 
system under which they became a united body, collectively respon- 
sible to Parliament. Marlborough originally wanted to carry on 
the government with the aid of the moderate men of both parties ; 
later, when his Whig supporters were forced out he sought to hold on 
regardless of that fact. Thus he made the mistake of going too far 
against the old system without going far enough in the direction of 
the new. It was only his great victories and the division among his 
opponents that enabled him to remain in control as long as he did. 

The Campaign of 1702. — Marlborough, who took command in 
the Netherlands in 1702, was so hampered by the Dutch field deputies 
that he was unable to bring on a pitched battle during this or the fol- 
lowing year. It must be said for the Dutch that, primarily concerned 
with the defense of their own borders, they realized that a single de- 
feat might expose them to disastrous invasion. Marlborough's efforts 
during the years 1702 and 1703. were not wasted, however; for he 
succeeded in forcing the French back along the roads in the Spanish 
Netherlands and the Rhine country by which they might strike at 
the Dutch from the southeast and east. At sea, the English began, 
in 1702, by sending a combined naval and land force to take Cadiz, 
an attempt in which they failed, largely owing to dissensions between 
the admiral, Sir George Rooke, and the Duke of Ormonde, who com- 
manded the troops. On its way home the expedition partly retrieved 
itself by an attack on a convoy of French and Spanish warships which 
were guarding the unloading of the plate fleet in Vigo Bay ; for, though 
they lost most of the treasure, they inflicted great damage on the enemy. 

1 Of the five parliaments elected during the reign three were Tory : 1702-1705, 
1710-1713, 1713-1714; and two were Whig: 1705-1708, 1708-1710. 



THE END OF THE STUART DYNASTY 055 

Progress of the War in 1703. — As a result, Portugal joined the 
Grand Alliance in the following year, thus furnishing a basis of opera- 
tions against Spain. By the Methuen Treaty, concluded between 
Portugal and England, English woolens were admitted into Portugal, 
and the duty on Portuguese wines was reduced to one third less than 
those from France — a treaty responsible for much of the gout of 
succeeding generations of Englishmen. The elections of the summer 
of 1702 had brought back, with a strong majority, the Tories, who 
showed their partisan spirit by reflecting on the memory of William 
in a vote that Marlborough had " signally retrieved the honor and 
glory of the English nation." In the campaign of 1703, the interest 
centered in an attempt of the French in conjunction with Bavarians 
to make a dash on Vienna. It miscarried, owing to the supineness 
of the Elector, but the danger remained critical ; for the French 
generals gained decided successes in western Germany, while the 
Emperor had to face a rising of the Hungarian Protestants led by 
Prince Rakoczy. Added to this, Leopold was so poor that he had 
to coin the plate in the churches to pay and equip his troops. During 
the winter the Elector aroused himself sufficiently to capture Passau 
on the Danube. The Empire seemed lost to the Allies unless a decisive 
blow could be struck. 

Marlborough's Campaign of 1704. — In the face of the crisis Marl- 
borough framed and executed a daring plan which marked the turning 
point in the war. This was to march down to the Danube and relieve 
the Imperial capital by defeating the combined French and Bavarian 
armies. Realizing that the Dutch would never consent to leave their 
frontier thus exposed and that Louis would forestall him if the secret 
leaked out, he took no one into his confidence, except the Queen and 
Godolphin, 1 and gave out to the Grand Pensionary that he was going 
to operate along the Moselle. Leaving a portion of his forces to guard 
the Netherlands, he marched rapidly up the Rhine, followed by the 
incompetent Villeroy, who was completely in the dark as to his move- 
ments. Crossing the river after he had passed the Moselle, he struck 
southeast into Wurtemburg, where, late in June, he held a conference 
with Prince Eugene whom he left to hold the Rhine against Villeroy, 
halting uncertainly on the left bank, and joined forces with the Mar- 
grave of Baden. Thence he proceeded to cross the Danube at Donau- 
worth, while the Elector, after a vain attempt to dispute his passage, 
retreated to Augsburg. Marlborough was now between the enemy 
and Vienna with Bavaria at his mercy. He at once began to ravage 
and burn, though, as he wrote his wife, it was so contrary to his dis- 
position that nothing but absolute necessity could bring him to con- 
sent to it. The Elector, who was joined at Augsburg by a large French 
contingent under Tallard, refused to save his people by giving up his 
alliance with Louis XIV. 

1 It is possible, however, that he took Prince Eugene into his confidence as early 
as the winter of 1 703-1 704. 



656 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

The Battle of Blenheim, 13 August, 1704. — Marlborough, in dangei 
of being cut off from his communications and his bases of supply, saw 
that the time had now come to risk a battle. So, leaving the Mar- 
grave to besiege Ingoldstadt, he quietly recrossed to the northern 
bank of the Danube, 11 August, where he effected a junction with 
Prince Eugene, who had dropped back from the Rhine. Meantime, 
the Elector and Tallard, thinking that they had only Eugene to deal 
with, left their strong position and crossed the river in their turn, 
with the design of destroying the magazines of the Allies at Nordlingen 
and Nuremburg. On the 12th, Marlborough and Eugene from a 
village church tower saw the enemy pitching their tents between the 
villages of Blenheim and Lutzingen. 1 Here in a strong position 
behind the little river Nebel, which flows into the Danube, the com- 
bined French and Bavarian forces were attacked, 13 August, by the 
allied commanders. Tallard, whom Marlborough cooped up between 
the Nebel and the Danube, was taken prisoner, though the Elector who 
faced Eugene managed to escape with a considerable portion of his 
forces. The Allies, at a cost of 12,000 men, destroyed 14,000 of the 
enemy and took 11,000 prisoners. It was, as Marlborough wrote his 
wife in the gathering darkness, " a glorious victory." The spell 
which had so long seemed to render the French arms irresistible had 
at last been broken. As a more immediate result, the Empire had 
been saved. Though Marlborough was not in condition to run down 
and crush the fugitives, Villeroy, who came to their aid, was obliged 
to recross the Rhine, and, before the close of November, the Elector 
had agreed to a treaty by which Bavaria was made subject to Imperial 
authority. Before returning home for the winter, Marlborough made 
a journey to Berlin, where he secured from the King of Prussia an army 
of 8000 men for the coming year. 

The Capture of Gibraltar, 1704. — Meantime, nine days before the 
Battle of Blenheim, an event had happened on the coast of Spain in 
consequence of which Great Britain controls the entrance to the 
Mediterranean to-day. Sir George Rooke, returning home after 
failing both to capture Barcelona and to engage a French fleet which 
had come round from Brest to join the Toulon squadron, fell in 
with Sir Cloudesiey Shovel. Finding the commanding stronghold of 
Gibraltar was almost undefended — as a matter of fact it had a garri- 
son of only eighty men — they sent a force ashore to whom the gov- 
ernor surrendered, 4 August, 1704. 

• The Reception of the News in England. — The news of Blenheim 
was, of course, received in England with transports of joy. It was the 
first great victory on land which the English had won against the 
French in three hundred years. The days of Crecy, Poitiers, and Agin- 
court were, it seemed, to be repeated, and Louis XIV, who had so long 
lorded it over Europe, was to be brought to his knees. Anne, 7 Sep- 

1 Hochstadt, after which the French name the battle, lies farther to the west. 



THE END OF THE STUART DYNASTY 657 

tember, went in state to St. Paul's to return solemn thanks to the 
Almighty. Marlborough was greeted when he arrived in December 
with fervent demonstrations. The Queen, supported by an address 
begging that measures might be taken to perpetuate the memory of 
the conqueror, granted him the manor of Woodstock and other Crown 
lands and commissioned the architect Vanbrugh to erect a castle, 
which is still known as Blenheim. 1 The Duke's head, however, was 
far from being turned. He knew that the Tories were murmuring 
at the cost of the war and seeking to disparage his triumph. Indeed, 
Parliament congratulated her Majesty in a single sentence upon his 
victory and that of Rooke, while his detractors, so the Duchess in- 
-formed him, insisted that, in view of the French King's resources, it 
amounted to no more than taking a bucket of water from a river. 
This factional spirit wrung from him bitter complaints. During the 
session, charges were brought against the Ministers for " mismanage- 
ment of the navy " and " extravagance in conducting the war." 

The Allies gain a Foothold in Spain, 1705. — In spite of sharp party 
differences, Parliament made generous grants. It seemed as if France 
could not stand the financial strain much longer : her commerce was 
all but destroyed; her manufactures were languishing for want of 
markets ; the country apparently could bear no more taxation ; and 
the bankers would lend no more money. Yet, by heroic exertions 
and by various shifts, three armies were sent into the field for the cam- 
paign of 1705, one to Luxembourg on the northeast frontier, one to 
the Netherlands, and one to guard the Rhine. Marlborough, who, 
notwithstanding his brilliant success of the previous year, was still 
held in by the timid field deputies, could do nothing but mark time. 
In Spain, after war had been waged for some time on the Portuguese 
frontier with no decisive results, the Allies, late in the year, gained 
their first signal success in quite another part of the country. A 
naval expedition was sent out, at Marlborough's suggestion, to aid 
the Duke of Savoy, who had joined the Grand Alliance in 1703. The 
land forces were under the command of the Earl of Peterborough, 
the most eccentric and adventurous character of the age — a belated 
knight-errant, in fact. The Archduke Charles, whom the Allies had 
named as King when Portugal passed over to their side two years be- 
fore, and who had landed at Lisbon the year following, was taken on 
board. Rather against his will, Peterborough was induced to make an 
attempt on Barcelona and succeeded in capturing the city, 14 Sep- 
tember, 1705. This was followed by the submission of the whole 
province of Catalonia and parts of the adjoining Aragon. The Arch- 
duke was formally proclaimed as King Charles III. Meantime, his 
feeble and ineffective father, Leopold, had died. Joseph, who suc- 
ceeded as Emperor, was able and energetic. He at once set about to 
reform the Imperial administration, and, with the aid of Marlborough, 

1 At the end of the campaign of 1702 he had been made a duke and given a pen- 
sion of £5000 a year for life. 



658 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

whom he created a Prince of the Empire, 1 planned a vigorous cam- 
paign for the year 1706. 

A Whig Parliament, October, 1705, to April, 1708. — The summer 
elections had gone in favor of the Whigs, largely owing to the growing 
enthusiasm for the war which the Tories were ceasing to support 
with the ardor that they had shown at the beginning of the reign. The 
Queen, who obstinately regarded a Whig "as a Republican and an 
atheist," opposed every one that was introduced into the Ministry; 
but owing to the domineering Sarah and the war fever, she gave way 
in each case, until at the end of three years not a single Tory was left. 
A series of quarrels resulted which in the end left the Queen hopelessly 
estranged from her old favorite, and she seized the earliest opportunity, 
though it did not come till 17 10, to restore the party whose views of 
government in Church and State coincided with her own. Meantime, 
the Whigs were to attain great results and the Tories to meet with 
serious reverses. 

The Regency Bill, 1 705-1 706. — Perhaps their worst blunder was a 
motion that, in order to insure the safety of the Protestant succession, 
the Electress Sophia should be invited to reside in England. Since 
Anne was as morbidly sensitive on this subject as Queen Elizabeth had 
been, they had hoped to put the Whigs in a quandary. If they op- 
posed the motion, they ran a chance of offending the Hanoverians. If 
they adopted it, they would certainly distress the Queen, who could not 
but regard the residence of her successor in the country as a perpetual 
reminder of death. They skillfully eluded the trap by framing a Re- 
gency Bill which provided that, on the death of the Queen, the govern- 
ment should be carried on until the arrival of her lawful successor by a 
regency composed of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lord Chan- 
cellor, and other great officers of State, with the addition of certain per- 
sons named by the next successor and sent in a sealed list not to be 
opened till the death of the sovereign. The bill received the royal 
signature in February, 1706. 

Marlborough's Gains in the Netherlands, 1706. — The Queen's 
speech in opening the first session of her Whig Parliament was notable 
for the declaration " that nothing short of Philip's resigning the 
Spanish monarchy would content this country," thus for the first 
time giving her royal sanction to the candidacy of Charles. A vic- 
tory was essential to Louis, and the vain and foolish Villeroy started 
for the Netherlands, bent on obeying his sovereign's injunction to re- 
turn " covered with glory." Accordingly, he left a strong position 
whence it might have taken a whole campaign to dislodge him ; where- 
upon, Marlborough unexpectedly swooped down on him, and engaged 
him in battle at Ramillies, twenty-nine miles southeast of Brussels, 
on Whitsunday, 23 May, 1706. Villeroy, though he fought bravely, 
was outgeneraled and his forces driven from the field hotly pursued 

1 He conferred on him the territory of Mindelheim with 1500 subjects and an 
income of about £1000 a year. 



THE END OF THE STUART DYNASTY 659 

by the Allies. Although he lost only 6000 killed and 4000 wounded, 
his army was reduced from 60,000 to 40,000 by desertions. Many of 
the leading towns of Brabant and Flanders, including Brussels, Ghent, 
and Bruges, surrendered one after another, while Ostend yielded after 
a short siege. The victors, shortly after the battle, issued a proclama- 
tion promising to all who submitted to Charles III protection of their 
religion and property, as well as all the privileges they had enjoyed 
under the late Charles II. Aside from the danger involved in holding 
out, the thrifty burghers welcomed the terms ; for the sovereignty of 
Philip really subjected them to the despotism of Louis XIV, while the 
Emperor who had stood behind his younger brother Charles III was 
poor and far away. Marlborough, who had begun the campaign 
three weeks before in the deepest dejection, could scarcely realize his 
sudden good fortune. His joy must have been dashed by the attitude 
of the Dutch, who practically forced him to decline the governorship 
of the Netherlands which the Austrians offered him as a reward for his 
achievements. Greedy as he was, what ground him most was to re- 
linquish the fat salary of £60,000 attached to the office. Louis 
XIV, who bore the blow of Villeroy's defeat and all that resulted from 
it with amazing serenity, immediately called Vendome from Italy to 
restore some spirit to the beaten army. 

The French driven out of Northern Italy, 1706. — Eugene, reen- 
forced by an army of Germans and provided with English subsidies, 
was able to profit by the transfer of his efficient opponent to the 
Netherlands. Effecting a junction with the Duke of Savoy, the two 
marched on Turin, and, 7 September, defeated the French army which 
was besieging the city. As a result, Louis XIV soon withdrew his 
troops from northern Italy. Already, in August, he had approached the 
Dutch with proposals for peace. He offered them a string of barrier 
fortresses, agreed to grant Naples and Sicily to Charles, and even held 
out the prospect of erecting the Spanish Netherlands into an inde- 
pendent province. But the Dutch would not make peace without the 
English, and the Whigs who were now in power would listen to no such 
terms. 

Events in England during the Early Years of the War. — While the 
war naturally absorbed most of the public energy, a few steps of con- 
stitutional importance were taken during the early years of Anne. In 
1702 the Lords took occasion to denounce the practice of " tacking " as 
" unparliamentary and tending to the destruction of the constitution 
of this Government." In the case of Ashby vs. White, or the Aylesbury 
election case (1 702-1 704), it was decided that a man unjustly deprived 
of his right to vote might collect damages. In 1705, when the new 
Place Bill was passed, a clause was introduced repealing the provision 
in the Act of Settlement for reviving the powers of the Privy Council. 
In December, 1706, an important though somewhat premature step in 
the direction of party government was taken when the Whig, Charles, 
Earl of Sunderland (son-in-law of Marlborough) and son of the man 



660 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

who had played such a part in the two preceding reigns, was forced 
upon the Queen as Secretary of State for the Southern Department. 1 
He was an object of horror to Anne because of his ungovernable 
temper and his religious and political radicalism : Sarah scolded and 
stormed, Godolphin threatened to resign, and the Duke had to bring 
to bear all of his rare powers of persuasion before she would submit. 
The victory was a costly one ; for the Queen never forgot that Mrs. 
Freeman had presumed to tell her that the misfortunes of her race had 
been due to obstinacy and listening to bad advice. 

The Question of the Union between England and Scotland. — The 
one really " great act of domestic statesmanship " of the reign was the 
union of England and Scotland, brought to completion in the session 
of 1706-1707. The personal union, beginning in 1603, had weathered 
the great Civil War and the Revolution of 1688, 2 but, as the century drew 
to a close, the Scots began to realize more and more acutely the un- 
satisfactory character of the existing arrangement. To most of them 
it was a " loose and irregular tie . . . wherein we are not considered 
as subjects, nor allies, nor friends, nor enemies, but all of them only 
when, how and how long our taskmaster pleases." Two possibilities 
were open : complete separation or closer union. To the former 
course, ardently desired by the Presbyterians and the patriots, Eng- 
land would never consent, particularly in view of Scotland's ancient 
attachment to France. On the other hand, there was a large and 
steadily increasing class with whom considerations of trade outweighed 
those of religious and political independence. They naturally wanted 
to draw closer to England 3 in order to share in her markets. 

The Darien Project, 1695-1699. — The new commercial spirit 
manifested itself in a daring attempt to break into the Spanish mo- 
nopoly in the New World. It was a product of the fruitful brain of 
William Paterson, who induced the Scotch Parliament to pass an act, 
June, 1695, founding a " Company of Scotland for Trading to Africa 
and the Indies." As a means of commanding the trade routes of 
the eastern and western world the " Darien Company," as it was 
popularly called, designed to establish a colony on the Isthmus of 
Panama, 4 a spot which Paterson had once visited, whether as a pirate 
or a missionary is uncertain. The capital stock, fixed at £400,000 
and issued in £100 shares, was quickly subscribed, and more than half 
the amount was actually paid in, though the price of a single share 
represented a fortune to the poor and thrifty Scot of those days. 
The opposition in London was intense, partly from trade rivalry and 
partly from the fear of complications with Spain, who possessed the 

1 At this time there were two Secretaries of State for Foreign Affairs, one for 
Northern, the other for Southern Europe. 

2 For a brief interval, also, during the Commonwealth and the Protectorate, 
Scotch members had sat in the English Parliament. 

3 The Scotch Episcopalians, for obvious reasons, allied themselves with this 
party. 4 Then called Darien. 



THE END OF THE STUART DYNASTY 661 

territory in which Darien was situated. Nevertheless, 25 July, 1698, 
the first group of colonists was sent to the Isthmus. The cargo which 
they took, consisting of felt slippers, periwigs, heavy woolens, and 
English Bibles, could not have been more useless for trading in a trop- 
ical country with illiterate natives who wore the scantiest of garments. 
The climate proved unbearable ; those who survived at length gave 
up and sailed away. In October, 1699, a miserable remnant reached 
New York. Meantime, in August, a second expedition, enticed by 
lying reports of the indefatigable leaders, had started across the seas. 
Settling on the deserted site, they held on in spite of faction and fever, 
until April, when they were driven out by the Spanish. Paterson's 
brilliant Darien scheme had succumbed to a deadly climate and Spanish 
monopoly ; but it had the result of finally convincing the commercial 
party in Scotland that nothing could be accomplished without the 
backing of England, which could only be secured by a closer union. 

The Union finally brought about, 1706-1707. — William, a month 
before his death, urged that the terms be arranged as speedily as 
possible, and Anne, who was of the same opinion, appointed commis- 
sioners in the very first year of her reign. Not only did they fail to 
come to an agreement, but the Scotch Parliament took the bit in its 
teeth. In 1703 it passed a series of resolutions, limiting the power of 
the English Crown ; also an Act of Security, which provided that, in 
the event of the reigning sovereign's death without issue, the Scotch 
Estates should choose a Protestant successor from the House of Stuart, 
but not the same person chosen by the English Parliament, except 
under conditions that should secure to Scotland complete freedom 
of government, liberty, and trade. While the Act of Security received 
the grudging assent of the Queen, since otherwise she would have got 
no vote of supplies from the Scotch Estates, their defiant attitude led 
the English Parliament to pass an act, in 1705, declaring that unless 
the Scots settled the succession by Christmas Day, all Scotsmen 
would be adjudged aliens and all Scotch exports into England for- 
bidden. At the same time they empowered the Queen to appoint 
commissioners to reopen negotiations for the union. Thus threatened, 
the Scots hastened to choose commissioners on their side. The two 
bodies met in April, 1706, and before the close of the summer had 
arranged a treaty. The Scotch Estates, when they met in October, 
had to face a torrent of popular opposition ; the mob outside hooted 
and hustled those known to favor the measure, riots broke out both 
in Edinburgh and Glasgow, and petitions poured in from all over the 
country. It has been thought that but for the tempestuous, wintry 
weather armed hordes might have marched down from the north and 
broken up the session. The Church was won over by an act guaran- 
teeing the existing Presbyterian Establishment, and, notwithstanding 
continued resistance, the treaty was ratified, 16 January, 1707. 
" Trade with most, Hanover with some, ease and security with others, 
together with a generall aversion at civill discords, intollerable poverty, 



662 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

and the constant oppression of a bad ministry," as a contemporary 
had predicted, were the reasons that, doubtless, influenced the 
majority, though the battle of Ramillies, which seemed to point to 
the certain downfall of the French, unquestionably influenced the 
result. 

The Terms of the Union. — The speedy and favorable outcome 
created general surprise in England, where bets had been freely laid 
that the treaty would be rejected. In view of the manifestly popular 
opposition throughout Scotland many insisted that the majority 
had only been secured by bribery, and agreed with the apt remark 
that it was " like marrying a woman without her consent." When the 
articles were taken up in the English Parliament, in February, 1707, 
the chief opposition came from the High Church Tories who feared 
for the safety of the Establishment if any considerable number of 
Presbyterians were admitted to a share in the Government. This 
objection was met by an act securing the Church of England, and 
the ratification was pushed forward so rapidly that cries of " Post 
haste ! Post haste ! " were heard from the majority. The Act of 
Union provided that the two kingdoms were to be united under the 
name of Great Britain and represented by one Parliament. The 
Crown was to pass to the House of Hanover as provided by the Act 
of Settlement. There was to be complete freedom of trade between 
the two countries at home and abroad. As an " equivalent " for 
assuming a share in the National Debt, and for losses incurred from 
English trading companies-, the Scots were paid nearly £400,000, 
some of which was employed in indemnifying the shareholders of 
the Darien Company. Scottish laws and legal procedure were to 
be preserved. Forty-five Scotch members were to sit in the House 
of Commons, while, for every session, the Scotch peers were to 
elect sixteen of their number to represent them in the House of 
Lords. 

Its Ultimate Results. — Anne, in giving her consent, 6 March, 
1707, expressed the wish that henceforth her subjects of both kingdoms 
would have " hearts disposed to become one people " ; but it was long 
before the hope was fulfilled. The mass of Scots, traditionally hos- 
tile to their richer southern neighbors, clung to the belief that they 
had been betrayed by a knot of corrupt politicians. The eighteenth 
century had run more than half its course before the " prosperity of 
the country convinced them that the Union had been a necessity 
and a blessing." Each nation, as it proved, needed the other. The 
combination of resources contributed to further the wonderful com- 
mercial and industrial developments which were to mark the later 
years of the eighteenth, and come to fruition in the nineteenth century. 

The Political and Military Situation, 1707. — Notwithstanding 
the victories in the Netherlands in the summer of 1706, the situation 
of Marlborough and Godolphin was far from untroubled. Anne 
viewed them with increasing disfavor ; for, in spite of her prayer to 



THE END OF THE STUART DYNASTY 663 

the Lord Treasurer to keep her " out of the power of the merciless 
men of both parties," they had surrounded her with leaders of the 
one she could scarcely endure. Then the Dutch, feeling that France 
was " reduced to what she ought to be, and that to carry on the war 
further would only serve to make England greater than is desirable," 
were sorely tempted by the terms of Louis. Marlborough, backed 
by the Emperor, finally induced them to reject the French offers ; 
but the campaign of 1707 was discouraging. Charles XII of Sweden, 
who was approached with overtures from the French King, proved 
a new and troublesome factor ; for though Marlborough dissuaded 
him from his purpose of attacking the Empire, his threatening atti- 
tude kept the North German princes from sending contingents to 
the Netherlands. Vendome conducted an able defensive campaign ; 
the Dutch deputies refused to allow the Duke to force an engagement 
when he at length brought his army up to the requisite strength, and 
he had to go into winter quarters with nothing accomplished. 

Reverses of the Allies, 1707. — Elsewhere, the successes of the year 
were all with the French. The energetic Villars forced a passage 
across the Rhine, and " overran the lazy and sleepy Empire, and not 
only maintained and paid a great army in it all the year, but by vast 
contributions sent money into France to help the King's other affairs." l 
In Spain an Anglo-Portuguese force under the Earl of Galway had 
taken Madrid, 26 June, 1706, but although reenforced by Peterborough, 
had been forced to evacuate it soon after. Thence they had retired 
to Valencia for the winter. In the spring, Galway, against the advice 
of his impetuous colleague, who, however, was soon recalled, started 
back to recover the city. Seriously weakened from the fact that 
Charles insisted on withdrawing his forces, he was overwhelmingly 
defeated, 25 April, at Almanza. He lost three fourths of his troops, 
all his artillery, and most of his baggage. He escaped into Cata- 
lonia ; but all of the territory gained during the past two years was 
recovered by the enemy. The list of the reverses of the Allies was 
completed by Eugene's unsuccessful invasion of Provence. This was 
largely the fault of the Emperor Joseph, who detached a force to 
invade southern Italy, where the capture of Naples by no means made 
up for the miscarriage in the north. 

The Attempted Descent on Scotland, 1708. — In March, 1708, 
England was thrown into consternation by the news that a French 
expedition was being prepared at Dunkirk for a descent on Scotland. 
The commander, Tourbin, was accompanied by the Pretender, now 
twenty-seven years old, a youth of engaging manner, not devoid of 
courage, but lacking in force and enthusiasm. For the first time in 
English history the sense of public danger was indicated by a sharp 
fall in stocks. Had the invaders succeeded in effecting a landing, the 
result might have been serious, in view of the anti-English fury which 

1 These are the words of one of Marlborough's colonels. 



664 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

prevailed among the Scots. Fortunately the starting was delayed 
by the Chevalier de St. George — as the Pretender called himself — 
catching the measles. Consequently, when Tourbin at length reached 
the Firth of Forth, the English Admiral Byng was ready with a fleet 
of such size that he turned and hurried back to France. Anne re- 
ferred to her half brother for the first time as the " Popish Pre- 
tender," yet, during a meeting of the Council to consider what steps 
should be taken against him , she burst into tears, and became so agitated 
that the discussion had to stop. 

The Campaign of 1708 in the Netherlands. Oudenarde, 11 July. 
— Vendome opened the campaign in the Netherlands by recovering 
Ghent and Bruges, where the citizens, alienated by the domineering 
behavior of the Dutch, readily admitted him. Marlborough saw 
that it was necessary to force a battle. By a rapid march of fifty 
miles in a little over two days he came upon the enemy near Oude- 
narde, on the road between the newly recovered cities and the frontier. 
He won a brilliant victory 11 July, darkness alone saving the enemy 
from capture. The Duke was now for marching straight into France ; 
but both the Dutch and Eugene, who had arrived in time to share in 
the victory, rejected the plan as too daring. Instead, it was finally 
agreed to besiege Lille, the masterpiece of Vauban, which guarded the 
frontier and which might serve as an excellent basis of operations 
against the kingdom of Louis. The siege began 13 August ; the town 
was taken 22 October and the citadel 9 December. 1 Ghent was re- 
captured, 2 January, 1709, and the French were forced to evacuate 
all western Flanders, including Bruges. 

The Negotiations of 1709 and the First Barrier Treaty. — In 1709 
Louis was reduced to the point of consenting that the House of 
Bourbon should resign the Spanish inheritance. When, however, 
the Allies insisted that, in case of Philip's refusal, he should assist 
in driving his own grandson out of the country, he withdrew his am- 
bassador from the Hague, 28 May, and issued an appeal to his people. 
Exhausted as they were, they responded loyally. While it was natural 
to demand some guarantee for Louis for carrying out the promised 
renunciation, he can hardly be blamed for refusing the harsh terms 
imposed upon him. The fault rested with the Whigs, for the Emperor, 
stubborn as he was, could not have continued the war alone. They 
bribed the Dutch to keep on fighting by the Barrier Treaty, signed 
29 October, by which nine fortified places on the border were handed 
over to them, and certain others were promised in case they could 
capture them. In these towns the Dutch were not only to have 
the sole right to have garrisons, but to impose taxes even at the ex- 
pense of English and Austrian merchants. In return they were, in 
case of need, to send troops to Great Britain to defend the Hanoverian 
succession. 

1 Among the visitors to the allied camp was Augustus of Saxony, with a little 
twelve-year-old son, later famous as the Marshal de Saxe. 



THE END OF THE STUART DYNASTY 665 

Successes of the Allies in the Netherlands and Reverses in Spain, 
1709-1710. — Villars, who was put in command of the army of the 
Netherlands which the French had put into the field only with the 
most heroic sacrifices, profited by the delay which the peace nego- 
tiations afforded to strengthen his lines. On 11 September, the Allies 
attacked him in a very strong position at Malplaquet. While 
Marlborough and Eugene cut the French forces in two and drove 
them from the field, they retired in good order with a loss far less than 
that of the victors. In Spain the Allies never recovered the ground 
lost in 1707. Their only success in the next three years was the 
capture in September, 1708, of the island of Minorca, which furnished 
an admirable naval base for the English fleet in the Mediterranean. 
On 23 September, 17 10, the Allies succeeded once more in taking 
Madrid, but Vendome, who was sent to command in the peninsula, 
cut off their supplies from Portugal and forced them to hurry back 
to their base in Catalonia. One division of the retreating army was 
defeated at Brihuega, 8 December, while another, though it fought 
a drawn battle at Villa Viciosa, was obliged to retire from the field. 
Thus the victories of Oudenarde and Malplaquet were neutralized 
as Ramillies had been by Almanza. In Spam alone, where a decisive 
victory might have put an end to the war, the Allies were unable to 
prevail. 

Growing Reaction against the Whigs and the War. — Louis re- 
opened peace negotiations with the Dutch in the autumn of 1709; 
but nothing was accomplished till the overthrow of the Whigs 
nearly a year later. Their party had won again in the autumn elec- 
tions of 1708; but its power steadily declined. Anne had taken to 
herself a new favorite in Abigail Hill, a poor relation of the Duchess 
of Marlborough, who had, some time before, obtained for her a position 
as a bed-chamber woman. The extent of the Queen's attachment was 
first evident when, in 1707, she attended the wedding of her humble 
attendant with one Masham, an equerry of Prince George. The 
gravity of the situation lay in the fact that Harley, leader of the Tory 
opposition was also related to Mrs. Masham, and through her kept in 
constant communication with his sovereign. Mrs. Freeman, that 
" monument of unchangeable folly," made matters worse by becoming 
more and more abusive as her influence waned. In one quarrel she 
so far forgot the respect due to the Lord's anointed as to tell her 
Sovereign to hold her tongue. Marlborough tried in vain to soothe 
the two incensed women, and, in his eagerness to put himself above 
the danger of party strife, made the mistake of asking that the office 
of Captain-General be conferred upon him for life. This gave his 
enemies a chance to compare him with Cromwell and to accuse him 
of aiming at military dictatorship. Sunderland, too, with his rough 
manners and extreme views, was another source of weakness to his 
party. The people were growing more and more restive under the 
increasing burden of taxation, and the public discontent was fed and 



666 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

voiced by the press and by virulent party pamphlets. Some of the 
most famous names in English literature engaged in the controversy, 
but the man who produced a fury of reaction which swept the Whigs 
from power was an obscure parson. 

Dr. Sacheverell's Sermon, 5 November, 1709. — Dr. Henry 
Sacheverell, who had already achieved some reputation by the fervor 
of his oratory and by the vigor of his personal attacks on those in 
high places who favored Dissent and were supposed to be cold toward 
the Establishment, preached his first notable sermon at the Derby 
assize in August, 1709, on the text: " Be not a partaker in other 
men's sins." In the dedication to the printed edition he declared 
that " the principles and interests of our Church and Constitution 
were shamefully betrayed." He followed up the attack in another 
sermon, 5 November, at St. Paul's before the lord mayor and aldermen 
on the " Perils of Paul among false brethren." He lashed the 
Administration, railed at toleration, and exhorted his hearers to rise 
in defense of the Church. Coming as they did in the midst of intense 
party excitement, these utterances roused a panic of religious bigotry 
against the Dissenters and the Whigs who protected them. Godol- 
phin regarded parts of the " circumgiration of coherent words " x 
as directed against himself, while Marlborough was always madly 
sensitive at anything that looked in the least like an attack on himself 
or his policies. Consequently, in December, the Ministry resolved 
to impeach Sacheverell for high crimes and misdemeanors, a pro- 
ceeding which, it is estimated, offended five sixths of the nation. Four 
charges were framed. First, that he had denied the lawfulness of 
resistance. Secondly, that he had declaimed against the toleration 
granted to Dissenters. Thirdly, that he had declared that the Church 
was in danger. Fourthly, that for seditious purposes he had asserted 
that her Majesty's Administration in civil and ecclesiastical affairs 
tended to the destruction of the Constitution. 

His Trial, 1710. — His trial, which opened in February, 1710, was 
attended with the wildest excitement. It was hotly discussed in the 
coffeehouses, in the streets, indeed, in every sort of assembly. The 
Doctor was cheered and praised as a martyr and saint, while Anne, 
whenever she passed by on her way to the sittings in Westminster 
Hall, was greeted with cries of " God bless your Majesty and the 
Church ! " " We hope your Majesty is for Dr. Sacheverell ! " 
The more violent, whose destructiveness far exceeded their piety, 
attacked the Dissenting meeting houses and created such an uproar 
that the troops had to be called out to restore order. After three 
weeks of altercation, the Doctor was found guilty ; but was let off 
with a light sentence. He was suspended from preaching for three 
years and his sermons were burnt by the common hangman. His con- 
viction proved to be a costly victory. Books, such as the Pious 

1 Harley's phrase. 



THE END OF THE STUART DYNASTY 667 

Life and Sufferings of Dr. Sacheverell from his Birth to his Sentence, 
with his Prayers and Meditations on the Days of his Trial, poured 
from the press, together with other manifestations of sympathy, 
until Godolphin, in a letter to Marlborough, expressed the wish that : 
" this uneasy trial had never begun, for it had occasioned a very great 
ferment, and given opportunity to a great many people to be im- 
pertinent who always had the intention but wanted the opportunity 
to show it." 

The Queen dismisses the Whigs and calls in the Tories, 1710. — 
The anti-Whig revulsion, which came to a head in the Sacheverell 
trial, gave the Queen the chance which she had long been seeking to 
get rid of the party so hateful to her. Mrs. Freeman had her last 
personal interview 17 April, 17 10, and a stormy one it was. The 
Duchess only made the breach more complete by sending the 
Queen, shortly after, a packet containing an enumeration of her 
services to her Sovereign during twenty-six years, fortified by citations 
from various divines on the mutual obligations of friends. The 
strength of the Cabinet was weakened from the fact that every man 
was working for himself. The chief offender was Marlborough, who 
made it quite clear that he would cling to office whatever happened, 
whereas, if he had threatened to resign, he might have kept his 
colleagues in office some time longer. The break-up began 13 June, 
1 7 10, with the removal of Sunderland, and, 8 August, Godolphin was 
dismissed without ceremony. Though Parliament was still Whig, 
Anne replaced the fallen Ministers by the Tories Harley and St. 
John, congratulating herself that she was now released from cap- 
tivity. Robert Harley was a " dull, puzzle-headed man," who 
cultivated poets and scholars, who had an extensive knowledge of 
parliamentary precedent, and to extreme caution united a talent for 
intrigue; but he had no gifts as a speaker, few statesmanlike qualities. 
He had been a member of Parliament since 1689 and in the Cabinet 
from 1704 to 1708, when,- owing to his influence with Mrs. Masham, 
a pretext had been found for forcing him out. St. John, brilliant, 
erratic, audacious, and dissipated, was, in most respects, the very 
opposite of his plodding, decorous, and secretive colleague, though 
neither was ever burdened with scruple. Harley gave evidence of 
this in October, when he submitted a plan to the Queen for filling 
all offices with Tories, while at the same time he was privately assur- 
ing Somers and Halifax that a " Whig game was intended at bottom." 
As a matter of fact, however, he tried to steer a middle course all 
through his tenure of power, while St. John was bent on an out-and- 
out Tory Administration. Yet this ill-assorted couple managed to 
pull together long enough to bring the war to a close. 

A Tory Parliament Elected, 1710. — In the September elections the 
Tories, thanks to the Sacheverell frenzy, the royal control of patronage, 
the heavy war taxes, and the insufficient preparation of the Whigs, 
recovered a majority which they held for four years. The voting, as 



668 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

was usual at the time, was attended with the greatest violence, 
drunkenness, fighting, hooting, and hustling, making the polls unsafe 
as well as unpleasant except for the hardiest. The popularity of 
Harley was greatly enhanced from an attempt on his life, in March, 
171 1, by a desperate and half-crazed refugee, an attempt that was 
magnified into a plot to murder the Queen and bring in the Pretender. 
The influence of the landowning gentry and their animus against the 
mercantile classes was shown by the Property Qualification Act, 171 1, 
providing that, except in. the case of sons of peers and representatives 
of universities, every county member should have an estate of £600 
a year and every borough or city member one of £300. Although 
frequently evaded, this measure was not repealed till 1858. 

Peace Negotiations with France, 1711. — Marlborough had taken 
a few fortresses in 17 10, but had not ventured upon any daring move. 
In 171 1, however, with an army greatly inferior to that of Villars, 
he succeeded by a series of brilliant feints and sieges in piercing his 
adversary's strong lines, so that by autumn he was in a position to 
invade France. But this proved to be his last campaign. Harley 
and St. John, realizing that if Anne should die, the Whigs might come 
in and prolong the war indefinitely, and realizing also that the only 
hope of settlement lay in treating with France separately, had already 
opened negotiations between London and Paris in January, 171 1. 
The preliminaries were finally agreed upon in October. They had 
been greatly facilitated by a change of heart on the part of Anne : 
" 'Tis a good work," she declared in an audience which she granted 
to the French agent, " Pray God you succeed in it. I am sure I long 
for peace. I hate this dreadful work of blood." Furthermore, the 
death of the Emperor Joseph, 17 April, 1711, leaving Charles as his 
heir, greatly strengthened the peace party ; for it was futile to drive 
Philip from Spain in order to unite the country to the Hapsburg 
dominions. While there was some reason for the action of the Tory 
Ministry in keeping the Allies out of the preliminaries, there was a 
great deal of underhand dealing — for which St. John was largely 
responsible — that cannot be justified ; moreover, in view of his many 
defeats and the state of his resources, the English were oversubservient 
to the Grand Monarch. 

The Whig Attempt to obstruct the Peace. The Occasional Con- 
formity Act, 171 1. — After Marlborough's return to England in Novem- 
ber, at the close of the campaign of 1 711, his party, in order to obstruct 
the peace, concluded a strange alliance with the High Church wing of 
the Tories. Nottingham — " Not-in-the-game," as he was called 
at this time, from the fact that he had not been provided with an office 
under the new Government — was keen to pass an Occasional Con- 
formity Bill, which had been twice defeated in the House of Lords in 
1703 and again in 1704. The Whigs now assisted him to carry the 
measure, which provided that any holder of an office who had qualified 
himself by taking the sacrament according to the established form and 



THE END OF THE STUART DYNASTY 669 

who should afterwards be convicted of attending Dissenting places 
of worship, should be fined £40 and forfeit his office. Thus the practice 
of evading the Test and Corporation Acts by the device of " occasional 
conformity " was effectually checked. The Dissenters were assured 
that when the Whigs returned to office the Act would be repealed. 
In the words of a Tory satirist : " Jack had been induced to hang 
himself on the promise that he would soon be cut down." 1 In return, 
Nottingham bent his influence to carry an amendment in the Lords 
to the royal address on the preliminaries, that " no peace could be 
safe in which Spain and the West Indies were left to the House of 
Bourbon." Thus the Whigs sacrificed their principles on religious 
liberty and a section of the Tories their convictions on the prolonga- 
tion of the war. It was all in vain, for a similar amendment was re- 
jected in the Commons. 

The Removal of Marlborough, 31 December, 171 1. — Swift en- 
tered the fray with his famous Conduct of the Allies, in which he argued 
that the English, who had least to gain, had come to assume practi- 
cally the whole burden of the war. Prepared under the supervision 
of St. John and written in the most trenchant, logical style of the 
greatest living master of English, the work was eagerly read and had 
a powerful influence on public opinion. As a means of stirring up 
the waning anti-Romanist and anti-French sentiment, the Whigs 
planned, on 17 November, 2 1711, a great procession with effigies of 
the Pope and the Pretender, the Devil and various cardinals ; but it 
was broken up by the energetic action of the Government. In order 
to prevent any further obstruction, it was proposed to remove Marl- 
borough from his command. He controlled a strong party among 
the peers, he was high in the councils of the Allies, and he might, in 
another campaign, gain a victory that would raise the demands of the 
opponents of peace. He was charged with appropriating funds from 
the moneys granted to the bread contractors, and with deducting two 
and one half per cent from the sums appropriated for soldiers' pay. 
While he doubtless did do so, it is equally clear that he employed 
what he took in the secret service. In the interests of peace it was 
well that he was removed ; but it was hard that he should have suf- 
fered because of charges that could not be proved. While his dis- 
missal filled the Whigs with consternation and even some of the Tories 
with misgivings, 3 the price of stocks rose in the City, owing to the 
growing conviction that Marlborough was prolonging the war for 
" his own glory and profit." His dismissal was accompanied by the 
creation of twelve new peers which gave the Tories control of the 
Upper House. Wharton, when the news was announced, inquired 
sneeringly whether they were to vote individually or by their foreman. 

1 As a matter of fact it was repealed in 17 18. 

2 The anniversary of Elizabeth s accession. 

3 Even Swift wrote : "How far this step may encourage the French to play tricks 
with us no man knows." 



670 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

The Opening of the Congress of Utrecht and the End of the War. — 
This same month of January, 171 2, a congress of the Allies opened 
at Utrecht to discuss terms of peace, but weeks were consumed in 
tedious formalities. The Emperor, who held off, sent Eugene on a 
special mission to England ; but, arriving three days after Marl- 
borough's dismissal, he was unable to accomplish his purpose of 
blocking the preliminaries which the French and the Tories had 
already arranged. Since no suspension of hostilities had been pro- 
vided for, Eugene took the field in the spring as commander of the 
Allies, with the aim of turning the French lines and opening the way 
to Paris. The English contingents were under the Duke of Ormonde, 
who had orders to engage in no battle or siege without further in- 
structions. For a time he assisted the Prince by covering his siege 
operations; but, 16 July, in response to instructions from home, he 
drew his troops off to Dunkirk, leaving the Austrians and the Dutch 
to continue the campaign alone. 1 With their lines thus weakened, 
Villars succeeded in defeating a force of the Dutch at Denain, 24 July, 
before Eugene could come to their assistance. Following this reverse, 
he had to yield several strong places and retire beyond the Scheldt. 
The Tory Ministers who were responsible for what happened had only 
this justification that nothing else would induce the Emperor to make 
peace. In Spain a suspension of hostilities was concluded during 
the summer, though the Austrian forces were not withdrawn from 
Catalonia for some months. 

The Peace of Utrecht, 1713. — The Peace of Utrecht was signed 
with France, 12 April, 17 13, by Great Britain, the States General, 
Savoy and Portugal. Eugene marched his forces across the Rhine, 
but he was too ill supported by his master and the German princes 
to conduct even a defensive campaign. Fortunately, Louis was too 
exhausted to follow him up, and a peace between him and the Emperor 
was arranged at Rastadt, 7 March, 17 14, which was formally ratified 
by the German diet at Baden in October. By the terms concluded 
between England and France, Louis (1) recognized the order of suc- 
cession established by the Act of Settlement, and agreed that the son 
of the late James II should never be allowed in France. (2) He 
solemnly ratified a renunciation by Philip V, made 5 November, 171 2, 
of his claims to the throne of France. (3) He promised to accept 
for his French subjects no advantages of trade with Spain not extended 
to the other powers. (4) He agreed to raze the fortifications of Dun- 
kirk and fill up the harbor. (5) He ceded to Great Britain considerable 
portions of territory in the New World, including the Hudson's Bay 
Settlement, Acadia, 2 and Newfoundland, retaining, however, certain 

1 The British Government stopped the subsidies of the Germans and the Danes 
when they refused to follow Ormonde. 

2 In the New World the British had fought with varying success. In 1 708 they 
had been driven out of Newfoundland ; in 1 7 10 an expedition led by Francis Nichol- 
son had secured the stronghold of Port Royal, which he renamed Annapolis, and 



THE END OF THE STUART DYNASTY 671 

fishing rights in the neighboring waters and the right to dry fish on 
the shores of Newfoundland. 

England and Spain. — The treaty between England and Spain was 
not concluded till July ; for Philip had no representatives at the Con- 
gress and no power to treat till the powers had acknowledged him as 
King. (1) Gibraltar and Minorca were ceded to England. (2) By 
the Asiento x she was granted for thirty years the monopoly of import- 
ing negroes into Spanish America, a monopoly which went to the South 
Sea Company. 2 (3) British merchants were accorded the right of 
sending one ship a year to trade in these ports. 

France and the States General. — The Spanish Netherlands were 
handed over to the Dutch to be ceded to Austria so soon as an " ade- 
quate barrier " could be agreed upon. In 1713 a new treaty was 
arranged in place of that of 1709 which had caused great dissatisfac- 
tion because of the too great concessions made to the Dutch ; but it 
was not till the conclusion of still a third, in 1715, between the Imperial 
Government and the States General that the Spanish Netherlands 
were finally secured by Austria. Separate arrangements were also 
made with Prussia, Portugal, and Savoy, the latter securing Sicily. 
By the treaty between France and the Empire the former kept the 
Rhine as a boundary, while the latter obtained, in addition to the 
Spanish Netherlands, Naples, Milan, and Sardinia. 

Results of the War. — The arrangements made at Utrecht lasted 
for over a quarter of a century, 3 during which interval Great Britain 
kept practically clear of continental wars. In general, the Allies had 
gained the objects for which they had taken up arms in 1 700-1 702. 
This had been possible as early as 1706, or certainly in 1708 ; but not 
long after the opening of the conflict they had undertaken the further 
design of driving Philip from the throne of Spain, and, puffed up by 
their successes, they had driven Louis to desperation, with the con- 
sequence that he had continued the fighting until he forced them to 
accept less than, in the full-tide of their triumph, they had once rejected. 
Marlborough, who, with his Whig supporters, was largely responsible 
for pushing the war to an extremity, might, but for adverse conditions 
at home and abroad, have realized his ambition of crushing France 
utterly and dictating any terms he pleased. In strategy and in tactics 
his achievements had been almost unparalleled, but, on the Continent, 
he had been fatally handicapped by the timidity of the Dutch, the 
feeble support of the German princes, the selfish conflicting aims of 
the Allies, and the inopportune death of Joseph ; in England he had 

had occupied Acadia (Nova Scotia) ; in 171 1 an invasion of Canada, with the cap- 
ture of Quebec as its main objective, failed. 

1 A Spanish word meaning "legal compact." 

2 An organization founded by Harley in 1711 as a means of funding the floating 
debt, which then amounted to about £9,500,000. The creditors were incorporated 
into the South Sea Company and given a monopoly of trading in the Spanish 
American colonies before there was any assurance that Spain would acquiesce. 

3 Except that Austria in 1720 exchanged Sardinia for Sicily. 



672 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

been confounded by Anne's incurable horror of Whig domination, 
by the violence of his own wife, and the final revulsion of popular 
feeling against contributing any more men and money to a cause in 
which the British had nothing further to gain. Nevertheless, chiefly 
through his efforts, Great Britain had played a -remarkable role. 
'She had "held the Grand Alliance together; she financed the other 
nations ; her fleet had almost a monopoly of the ocean ; her soldiers, 
for the first time since Agincourt, decided the fate of Europe on famous 
fields . . . and British ministers had dictated the terms of peace." 
One seeming advantage had been lost. By a treaty, signed by the 
French and English on the same day as the Peace of Utrecht, each 
had agreed to accord the other privileges of the most favored nations ; 
but owing to the storm raised by the English merchants and manu- 
facturers, who declared that the country would be reduced to beggary 
if French products were freely admitted, and who succeeded in con- 
vincing the Tory squires — by what process of reasoning it is difficult 
to appreciate — that rents and land values would be reduced, the 
ratification was defeated in Parliament, June, 17 13. While England 
has since thriven on free trade, there seems to be little doubt, in the 
immature state of her industries at that time, that a small measure 
of protection was desirable. Louis, who in eleven years had lost as 
many pitched battles, succeeded in retaining the throne of Spain 
for his grandson and for himself with the exception of a few border 
towns, practically all that he had acquired during the long years of 
his aggrandizement ; but Great Britain, besides making substantial 
territorial and commercial gains, had put a stop to his oppressions 
and struck a heavy blow at the Sid regime, which, after a series of 
attacks more and more frequent as the century advanced, was finally 
swept away by the French Revolution. 

The Rivalry of Harley and St. John, 1713-1714. — The remainder 
of Anne's reign was chiefly occupied with the question of the succes- 
sion and with the struggles of the two leaders of the Tory party. 
The relations between Harley and St. John, which had become strained 
after the settlement of the terms of peace, finally developed into an 
open feud. St. John not only chafed at the wary, unenterprising 
policy of his inscrutable colleague, but he was jealous of him as well. 
Harley had been made Earl of Oxford and Lord Treasurer in 171 1, 
while St. John, created Viscount Bolingbroke, 2 June, 1712, had to be 
content with the next lower grade in the peerage. This he attributed 
to the treachery of his rival, though it was really due to the Queen, 
who could not overcome her distrust of a man reputed to be a free 
thinker and a notorious evil liver. As yet, the Whigs were in no posi- 
tion to profit by this personal rift in the ministry. Godolphin died 
in 1712, while Marlborough was hopelessly discredited. Threatened 
with judicial proceedings, baited by abusive pamphlets and even 
pursued on the street by cries of " Stop thief! " he finally retired 
to the Continent, whence he did not return till the close of the year. 



THE END OF THE STUART DYNASTY 673 

The Whigs, however, had some advantages over their opponents 
which told in the long run : they were grouped mostly in the populous 
commercial and manufacturing centers, where they could be easily 
organized at a crisis, and they were united on the Hanoverian succes- 
sion. The Tories, on the other hand, were scattered in the country 
regions and they were divided between the exiled Stuarts and the 
Hanoverians. The majority were unwilling to accept the Pretender 
so long as lie remained a Roman Catholic, but most of them, 
remembering their blunder in 1 705-1 706, were disinclined to disturb 
the Queen any further on the subject. The shifty Oxford did indeed 
try to ingratiate himself with the Hanoverian family, but, finding 
that the Whigs prejudiced them against him, he resumed very non- 
committal negotiations with the Pretender. The Whigs, who had 
nothing more to hope from royal favor, took no pains to disguise 
their attitude. 

The Schism Act, 1714. — The session of 17 14 proved a stormy one. 
The Tory Ministry was bitterly attacked for the recent peace, as well 
as for not taking more effectual means to secure the Protestant suc- 
cession. With great difficulty it defeated a motion, declaring that 
the latter was in danger " under the present Government," and, by 
a supreme effort, carried an address of thanks to her Majesty " for 
having by a safe, honorable, and advantageous peace, delivered these 
nations from a long and consuming . . . war." Bolingbroke, who 
had at length got a free hand, aimed a crushing blow at the Dissenters 
by passing the Schism Act, which provided that no person was to 
keep or even teach a public or private school unless he was a member 
of the Church of England. This measure, repealed four years later, 
was an attempt to cut at the very roots of the growth of the Dissenting 
faiths by making it impossible for them to educate their children. 
Bolingbroke, who had himself been educated by a Nonconformist 
minister, was impelled by no religious motive ; his sole aim was to out- 
bid the cautious Oxford for the favor of Queen Anne. 

The Dismissal of Oxford, 29 July, 1714. Bolingbroke's Momentary 
Triumph. — He saw that the time had now come to strike if ever he 
were to secure the supremacy. The Queen was failing in health, 
and, with a Tory majority, both in Parliament and throughout the 
kingdom, it was essential to improve the opportunity while she still 
lived to fill every position, military and civil, with trusted followers, 
in order to meet the Whig reaction which was bound to come with 
her death and the accession of the Hanoverians. Oxford had shown 
himself unequal to the work ; but Bolingbroke yearned to supplant 
him in any event. He has been accused of plotting to bring in the 
Pretender, but while his design is far from clear, 1 it is more probable 
that his aim was to secure control of the State, ally himself with the 

1 He himself wrote later to Sir W. Windham : "As to what might happen after- 
wards on the death of the Queen, to speak truly, no one of us had any settled reso- 
lution." 



674 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

Jacobites, and, with these weapons in his hands, make such terms with 
the Hanoverians as would place him at the head of the new Govern- 
ment. It was a time of great perplexity, when opinion and interests 
were divided between " attachment to the legitimate line, hatred for 
Germans, Whigs, and Dissenters, dread of French influence, and detes- 
tation of Popery." Bolingbroke made a bold stroke for fortune, and 
it seemed for a moment as if he were going to succeed. On 27 July, 
Oxford was suddenly dismissed from office. While his overthrow 
was due largely to the intrigues of his rival, the reasons which Anne 
gave to the Council have a curious interest : " He neglected all busi- 
ness, she could seldom understand him, and even when he was in- 
telligible she could place no dependence on what he said. He never 
came punctually at times when she appointed. When he did come, 
he was often tipsy, and behaved toward her with . . . disrespect." 

The Death of Anne and the Defeat of Bolingbroke's Schemes, 
1 August, 1714. — Suddenly, 29 July, the Queen was stricken with 
her last illness, and Bolingbroke's well-laid plans were thrown into con- 
fusion. Had the Queen only lived six weeks, he calculated that he 
could have made himself master of the situation. Already, a strong 
faction had developed against him and the crisis forced them to act 
quickly. On the 30th, a meeting of. the Privy Council, opened at 
Whitehall, adjourned to the royal residence of Kensington. The 
anti-Bolingbroke combination triumphed, and either proposed or 
forced Bolingbroke to propose the old Whig, Shrewsbury, as Lord 
Treasurer. His ascendancy over men was such, when he chose to 
assert it, that he was known as the " King of Hearts." Subject to 
fits of faint-heartedness, he had left England early in William's reign 
and lived for long years in obscurity in Italy. Since his return in 
1 7 10 he had been a trusted councilor of the Queen. Fortunately 
for the cause of peace and the Hanoverians, he now showed a courage 
and decision foreign to him since the Revolution days. At the bed- 
side of the dying Queen he received the white staff of office with the 
royal command to use it for the good of the country. At once he 
took measures for the defense of the kingdom and the securing of the 
succession. On the morning of 1 August, Anne died. The list of the 
Council of Regency was opened and read, and that afternoon the heralds 
went about London and Westminster proclaiming George as King of 
Great Britain. " The Earl of Oxford was removed on Tuesday," 
wrote Bolingbroke to Swift, " The Queen died on Sunday. What 
a world is this ! and how does fortune banter us." His schemes, 
whatever they were, had come to naught, and the last of the Stuarts 
had ceased to reign. 

FOR ADDITIONAL READING 

Narrative. I. S. Leadam, Political History of England, 1702-1760 (1909), chs. 
I-XII (annotated list of authorities, pp. 502-516). Trevelyan, England under the 



THE END OF THE STUART DYNASTY 



67S 



Stuarts, ch. XV. Cambridge Modern History, ch. XV (bibliography, pp. 857-860). 
Ranke, V, bk. XXII, chs. I, II. J. F. B right, 'History of England (1889), III, pp. 875- 
928; a clear and accurate summary valuable for the remainder of the period. F. W. 
Wyon, History of Great Britain during the Reign of Queen Anne (2 vols., 1876) ; the 
fullest history of the reign, but dry and somewhat antiquated. Lord Stanhope, The 
Reign of Queen Anne (1870) ; a careful but less detailed account. W. E. H. Lecky, 
History of England in the Eighteenth Century (cab. ed., 7 vols., 1907), I, chs. I, II; 
the most informing general work on the period. 

Special. W. F. Lord, "Development of Political Parties during the Reign of 
Queen Anne," Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, New Series, XIV, 1900. 

Army and Navy. W. Coxe, Memoirs of Marlborough; good maps in the ed. of 
1818. Fortescue, British Army, vols. I, II. Mahan, Sea Power, ch. V. Corbett, 
England in the Mediterranean, ch. II. 

Biography. Hon. H. Elliot, The Life of Sidney, Earl of Godolphin (1888). T. 
Macknight's (1863) is still the best life of Bolingbroke; a more recent work is that 
of W. Sichel (1901); C. Collin's (1888) is a stimulating sketch. E. B. Roscoe, 
Harley, Earl of Oxford (1902). 

Contemporary. Burnet, Own Times, chs.V, VI. Swift, The Conduct of the Allies 
(1711); the Four Last Years of Queen Anne. Bolingbroke, Letters on the State of 
Parties at the Accession of George I. 

Scotland and Ireland. P. H. Brown, Scotland, III, bk. VII, ch. III. W. L. Matthie- 
son, Scotland and the Union, 1695-1747 (1905). D. DeFoe, History of the Union, 
between England and Scotland (1787); a valuable contemporary account. Lecky, 
Ireland in the Eighteenth Century (3 vols., 1873-1874), I. 

The Church. Hutton, English Church, chs. XIV, XV. Stoughton, V. Abbey, and 
Overton, The English Church in the Eighteenth Century (1896); the authoritative 
work on the period. 

THE KINGS OF FRANCE SINCE 1609 

Louis XIII, 
1609-1643 



Lotns XIV, 
1643-1715 

Louis (dauphin), 
d. 1711 



Louis, 

Duke of Burgundy, 

d. 1712 

Louis XV, 

1715-1774 

I 

Louis (dauphin), 

d. 1765 



Philip, King of Spain, 
d. 1746 



Ferdinand 
of Spain 



Louis XVI, 
1774-1793 

Louis XVII, 

never reigned, 

d- 1795 



Louis XVIII, 
1815-1824 



Charles, 
King of Naples 



Charles X, 

1824-1830, 

abdicated. 

Grandfather 
of the Count 
de Chambord, 

who died 

without issue, 

1884 



Philip, 

Duke of Orleans, 

d. 1710 

Philip (Regent), 
d. 1723- 
Great-great-grand- 
father of 



Louis Philippe, 

1830-1848 



Duke of 
Orleans, 
d. 1842 

I 

Count de 

Paris, 

d. 1894 

Philip, 
Duke of Orleans 



Duke 
d'Aumale 



CHAPTER XXXIX 

THE FIRST HANOVERIAN, GEORGE I (1714-1727) 

The Peaceful Reception of the Hanoverian Dynasty. — ■ While 
the people were " gaping and staring," the crisis passed. Bolingbroke 
and the other Tory leaders remained inactive, stocks rose, and Par- 
liament, when it met, voted a reward of £100,000 for the capture of 
the Pretender. Hurrying to Paris on the news of Anne's death, he 
found the prospect so discouraging that he returned to Lorraine. 
The arrival of the new King, 18 September, provoked no opposition 
and awakened some enthusiasm. Already before crossing the Channel 
he dismissed Bolingbroke. " The grief of my soul is this," wrote the 
fallen Minister ; " I see plainly that the Tory party is gone." The new 
Ministry was wholly Whig, with the exception of Nottingham, who 
had joined in opposition to the peace in 1711. Charles, Viscount 
Townshend, was made Secretary of State for the Northern Depart- 
ment and Chief Minister. Robert Walpole, his brother-in-law, be- 
came Paymaster General. Marlborough was restored to his position 
as Commander-in-Chief, but was rarely consulted ; and was soon 
attacked by a paralytic stroke which left him with impaired powers 
during the few remaining years of his life. Shrewsbury, although he 
retained the office of Lord Chamberlain, resigned the Treasurership 
and relapsed into his former inactivity. 

The New King. — George Lewis inherited the crown from his 
mother, Sophia, who had died in the previous June at the ripe age of 
eighty-three. He was at this time fifty-four years old and had been 
Elector of Hanover since 1698. As a youth of twenty he had visited 
England as a suitor for the Princess Anne, but had been recalled to marry 
his cousin, Sophia Dorothea. Two children resulted from this union : 
George who succeeded to the English throne in 1727, and Sophia Doro- 
thea, who became the mother of Frederick the Great of Prussia. George 
alienated his wife by coldness and neglect until finally in the night of 
1 July, 1694, she attempted to flee with a Swedish adventurer, 
Philip von Konigsmarck. The plan was discovered, though George 
was absent on a journey to Berlin ; Konigsmarck was murdered ; 
Sophia was divorced and kept prisoner till her death in 1726. This 
rigorous treatment was one of the many grounds of hostility between 
father and son in years to come. The early life of the future King 
had been an active one : he had fought for the Emperor against 
the Turks, he had seen service under King William, he had 

676 



THE FIRST HANOVERIAN, GEORGE I 677 

joined the Grand Alliance, and for three years commanded the Im- 
perial forces on the Upper Rhine. While he remained loyal to the 
cause, he finally withdrew from the command in 17 10, disgusted at 
the lack of support. He had carefully refrained from meddling in 
English affairs, though after the death of his mother he apparently 
took a more lively interest in the succession struggle. 

Personal Traits and Favorites. — Even as a young man he was frigid 
and silent, qualities which clung to him through life. His vivacious 
granddaughter, Wilhelmina, sister of Frederick the Great, describing 
a visit to Berlin, speaks of his " Spanish manners," his " extreme 
gravity," and says he " hardly spoke a word to anybody." He was 
heavy and awkward, narrow and obstinate. In Hanover he was 
extremely popular ; for he loved his country and his people as much as 
he was capable of loving anything. So he started for his new king- 
dom " without ceremony and without elation." Two female favorites 
followed in his train. One, the Countess von Kielmannsegge, created 
Countess of Darlington, was so fat and unwieldy that she was known 
as the " Elephant " ; the other, the Countess von Schulenburg, created 
Duchess of Kendal, was old, tall, and lean, and got the name of the 
" Maypole," l — a queer creature who, after George's death, thought 
that his spirit came to her in the form of a raven perched at her window. 
Both were rapacious and drove a thriving trade in patronage. In addi- 
tion, there were George's German councilors, Bothmar and Bernstorff , 
and his French secretary, Robethon. These, and even his two black 
servants, Mustapha and Mahomet, combined to fleece the people, 
thus adding to the unpopularity which the new King's uncouth ways, 
low, common tastes, his unconcealed preference for his native land, 
and ignorance of the English language and customs were bound to 
create. Yet, unheroic and parsimonious as he was, he was much to be 
preferred to his Stuart rival. He was courageous, just, and prudent, 
painstaking, frugal in his expenses, and punctual in his payments ; 
he defended the country from invasion, kept the peace at home and 
abroad, and formed strong alliances. He has been justly accused of 
guiding his foreign policy primarily in the Hanoverian interests, 
but they were usually to England's advantage and never to her detri- 
ment. Moreover, by his very indifference to English domestic con- 
cerns, and by letting his Whig ministers run the affairs of the country, 2 
he contributed greatly to the growth of Cabinet and party government. 

The Prospects of the New Reign. — Although the new King had 
been brought in without bloodshed, his prospects were by no means 
unclouded. The energy of Shrewsbury and the Council had dumb- 
founded the Jacobites, and the army, and the moneyed classes were 
strongly Hanoverian ; but George's unqualified support of the Whigs, 
the exclusion of the Tories from all preferment, together with the 
bitter attacks directed against them for their actions during the last 

1 Carlyle suggested that she might better have been called the "hop-pole." 

2 Except at rare intervals when they came in conflict with his foreign policy. 



678 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

years of Queen Anne, tended to force even the more moderate into 
the arms of the Pretender. Scotland was seething with discontent, and 
Ireland was only held down by crushing laws backed by military 
force. Abroad, Prussia and Holland were the only Powers upon which 
the Hanoverians could safely count ; France was still smarting from 
her recent humiliation, while Spain was her ally. The Emperor felt 
himself defrauded by the late peace, and was not on good terms with 
George. 

Popular Discontent in England. The Riot Act, 1715. — No sooner 
was the crisis of the succession passed than popular discontent began 
to manifest itself. Riots broke out at Bristol and other places, 
" foreign government " was denounced, Dissenters were insulted, 
their chapels were attacked, and Tory pamphlets poured from the 
press with such titles as " Stand Fast for the Church," and " No 
Presbyterian Government." ' Nevertheless, the Tory Parliament, 
which, according to law, came to an end six months after the death of 
the late Sovereign, was succeeded by one in which the Whigs were 
in the majority, a majority which they retained for nearly fifty years. 
The elections were attended with the usual violence. 2 In view of the 
recent tumults a Riot Act was passed early in 1715, providing that 
if any twelve persons, assembled for the disturbance of the peace, 
should refuse to disperse after proclamation read by a magistrate, 
they might be treated as felons, and those who shot them down would 
not be answerable for murder. 

Impeachment of the Tory Leaders, 1715. — A select committee was 
appointed to inquire into the Peace of Utrecht, and Bolingbroke, 
Oxford, and Ormonde were impeached. Bolingbroke and Ormonde 
fled the country, which drew down acts of attainder upon their heads. 
Oxford remained to face his accusers. Party spirit was intense 
during the investigation. Walpole, for instance, declared that he 
wanted words " to express the villany of the late Frenchified Ministry." 
The only defense Oxford could offer was that he had acted under 
royal orders. Though he was held prisoner in the Tower for two 
years, proceedings against him were dropped in 17 17. His was the 
last case in English history of an impeachment on purely political 
grounds. Ormonde never again set foot in England, though in his 
exile he was busy for years in the Pretender's cause. Bolingbroke, after 
the news of his attainder reached him in France, openly espoused the 
Stuart cause, and became Secretary of State to James and the leading 
spirit in the famous movement of 1715 to restore the old line by means 
of a general rising supported by an invasion from France. 

1 The best reply was by Addison, entitled A Tory's Creed, in which he exposed 
the inconsistencies of the High Church Jacobites. The first article declares ironi- 
cally : "The Church of England will always be in danger till it has a Popish King 
for its defender." 

2 At Cambridge, for instance, a body of undergraduates mounted on the roof of 
St. John's College "with a good store of brickbats" to discharge on the heads of 
the newly elected members as they passed. 



THE FIRST HANOVERIAN, GEORGE I 679 

The Rising of 1715. — The success of the undertaking depended 
upon three conditions : England and Scotland should rise together ; 
James should be on the spot; and he should have substantial aid 
from abroad. None of these conditions were fulfilled, the movement 
only came to a head in the north of England and in Scotland, and 
resulted in hopeless failure. The prompt and decisive measures of 
the Government prevented a rising in the south and west of England 
which Ormonde had been planning before his flight ; fleets were set 
to guard the ports, and when he sought to return at the head of a 
small expedition, he was prevented even from landing. The next 
blow came with the death of Louis XIV, 1 September. Again Boling- 
broke had been frustrated by a death ; for Louis was an ardent cham- 
pion of the exiled family and was burning to retrieve his recent defeat. 
He was succeeded by his great-grandson Louis XV, a sickly child. 
The Duke of Orleans, who became Regent, was the next heir after 
Philip V of Spain. Hoping (in the event of the death of the little 
King) to prevent Philip from repudiating his renunciation of the throne 
of France, he gave no countenance to the Jacobite leaders. With no 
prospect of a rising in southern England or of support from France, 
Bolingbroke sent messages to prevent the Scots from taking up arms 
but it was too late. 

The Earl of Mar summons the Clans and occupies Perth. — North 
of the Border the opposition to the existing Government was too bitter 
and widespread to be satisfied with scheming, grumbling, drinking 
toasts to the " King over the water," and with occasional riots. The 
Highlanders still nursed their hatred against the Campbells; the 
Episcopalians and the Roman Catholics chafed at the Presbyterian 
regime ; and the majority of Scotsmen were not yet reconciled 
to the Union. The leader of the rising was the Earl of Mar, known 
as " Bobbing John," from the readiness with which he shifted from 
one party to the other. Though he had professed loyalty to George I 
he was dismissed from office, whereupon he went over to the Jacobites. 
On 6 September, 1715, he set up the Stuart banner at Braemar, 
whither, within a few days, thousands flocked to join him. The 
English authorities acted promptly, suspected persons were arrested, 
an attempt of the Edinburgh Jacobites to seize the Castle was frustrated, 
the Duke of Argyle was put in command of the Government forces 
and occupied Stirling. Mar, marching south, entered Perth, 28 
September, but as a general he proved overcautious and ineffective. 
The Highlanders could only be relied upon for a short, dashing cam- 
paign, a victory was essential to encourage the disaffected, while 
every day Argyle's forces swelled in numbers as his own dwindled 
away. Nevertheless, he remained inactive for weeks. 

Preston and Sheriff Muir, 13 November, 1715. — He did, however, 
dispatch a force under Brigadier Mackintosh, which, after failing 
to capture Edinburgh, marched to the Border. There, 22 October, 
Mackintosh combined with a small force of Lowlanders who had re- 



680 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

cently been joined by a body of Jacobite gentlemen from Cumberland 
and Northumberland under Thomas Forster, a member of Parliament. 
The English would not march farther north into Scotland, while 
the Scots were reluctant to enter England. Finally, they moved 
aimlessly southwest along the Cheviots; five hundred Highlanders 
deserted, and Forster proceeded southward with the remainder of his 
little force. He got as far as Preston, where, hemmed in by General 
Wills from Manchester and General Carpenter from Newcastle, he 
surrendered 13 November. 1 On the same day, Mar's army, which 
had at length advanced from Perth, and Argyle's marching up from 
Stirling, met at Sheriff Muir. Each was victorious against his op- 
ponent's left wing, but Mar withdrew his forces from the field. Many 
no doubt shared the feelings of the Highlander who cried: " Oh for 
an hour of Dundee ! " and the Camerons on their return to their 
native glen kept the secret from their aged chief. Argyle, content 
with having stopped the advance of the rebels, returned to Stirling. 

The Arrival of the Pretender. The Final Collapse. — While 
Mar's forces were rapidly melting away, and, just as he had opened 
peace negotiations, the Pretender arrived, 22 December, 1715, with 
a single ship and attended by only eight gentlemen. He had started 
from Lorraine in October ; but, unable to take ship at St. Malo as 
he had planned, he was obliged to journey on horseback all the way 
to Dunkirk. Mar, directly he heard of his landing, hastened to 
meet him. He was proclaimed as James III of England and James 
VIII of Scotland. He was received with some enthusiasm as he 
journeyed to Scone, where his coronation was appointed to take place. 
There he set up a court, and the Jacobite ladies contributed their 
jewels to make him a crown. But he was in a desperate position. 
The Earl of Sutherland, who had taken the Hanoverian side, was closing 
in on him from the- north, while Argyle, reenforced by 6000 Dutch 
troops, was marching up from the south. Nor was James the one to 
inspire a forlorn hope in " the little kings " or their clans. " Some 
said the circumstances he found us in dejected him," wrote a sup- 
porter; " I am sure the figure he made dejected us." Mar speedily 
realized that there was nothing for it but to get him out of the coun- 
try as soon as possible. The Pretender himself has been accused of 
urging the flight ; if so, it was only because he recognized the inevi- 
table. At Montrose he and the Earl embarked for France, while the 
clansmen sullenly dispersed to their homes across the snow. 2 James 
retired first to Avignon and thence to Rome. While still in France 
he foolishly dismissed Bolingbroke, the wisest councilor he had, who 

1 The ineffectiveness of the defense is explained partly from the fact that For- 
ster did not leave his bed that morning when a council of war was held, having 
received "some damage at a convivial entertainment" the night before. 

2 James left money to be distributed among those whose homes had been devas- 
tated for his sake: "So that I might at least have the satisfaction," he declared, 
"of having been the destruction of none, at a time when I came to free all." 



THE FIRST HANOVERIAN, GEORGE I 68 1 

expressed a wish " that his arm might rot off if he ever again drew 
his sword or his pen " in his cause. The treatment of those concerned 
in the rebellion was as mild as could be expected. Six peers captured 
at Preston were impeached : two were spared ; two escaped from the 
Tower, one, Lord Nithesdale, in his wife's clothes ; the other two were 
executed. The lesser men were tried in the ordinary courts, but of 
those adjudged guilty only about thirty were put to death. Forster 
escaped, and few of the Scots were captured. Thus ended the ill- 
managed and unfortunate rising of 171 5. 

The Septennial Act, 171 6. — Such little popularity as the Whig 
Government enjoyed was bound to be diminished by the repressive 
measures which it was necessary to employ against the Jacobites. 
Consequently, the Ministry was unwilling to run the risk of a general 
election at the end of another year. This was the real reason which 
led, in 1716, to the passage of the Septennial Act, extending the possible 
duration of Parliament from three to seven years. 1 The difficulty 
might have been met by a temporary measure ; but it was thought 
wiser to justify the action on permanent grounds. The Act of 1694, 
designed to remedy an obvious abuse, had proved far from effectual 
and was open to serious objections besides. It was too great a strain 
on the country to choose representatives every three years, at a time 
when elections were long, costly, and usually tumultuous. Then, as 
Steele argued without overmuch exaggeration, the first year of a 
parliament was largely occupied in deciding contested elections, in the 
third the members were mainly engaged in cultivating their con- 
stituents, so that practically only one year was devoted to business of 
legislation. Also, a longer term was necessary to protect the members, 
on the one hand, from the Crown and the peers who controlled many 
seats ; and, on the other, from too great subservience to electors. It 
should be borne in mind, however, that there are many good reasons 
why the people, capricious as they often are, should have frequent 
opportunities to call their representatives to account. Such was not 
the view which prevailed among the Whig aristocracy then in control. 

George's Journey to Hanover, 1716. The European Situation. — 
No sooner was the danger from the rebellion over than George deter- 
mined to visit his Hanoverian dominion. There were two difficulties 
in the way. The first was the restraining clause in the Act of Settle- 
ment. That was easily repealed without an opposing vote ; for the 
Whigs were anxious to please the King, while the Tories, by making 
it possible for him to make frequent trips abroad, hoped to increase 
his unpopularity. 2 The other difficulty which arose from his un- 
willingness to intrust the government to Prince George during his 
absence caused more difficulty. Father and son were bitterly at 
odds, a characteristic of the Hanoverian family which continued 
through the next three or four generations. The King suggested 

1 It remained in force till 191 1, when the term was shortened to five years. 

2 Altogether he made seven journeys to Hanover and died during the last. 



682 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

a commission for the exercise of the royal authority ; but the mattei 
was finally compromised by conferring upon the Prince of Wales the 
title of Guardian of the Realm and Lieutenant, 1 instead of the more 
usual one of Regent, at the same time carefully restricting his powers. 
Thereupon, 9 July, 17 16, George started for Hanover, where he was 
so happy that " he seemed to have forgot the accident that happened 
to him 1 August, 17 14." The situation, however, which he had to 
face was very disquieting. Among the European powers he had only 
two sure friends and many enemies, active or passive. 

The Triple Alliance, 1716-1717. — The desire of the Regent of 
France to secure English support appeared to offer the best prospect 
of strength abroad and peace at home. Yet an alliance with France 
seemed on the face of it such a reversal of traditional Whig policy 
that Townshend and Stanhope 2 naturally hesitated ; but, after all, 
the principal aims of that party had been to secure the Revolution 
settlement, and to prevent the French from securing the control of 
the Spanish colonies and trade. If both these objects could be secured 
by a diplomatic arrangement with the Regent, there was no reason for 
continued hostility to France. The agent selected by the Regent in 
the negotiations which followed was the Abbe Dubois, afterwards 
Cardinal and Chief Minister, a man of uncommon abilities, but shame- 
less and unprincipled, who sought the advancement of his master's 
interests and his own at the expense of those of his country — "a 
priest without religion and a politician without honor." Before the 
close of 1 7 16 a treaty was signed by Stanhope and Dubois in which 
the Dutch were to be included. It provided that the Pretender 
should be excluded from France and that the renunciation of Philip 
should be confirmed. Thus the danger in the south was in a fair 
way to be averted ; but the situation in the north continued threaten- 
ing. Charles XII of Sweden was roused to hostility from an arrange- 
ment which George had made with Denmark by which he was enabled 
to purchase the old German bishoprics of Bremen and Verden. 3 
Moreover, Peter the Great of Russia, anxious to secure a foothold in 
the Empire, had recently poured an army into the Duchy of Mecklen- 
burg and quartered an army in Denmark. George was anxious to 
employ the English fleet, which had been sent to the Baltic in July, 
17 1 5, to drive him out. Stanhope agreed, but Townshend warmly 
opposed the project. He also withheld his assent to the Triple 
Alliance until he was assured of the willingness of the Dutch to join. 4 

The Cabinet Crisis of 1716-1717. — The remonstrances of George, 
backed by Denmark and the Emperor, finally induced the Tsar to 
recall his troops without war; but the attitude of Townshend con- 

1 A title which had not been used since the days of the Black Prince. 

2 Townshend's colleague as Secretary. He accompanied George to Hanover. 

3 They had been acquired in the Treaty of Westphalia by the Swedes in 1648, 
but had been conquered by the Danes in 171 2. 

4 They finally signed in January, 1715. 



THE FIRST HANOVERIAN, GEORGE I 683 

tributed to a split in the Whig Ministry. Many other causes were 
at work to alienate the King from Townshend and his supporters. 
For one thing, a serious misunderstanding arose as to the payment 
of a body of German troops which George had engaged to assist in 
the suppression of the Rising of 1715. Since Walpole, who had ar- 
ranged the matter with the King, could speak no French or German 
and George could speak no English, with the consequence that they 
had been reduced to communicating in Latin, there was ample oppor- 
tunity for misunderstandings. In addition, the German favorites, 
whose schemes for fleecing the English Townshend rudely opposed, 
threw their influence against him, while Sunderland, embittered be- 
cause he had not obtained a leading place in the Cabinet, was intrigu- 
ing busily with the King in Hanover. They made the most of the 
fact that the Chief Secretary was overbearing in manner and inclined 
to be negligent in business. The crisis came when Townshend applied 
for more discretionary power for the Prince of Wales, whereupon 
the King dismissed him from the office of Secretary in December. 
Stanhope, who managed to secure for him the Lord Lieutenancy of 
Ireland, has been accused of bad faith toward his colleague, but, 
whether or no that be true, the attitude he took is an indication that 
the idea of Cabinet solidarity had as yet made little progress. The 
prevailing Whig sentiment was gloomy and resentful. They de- 
nounced the step as a proof of " the ascendancy of continental politics 
over English concerns " and the period from 1717 to 1720, during 
which Stanhope was at the head of affairs, was known as that of the. 
" German Ministry." 

Walpole in Opposition, 1717. — In April, the King finally dismissed 
Townshend from office altogether. Walpole, though George pressed 
him to stay, insisted on resigning, thus acting on the principle of 
Cabinet unity which he later did so much to develop. In spite, how- 
ever, of his profession " that the tenor of his conduct should show that 
he never intended to make the King uneasy, nor to embarrass his 
affairs," he entered on a course of violent opposition which lasted till 
he again resumed office. He opposed the renewal of the Mutiny Act 
and he made a strenuous effort to reduce the standing army to 12,000 
men. " The parties of Walpole and Stanhope," wrote Pope, " are 
as violent as Whig and Tory." 1 In spite of discord, however, the 
session of 1 7 1 7 was fruitful in wise legislation. Among other measures, 
Stanhope carried into effect a scheme for the reduction of the National 
Debt which Walpole himself had devised just before his resignation, 
which marks the beginning of the English Sinking Fund. In 17 18 he 

1 In this year, 1 71 7, a bitter struggle between Benjamin Hoadley, Bishop of 
Bangor, and the High Church party came to a head. He expressed views against 
the Divine Right of kings and the Divine Institution of Episcopacy which cut at 
the very foundations of their belief and led them to denounce him in Convocation. 
The chief result was the suspension of the sittings of that body, which never met 
again till 1852. 



684 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

managed to secure the repeal of the Occasional Conformity Act of 
171 1 and the Schism Act of 17 14. Again, he met with the bitter re- 
sistance of Walpole, who had once compared the latter measure to a 
" decree of Julian the Apostate." At the same time, Stanhope tried 
and failed to do away with the Test and Corporation Acts. The 
custom of employing the sacrament as " an office key, a picklock to a 
place, " 1 was a grave scandal, bound to degrade the most sacred symbol 
of Christianity, as well as the men of Dissenting faith or of no faith 
at all, who took it for purely political purposes. Swift once com- 
mented on the practice with his usual biting sarcasm. " I was early," 
he writes, " with the Secretary [Bolingbroke], but he was gone to his 
devotions and to receive the sacrament. Several rakes did the same. 
It was not from piety, but for employment under the Act of Parlia- 
ment." Beginning in 1727, the custom arose of passing annual in- 
demnity acts, protecting from punishment those who accepted office 
without taking the sacramental test ; but the concession was churlish 
and unsatisfactory, for it purported to relieve only those who " through 
ignorance of the law, absence or unavoidable accident," failed to 
qualify. Some who could allege none of these excuses were chal- 
lenged, others were too scrupulous to take advantage of such an 
evasion of the law ; but numbers of Dissenters were admitted to office 
in this way till the final repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts in 
1828. 

The Projects of Elizabeth of Spain and Cardinal Alberoni. — Mean- 
time, Elizabeth, second wife of Philip of Spain, and her Minister and 
favorite, Cardinal Alberoni, had, by their ambitious projects, plunged 
into a war with Austria, a war in which England and France took a 
slight share. There were many outstanding difficulties, for no formal 
peace had ever been made between the Emperor and the King of Spain. 
Elizabeth Farnese 2 was determined to secure the duchies of Parma and 
Tuscany both as a check on imperial dominion in Italy and as a herit- 
age for her son Don Carlos. 3 Alberoni, the son of a poor Italian 
gardener, was fired with an ambition to drive Austria from his native 
country and to restore Spain to her former greatness. He was a 
grotesque creature, but possessed of a soaring imagination, tireless 
energy, and considerable executive ability. By a series of funda- 
mental reforms he managed to lift Spain from her sloth, corruption, 
and superstition, while, at the same time, he sought to dictate the policy 
of Europe. Before he had time to develop his resources he was forced 
into war by the fiery Queen. Still, it seemed a good time to strike ; 
for Austria was involved in war with the Turks, 17 16-17 18. 

The Quadruple Alliance, August, 1718. — In August, 1717, a 
Spanish fleet made itself master of Sardinia. Thereupon, England, 

1 The phrase occurs in a famous poem of Cowper on the subject. 

2 Carlyle called her the "Spanish virago," the "termagant of Spain." 

3 The heir to Spain was Ferdinand, son of Philip by his first wife, though Carlos 
ultimately succeeded him as Charles III. 



THE FIRST HANOVERIAN, GEORGE I 685 

which in May, 17 16, had made a treaty with Austria by which each 
Power guaranteed the dominions of the other against attack, felt bound 
to mediate. Without declaring war on Spain, a fleet was fitted out 
under Admiral Byng. When Alberoni, who roared that his master 
was treated like a " king of plaster," or a " German," refused to listen 
to peace, and prepared a second and much more formidable expedition, 
the English squadron was dispatched to the Mediterranean. In 
July, 1718, peace with the Turks freed a considerable force of Imperial 
troops for service in Italy. The same month a treaty was concluded 
by England and France with Austria, 1 which, after it was joined by 
the Dutch in the following year, was known as the Quadruple Alli- 
ance. It provided, among other things, that Spain should renounce 
all claims on Italy, though Parma and Tuscany were to revert to Don 
Carlos, independent of Spanish control, and Austria was to exchange 
Sardinia for Sicily. Meantime, the Spanish invaders had landed in 
force in Sicily and were in a fair way of overcoming the island when, 
11 August, Byng defeated and nearly destroyed their fleet off Cape 
Passaro, thus cutting off the invading force from aid and supplies. 
In December Charles XII, on whom Alberoni had counted to combine 
with Peter of Russia, and to threaten his enemies from the north, 
was killed while besieging a Norwegian fortress, and the next year 
Sweden came to terms with Hanover. Also, a plot actively furthered 
by the Cardinal for overthrowing the Regent of France was discovered. 
In consequence, France declared war, 9 January, 17 19, a step which 
England had already taken 17 December. 

The Fall of Alberoni, December, 1719. — Alberoni's hopes were now 
centered on a Jacobite invasion of Britain which he sent from Spain 
under the Duke of Ormonde, but the fleet, struck by a violent gale 
in the Bay of Biscay, never reached its destination. Two frigates 
did succeed in landing a body of Jacobites on the Scotch coast in April, 
1 7 19. There they were joined by a few hundred Highlanders, but 
were speedily tracked down and scattered. The Spanish cause was 
doomed. Berwick led a French army across the Pyrenees, an English 
expedition captured Vigo, while the Austrians steadily gained ground 
in Sicily. As a result, Alberoni was dismissed and banished from 
Spain, 5 December, 17 19. Undoubtedly one of the most extraordi- 
nary men of the eighteenth century, he fell a victim to his rash ambition 
and the insuperable obstacles he had to face. In February, 1720, 
Philip gave his assent to the terms of the Quadruple Alliance, renewed 
his renunciation of the French Crown, and agreed to evacuate Sardinia 
and Sicily within six months. Aided by favoring circumstances, Stan- 
hope's diplomacy had been a brilliant success. He had averted danger 
from the north, he had foiled the hopes of the Jacobites, he had kept 
Spain and France apart, had secured powerful allies for England abroad 
and given her again a leading place in the councils of Europe. Some 

1 Signed in London, 20 August, 17 18. 



686 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

outstanding causes of dispute still remained ; but Europe was free from 
war for twelve years. 

The Peerage Bill, 1719. — The differences between the two Whig 
factions continued acute. In 17 19 a bill passed the House of Lords 
which provided that henceforth, exclusive of those conferred on mem- 
bers of the royal family, only six more peerages could be created. 
The Scotch were bribed by a provision that their sixteen representa- 
tive peers were to be replaced by twenty-five named by the Crown 
who were to be hereditary. There were three main reasons for the 
Peerage Bill: to prevent a repetition of what had occurred in 1711, 
the sudden creation of a number of peers for political purposes ; to 
check the influence of the King's German favorites ; and to prevent 
the Prince, if ever he became King, from rewarding his supporters at 
the expense of his opponents. In other words, it was designed by the 
dominant faction to secure and perpetuate its own power. It was 
open to two grave objections : it would have made the body of peers 
a closed caste by stopping that vitalizing stream of recruits — mer- 
chants, warriors, statesmen, and lawyers — from which it was con- 
stantly nourished, and it would have prevented the Ministry from 
exercising any control over the Upper House. Walpole proved to be 
its most effective opponent. In a splendid speech in which he de- 
clared " that the usual path to the temple of honor had been through 
the temple of virtue, but, by this bill, it is now to be only through 
the sepulcher of a dead ancestor," he " bore down everything before 
him." Though the Peerage Bill was defeated in the Commons 269 
to 1 7 7, the Ministry had no thought of resigning. It held its customary 
majority in Parliament and seemed in a very strong position both at 
home and abroad when the financial crash, known as the South Sea 
Bubble, came and overthrew it within a few months. 

The National Debt and the South Sea Company. — The National 
Debt now amounted, to over £50,000,000, much of it burdened with 7 
to 8 per cent interest, while private loans could be secured for 4 per 
cent. In view of the peaceful and prosperous condition of the coun- 
try the Government desired to cut down this rate of interest and to 
reduce the principal as rapidly as possible. There was this great diffi- 
culty, however, that a large part of it was irredeemable ; that is, it ran 
for a long term, some in the form of ninety-nine year annuities, and could 
neither be paid nor the interest diminished without the consent of the 
creditors. In 1711, Harley had funded £9,500,000 of the floating 
debt by the creation of the South Sea Company. In 1 7 1 7, two schemes 
devised by Walpole were carried into effect by Stanhope. One pro- 
vided for a loan of £600,000 at 4 per cent, raised by general subscrip- 
tion. This was to be employed to pay off a portion of the debt bur- 
dened with a higher rate, but the taxes imposed to meet the old interest 
were continued, and the difference was to be applied toward reducing 
the principal. By the second, which proved more popular, the South 
Sea Company and the Bank were induced to cut down the rate of 



THE FIRST HANOVERIAN, GEORGE I 687 

interest on their existing loans and to advance £4,500,000 additional 
for buying up the redeemable debts of those who refused to accept a 
lower rate. But there still remained over £30,000,000 which the 
Government was anxious to group into a single fund, yielding only the 
market rate and redeemable at will. 

Since the South Sea Company desired to increase its capital, an 
arrangement was suggested whereby the holders of the outstanding 
debt should be paid in shares of the Company. Thus the Government 
was to have one creditor — a joint stock company — instead of many. 
It was to pay the company 5 per cent till 1727, and from that date 
4 per cent, until the principal should be finally paid. The plan looked 
so tempting that other companies clamored for a share. Accordingly, 
they were given a chance to bid. The Bank of England proved to be 
the leading competitor, but the South Sea Company won by agreeing 
to pay a bonus of £7,500,000. Since no money was received from those 
who took stock in exchange for annuities, funds had to be raised to 
pay the bonus as well as to satisfy such creditors as refused to accept 
stock. At first all went well ; most of the annuitants accepted the 
Company's terms, and over £5,000,000 were subscribed in cash for 
new shares. But the arrangement resulted in disaster. In the first 
place, the Company had paid for more than it got ; moreover, it bur- 
dened itself by the creation of additional blocks of stock which it ac- 
tually gave away to influential members of the Government and to 
Court favorites ; while, worse than all, the project fostered a fever of 
speculation which was taking possession of the country. Before this 
speculative bubble burst, it had soared to dizzy heights. By August, 
1720, the shares of the Company, which stood at £ 1 30 during the previous 
winter, had risen to £1000. In spite of a royal proclamation against 
" mischievous and dangerous undertakings . . . presuming " to raise 
" stocks and shares without legal authority," all sorts of schemes 
sprang up like Jonah's gourd, and the offices in Change Alley became 
so crowded that clerks had to transact business in the streets. Some 
were legitimate projects : for manufactures, paving, water works, and 
the like ; but most of them were absurd : for fishing up wrecks from 
off the Irish coast; making salt water fresh; making oil from sun- 
flower seeds, and for a wheel of perpetual motion ; and, most amazing 
of all, for " an undertaking in due time to be revealed." Before long 
it was estimated that £300,000,000 was invested, largely in crazy 
ventures. 

The Bursting of the South Sea Bubble. — People's eyes were only 
opened when the South Sea Company, bent on monopolizing all the 
gain, began to prosecute certain of its bogus rivals. It won the suits, 
but, at the same time, gave a shock to public confidence which led to 
its own downfall. Shareholders began eagerly to offer their bonds for 
sale, and speedily came to realize the difference between paper prom- 
ises and solid gain. By September the Company's shares fell to £300, 
when news from France brought the crisis to a head. This was the 



688 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

flight of John Law, a Scotch adventurer who had set all Paris wild 
with his financial schemes, particularly his " Indian Company " for 
controlling the trade of the Mississippi. The rage of the disillusioned 
speculators flamed out against those to whose promises they had 
listened all too readily. " The very name of a South Sea man " grew 
" abominable." Resentment spread to the court favorites, to the Min- 
istry, and even to the King himself. George hastened back early in 
November from Hanover ; but, in spite of his return, stocks fell to 135. 

The End of the Stanhope Ministry, 1721. — Parliament met, 8 
December, 1720, when the directors of the Company were ordered to 
lay a full account of their proceedings before the Houses ; also, bills 
were passed, obliging them to declare on oath the value of their estates, 
prohibiting them from leaving the kingdom, and offering rewards to 
informers. A secret committee of inquiry was appointed in the 
Commons, while several of the directors were examined in the Lords. 
The excitement was intense. Stanhope in the midst of a speech was 
attacked by a rush of blood to the head and died the next day. Town- 
shend replaced him as Secretary. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, 
deeply involved in the recent speculations, resigned, and Walpole 
was appointed to fill the vacancy. The report of the secret committee 
disclosed a mass of corruption ; notably, that £500,000 of fictitious 
stock had been distributed among certain ministers and favorites. 
Craggs, one of the accused, who had been the other Secretary of State, 
died opportunely of smallpox the day the report was read, and his 
father poisoned himself soon after. Sunderland was tried ; but, 
though acquitted, he had to give up his office of First Lord of the 
Treasury, which was assumed by Walpole along with the Chancellor- 
ship of the Exchequer. The directors suffered heavily; they were 
disabled from holding office or from sitting in Parliament, and their 
estates, amounting to £2,000,000, were appropriated for the unfor- 
tunate investors. Petitions poured in and pamphlets multiplied in 
which they were denounced as "Monsters of pride and covetousness," 
" Cannibals of Change Alley," and not a few demanded that they be 
hanged. Yet the people were, in no small degree, to blame for their 
eagerness to make money. Before the inquiry was completed, Wal- 
pole, to whom all eyes were turned, had proposed a scheme for restor- 
ing the public credit. While he had bought South Sea Stock and had 
sold out at enormous profit, he had been so fortunate as to be out of 
office when the Government had made its arrangements with the Com- 
pany. By his advice, the bonus which the latter had agreed to pay 
was practically remitted, its liabilities were settled, and what remained 
of the capital stock, about 33 per cent, was divided among the pro- 
prietors. 

The Beginning of Walpole's Ascendancy. His Early Career. — 
Walpole now became Chief Minister, 1 a position which he retained for 

1 Townshend confined himself almost solely to foreign affairs. 



THE FIRST HANOVERIAN, GEORGE I 689 

over twenty years. The Tory party was handicapped by being more 
or less identified with the cause of the Roman Catholic Pretender and 
rebellion ; but the Whig ascendancy would not have been so easily 
maintained had it not been for the great abilities of their leader as an 
administrator and as a party and parliamentary manager. Born in 
1676, Robert Walpole was one of the nineteen children of a Norfolk 
squire. As a younger son he was destined for the Church, but the 
death of his elder brother leaving him heir to the family estates, he 
entered Parliament in 1701. He was made Secretary at War in 1708 
and subsequently Treasurer of the Navy ; but shared in Marlborough's 
fall in 1 7 1 1 . He was even expelled from the House on charge of breach 
of trust and corruption, but since he had pocketed nothing for him- 
self and had merely used his influence in behalf of a friend, he was 
regarded as a martyr by his party. By virtue of his skill in debate, 
his industry, patience and calmness of temper he came rapidly to the 
front, so that at the accession of George he was recognized as the 
leader of the House of Commons. 

His Strength and Achievements. — He was not a man of ideals, 
neither was he strikingly brilliant or original, but he was essentially 
sane and efficient. His services to his country were many and great. 
He established the Hanoverian succession on a secure foundation ; 
he gave England twenty years of peace and prosperity ; he softened 
the bitterness of political and ecclesiastical faction, and raised the 
House of Commons to the leading position in the State. Remaining 
master of that body, he, at the same time, gained a firm hold on the 
confidence of two successive kings, an achievement all the more remark- 
able from the fact that he aimed to keep clear of foreign complications, 
while both George I and George II were primarily interested in con- 
tinental affairs, while the latter had a consuming ambition for military 
glory. Walpole was so economical that George I declared that he 
" could make gold from nothing." A typical squire — it is said that 
he always opened the letters from his gamekeeper first — he worked 
for the interest of the landed gentry, and as a result, had their strong 
support ; but he held the commercial classes to him as well, by his 
knowledge of trade and finance, 1 and his furtherance of their concerns. 
Careful not to arouse the apprehension of High Churchmen by any 
radical legislation on the subject of toleration, he, nevertheless, by 
appointing liberal bishops and by his lax administration of the existing 
laws relating to religious disabilities, managed to keep from alienating 
the Dissenters. He was a strict party disciplinarian, who, so far as 
he was able, would brook no opposition in the Cabinet or in Par- 
liament, but he showed a deference to public opinion rare up to that 
time, which marks him as the forerunner of the modern minister. 

His Faults and Limitations. — Yet, while Walpole's merits and 
services were great, they were counterbalanced by decided faults and 

1 He was said to be the "best master of figures" of any man of his time. 
2 Y 



6oo A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

limitations, some of which were typical of the age and of his class. 
He was coarse in his conversation, loose in his private life, and cared 
nothing for learning or letters. His sole refined taste was his love for 
paintings, of which he made a famous collection. While he had the 
welfare of his country at heart and was faithful to his sovereign and 
never enriched himself at the public expense, he was greedy of power, 
he was unscrupulous in his party tactics, and utterly lacking in any 
high sense of honor. In opposition he opposed principles which he 
had supported from his entrance into public life ; in office he made no 
effort to secure the passage of measures, however worthy, that might 
endanger his ascendancy, 1 and he finished his career by offering to 
give up his cherished policy of peace in order to remain at the head of 
affairs. He preferred to be served by those men of mediocre attain- 
ments and low standards of conduct who obeyed his will, and repelled 
gifted and high-minded men who might become his rivals. He stood 
in the way of all attempts of the Tories to reconcile themselves with 
the Hanoverian dynasty. It would have endangered the Whig mo- 
nopoly, but the wholesome rivalry of the two fairly well-balanced 
parties has always proved a stimulus to good government. Wal- 
pole's influence on the younger generation of statesmen was baneful : 
he scoffed at ideals of purity and patriotism, scornfully labeling those 
who professed them as " Spartans," " Romans," and " saints." Pat- 
ronage was regarded as legitimate for a long time to come, and Walpole 
used it openly and effectively ; but the extent to which he employed 
money bribes for corrupting members of Parliament has never been 
proved. In all likelihood, however, it was great. Unfortunately, the 
practice did not begin or end with him. The methods, however, had 
become more secret by Walpole 's time, and his transgressions in the 
matter may have been exaggerated by his opponents. Nevertheless, 
this fact remains true that, during the long period of his ascendancy, 
he discouraged the cooperation of the nobler spirits, and not only did 
nothing to raise, but much to depress the already low state of public 
morality. This must not be forgotten in giving him due credit for 
his great services in the material development of his country. 

Atterbury's Plot, 1722-1723. — Speedily as the Whig Government 
recovered from the effects of the South Sea Company panic, the in- 
cident had the effect of reviving the hopes of the Jacobites. They 
were further encouraged in 1722 by the birth of a son to James — 
" Prince Charlie " as his followers fondly named him, but known to 
his opponents as the "Young Pretender." In the same year, Francis 
Atterbury, Bishop of Rochester, famous for his eloquence as a preacher 
and for his literary gifts, thought the time had come to strike another 
blow for the exiled family. Largely through his efforts a wide-reach- 
ing plot was devised to seize the Tower and the Bank, to start a rising 
throughout England, to bring over Ormonde from Spain and James 

1 His motto was quieta non tnavere, do not stir up unnecessary strife. 



THE FIRST HANOVERIAN, GEORGE I 691 

irom Rome. The design was discovered through the Regent of France, 
various suspected persons were arrested, and in August the Bishop 
was seized and lodged in the Tower. He was tried, and, in spite of a 
great uproar from the Tory parsons, a bill of pains and penalties was 
framed in Parliament which sentenced him to banishment on pain of 
death. As he landed at Calais in 1723 he met Bolingbroke on his way 
home, to whom he remarked wittily: "Then we are exchanged." 
He died abroad in 1732, in the service of the Old Pretender. 

Wood's Halfpence and the Drapier Letters, 1723-1724. — No 
sooner had this flurry of Jacobitism blown over than a tumult arose 
in Ireland, owing to a measure of the English Government which the 
unquiet genius of Swift magnified into a great oppression. Ireland 
had long been suffering from an insufficiency of copper coin. To meet 
this need the Treasury, after considering various projects, granted to 
one William Wood a patent to coin farthings and halfpence to the 
amount of £108,000. It is true that Wood agreed to pay the Duchess 
of Kendal a bribe to gain her influence in securing the patent, but the 
need in Ireland was real and the quality furnished was excellent. It 
is also true that the Irish coin was lighter than the English, though 
that was counterbalanced by the difference in exchange and by the 
superior quality of the former. Various causes, however, contrib- 
uted to work against the scheme. The Irish courtiers opposed it 
because they saw nothing in it for themselves, and the plan was not 
clearly explained until it was already discredited. Moreover, Wood 
made matters worse by boasting that he would cram his halfpence 
down their throats. Both the Irish and the English Parliaments 
passed addresses to the Crown, condemning the patent and declaring 
that it would involve a heavy loss to the kingdom. The main basis 
for the assertion was that while a pound of copper was worth 1 2 d. it 
would circulate for 2s. 6d., but Walpole, calculating the cost of minting, 
duty, and exchange, proved that the profit could not exceed over one 
or two pence a pound. The Privy Council reported in favor of the 
patent, July, 1724; whereupon Swift, under the assumed name of 
" M.B., a Drapier of Dublin," launched a series of savage but bril- 
liantly finished letters against the Government. He was hailed as a 
deliverer, while the popular fury reached such a pitch that the patent 
was withdrawn. Wood was granted £3000 by way of compensation. 

The Treaty of Vienna, 1725. — At the close of the session of 1725 
George made another visit to Hanover ; for the European situation 
had again become critical. The Spanish were bent on recovering Gi- 
braltar. Furthermore, they had just received an affront from France 
which stung them to madness. As a means of attaching Philip V to 
the Quadruple Alliance, Louis XV had been betrothed to the Infanta, 
a child of four, who had been sent to Paris for her education. But the 
Duke of Bourbon, who succeeded as Chief Minister when both the 
Regent and Dubois died in 1723, sent the little Princess home in March, 
1725, and, shortly after, married Louis to Maria Leczinska, daughter 



692 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

of Stanislaus, the deposed King of Poland. As a result, they deter- 
mined to combine with their old enemy the Emperor. Charles VI 
was willing to meet these overtures for various reasons, chief among 
them the fact that England, allied with France and Holland, was 
opposing his design for establishing a company at Ostend in the Span- 
ish Netherlands for trading with the East Indies. By the treaty of 
Vienna, signed i May, 1725, the King of Spain, among other things, 
accepted the Ostend Company and agreed to the Pragmatic Sanction, 
an arrangement by which Charles VI, who had daughters but no sons, 
provided that his Austrian lands might descend in the female line. 
Also, each monarch engaged to defend the other in case of attack. 
More disquieting still, in secret articles which afterwards came to 
light, the new allies agreed to demand the restoration of Gibraltar 
and Minorca, and, in case of refusal, to resort to force and put the 
Pretender on the throne of England. The combination was made all 
the more dangerous by the adhesion of Russia now governed by 
Catherine, widow of Peter the Great. 

The Counter Treaty of Hanover, 1725. — As a counterstroke, Eng- 
land, France, and Prussia signed the Treaty of Hanover, or Herren- 
hausen, 3 September. The anti-Whig opposition complained that 
" Hanover rode triumphant on the shoulders of England " ; but there 
were plenty of purely English interests which needed to be safeguarded. 
Not long after, the incapable Duke of Bourbon was replaced by the 
Bishop of Frejus, better known as Cardinal Fleury. Already seventy- 
three years old when he came to office in 1726, he ruled France till 
1742. Aimable and retiring in manner, he was really very ambitious 
and able as well. Like Walpole, he strove for peace, and since he 
was thrifty as well, his administration proved a blessing to his country 
wasted by generations of war. The Emperor managed to draw Prussia 
to his side, and made an attempt which proved futile to stir up the 
English people against their sovereign ; but, after the Spanish failed 
in an attempt to recover Gibraltar, his ambassador, 31 May, 1727, 
signed the preliminaries of a peace with England, France, and Holland. 
By it the Emperor was to suspend the charter of the Ostend Company 
for seven years, to confirm all treaties previous to 1725, and to submit 
other points at issue to a general congress. Spain, however, refused to 
yield her pretensions to Gibraltar, so that the situation remained tense. 

Death of George I, 3 September, 1727. — Such was the state of 
affairs when the King died on his way to Hanover, 3 June, 1727. His 
wife, the unfortunate Sophia Dorothea, had died seven months before, 
after thirty-two years of captivity at Ahlden. Rumor said that a 
paper which she had left summoning him to meet her before the Divine 
judgment seat within a year and a day, and which was first delivered 
to him as he was traveling, brought on the apoplectic fit which caused 
his death. He left the country united at home and powerful abroad. 
The dangers due to disputed succession had been averted, and the 
leading position which the genius of William and Marlborough had 



THE FIRST HANOVERIAN, GEORGE I 693 

secured in European affairs had been not only maintained but in- 
creased. England was the guiding spirit in the Triple and Quadruple 
Alliances, her fleets had checked Alberoni in the Mediterranean and 
those of Russia, backed by Sweden, in the Baltic; while by the Treaty 
of Hanover she had checkmated the menacing combination of Spain 
and Austria. 

The Material Bases of the Hanoverian Power. — The power of the 
first Hanoverians rested wholly on material bases : the Riot Act, 
the standing army, the attachment of the moneyed classes, and the 
organization of the Whig party, with a vast amount of patronage at 
its disposal, and effectively led by Walpole, a master of the art of 
parliamentary management and corruption. As a further means of 
securing its tenure of power the dominant party made every effort to 
discredit its Tory opponents by identifying them with Jacobitism and 
all its dire consequences — the overthrow of the existing dynasty, 
the restoration of Roman Catholicism, and the repudiation of the 
National Debt. George recognized that he owed his position to Whig 
support. Partly for this reason and partly because of his ignorance 
of the English language and English ways, he gave the Whig leaders, 
especially Walpole, practically a free hand in matters of domestic 
concern. His Hanoverian favorites, while they enriched themselves 
at the public expense, exercised little real control over public policy. 
In consequence of the attitude which the King felt himself forced to 
adopt he lost the advantage of playing off one party against another ; 
but the growth of the Cabinet and the power of Parliament was greatly 
fostered. While the King was strong in the strength of the party 
supporting him, the old sentiment and respect for the monarch had 
declined. The title of the new line was parliamentary, and the idea 
of Divine Right was fast fading away. The Whigs repudiated it; 
the Hanoverian Tories could not consistently maintain it, while the 
Jacobites, its most enthusiastic advocates, refused to acknowledge the 
reigning sovereign. The High Churchmen who regarded it as an 
essential feature of their doctrine now counted for little. Many of 
the bishoprics which they had once held were now filled with Low 
Churchmen ; some of them had discredited themselves by accepting 
William and George ; and the King to whom the others clung was of 
a different faith. Furthermore, the mass of Englishmen were growing 
more material and increasingly indifferent to religious questions. Not 
only were there few if any, either Churchmen or laymen, to attribute 
to George that " divinity that doth hedge a King," but there was 
nothing about him to command King worship. At his court all 
pomp, ceremony, and superstitious reverence was done away with ; 
he was not like his predecessors served on the knee at meals, and with 
his accession touching for the " King's evil " ceased. 

The Character of the Age. — The age was one of coarseness in pri- 
vate life and of indifference to high ideals, and there was much cor- 
ruption and venality. One Lord Chancellor was impeached for 



694 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

financial irregularities x ; three members of the Ministry were involved 
in the South Sea scandals; favors and support were bought and sold ; 
many, even in high office, engaged in treasonable negotiations with the 
Pretender ; and not a few irreverently submitted to religious tests 
for the sake of getting or holding places. Yet it is to be doubted 
whether the tone of patriotism or sense of public obligation was lower 
than during the two preceding reigns ; and peace, material progress, 
and the growth of enlightened public opinion were preparing the way 
for better things. 

FOR ADDITIONAL READING 

Narrative. Leadam, Political History, chs. XIII-XIX. C. G. Robertson, Eng- 
land under the Hanoverians (191 1), introduction and ch. I (bibliography, 517-532). 
Cambridge Modern History, VI, ch. I (bibliography pp. 839-843). Lecky, England in 
the XVIII Century, I. Lord Mahon (Earl Stanhope), History of England from the 
Peace of Utrecht to the Peace of Versailles (4th ed., 1853, 7 vols.), I, II, chs. XI-XVI. 
Bright, History of England, III, pp. 729-964. 

Constitutional. Hallam, III, ch. XVI. Taylor, Origin and Growth, II, bk. VII, 
ch. I. 

Biography. W. Coxe, Memoirs of the Life and Administration of Sir Robert 
W a! pole (3 vols., 1798). J.Morley (Viscount) , Sir Robert Walpole (1889) ; an excellent 
sketch. 

Special. G. B. Hertz, British Imperialism in the Eighteenth Century (1908). 
J. F. Chance, George I, and the Great Northern War (1909). A. W. Ward, Great 
Britain and Hanover (1899). Thackeray's Four Georges is worth reading chiefly 
for its literary charm. 

Church. Overton and Relton, The English Church, 1714-1800, chs. I-V. 

For other references see ch. XXXVIII above. 

Scotland. P. H. Brown, Scotland, III, bk. VII, chs. IV- VII. Cambridge Modern 
History, VI, ch. Ill ; for fuller bibliography, pp. 853-863. 

Selections from sources. Adams and Stephens, nos. 246-248. Robertson, pts. 
XXV-XXVIII. 

1 Thomas Parker, Earl of Macclesfield, in 1725. 



THE FIRST HANOVERIAN, GEORGE I 



695 



George II, 
1727-1760 



THE HOUSE OF HANOVER 
George I, 1714-1727 



Frederick = Augusta of 
Prince of Wales, | Saxe-Gotha 
d. 1751 



William, Duke 

of Cumberland, 

d. 1765 



George III=Sophia Charlotte of 
1760-1820 I Mecklenburg-Strelitz 



Sophia ■» Frederick William I 
King of Prussia, 
17 13-1740 

Frederick the Great, 
1740-1786 



George IV, 

1820-1830 

I 

Princess Charlotte, 

d. 1817 



William IV, 
1830-1837 



Frederick, 

Duke of York, 

d. 1827 



Victoria ■ 
1837-1901 



Albert of Saxe-Coburg, 
d. 1861 



Edward, 

Duke of Kent, 

d. 1820 



Victoria = Frederick , 



d. 1901 



German Emperor, 
March-June, 1888 



William II, 
German Emperor, 



Albert Edward, 

Edward VII, 

1901-1910 



Alfred, 

Duke of 

Edinburgh, 

d. 1900 



George V = Princess Mary of 
1910 Teck 



Arthur, 

Duke of 

Connaught 



Leopold 
Duke of 
Albany, 
d. 1884 



Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David 



Charles II 



THE EXILED STUARTS 
Charles I 



James II 

I 

James Francis 

Edward, 

James III 

the Old Pretender, 

d. 1765, 



Charles Edward, 

Charles III, 

The Young Pretender, 

d. 1788 



Henry, 

Cardinal of 

York, 

d. 1807 



Henrietta = Philip of Orleans, 
brother of 
Louis XIV 

Anne = Victor Amadeus, 
Duke of Savoy, 
1st King of 
Sardinia 

Charles Emmanuel III, 

King of Sardinia, . 

d- 1773 

I 

Victor Amadeus III, 

d. 1796 

Victor Emmanuel III, 
d. 1824 



Mary ■■ 
d. 1840 



Francis IV, 
Duke of Modena 



Ferdinand = Archduchess Elizabeth of Austria 

Mary Theresa 1 = Ludwig, King of Bavaria, 1913 

Rupert 

I 
Luitpold 

1 Mary IV, the present head of the House of Stuart. 



CHAPTER XL 

THE ASCENDANCY AND FALL OF WALPOLE AND THE OPENING 
OF A NEW ERA OF WAR. THE FIRST PART OF THE REIGN 
OF GEORGE II (1727-1748) 

Walpole proves Indispensable. — The younger George was so 
bitter against all his father's late supporters that his first step as King 
was an attempt to get rid of their chief. But Sir Spencer Compton, 
whom he selected as head of the Ministry, showed his incompetence 
at the very start by begging the man he was to supplant to draw up 
the royal declaration to the Privy Council. Indeed, Walpole was 
indispensable. The Queen, who already recognized this fact, was 
completely won over when he secured the doubling of her jointure 
from £50,000 to £100,000, while George was induced to withdraw his 
opposition by an increase in the Civil List from £700,000 to £800,000. 

Prince George's Relations with his Father. — George II, who was 
born in 1683, was a mature man when he accompanied his father to 
England in 17 14. Adapting himself with considerable readiness to 
his new surroundings, he was able to achieve some popularity and to 
attract around him a considerable party of supporters, which only 
widened the breach already opened between him and the elder George. 
The quarrel came to a head in 171 7 when his harsh old father drove 
him from the royal presence, and imposed all sorts of humiliations 
upon him : he denied him the custody of his children, and even went 
so far, according to one story, as to listen to a proposal for kidnapping 
him and sending him off to America. In 1720 there was a formal but 
hollow reconciliation, and Leicester House, the residence of the Prince 
and Princess, become a center of opposition to the Sovereign and his 
all-powerful Minister, Walpole. 

George II as Man and King. — George II was a dapper little man, 
vain, pompous, and fond of the show of power. Also he was madly 
ambitious to shine as a general ; but, though he fought bravely at 
Oudenarde and at Dettingen, 1 he showed no military ability except 
personal bravery. 2 He was very methodical, fond of detail, and had 
considerable capacity for routine business. His temper was very 
gusty, and he was apt to fly into a passion over little things when, so 
it is reported, he sometimes indulged in the unkingly pursuit of kicking 
his hat and wig about the room. Avarice, or at least extreme thrifti- 
ness, was one of his marked traits. It may be that his practice of 

1 In 1743, the last engagement where an English king ever appeared at the 
head of his troops. 2 He was sometimes called "the little captain." 

696 



THE ASCENDANCY AND FALL OF WALPOLE 697 

frequently counting his money, like the king in the nursery tales, was 
one of his diversions, but certainly he was very stingy with his minis- 
ters and favorites. The only present Walpole ever got from him was 
a diamond with a flaw in it. However, he must have spent much on 
his Hanoverian dominions, since he died comparatively poor. While 
he cared nothing for art or letters, he was fond of music and a stanch 
patron of the f?,mous composer, Handel. 

In foreign policy he was an opportunist without consistency of 
purpose; though, in general, he put Hanoverian and Imperial before 
English interests. In domestic politics he was timid and cautious 
except for occasional outbursts of temper. 1 Yet his lack of political 
courage led to a moderation and prudence of conduct which had a 
most happy effect on the growth of the constitutional government: 
" his reign of thirty-three years deserves this praise — that it never 
once invaded the rights of the nation, nor harshly enforced the prerog- 
ative of the Crown . . . and that it left the dynasty secure, the 
Constitution unimpaired, and the people prosperous." Moreover, in 
the midst of George's faults, two virtues stand out conspicuously: 
petty, spiteful, and ungracious as he was, he was absolutely a man of 
his word, and, though he gave his confidence grudgingly, he never 
withdrew it from a minister who proved worthy. It was only at 
intervals that he was popular ; his Hanoverian interests, his quarrels 
with his son, Prince Frederick, and his treatment of his wife made 
him so cordially hated at times that his people wished him at the 
bottom of the sea, and his soldiers drank to his damnation. 

Queen Caroline, 1683-1737. — In 1705 he married Caroline of 
Anspach, fondly known as " Caroline the Good." Though he neg- 
lected and abused her, she gained such an ascendancy over him that 
she and Walpole came to be regarded as " the King's two ears." Pure 
in character, patient, and gracious, she was gifted with a keen sense of 
humor and uncommon tact. Understanding her consort thoroughly, 
she realized that he could be easily led but never driven. 2 While she 
spelled atrociously and spoke English only imperfectly and was not 
averse to gossip and broad jests, she posed as a learned woman and was 
fond of metaphysical and theological discussion. However, she gave 
her patronage to pious, learned, and worthy men and interested her- 
self in getting them high positions, particularly in the Church. Her 
death in 1737 was a sad loss to the country. The King, sincerely 
pentitent, gave way to spasms of grief. 

1 In a Cabinet crisis in 1746 he declared that he was a prisoner on the throne, 
and called one of his Ministers a fool and another a rascal. A few years later he 
refused to prosecute the libel of a speech from the throne, remarking shrewdly 
that he regarded it as better than the original. By that time, the Ministers, not 
the King, wrote these speeches. 

2 This was recognized in a song of the day which ran : 

"You may strut, dapper George, but 'twill all be in vain, 
We know 'tis Queen Caroline and not you that reign." 



698 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

The Strength of Walpole's Government. — Again, at the accession 
of George II, the Pretender, who had hoped to benefit from a change 
of rulers, was doomed to disappointment. There was a noisy op- 
position in Parliament, which Bolingbroke helped to organize, 1 made 
up of discontented Whigs, Jacobites, and Hanoverian Tories, who 
called themselves the " Patriots " ; but they were too divided in their 
personal and political interests to pull strongly together. Outside, 
the Government was fiercely assailed in the Craftsman — a brilliantly 
written sheet — and other weekly periodicals, as well as in pamphlets 
and ballads, though to little practical effect. The speeches of the 
Opposition speakers were prevented from circulating by Parliament's 
jealous refusal to allow its debates to be printed, and Walpole's peace- 
ful, businesslike administration made for prosperity and contentment 
among the influential classes. Moreover, the Duke of Newcastle, a 
Secretary of State for thirty years, was, in spite of his fussy ineffec- 
tiveness and his absurd timidity, 2 an adroit political manager, who, by 
his vast control of patronage, pensions, and boroughs, held Parlia- 
ment in the hollow of his hand. Thus, Sir William Pulteney, 3 the 
Opposition leader, had to struggle against tremendous obstacles. 

Walpole Prime and Sole Minister, 1730. — Not only was Walpole 
able to frustrate the attacks of his opponents in Parliament, but he 
managed to make himself supreme in the Cabinet by getting rid of his 
only rival. Thus he became the first " Prime Minister " in the mod- 
ern sense of the term, though the name was first applied to him by his 
enemies. His brother-in-law, Townshend, who had been Chief Min- 
ister from 1715 to 1717, but who, since his return to office in 1721, 
had devoted himself exclusively to foreign affairs resigned, 16 May, 
1730. Various differences of opinion on questions of public policy 
contributed to the final breach 4 ; but the underlying cause of all the 
trouble was that the " firm " which had once been " Townshend and 
Walpole " had now become " Walpole and Townshend." The latter, 
however, magnanimously refused to join the Opposition and retired 
to his estates. One or two measures of reform were carried in the 

1 Although he was allowed to return to the country in 1723 he was still excluded 
from the House of Lords and lived at Darnley some distance from London. 

2 His family name was Thomas Pelham-Holles. There seems to be little proof 
for the assertion that he was a man of greater understanding, than, for political 
purposes, he pretended to be. It was once said that: "It seemed as if he had 
lost half an hour every morning . . . which he is running after the rest of the day 
without overtaking it." Various anecdotes are told of his ignorance and vacil- 
lating timidity. In the morning his reception room was crowded with place- 
hunters, and, according to a famous story, he would often rush out of his bedroom 
with his face covered with soapsuds to announce an appointment to some happy 
applicant for himself or relative. Possessed of an immense fortune he sought 
nothing for himself except power, and left office poorer than when he began. 

3 A malcontent Whig, he had made common cause with Bolingbroke, was one 
of the chief organizers of the " Patriots, " and a tireless contributor to the Craftsman. 

4 On one occasion the brothers-in-law became so heated as to seize each other by 
che collar and to draw their swords. 



THE ASCENDANCY AND FALL OF WALPOLE 699 

years immediately following. In 1731, for example, it was provided 
that the proceedings in the courts of justice should henceforth be 
in English instead of Latin. " Our prayers," urged the Duke of 
Argyle, " are in our native tongue, that they may be intelligible, and 
why should not the laws wherein our lives and properties are con- 
cerned be so for the same reason? " 

Walpole's Excise, 1733. — The Government was at the height of its 
popularity when Walpole introduced an excise scheme, in 1733, which, 
in spite of its obvious merits, roused such a howl of opposition that 
he bowed to the storm and abandoned it. As a means of strengthen- 
ing himself in the support of the country aristocracy he had reduced 
the land tax from two shillings in the pound to one, a step which 
obliged him to resort to various substitutes. No opposition was 
raised when he diverted half a million from the Sinking Fund of 171 7 
toward the expenses of the current year. In this way the whole fund 
was consumed within a short time, and no effectual effort was again 
made to reduce the Debt until toward the close of the century. While 
it was a shrewd political device to maintain the security of the existing 
Government by holding the influential moneyed classes as its creditors, 
it was financially unjust to hand on the whole burden to posterity. 
A measure to impose an internal tax on salt, which bore rather heavily 
on the poorer classes, was carried by a small majority. When this 
proved inadequate, Walpole introduced a measure providing that, in 
the case of tobacco and wine, the customs duty at the ports should be 
abolished, and that in its place an excise should be imposed on retail 
traders. At the same time, goods bonded for reexport were to be 
warehoused free of duty. The plan had much to commend it. It 
would do away with smuggling in these commodities which prevailed 
to such an extent that £ 500,000 a year was lost out of a possible 
£ 750,00c. 1 Moreover, prices were not raised, while, by the warehous- 
ing provision, London would become a free port and the center of the 
world's markets. 

The Opposition and Withdrawal of the Measure. — At once, how- 
ever, the Opposition fomented an indignation which spread through- 
out the land. The excise was denounced as a " plan of arbitrary 
power," as a " many-headed monster, which was to devour the peo- 
ple," 2 and its author compared with Empson and Dudley. The 
number of collectors required was magnified into a standing army who 
would be employed as creatures of the Government to control elections, 
while the right to enter and search places where goods were stored was 
condemned as an inquisitorial attack on liberty. There was cer- 
tainly good ground for objecting to the increase of placemen ; but the 

1 It is estimated that 250 customhouse officers had suffered violence and 6 
had been murdered in the pursuit of their duties during nine years. 

2 So late as 1755 Dr. Johnson in the first edition of his famous Dictionary, defined 
an excise as "hateful tax levied upon commodities, and adjudged not by common 
judges of property, but by wretches hired by those to whom the excise is paid." 



7 oo A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

number required was only 126, and they were to have power to search 
only shops and warehouses, not private dwellings. These assurances, 
however, fell on deaf ears. During the debates crowds surged about 
the Parliament House, threatening and yelling. Pamphlets multi- 
plied, and petitions poured in from all quarters. " The public was so 
heated " that rebellion was threatened. Even the army was infected : 
one officer flatly told the Queen that he would answer for his regiment 
" against the Pretender, but not against the opposers of the excise." 
While he still had a small though decreasing majority for his bill, 
Walpole, yielding to the popular clamor, quietly withdrew it ; for he 
regarded it as impolitic to cross the will of the people, even for their 
good. Toward his colleagues who opposed him he took a different 
attitude. The Earl of Chesterfield 1 was dismissed from his post of 
Lord Steward of the Household, and several others were deprived of 
their offices at Court or of their commissions in the army. Some might 
regard this as a " monstrous piece of resentment, " but Walpole, by 
thus punishing men in official position who opposed a Government 
measure, took a long step in the direction of Ministerial unity under 
the chief of the Cabinet. 

The War of the Polish Succession, 1 733-1 738. — True to his pacific 
policy, Walpole managed to keep England out of the war which arose 
over the disputed Polish succession, which broke out in 1733 and in- 
volved most of the leading European states. It was only with the 
greatest difficulty that he managed to hold aloof, the Opposition declar- 
ing sarcastically that the engagements of the English bound them to 
help both parties, so they prudently refrained from helping either one. 
To the Queen, who was eager to enter the fray, in 1734, his reply was : 
" Madame, there are fifty thousand men slain this year in Europe and 
not one Englishman." Preliminaries of peace were arranged in 1735, 
but the definitive peace of Vienna was not signed until 8 November, 
1738. England, though a non-combatant, had a considerable voice 
in the settlement of the terms which resulted in significant territorial 
changes. Louis XV's father-in-law, Stanislaus Lesczinski, the de- 
feated candidate for the Polish crown, was compensated with the duchy 
of Lorraine, which was to revert to France at his death. Francis, 
the reigning Duke, the future husband of Maria Theresa, daughter 
and heir of the Emperor Charles VI, was given in exchange the grand 
duchy of Tuscany, made vacant by the death of the last Medici in 
1737. Austria yielded Naples and Sicily to Carlos, son of Elizabeth 
Farnese, receiving in return Parma and Piacenza which Carlos had 
been ruling since 1731. 

Quarrels between George II and Prince Frederick. — All the while, 
Walpole had to face scathing attacks from the Patriots, who denounced 
him as " a man abandoned to all notions of virtue and honor . . . 

1 The author of the celebrated letters to his son, and the "Mr. Chester" of Dick- 
ens' Barnaby Rudge. He was one of the most witty and elegant gentlemen of his 
time. 



THE ASCENDANCY AND FALL OF WALPOLE 701 

afraid or unwilling to trust any but creatures of his own making . . . 
with a Parliament of his own making, most of their seats purchased, 
and their votes bought at the public expense." However, he managed 
after great exertion — spending, it is said, £60,000 of his private 
fortune — to win a good, though decreased majority for the Parlia- 
ment of 1735. Bolingbroke in despair left the country. Although 
he returned later, he never again mingled actively in party politics. 
After the withdrawal of the old Tory chief, the Opposition began to 
center about Frederick, Prince of Wales, who first became estranged 
from his father because of the latter's refusal to carry out a treaty by 
which the Prince was to marry the Princess royal of Prussia with whom 
he fancied himself in love. Frederick was vain and weak ' ; but by 
his affability and his superficial graces he managed to attract the men 
of talent and letters whom Walpole and the King had neglected or 
repulsed. His marriage to Augusta of Saxe-Gotha, in 1736, only led 
to new quarrels due mainly to the unwillingness of the avaricious old 
King to allow him such moneys as he demanded to run his household. 
Finally a foolish act of petulance on the Prince's part led to his being 
ordered from the royal presence altogether, and the Queen refused to 
see him even on her deathbed. This estrangement between father 
and son, unedifying as it was, was really a source of strength to the 
dynasty ; for many of the Tories who had only seen a way to power 
through the Stuarts, now began to fix their hopes on Frederick. 

Troubles with Spain. — The death of Queen Caroline, 20 November, 
1737, deprived Walpole of his stanchest supporter. He kept his 
office over four years longer ; but his peace policy, more and more 
fiercely assailed, at length broke down. Even the King, while he 
refused to accept his resignation, constantly thwarted his foreign 
negotiations in order to force him into a warlike attitude. In the end 
he yielded to the Opposition, but too late to save his place. The 
trouble started with Spain. There were several causes of friction. 
One had to do with the unsettled boundary between Florida and Geor- 
gia ; but the most acute and important concerned trade relations, 
arising from the determination of the English to break down the colo- 
nial monopoly to which the Spanish clung so jealously. By the 
Treaty of Seville, 1729, the old concessions, which Alberoni had with- 
drawn, were renewed, but each nation was allowed the right of search 
and the seizure of contraband goods. While the Spanish exercised 
their rights with rigor and cruelty, the English, to the total disregard of 
treaty obligations, were guilty of shameless smuggling. Fleets were 
constantly putting into Spanish-American ports under pretence of 
refitting, really to buy and sell goods. Others lay offshore where 

1 His mother is said to have declared : "My dear first born is the greatest ass 
and the greatest liar ... in the whole world." A story more generally believed 
relates that when Prince Charlie reached Derby on his road to London in 1745, 
and when the whole City was filled with alarm, Frederick was playing blindman's 
buff with his pages. 



7 o2 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

they were visited by hosts of illicit traders. The one ship allowed by 
the Asiento was moored a short distance from the coast and continu- 
ally loaded and unloaded. Cases of violence and indignities which 
English seamen suffered at the hands of the Spanish coast guard were 
indignantly emphasized, while the violations of the law which called 
them forth were veiled in discreet silence. The ungracious delay of 
the Court at Madrid in redressing actual grievances added fuel to the 
flames. 

The Case of Jenkins' Ear, 1738. — Parliament was flooded with 
petitions from the merchants demanding redress. Sailors were posted 
in the Exchange, exhibiting specimens of the loathsome food they had 
to eat in Spanish dungeons. Some brought before the bar of the 
Commons told their stories in minute and harrowing detail. While 
there was some truth in what they said, they were not examined under 
oath. Moreover, they were encouraged by partisan zeal, even by 
bribes, to exaggerate and invent. The tale of a shipmaster, Robert 
Jenkins, related in March, 1738, aroused the chief interest. According 
to his account, his ship had been boarded in 1731 by a body of the 
Spanish coast guard, and the captain had cut off one of his ears. He 
produced as evidence the severed member which he had carried about 
wrapped in cotton ever since. In reply to the question as to what he 
had done, he replied : "I commended my soul to God and my cause 
to my country." While this stirring phrase, which became famous, 
was very likely coined for him, it is now believed that he lost his ear in 
the manner he described, and not in the pillory as some have hinted. 
With a number even of his own colleagues against him, Walpole 
struggled in vain to stem the swelling tide of anti-Spanish opposition. 
The cry of " no search " ran " from the sailor to the merchant, from 
the merchant to the Parliament," and the Lords carried a resolution 
denying the right. 

Walpole forced to declare War, 23 October, 1739. — The Prime 
Minister, while admitting that the English merchants and sailors had 
grievances, still hoped to settle them by treaty. At the same time 
he sought to put pressure on the Court at Madrid by preparations for 
war. In consequence, the Spanish released several prizes and cap- 
tives, and 14 January, 1739, signed a Convention by which they agreed 
to pay £95,000- damages to English merchants. When it became 
known that no provisions had been made to limit the right of search, 
to punish those who had inflicted cruelties on English sailors, or to 
settle other outstanding questions, the Convention was denounced 
furiously. Walpole in his defense declared in words which have 
become famous: " Any peace is preferable even to successful war." 
It was in this debate that William Pitt first impressed the Commons in 
a fiery speech in which he declared that the Convention was " nothing 
but a stipulation for national ignominy." Born in 1708, he had 
entered the army in 1731, and four years later was returned to Parlia- 
ment from the family borough of Old Sarum and joined the party of 



THE ASCENDANCY AND FALL OF WALPOLE 703 

"Boy Patriots" organized by his relative, Lord Cobham. In 1736 
he was deprived of his military commission for a speech on the mar- 
riage of Prince Frederick, which caused offense to the Government. 
" We must muzzle this terrible young cornet of horse," said Walpole, 
who thus early recognized his possibilities. Pitt spent years in opposi- 
tion before he obtained a Cabinet office. In spite of the efforts of the 
pacific Fleury to mediate, Walpole finally realized that he must either 
declare war or resign. So he framed a series of demands, including 
absolute renunciation of the right of search, immediate payment of the 
£95,000 fixed by the Convention, 1 and an express acknowledgment of 
British claims in North America. When the Spanish rejected the 
ultimatum, war was declared, 23 October, 1739. 

Walpole and the War. — The English people, anticipating much 
plunder and an easy victory, went mad with joy. " They may ring 
bells now," murmured Walpole ; " before long they will be wringing 
their hands." He foresaw, as the country at large did not, the dangers 
involved in the course entered upon so jauntily. He knew that 
France and Spain had allied themselves in a Family Compact in 1733, 
and, although Fleury had striven for peace, his country was bound 
sooner or later to make common cause with Spain. Moreover, the 
Jacobites were again active, and were to prove a serious menace. 
While the responsibility for stirring the national resentment to a war 
fever rests with the Opposition, Walpole must be blamed for yielding 
in order that he might cling to office. There are many reasons to 
explain his action : the King begged him to stay on, he did not want 
to surrender to his enemies, and he felt that, if a conflict were inevi- 
table, he was more capable of bringing it to a successful conclusion 
than any other man of the time. No doubt, however, love of power 
warped his judgment, and he made the supreme mistake of his life in 
undertaking to carry on a war which he believed was neither just nor 
expedient. He found at once that he had gained nothing by sacrificing 
his convictions. The " accumulated resentments of twenty years " 
were arrayed against him. In vain the once domineering Minister 
made concessions. His old opponents, and the " Boy Patriots " whom 
they had trained, were bent on driving him out. Against this formi- 
dable combination he had to fight practically alone, for he had on his 
side only men of mediocre attainments or damaged character. Thus 
he payed the penalty for his jealousy of rivals in office. The strain 
began to tell on his health, he slept little, and grew moody and silent. 

The War of Jenkins' Ear, 1739-1741. — Meantime, 19 July, 1739, 
three months before the war was formally declared, Admiral Vernon 
was sent to the Spanish-American waters with instructions " to 
destroy the Spanish settlements and to distress their shipping." On 
21 November, he took by assault Porto Bello on the Isthmus of 
Panama, an important station for fitting out the guarda-costas or 

1 Spain had delayed payment on the ground of counterclaims against the South 
Sea Company. 



7 o 4 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

revenue cutters. The victory was turned against Walpole ; for Vernon 
had been one of his most determined political opponents. The Ad- 
miral's triumph was offset two years later when, with a great fleet 
and a large army, his attempt to capture Carthagena, 1 " the strong- 
est place in Spanish America," resulted in disastrous failure. Some 
months before, 18 September, 1740, Commodore Anson started for 
the Pacific and only returned from a toilsome circumnavigation of the 
globe in June, 1744, after an absence of three years and nine months. 
His achievements recalled the old glories of Drake. He brought back 
only five of his six ships and four fifths of his crew, but had created 
much consternation among the Spanish and brought home a vast 
treasure of £500,000 from a galleon captured in the Philippine waters. 
Merged into the War of the Austrian Succession, 1740. — On 20 
October, 1 740, the Emperor Charles VI died. Having no sons, he had 
by the so-called " Pragmatic Sanction " 2 provided that his Austrian 
lands should descend to his eldest daughter. This was Maria Theresa, 
married to Francis of Tuscany. England, who had pledged herself 
by the second Treaty of Vienna in 1731 to accept this arrangement, at 
once found her conflict with Spain merged into a grave European 
complication, the War of the Austrian Succession. Various male 
members of the Hapsburg house set up a claim to the family inherit- 
ance, 3 but at length united to support the pretensions of Charles 
Albert of Bavaria. At the same time a new Power loomed up on the 
horizon. Frederick, known to history as " The Great," who had 
succeeded to the throne of Prussia the previous May, advanced a 
claim to a portion of the Austrian province of Silesia with the ultimate 
intention of absorbing the whole. His grandfather had secured the 
royal title for the house of Hohenzollern in 1701 ; his testy, avaricious, 
and eccentric father, Frederick William, had laid the foundations of a 
strong monarchy by accumulating considerable financial resources 
and building up a standing army that was the apple of his eye. Freder- 
ick, a grim and ruthless figure, proved to be a military genius, a 
statesman, and an administrator of the first rank. With the materials 
that he inherited he succeeded, by an amazing clarity of vision, by 
sleepless vigilance, and by unremitting perseverance and toil, in per- 
fecting a model state of the despotic type and forcing it into the front 
rank of European Powers. In the conflict which he now entered he 

1 Among those with him was Lawrence Washington, who named his estate on 
the Potomac "Mount Vernon," later famous as the residence of his younger brother 
George. A young ship's surgeon, Tobias Smollett, afterwards described in Roderick 
Random the sufferings which he himself witnessed on the voyage. 

2 Originally the term was applied to certain decrees of the Byzantine Emperors 
regulating the conditions of subject provinces; in another sense it came to mean 
a form of limitation set to the temporal powers of the Pope in various countries, 
and finally signified an arrangement made by a ruler for settling the succession of 
his family lands. 

3 The office of Emperor was elective, but for centuries the head of the House of 
Austria had been chosen. 



THE ASCENDANCY AND FALL OF WALPOLE 705 

allied himself with France, Spain, Bavaria, and Saxony, and the first 
two Silesianwars (1740-1742 and 1744-1745) proved to be a significant 
factor in the general war of the Austrian Succession. Hard beset 
by a Prussian army in Silesia and by a combined French, Bavarian, 
and Saxon army in Bohemia, the young Maria Theresa was confronted 
with a gloomy prospect. At Frankfort, 14 February, 1742, Charles 
Albert was elected Emperor under the title of Charles VII. 

The Fall of Walpole, 1742. — With the new turn of affairs on the 
Continent the attacks against Walpole increased in intensity. In a 
motion to " remove him from his Majesty's presence and counsels 
forever " one of the main charges was that he had made himself 
" Prime and Sole Minister." This, and a phrase in his defense that an 
attempt to remove one of his Majesty's " servants without so much as 
alleging any particular crime against him, is one of the greatest en- 
croachments ever made on the prerogative of the Crown," are indica- 
tions that two of the essential features of modern Cabinet government 
were as yet not generally recognized. While the motion was defeated 
in both Houses, Walpole's majority steadily decreased. Various causes 
added to his unpopularity : Vernon's failure at Carthagena ; heavy 
commercial losses due to Spanish attacks on English shipping ; and 
the fact that George had declared the neutrality of Hanover. In none 
of these cases was Walpole to blame. Vernon's expedition was ade- 
quately equipped, and he and the commander of the land forces must 
share the responsibility for the repulse ; Walpole had foreseen the 
suffering which the merchants would have to bear on the outbreak of 
hostilities ; and he was not informed of George's action regarding 
Hanover until it was too late to oppose it. Nevertheless, when a new 
Parliament opened, 4 December, 1741, the Opposition was so strong 
that his friends begged him to resign. But he fought on with amazing 
resourcefulness, keenness, and courage, until, after his party had been 
defeated by sixteen votes in a petition relating to a disputed election 
at Chippenham, he was finally persuaded that his retirement was 
" become absolutely necessary, as the only means to carry on public 
business." On n February he resigned all his offices, though not 
before he had made extremely favorable terms for himself and his 
family. He was created Earl of Orford, and received other marks of 
royal favor ; moreover, during the three remaining years of his life he 
continued to exert such an influence on public affairs as to justify in 
some measure the popular outcry that he was "still Minister behind 
the curtain." Material as were his interests, his achievements gave 
him a leading place " amongst the master-makers of modern Great 
Britain." 

Pulteney's " Great Refusal." Carteret's " Drunken Administra- 
tion." — Pulteney, the leader of the Opposition, who had often de- 
clared that he wanted no office and who thought he could retain his 
influence over his party by a show of disinterestedness, refused to 
accept the office of First Lord of the Treasury. Events proved that 



7 o6 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

he made the supreme mistake of his life by declining to assume the 
responsibility which he had forced his rival to lay down. The incapa- 
ble Lord Wilmington was made nominal head of the Ministry • ; but 
the leading figure of the new Administration, particularly in the control 
of foreign affairs, was John Carteret, who became Secretary of State 
for the Northern Department. He was regarded as one of the most 
learned men of his time ; he was a master of many languages, ancient 
and modern ; he had a high reputation as a debater, especially owing 
to his unusual gifts for pungent utterances ; and he had a wide and 
thorough knowledge of European politics and" diplomacy based on long 
experience. But he was one of those curious figures whose achieve- 
ments fall woefully short of their reputed attainments. Politics was 
to him a diverting game rather than a serious occupation, and he dis- 
dained the arts of the parliamentary manager. 2 Moreover, in an age 
when the vice was all too prevalent, he was noted for his excessive 
fondness for drink. It was partly this fact and partly the erratic 
course of his policy that caused the period of his brief tenure of power 
to be called the " Drunken Administration." 

In home affairs little or no change in domestic policy resulted from 
the overthrow of Walpole. For one thing the King desired that as 
many of the old ministers as possible might be retained ; but, more 
than this, the opposition had been directed mainly against Walpole's 
personal domination and his peace policy rather than against his 
domestic administration. Newcastle was retained as Secretary for 
the Southern Department, and Lord Hardwicke, one of the ablest 
men who ever filled that office, continued as Lord Chancellor. 3 The 
Tories who were left out were very bitter, loudly demanding an admin- 
istration " founded on the broad bottom of both parties." 4 Pulteney, 
failing to realize that the center of parliamentary strength was in the 
Commons, unwisely accepted a peerage under the title of Lord Bath. 
" I have turned the key of the closet on him," cried his shrewd old 
rival, who welcomed him to the House of Lords with the remark : 
" You and I are now two as insignificant men as any in England." 
He was hissed and scoffed at as a deserter for grasping at an " empty 
honor " when he refused a public duty, and " shrank into insignifi- 
cance." 

The Course of the War, 1 742-1 743. — The advent of Carteret drew 
England into the thick of the continental struggle. During the 
session of 1742 a subsidy of £500,000 was granted to Maria Theresa, 
£5,000,000 was voted for troops and supplies, and an auxiliary force 

1 Formerly Sir Spencer Compton. 

2 He scorned the advantage which he might have got from a control of patron- 
age. "What is it to me," he once declared, "who is a judge and who is a bishop. 
It is my business to make kings and emperors and to maintain the balance of 
Europe." 

'It is said of him that "he transformed equity from a chaos of precedents into 
a scientific system." 

4 It was at this time the term so famous in English political history took rise. 



THE ASCENDANCY AND FALL OF WALPOLE 707 

of 16,000 men was sent to the Netherlands. While, owing to the 
lack of Dutch cooperation, they did little during the whole year but 
quarrel with the inhabitants, the armies of the Empress gained ground 
against the French in Bohemia and in the valley of the Danube. By 
the Peace of Breslau and Berlin, June- July, 1742, which put an end to 
the first Silesian War, Frederick the Great withdrew temporarily from 
the an ti- Austrian alliance. This was a welcome relief to Maria 
Theresa, though the concession of the greater part of Silesia which it 
involved was a sore blow to her pride. George, anxious alike to pro- 
tect his electoral dominions and to emulate William of Orange as the 
head of a great continental alliance, was eager to plunge actively into 
the fray. Already before his fall Walpole had concluded a treaty for 
subsidizing a force of 6000 Hessians. Now, the King and Carteret, 
without consulting Parliament, arranged to take 16,000 Hanoverians 
into the British pay. Parliamentary sanction was secured only in the 
teeth of the bitterest opposition. " This powerful, this formidable 
kingdom," declared Pitt, who, as usual, was foremost in violent denun- 
ciation, " is considered only as a province to a despicable electorate." 
Yet the step had the advantage of stirring the Dutch to furnish a 
contingent, while King George levied 6000 more of his Hanoverian 
subjects whom he paid with electoral money. 

The Battle of Dettingen, 27 June, 1743. — In February, 1743, the 
English forces in Flanders, commanded by the Earl of Stair, started 
east and south with the object of cutting off the French from their 
Bavarian allies. On the march they were joined by some Austrian 
forces and by the Hanoverians in British pay. Halfway between 
Mainz and Frankfort, on the north bank of the Main, they sat down to 
await the Hessian and Hanoverian reenforcements. Meantime, a 
French army under the Marshal de Noailles had also crossed the Rhine 
and approached the Main from the south. Strangely enough, neither 
France nor England had as yet declared war on one another, but were 
merely supporting their respective allies. " A ridiculous situation," 
wrote Horace Walpole u . "we have the name of war with Spain without 
the thing, and war with France without the name." De Noailles, by 
admirable strategy, managed to throw strong detachments across the 
river and to check an attempted march of the " Pragmatic " 2 army 
toward Austrian territory and at the same time to intercept its return 
to Hanau (just east of Frankfort), which served as a base of supplies 
and a rendezvous for the expected reenforcements. Thus hemmed in, 
the army of Stair, now joined by George II and his son, the Duke of 
Cumberland, had no alternative but to engage the main body of the 
French whom de Noailles had sent, under the command of his nephew, 
the Duke of Gramont, to occupy the village of Dettingen, strongly 

1 The son of Robert, perhaps the most brilliant letter writer England has ever 
produced, and the most entertaining of contemporary authorities. 

2 Stair's army was so called because it was fighting to maintain the Pragmatic 
Sanction. 



708 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

guarded by a stream flowing into the Main, as well as by a ravine and a 
morass. A desperate battle was fought 27 June. In spite of the valor 
shown by the King and the Duke it was only the rashness of Gramont 
in leaving an impregnable position that enabled their army to rout the 
French and cut their way through. Truly the battle of Dettingen 
was " a happy escape rather than a great victory." Finding that the 
Imperial forces had driven across the Rhine another French army, 
which had been operating in Bavaria, de Noailles also withdrew, so 
that by the end of the campaign Germany was altogether free from the 
French. 

England and France as Principals in the War. — France was no 
longer guided by the pacific counsels of Cardinal Fleury who had died, 
29 January, 1743, and, impelled by fear and hatred of her ancient rival, 
drew closer to Spain. By the Treaty of Fontainebleau, or the Second 
Family Compact, concluded 25 October, 1743, she agreed to assist 
Spain to recover Gibraltar and Minorca, and to destroy the colony of 
Georgia, while Spain, on her part, agreed to transfer to France the 
privileges formerly accorded to England under the Asiento. The 
whole face of the war had been changed by the events of the past year. 
England, first coming into conflict with Spain over trade disputes in 
the western world, had been drawn into the European struggle as the 
ally of Maria Theresa, for the purpose of maintaining the Pragmatic 
Sanction and the integrity of the Austrian lands. Now she and France 
had been brought face to face as principals. George, " greedy for 
glory," had not only sent contingents to fight the French, but had 
actually gone in person to lead them. Maria Theresa, more aspiring 
still, and thirsting for revenge against the Powers who had combined 
against her, was determined to secure the Imperial Crown for her 
husband Francis, to annex Bavaria, to recover Naples from the Spanish 
line, to invade France, and secure Alsace and Lorraine. So far as 
France and England were concerned the area of the conflict was not 
confined to Europe, but spread to America and India. These two 
Powers were to emerge more clearly than ever before as rivals for 
maritime and colonial supremacy. 

The Ministry of Henry Pelham, 1 743-1 754. — Meantime, on the 
death of Wilmington, 2 July, 1743, the Earl of Bath, backed by Carteret, 
sought when it was too late to gain the office which he had once refused. 
Newcastle, with the support of Orford, succeeded in securing the 
coveted post for his brother Henry Pelham, who remained head of the 
Ministry until his death eleven years later. " A timid and peace- 
loving politician, without any commanding abilities or much strength 
of character," he was sensible, tolerant, and industrious, and proved 
to be a capable and economical financier as well as an excellent parlia- 
mentary manager. He was honest, too ; though bowing to the custom 
of the times, he made considerable use of patronage and corruption, 
in which his brother was such a past master. While the King man- 
aged for more than a year to keep Carteret in control of foreign affairs, 



THE ASCENDANCY AND FALL OF WALPOLE 709 

• 

he was obliged to defer more and more to the Pelhams because of their 
immense influence in Parliament. After Dettingen there was a brief 
reaction against the dominant aggressive policy abroad because of the 
feeling that the burden of expense was thrown more and more on 
England and that George was employing her resources mainly in the 
interest of Hanover. Carteret was denounced by Pitt as " an execra- 
ble . . . Minister who had . . . seemed to have drunk the potion 
described in poetic fictions which made men forget their country." 
Opposition, however, was silenced by the news that the French were 
preparing another invasion in favor of the Pretender. 

The Attempted French Invasion of 1744. — After the Jacobite 
exiles had felt the way by means of their English and Scotch com- 
mittees, a force of 10,000 men, under Marshal Saxe, the most capable 
general in the French army, was collected at Dunkirk. Here it was 
joined by " Prince Charlie," in whom the Jacobites centered their 
hopes, since his father no longer cherished any illusions and was com- 
pletely discredited by repeated failure and by constant quarrels with 
his wife and followers. The Young Pretender, now in his twenty- 
fourth year, was handsome, gracious, dignified, and brave, endowed 
with all the charm and enthusiasm of youth. " I go, Sire," said he, 
on his departure, " in search of three crowns, which I doubt not but 
to have the honor and happiness of laying at your Majesty's feet. 
If I fail in the attempt, your next sight of me shall be in my coffin." 
The French fleet which put out 26 January, 1744, to cover the embarka- 
tion of the land force, found the Channel strongly guarded by their 
vigilant opponents. On top of this, a heavy storm came up, and the 
expedition, from which so much had been expected, had to put back in a 
very shattered condition. The only result was a declaration of war 
by both countries. That of Louis XV was issued 4 March, alleging, 
as its chief reason, that England had broken the peace by her expedi- 
tion to Germany. The English replied, 29 March, asserting, among 
other things, the violation of the Pragmatic Sanction, aid to Spanish 
privateers in the West Indies, and the attempted invasion of England. 

Dismissal of Carteret, 1744. — Toward the end of November, 1744, 
the King was obliged to consent to the dismissal of Carteret, now Earl 
Granville, who had stanchly directed his Hanoverian policy. George 
yielded only with much grumbling, and denounced Newcastle as a 
" puppy " who was jealous of Granville as he had been of Orford ; but 
the Pelhams had too firm a hold on Parliament to be resisted. Gran- 
ville, with his accustomed nonchalance, is said to have left his office 
laughing. A "broad-bottom " administration, known as the " Minis- 
try of all the Factions," was thereupon constructed by the admission 
of some Tories and some of the party of Prince Frederick. The Dutch 
now entered the war, and the campaign of 1745 centered in the Nether- 
lands. Marshal Saxe, with a greatly superior army, defeated a com- 
bined force of the Austrians, British, and Dutch at Fontenoy, 1 1 May, 
and before the close of the summer was practically in control of Flan- 



710 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

ders. These and other reverses of the English and their allies were 
offset by a few gains, chiefly diplomatic. Frederick had entered the 
war again, 10 August, 1744 ; but after he had driven a combined army 
of Austrians and Saxons from Silesia into Bohemia, the English Cabinet, 
holding before him the danger of French ascendancy, induced him to 
listen to terms. At the same time, by threatening to withhold further 
subsidies, they forced Maria Theresa to ratify the arrangement. In 
return for the cession of Silesia, Frederick agreed to acknowledge 
Maria Theresa's husband as Emperor. 1 By the Peace concluded at 
Dresden, 25 December, 1745, the Second Silesian War came to an end. 

The Capture of Louisburg, 1745. — Meantime, in North America, 
the New England militia, assisted by a British fleet, had gained a 
brilliant success by the capture of Louisburg, 17 June, 1745. This 
stronghold, situated on Cape Breton Island, had been fortified by the 
French at great expense. It was one of the most important positions 
in the New World, for it commanded the mouth of the St. Lawrence, 
it controlled the North American fisheries, and had served the French 
as a naval base, both for their operations against New England and 
for securing their communications between France and Canada. 
The daring expedition, planned by Governor Shirley of Massachusetts 
and commanded by William Pepperell, was a striking manifestation of 
the colonial phase which the war had assumed. 

The Coming of Prince Charlie, 25 July, 1745. — Encouraged by the 
reverses of the English and their allies in Flanders, Prince Charlie, 
2 July, 1745, embarked from the coast of France and sailed for Scot- 
land in a final attempt to recover the throne of his ancestors. Perhaps 
the most romantic episode in the history of a country teeming with 
traditions of valorous and desperate exploits, the Rising of 1745 2 was 
undertaken in the face of every chance of failure. Unsupported by a 
single European power, the Young Pretender landed on the west coast 
of Scotland, 25 July, with only seven companions, trusting alone to his 
personal charm and his family name. The Highlanders, even had 
they given him their united support, numbered not more than one 
twelfth of the population of the country. As a matter of fact, some 
had been won over to the Hanoverian dynasty, while of those clans 
who responded to his call, most were destitute of discipline, torn by 
jealousy, and primarily concerned in plundering their enemies. In 
the Lowlands, while the Episcopalians were generally attached to his 
cause and while there was some enthusiasm for the Stuart name and a 
lingering discontent against the Union, the growing commercial and 
industrial classes saw that their best interests were bound up with the 
existing Government. George II was abroad, the bulk of the English 
army was in the Netherlands, and, at first, public opinion was apa- 

1 Charles VII had died the previous January. His son concluded a treaty with 
Maria Theresa by which his Bavarian territories were restored, and he agreed to 
vote for Francis who was elected Emperor at Frankfort in September. 

2 It has been immortalized in literature in Sir Walter Scott's Waverley. 



THE ASCENDANCY AND FALL OF WALPOLE 711 

thetic ; yet, nevertheless, the English Jacobites made little or no effort 
to organize an insurrection. 

His Occupation of Edinburgh, 17 September. Prestonpans, 21 
September. — Having won over a few of the western chiefs, notably 
Cameron of Lochiel, Charles raised his standard, 19 August, 1745, in 
the dreary vale of Glenfinnan. Though the Scots had declared before 
his arrival that they would not aid him unless he came with 6000 
troops and 10,000 stand of arms, such was the magic of his presence 
and his name that many, from a glorious but mistaken loyalty, flocked 
to join him. Others held aloof, waiting upon events. Sir John Cope, 
the Commander-in-Chief of the Government forces, leaving a small 
troop of dragoons at Stirling, drew off his army to Inverness with the 
intention, he asserted, of assembling the friendly clans and cutting 
off the Prince from the rear, though he has been accused of fearing to 
face an engagement. With the road thus practically unobstructed, 
Charles hastened south. At Perth he was joined by Lord George 
Murray, a veteran of 171 5, who rendered effective service as a general, 
but added another element of discord by his hot temper and overbear- 
ing manner. On 17 September, after overcoming a feeble opposition 
to his advance, Charles entered the panic-stricken capital. As he 
rode through the town in a tartan coat, wearing a blue bonnet sur- 
mounted by a white cockade, he was welcomed with raptures by the 
Jacobites. That night a ball was given at Holyrood, the royal palace 
of his ancestors, where he completed his conquest by winning the hearts 
of the ladies. After a single day of rest he marched forth to meet 
Cope who had taken ship at Aberdeen, landed at Dunbar, and was on 
his way westward. The two armies joined battle, 21 September, near 
the little village of Prestonpans. 1 Cope's forces, unable to withstand 
the terrific onslaught of the Highlanders, 2 were routed completely in 
little more than five minutes. Unable to rally the remnants, Sir John 
joined in the flight. At Berwick, where they took refuge, he was wel- 
comed with the remark that " he was the first general on record who 
carried the tidings of his own defeat." 

The Pretender invades England, 31 October, 1745. — Charles was 
for pushing on at once for London while the Government was still 
unprepared, but his advisers urged him to wait for reinforcements and 
for supplies. So many of his Highlanders had gone home with their 
plunder that he was obliged to yield, and remained in Edinburgh 
gathering recruits. The delay destroyed any chance of success that 
he may have had. George II returned from Hanover, 31 August; 
the Dutch were called on to furnish 6000 auxiliaries that they were 
bound by treaty to supply ; the militia were mustered in several 

1 Not to be confused with Preston in Lancashire. 

2 It is a curious illustration of the simplicity of the Highlanders that one of 
them who captured a watch and disposed of it shortly after it had run down, re- 
marked : "He was glad to get rid of the creature; for she died no long time after 
he caught her." 



7 i2 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

counties ; and General Wade was ordered to collect an army at New- 
castle. The mass of the people still remained indifferent ; but the 
Government made itself stronger every day. Charles, who had been 
drilling his motley following and doing his best to hold them in restraint, 
began his invasion of England, 31 October, taking the western route 
to avoid General Wade. Dressed in Highland garb the Prince 
marched on foot, sharing the hardships of the common soldier, paying 
for all he took, and maintaining admirable discipline. It was with 
great relief that the invaders passed Preston, so fatal to their predeces- 
sors in 1648 and 171 5. At Manchester they were received enthusias- 
tically with the ringing of bells, with illuminations, as well as with 
other signs of popular favor, and were even joined by a body of volun- 
teers ; but their position grew every day more desperate. Beyond the 
Border Hanoverian forces were gathering at Inverness ; Glasgow and 
several other considerable towns returned to their allegiance ; and 
the Crown officers reentered Edinburgh. Regiments from Flanders 
had been hurried to England and the Dutch auxiliaries had arrived. 
General Wade was advancing through Yorkshire, while the Duke of 
Cumberland lay in front with a force, part of which he had raised in 
the Midlands. A third army was forming at Finchley for the defense 
of London, while fleets patrolled the Channel to intercept any possible 
aid from France. Various means were taken to rouse the people : 
staring placards informed them that the invaders were " Papists," 
who ate no meat in Lent, and the Highlanders were pictured as sav- 
ages capable of all sorts of ferocities. 

The Retreat to Scotland. — Charles, whose courage and enthusiasm 
never waned, managed to elude Cumberland and to get as far as Derby, 
situated only one hundred and twenty-seven miles north of London. 
The 6 December, the day the news reached the City, was long remem- 
bered as " Black Friday." " Terror scarce to be credited " reigned, 
shops were closed, and a threatened run on the Bank of England was 
only met by paying in sixpences. It was at this juncture that Lord 
George Murray and the other leaders insisted upon turning back. 
In vain Charles argued and pleaded, declaring that he would rather be 
" twenty feet under ground." In spite of all that has been said to the 
contrary, the Scots, had they not turned back, would have passed on to 
certain destruction. Almost no Englishmen of note had joined their 
ranks ; the French had sent no aid ; and, even if they had, their ships 
would certainly have been intercepted in the Channel. Cumberland 
and Wade were closing in from the north, and the army in the front of 
London outnumbered that of Charles two to one. Moreover, the 
inertness of the masses had changed to fear and hatred. The retreat 
was a striking contrast to the advance. Discipline was relaxed, and 
the embittered Highlanders ruthlessly plundered the countryside, 
causing the hostility to the " wild petticoat men " to grow steadily 
more intense. Cumberland started in hot pursuit, but on a false 
report that the French were preparing to land, gave up the chase. 



THE ASCENDANCY AND FALL OF WALPOLE 713 

The retreating army succeeded in recrossing the Border and, 26 Decem- 
ber, 1745, reached Glasgow, having accomplished the extraordinary 
feat of marching nearly six hundred miles in fifty-six days. 

The Defeat at Culloden, 16 April, 1746. — Early in January, 1746, 
Charles, whose depleted army had been swollen by reinforcements to 
nearly 9000 men, undertook the investment of Stirling Castle, and, on 
the 17th, defeated General Hawley, who, with stupid contempt for 
" Highland rabble," led the Government forces in Scotland to raise 
the siege. But the victory did as much harm as good to the Pre- 
tender's cause. New dissensions arose, the clansmen dispersed with 
their booty, and Cumberland was sent to take command in Scotland. 
Again Murray persuaded Charles to retreat, this time to the High- 
lands, where he might spend the winter in recruiting and preparing for 
the spring campaign. As the season advanced the suffering of his 
troops became pitiful. The district where they were quartered was 
bleak and barren, they were cut off from the richer Lowlands, whence 
they might have drawn means of subsistence, and most of the supplies 
from France were intercepted. Early in April Cumberland, who had 
finally got his army in fighting shape, marched from Aberdeen with 
9000 well-armed and well-fed troops to offer battle. Charles, able to 
muster a force of only 5000 half-starved men, made a vain attempt to 
surprise the enemy during a night carousal in celebration of the Duke's 
birthday. " Spent and discouraged," his little army returned to its 
original position at Culloden Moor about five miles east of Inverness. 
Here, 16 April, in the midst of a storm of snow and hail which blew 
directly in their faces, they were attacked and overcome by Cumber- 
land's forces, superior to them in every respect, in numbers, organiza- 
tion, and equipment. To cap all, when the center and right had been 
driven back, the Macdonalds on the left, who felt that they had been 
insulted because they had not been given the post of honor which 
tradition had assigned to them since Bannockburn, refused to move, 
standing stolidly while their chief rushed forward and was shot down, 
murmuring: "My God! have the children of my tribe forsaken 
me ? " The army of the Pretender was destroyed, his cause was ruined. 

Cumberland's Butchery and the Flight of Prince Charlie. — Cum- 
berland earned his name of " the Butcher " by the ferocity with which 
he hunted down, slew, and even tortured the vanquished, and pillaged 
and destroyed their property. 1 Many who escaped perished from 
hunger and exposure. The English, however, hailed him as a deliverer : 
Parliament voted him the formal thanks of the nation, as well as an 
annual pension of £25,000 for himself and his heirs. 2 Lord George 
Murray made a vain effort to rally the clans ; but Charles, thanking 
them for their zeal, bade them seek safety. Lord George himself 

1 Though a recent authority has advanced evidence to show that his responsi- 
bility for the cruelties after Culloden has been exaggerated. 

2 Thanks to an enthusiastic poet, his name has survived in the flower known 
as the Sweet William. 






7 i 4 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

escaped to Holland. For five months, from April to September, 
Charles wandered about a fugitive, sometimes on the main land, 
sometimes among the islands off the coast. In spite of a reward of 
£30,000 offered for his capture, no one could be found to betray him. 
At one critical moment he was saved by the cleverness and devotion of 
a young woman, Flora Macdonald, who dressed him as a waiting maid. 1 
It was during this period of exposure that he contracted the habit of 
drunkenness, which later proved his ruin. At length, 20 September, 
he was shipped out of the country from Loch-na-Nuagh, the very 
place where he had landed fourteen months before. In spite of his 
failure, his exploit was a marvelous one, and devotion to the name of 
" Prince Charlie " lingered in the Highlands for generations to come. 
Unfortunately, except for occasional flashes of his old courage and 
generosity, his later life was sad and inglorious. Driven from France, 
he wandered about Europe, visited London in disguise at least once 
— when he is said to have declared himself a Protestant — and finally 
took refuge in Italy. Becoming titular King on the death of his father, 
he married, in 1772, Louise of Stolberg ; 2 but he grew to be an invet- 
erate sot and so illtreated her that she finally deserted him. He 
died in Rome, 31 January, 1788. With the death of his brother Henry, 
Cardinal of York, in 1807, the male line of the House of Stuart became 
extinct. 

Measures following the " Forty-five." — ■ The Duke of Cumberland 
continued to press " for the utmost severity," in consequence of which 
more than eighty were put to death, including three noblemen who 
were beheaded on Tower Hill. The last to suffer was Simon Fraser, 
Lord Lovat, a despicable intriguer eighty years old, who had crowned 
a long life of meanness and treachery by trying to attach himself both 
to the Stuarts and the Hanoverians. 3 

The Transformation of Scotland after the Union. — The repression 
of the rising of 1745, and the measures that followed, completed the 
social and economic transformation of Scotland which had been going 
on since the Union. Before that time the Highlands had been inacces- 
sible and barbaric. The clans formed a group of petty kingdoms, each 
under an hereditary chief who knew no law but tribal law. The clans- 
men, scorning labor, left their women and children to gather such 
scanty crops as their barren lands afforded and devoted themselves 
to the chase, to cattle raids, and to fighting. The Lowlands, where the 
chief industrial energy and progressiveness centered, were handicapped 
by a bare, rugged soil, by exposure to attack from the north and south, 
by religious persecution and rigid exclusion from English markets. 

1 In this disguise he behaved so awkwardly that one who saw him declared : 
" Your enemies call you a Pretender, but if you be, I can tell you, you are the worst 
of your trade." 

2 Known to history as the Countess of Albany. 

3 He was impeached in the House of Commons. One result of his trial was an 
act extending to those impeached for treason the right to have counsel. 



THE ASCENDANCY AND FALL OF WALPOLE 715 

The period following the Revolution and the Union marked a turning 
point in their history. Presbyterianism was restored, 1 schools were 
established, and, with the removal of restrictions on commerce, trade 
and manufactures began to flourish. The Highlands remained for a long 
time untouched by the change, in spite of various innovations. Paro- 
chial schools were set up with a view to rooting out the Gaelic tongue, 
a barrier to rapid assimilation. After 17 15 an attempt was made to 
disarm the clansmen ; but the inaccessible character of the country 
proved a serious obstacle to its enforcement. In 1726, however, 
General Wade began the construction of roads, which, completed in a 
little over ten years, greatly facilitated the efforts of the Government 
in dealing with the disaffected, and in opening up the remote districts 
to civilizing influences. 2 

After the Rising. — The crushing of the Rebellion completed what 
the rise of the Lowland industrial class, the extension of education, 3 and 
the new roads had begun. Many powerful chieftains were forced to 
go into exile, others were ruined, so that ties which bound them to their 
clansmen were naturally weakened. In addition, a series of impor- 
tant measures was passed in 1746, which swept away the last vestiges 
of the old clan organization. One abolished all " heritable jurisdic- 
tions," providing £152,000 byway of compensation. Another made 
the Disarming Act a reality, and prohibited any but soldiers from 
wearing the national dress under penalty of six months' imprisonment 
for the first offense and seven years' transportation for the second. 
English Ministers, however, notably Pitt, wisely enlisted Highland 
regiments in the British service, who by their valiant achievements 
aroused a sense of national loyalty which went far to soften the animos- 
ity called forth by the previous measures of repression. Much of the 
old-time chivalry, romance, and picturesqueness passed away, and no 
little temporary distress resulted ; for the old chiefs who had been 
fathers to their people were often replaced by rapacious landlords 
intent on squeezing a profit from the tenants. But, by the extension 
of schools, by the introduction of improved methods of agriculture and 
cattle breeding, by the encouragement of the fisheries and the develop- 
ment of the linen industry and stocking weaving, and by the enforce- 
ment of law, thrift and security came to prevail over disorder and 
poverty. Throughout the country much that was sordid and miser- 
able remained, while the despotism of the Church and the gloomy 

*By an act of 171 2 toleration was extended to Episcopalians: Presbyterian 
despotism was checked, and a small but disaffected class was to some degree recon- 
ciled. 

2 The road system, faulty as it may have been, was praised in the following 
curious couplet : 

"If you had seen these roads before they were made 
You would lift up your hands and bless General Wade." 

3 The periods of residence of the Scotch representative peers in London was 
another important factor. 



716 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

Sabbath tended to darken and deaden the national character ; but the 
native shrewdness of the Scot, together with his frugality and diligence, 
led him to achieve great things at home and brought him to the front 
wherever he went. 

The Ministerial Crisis, February, 1746. — While the forces of the 
Pretender were still unconquered, the Pelhams took occasion to add a 
number of supporters to the Ministry, among them Pitt, whom they 
demanded should be made Secretary at War. When the King, 
who hated Pitt because of his fierce opposition to subsidies and his 
contempt for Hanover, refused to comply, they resigned. Granville 
and Bath, however, were unable to form a Ministry, and the Pelhams 
had to be recalled. The office of Secretary at War was given to Henry 
Fox, a man of great ability, industrious and affable, but a " political 
adventurer," destitute of all principle and sense of public duty, aiming 
solely at personal gain. By way of compromise George very reluc- 
tantly appointed Pitt a Vice-Treasurer of Ireland. In May he was 
promoted to the office of Paymaster of the Forces. The whole affair 
is important from the fact that the Pelhams were obliged, much against 
their will, to take up a man because of the public opinion that was back 
of him and to force him upon the King. Pitt now showed such en- 
thusiasm in supporting subsidies that he was bitterly attacked ; but 
he had come to see the need of what he formerly opposed. He showed 
his personal honesty, indeed ostentatiously advertised it, by refusing 
to follow his predecessors in taking percentages on foreign subsidies or 
in pocketing the interest on public moneys which he placed on deposit. 

The End of the War of the Austrian Succession, and the Peace of 
Aix-la-Chapelle, 1748. — The recall of the English troops to deal with 
the rising of the Scots had left the Allies even more at the mercy of 
the French in the Netherlands than they had been before. On the 
other hand, Austria had been relieved by the withdrawal of both Prus- 
sia and Bavaria from the war, and by the death, 9 July, 1746, of Philip 
V of Spain, whose son and successor, Ferdinand VI, was pacifically 
inclined. Bereft of two allies, languidly supported by a third, alarmed 
at her increasing debt, unsuccessful against the Austrians in Italy 
and with the St. Lawrence and Canada threatened by the capture of 
Louisburg, the French were ready to listen to terms of peace; but 
the English demands were so high that the struggle dragged on for 
more than a year longer. In the campaign of 1747 Marshal Saxe 
pushed into Holland, defeated a combined British, Dutch, and Aus- 
trian force at Laffeldt, 2 July, and, in September, his forces took the 
important fortress of Bergen-op-Zoom, one of the keys of the country. 
These gains, however, were counterbalanced by decisive victories 
of Anson, off Cape Finisterre, 3-4 May, and of Hawke, off Belleisle, 
25 October, actions which practically ruined the French navy for the 
time being. Thereupon, the question of peace was referred to a 
congress called to meet at Aix-la-Chapelle. 
Though Maria Theresa, George II, and William, recently elected 



THE ASCENDANCY AND FALL OF WALFOLE 717 

Stadholder of Holland, strung out the negotiations in the vain hope 
of a victory on land which might enable them to make better terms, 
the English and the Dutch finally gave in and signed preliminaries, 
30 April, 1748, without waiting for their Austrian allies. The chief 
terms were: (1) The renewal of all former treaties, except in such 
points as were specifically changed, and the mutual restoration of all 
conquests. Thus Cape Breton reverted to France, and Madras to 
Great Britain. (2) The Asiento was to be revived for four years. 
(3) The Protestant Succession was again guaranteed, and the exclusion 
of the Pretender arid his family from France confirmed. (4) The 
Emperor Francis was to be acknowledged by France and the Pragmatic 
Sanction renewed. (5) The Duchy of Silesia and the County of Glatz 
were to remain in the hands of the King of Prussia. The Empress 
Maria Theresa protested bitterly, and at first refused to confirm the 
preliminaries, declaring that she was neither a child nor a fool. At 
length, however, a definitive peace was signed, 18 October. 

The Results of the War. — Curiously enough, the issue in which 
England and Spain had originally gone to war — the right of search 
— was passed over without mention, while England and France, after 
a tremendous expenditure of men and money, remained in much, the 
same position as before. On the other hand, the Austrian lands and 
the Imperial title had been preserved to the daughter of Austrian 
'Hapsburgs, though at the cost of a cherished province; Holland, 
already seriously weakened in the previous struggles with France, 
finally ceased to be a great Power ; while Prussia, destined in another 
war to be the most effective ally of Great Britain and a dominating 
force in Europe, had made her way into the front rank of European 
States. It was only late in the struggle that England had asserted the 
maritime supremacy that had once been hers, and which she was soon 
to demonstrate again so signally. On land she had been beaten " on 
every spot which my lord Marlborough had conquered." Although 
it was not clear to her statesmen at the time, the system of William III, 
and the Duke who followed him, was outworn. When, after a brief 
interval of repose, the conflict was again resumed, Pitt, who now held 
only a subordinate place in the Ministry, was to show that his country's 
primary mission was not to devote her best strength to fighting France 
in the Netherlands and in Germany, but to bend her main energies to 
mastering her great rival on the sea, in America and in India. 

FOR ADDITIONAL READING 
See ch. XLI below. 



CHAPTER XLI 

THE DUEL FOR EMPIRE. THE CLOSING YEARS OF GEORGE II'S 
REIGN (1748-1760) 

A Period of Calm. — The Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle was followed in 
England by several years of political tranquillity. The Pelhams, 
secure in the control of Parliament, sought to avoid trouble, while 
Pitt, for the time being, lent his support to the Government. The 
opposition was confined to Prince Frederick and his Leicester House 
Circle ; but, guided by no great man or principle, it was divided by 
bickering and intrigue. On the Prince's death in 1751, the Princess 
Dowager passed over to the King's side, and in 1752 Horace Walpole 
suggested as an advertisement: "Lost, an Opposition." The 
Jacobites were still uneasy; but satisfied themselves with futile evi- 
dences of loyalty to the Pretender, 1 such as singing songs in his praise 
and drinking his health. 2 Granville returned to office as President- 
of the Council, " a mere spectator of others' greatness and ghost of 
his own," chiefly famous henceforth for his sparkling epigrams. 

The Reform of the Calendar, 1751. — During these years of quiet 
two notable reforms were carried through. The first was the reform of 
the Calendar. The English year began on " Lady Day," 25 March, 3 
and, owing to an ancient astronomical error, her reckoning was eleven 
days wrong. The " new " or corrected style had been brought into 
general use in Europe in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII. Only Sweden, 
Russia, 4 and England clung to the " old style," partly from conserva- 
tism, partly because the innovation was a " Popish " measure. In 
England the change was proposed by Chesterfield, and was worked 
out with the aid of two prominent mathematicians. New Year's Day 
was changed to 1 January, and the day following 2 September, 1752, 
was called the 14th. The timid Newcastle begged Chesterfield not 
to meddle with " new f angled things " ; but the measure was easily 
carried through Parliament. Outside, however, the opposition was 

x The gentlemen in the neighborhood of Lichfield dressed their fox hounds in 
tartan plaids and hunted in red uniforms. 

2 Even to-day finger bowls are not used at Court or Guildhall dinners, owing, 
it is said, to the Jacobite custom of waving a glass over them and drinking to the 
King "over the water." 

3 The Feast of the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary. This was the first of the 
"quarter days" into which the year was divided. The others were Midsummer 
Day, 21 June; Michaelmas, 29 September; and Christmas, 25 December. 

4 Russia still retains it. 

718 



THE DUEL FOR EMPIRE 719 

for some time intense. " Give, us back our eleven days " was a popular 
cry in the next election. The altering of holy days was regarded as a 
profanation, and when one of the mathematicians, Bradley, died of a 
lingering illness, it was regarded as a just judgment, because he had 
" banished the old Christmas." 

Lord Hardwicke's Marriage Bill, 1753. — The other measure — the 
marriage Act of 1753 — did away with a crying abuse. Hitherto 
marriages could be celebrated by a priest at any time and place, with- 
out previous notice or registration and without the knowledge and 
consent of either parent or guardian, even if the parties were minors. 
Consequently, disreputable persons, usually prisoners for debt, did 
a thriving business in joining runaway couples, as well as young heirs 
and heiresses entrapped by unscrupulous persons. This nefarious 
work centered chiefly in and about the " Fleet." x Almost every 
neighboring tavern and grog shop had a " Fleet parson " in its pay. 
In one period of four months nearly 3000 "Fleet marriages " were per- 
formed. Once joined, the tie was almost indissoluble, since divorces 
could only be secured by act of Parliament. Various attempts to 
remedy the evil proved ineffective till Lord Hardwicke's celebrated 
act of 1753, which provided that, except in the case of Quakers and 
Jews, no marriage should be valid which was not celebrated according 
to the Anglican liturgy by a priest of the Church of England. Fur- 
thermore, banns 2 must be published in the parish church for three 
successive weeks. The only alternative was a special license issued 
by the Archbishop of Canterbury and very costly. In the case of 
minors such licenses could not be procured without the consent of 
parents or guardians. Persons celebrating marriages contrary to 
law were liable to transportation. The new arrangement was natu- 
rally a grievance to Dissenters ; but the evils that it remedied were 
greater than the hardships it caused, and the Act continued in 
force for nearly a century. 

The Death of Henry Pelham, 1754. The Newcastle Ministry, 
1754-1756. — The death of Henry Pelham, 6 March, 1754, put an 
end to the prevailing .political calm. " Now I shall have no more 
peace," cried the old King; words which proved all too true. New- 
castle, in order to insure the maintenance of his own power, assumed 
the office of First Lord of the Treasury and took his brother's place as 
Prime Minister. His great difficulty came in selecting a leader of 
the House of Commons. 3 The three persons most capable of filling 
the post were William Murray, known as " the father of modern 
Toryism," who, as Lord Mansfield, became one of England's most fa- 
mous judges; William Pitt; and Henry Fox. Newcastle at length made 
overtures to Fox, who refused when he found that he was to have no 
voice in the disposal of secret service money or patronage. Thereupon, 
Newcastle chose Sir Thomas Robinson, a very dull man, quite ignorant 

1 A celebrated debtor's prison in London. 2 Or notices of marriages. 

3 When the Prime Minister is not a peer, he assumes this position himself. 



7 2o A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

of parliamentary usages, whose chief recommendation was his com- 
pliant temper. Pitt, who declared that " the Duke might as well send 
his jack boot to lead us," at once allied himself with Fox. Day after 
day they led deadly attacks against the poor, bewildered Sir Thomas : 
Pitt with thundering eloquence ; Fox with insidious irony. From the 
modern standpoint their attitude would be indefensible, since they 
were both Ministers under the Chief whose representative they were 
attacking. At length, Newcastle, when he could bear the trouncing 
no longer, succeeded, January, 1755, in bringing Fox over to his side. 
Pitt at once broke off all connection with his temporary and ill-assorted 
ally. 

The Issues of the Seven Years' War, 1756-1763. — Before many 
months a new war was to break out, destined to settle, to a large degree, 
" problems " " which had long been ripe for solution," problems 
" which concerned not only the British kingdom but all the civilized 
and almost all the inhabited world. Whether France or England was 
to rule in India ; whether the French manners, language, and insti- 
tutions or the English were to prevail over the immense continent of 
North America ; whether Germany was to have a national existence ; 
whether Spain was to monopolize the tropics ; who was to command 
the ocean ; who was to be dominant in the islands of the Spanish- 
American waters ; what power was to possess the choice stands for 
business in the great markets of the. globe." At first it seemed as if 
England had no one great enough to deal with the crisis. However, 
at the appointed hour, a man came to the front in the person of William 
Pitt, who proved the heaven-sent genius whom his countrymen needed 
so sorely. The Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, which had settled so little in 
Europe, did less toward defining the situation in India and America. 
In the years following the inconclusive treaty, the ambitious activity 
of the French came to menace more and more dangerously, not only 
the security, but the very existence of the English in both these vast 
areas. The situation in India can best be made clear by a brief survey 
of its history. 

The Beginnings of the English Activity in India. — Early in the 
sixteenth century the district now known as India, formerly under a 
number of independent rulers, was conquered and united by a line 
of emperors called by Europeans the Great Moguls. Rajahs or 
princes became tributary, and districts were formed under the ap- 
pointed viceroys. The Mogul's court at Delhi was a center of great 
magnificence. The decline of the dynasty, however, was rapid. The 
last great ruler died in 1707, and his successors degenerated into mere 
figureheads. While the rajahs and viceroys continued nominally 
dependents, it was they who came to wield the real power. Mean- 
time, Europeans began to press in. First came the Portuguese, then 
the Dutch. Close on the heels of the latter came the English. The 
East India Company received its first charter from Elizabeth in 1600. 
At the beginning of the eighteenth century the Company had three 






THE DUEL FOR EMPIRE 721 

separate and independent settlements, or " presidencies," at Madras, 
Calcutta, and Bombay. Already, the Portuguese and the Dutch 
had ceased to be formidable rivals ; but a new competitor had arisen 
in the French. During the reign of Louis XIV they too founded an 
East India Company, establishing fortified settlements at Chander- 
nagore near Calcutta, and at Pondicherry, about eighty miles southeast 
of Madras. In the Indian Ocean off the Island of Madagascar they 
acquired two fertile islands, which they named, respectively, the Isle 
de France, now Mauritius, and the Isle de Bourbon. The former 
served as a naval base for India as Cape Breton did for Canada. 

The French strive for Supremacy in India. Dupleix and Clive. — 
When the conflict broke out between England and France in the War of 
the Austrian Succession, the Isle de France, one of the two French pres- 
idencies, was ruled by La Bourdonnais ; Pondicherry, the other, by 
Dupleix. Both were remarkable men, though bitterly jealous of one 
another. La Bourdonnais managed to capture Madras in 1746; 
but it was handed back to the British at the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle. 
The unhappy conqueror was overthrown by the intrigues of his rival 
and died a broken-hearted man in 1754. Dupleix, now in undisputed 
control, had a consuming ambition to establish a French empire in 
India. Vain, pompous, and no general, he was wary in council, 
he had great organizing ability, he knew how to play upon the rivalries 
of the native rulers, and his energy was tireless. With the aid of an 
able commander, the Marquis de Bussy, he made himself supreme in 
the southeastern and south central districts known as the Carnatic 
and the Deccan. When he seemed in a fair way to drive the British 
out of India, his victorious career was suddenly checked by a man to 
whom, more than any other, Great Britain owes the beginning of her 
present Indian Empire. 

This was Robert Clive (1 725-1 774), the son of an impoverished 
squire. Owing to his idle, wayward temper, his father, despairing 
of his chances of a career at home, procured for him a clerkship 
in the East India Company. Arriving almost penniless, he was 
frequently so depressed that he more than once attempted suicide. 
However, he soon secured a military commission. In August, 1751, 
he first showed the stuff that was in him when with a little army 
of five hundred, more than half of them Sepoys, 1 he took the city of 
Arcot, in the face of over a hundred thousand spectators, without 
firing a shot. Though the fort was almost in ruins, he successfully 
defended the conquered city against an army of ten thousand men. 
Under his senior, Major Lawrence, he followed up his first success 
by a series of brilliant victories in the surrounding Carnatic. The 
French Company, who cared more for dividends than for political 
dominion, finally gave way to the English in this district, and Dupleix 
died in 1763, crushed with grief and disappointment. Clive, who 

1 Native troops in the European service. Of his eight officers five were mer- 
chants' clerks. 
3A 



722 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

went to England to recover his health, returned in 1755 with tremen- 
dous work before him. For some time, however, the interest of the 
English Government centered chiefly in North America. 

The French and English in North America. — There the boundary 
line between Canada and Nova Scotia had been left unsettled by the 
late peace, while, in addition, there was a large, ill-defined territory 
between the head waters of the Ohio River and the southern shore of 
Lake Erie, claimed by both Great Britain and France. More serious 
still, the French determined to establish themselves in the disputed 
district and to secure the control of the Mississippi basin with a view 
to uniting their settlements on the St. Lawrence with those on the 
coast of the Gulf of Mexico. To that end, the Marquis Duquesne, 
Governor of Canada, was instructed to undertake the construction of 
a chain of forts in the Ohio country. In the spring of 1753 he sent 
out an expedition which built two, one on the southern shore of Lake 
Erie, the other on a tributary of the Allegheny. If the French suc- 
ceeded in carrying out their policy, the English colonists would be con- 
fined to a narrow strip of territory between the Appalachians and the 
Atlantic, unable to expand westward, cut off from the profitable 
Indian trade beyond the barrier, and surrounded on three sides by 
their greatest rival and enemy. By way of protest the Governor of 
Virginia sent George Washington, then a young surveyor who had 
been active in opening new trade routes to the Great Lakes, to demand 
that they withdraw from the valley of the Ohio country. He failed, 
of course. Moreover, in 1754, the enemy succeeded in planting 
another stronghold, which they named Fort Duquesne, at the point 
where the Monongahela and Allegheny rivers unite to form the Ohio, 
and defeated a small force of colonial militia which Washington led 
against them. The struggles to secure disputed territory brought on 
the war between Great Britain and France which led to the expulsion 
of the latter from the main land of North America. 

Boscawen's Attack and Braddock's Defeat, 1755. — While as yet 
no formal declaration of war had been issued, Admiral Boscawen, sent 
early in 1755 with instructions to attack the French fleet from Brest 
if it should sail for the St. Lawrence, met the enemy in a thick fog 
off the banks of Newfoundland. Though he captured two ships, 
the remainder got safely into Louisburg. On 9 July, General Brad- 
dock, who had been dispatched from England to secure Fort Du- 
quesne, was caught in ambush almost ten miles from his destination 
and mortally wounded. Seven hundred of his troops were shot down, 
while the rest sought safety in flight. 

The Plight of Newcastle. — In April, 1755, George had gone abroad 
to look after his Electorate. The efforts of Newcastle to meet the 
crisis which had arisen were confused and vacillating. Public re- 
sentment grew steadily more intense against the " hoary jobber," 
" who would embrace everything, and was fit for nothing." Yet, in 
justice to him, it must be admitted that he was in a difficult position. 



THE DUEL FOR EMPIRE 723 

While bound to defend the British colonial possessions in America, 
he did not want to seem to begin the war. Great Britain had a 
defensive alliance with the Dutch, and Spain was peacefully inclined. 
The alliance of the one and the neutrality of the latter depended upon 
England's not being openly the aggressor. Moreover, Hanover 
was in an exposed position, while Sweden and Denmark were inclined 
to France. When the Chancellor of the Exchequer refused to sign 
the treasury warrants for the payment of a subsidy to Hesse, the al- 
ready perplexed Minister was reduced to such despair that he turned 
to Pitt. He offered him a seat in the Cabinet and dangled before him 
the most glowing prospects, if he would only support the policy of 
subsidies — for there were other subsidy treaties pending — in the 
House of Commons. But though Newcastle pleaded and even wept, 
Pitt firmly refused. He was in favor of a national war, he was willing 
to protect Hanover, and he ardently desired an office where he could 
exercise for his country's good the powers which he was convinced 
that he possessed ; but he could not give his sanction to the subsidy 
treaties. 1 Fox, who was next applied to, was superior to scruples, 
and in return for a Secretaryship of State and the leadership of the 
Commons, agreed to support the treaties. In spite of a brilliant 
speech of Pitt's, the royal address recommending the subsidies was 
carried. The next day, together with the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
and other opponents of the policy, he was dismissed. 

The Loss of Minorca, June, 1756. — In the early months of 1756 
the nation was trembling at the prospect of an invasion from France, 
but the French menace was intended merely to cover another design — 
the capture of Minorca. Although the English Ministers were warned 
of preparations at Toulon, they refused to see anything in them but 
a feint to disguise what they regarded as the real objective — the 
attack on England. While there was still time, they made no attempt 
to reenforce Minorca, where the Deputy Governor in command was 
an old, infirm man. It was not till 7 April, just three days before 
the French armament sailed from Toulon, that an English fleet was 
dispatched from Spithead. The commander, Admiral Byng, 2 was 
the last person to choose for the work ahead of him : while personally 
brave, he was overcautious, irresolute, inclined to magnify difficulties, 
and reluctant to assume responsibility. When he reached Gibraltar, 
he found that the French had already descended upon Minorca and 
that the commander had withdrawn into the fortress of St. Philip's 
which protected Port Mahon. Sailing on, he engaged the enemy, 
20 May. While slightly worsted in the engagement, the investing 

1 "I am sure," he declared a short while later, "that I can save this country 
and that nobody else can." The King had at first refused to allow Newcastle to 
offer him a Cabinet office. "Pitt will not do my German business," he said, re- 
ferring to his policy with regard to subsidies. 

2 Son of the famous victor at Cape Passaro, who had shared in the British cap- 
ture of Minorca in 1708. 



7 2 4 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

fleet were driven off by the energetic attack of his rear admiral, West. 
Nevertheless, he became very despondent and held a council of war 
in which he recommended withdrawal to Gibraltar on the grounds 
that his losses were great, that his ships were in a bad condition, and 
that even a victory would not enable him to relieve the fortress be- 
sieged by the land forces of the French. The Council agreed, and 
Minorca was left to its fate. Byng's real fault was in not realizing 
the moral effects of a naval victory whatever happened to Minorca, and 
that even a defeat was preferable to inglorious retreat. Toward the 
close of June, St. Philip's and Minorca passed into French hands. 
The news was received in England with a storm of grief and indigna- 
tion. While the Ministers were blamed for their delay, the chief 
resentment was directed against Byng. In the great towns he was 
burned in effigy, his country house was attacked by a mob, while 
Parliament and the Ministers were overwhelmed with petitions de- 
manding vengeance. Newcastle, hoping to divert the popular wrath 
from himself, not only yielded to it, 1 but sought to excite it still more. 
Byng was recalled and confined at Greenwich. 

The Declaration of War, 1756. The Grouping of the Powers. — 
Meantime, England had declared war, 18 May; France replied, 9 June, 
and before long nearly all Europe was involved. The grouping of 
the Powers was different from that in the previous conflict ; for Prussia 
now appeared as an ally of England, and Austria as an opponent. 
Frederick, with a greedy eye on Hanover, had hitherto opposed his 
uncle, George II ; but a combination of great Powers against him com- 
pelled a change of attitude. Austria, finding that England was dis- 
inclined to go to war to aid her in recovering Silesia, had turned to her 
old enemy, France. 2 Louis XV, in responding to her overtures, was 
influenced by three considerations : an Austrian alliance promised 
an extension of boundaries into the Netherlands; a combination of 
the Catholic against the Protestant powers appealed to him in the 
light of a grand crusade, for he was as devout as he was debauched ; 
and, finally, he was personally embittered against Frederick, who had 
unguardedly referred to him more than once with great contempt and 
had openly scoffed at his all-powerful favorite, Madame de Pom- 
padour. 3 In consequence, a treaty was concluded, 1 May, 1756, 
between France and Austria, aiming at the partition of Prussia. Russia, 
Poland, Saxony, and Sweden joined the combination. Outnumbered 
by 90,000,000 to 5,000,000, Frederick, directly he suspected what was 
afoot, made advances to King George. The result was a treaty by 
which the two Kings bound themselves during the trouble in America 
to allow no troops of any foreign nation to enter or pass through 
Germany. 

x To a deputation from the City he exclaimed: "Oh, indeed, he shall be tried 
immediately, he shall be hanged directly." 

2 Maria Theresa's astute minister Kaunitz had influenced her to this step. 

3 Frederick named his favorite lap dog after her. 



THE DUEL FOR EMPIRE 725 

Frederick and the Third Silesian War, 1756-1763. — In spite of 
the great combination against him, Frederick enjoyed many advan- 
tages over his opponents; his army, though small, was admirably 
equipped and trained ; he had a goodly supply of treasure on hand, 
while they were ill supplied with ready funds ; then, not only was he 
a transcendent military genius, but he was fighting against a many- 
headed grouping, always difficult to operate in concert ; finally, he 
was prepared and they were not. Suddenly, in August, 1756, he de- 
manded from the Empress a statement of her intentions, with war 
as the alternative. When he received an evasive answer he poured his 
troops into Saxony. Thus began the third Silesian War which was 
coterminous with the Seven Years' War (1 756-1 763). r Frederick 
had many defeats as well as victories during the course of the struggle ; 
but he fought on with rare constancy and ability, and his activity 
furnished an invaluable diversion to the English. 

The Devonshire Ministry, November, 1756, to April, 1757. Pitt a 
Secretary of State. — The autumn of 1756 was marked by a revolu- 
tion in the English Ministry. Fox, finding that Newcastle gave him 
no power or confidence and tried to thrust upon him responsibility 
for measures in which he had no share, resigned his secretaryship in 
October. After trying once more to win over Pitt, and after a vain 
effort to find a Secretary sufficiently strong to support him in the House 
of Commons, Newcastle resigned very reluctantly. A ministry was 
finally constructed with the Duke of Devonshire as the nominal head, 
but Pitt, who became a Secretary of State, was the real power in the 
Cabinet. Among other things, his appointment is significant from the 
fact that he was the first English statesman forced into a Cabinet 
position by pressure of public opinion. Beyond his family connection 
with the Grenvilles 2 he had no organized following in the Commons 
and little parliamentary influence. Indeed, he was opposed to party 
connection and aimed to break the power of the Whig oligarchy, to 
call to the service of the State the best men irrespective of their political 
affiliations, to bring the royal power into harmony with the parlia- 
mentary, which in its turn should be the true servant of the people. 
Abroad, he wanted to build up the British Empire, and — but only as 
a means to that end — to make Great Britain a dominant power 
in Europe. Great as was his success in asserting the power of his 
country abroad, his efforts to bring about unity at home were less 
happy, largely because he failed to realize the distinction between 
party and faction. By scorning to attach to himself a strong party 
backing, he was bound in the long run to be overcome by his opponents. 

Estimate of Pitt. — The man who now at the close of his forty- 
eighth year first had a chance to try his ability on a large scale had 

1 Known in American history as the French and Indian War. 

2 In 1754 he had married Lady Hester Grenville, sister of Richard (Lord Temple) 
and George Grenville. The family in the course of half a century furnished twelve 
great officers of State, including three First Lords of the Treasury. 



726 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

hitherto distinguished himself as a furious critic of the Administration, 
as an orator of fiery and irresistible eloquence, and as a man who 
refused to enrich himself at the public expense. Gifted with a rich, 
sonorous voice and an inspiring presence, he had also an uncommon 
power of launching phrases that compelled attention. While he 
was a careful student of language and of the subjects which came up 
for debate, his greatest effects were produced extemporaneously. 
His set speeches were usually failures. At times he was overelaborate, 
florid, and even bombastic ; but by his terrible earnestness and his 
fierce and majestic bearing he struck his listeners with awe and 
held the House in absolute control. He was fully conscious of his 
ability, but his ambition was for public service, not for private ad- 
vancement. The people, whom, as no other statesman of the time, 
he loved and understood, made him their idol. Nevertheless, when 
he felt that they were wrong, he never hesitated to cross their will. 
He openly defended Byng and later denounced their hero John Wilkes. 
Yet in this lofty, heroic character there were many grave faults and 
inconsistencies. Under Walpole he clamored for war, while at the 
same time opposing the maintenance of a standing army ; he bitterly 
attacked both Walpole and Carteret for their policy of subsidizing 
Hanover and other German states, though afterwards, in order to 
obtain office, he allied himself with the Pelhams and supported the 
very policy he had unsparingly condemned. To be sure, he had high 
motives for desiring office, he had a right to alter his opinion, and 
circumstances had changed ; but it is a wonderful tribute to his mag- 
netic influence that neither this change of front nor various other in- 
consistencies seriously affected his moral ascendancy. Another of 
his traits is the most difficult of all to explain. While he spent most of 
his life in opposition and could, at times, be almost insolent to his 
sovereign, he adopted, at others, an attitude toward royalty that was 
almost abject. " The least peep into the closet," wrote Burke, a 
younger contemporary, " intoxicates him and will to the end of his 
life." At the royal levees it is said that " he used to bow so low that 
you could see the tip of his crooked nose between his legs." He was 
vain, artificial, and always posing for effect. 1 Moreover, he was so 
irritable, hot-tempered, and overbearing that it was almost impossible 
for any one to work with him. But his temper can be excused from 
the fact that he was a lifelong sufferer from gout and from a nervous 
disease frequently so acute as to amount almost to insanity. Yet, 
after all has been said, he was tireless in his country's service, her 
greatest War Minister, one of the great builders of her Empire, 
a true friend of liberty, and a true patriot — in short a grand, 
heroic figure whose character and achievements overshadow his 
blemishes. 

1 On occasion he read aloud from Shakespeare's plays to his family, and when he 
came to the comic parts, he had another read them, thinking that to do it himself 
was derogatory to his dignity. 



THE DUEL FOR EMPIRE 727 

Pitt's " System." — Pitt's hand was seen in the speech from the 
throne at the opening of Parliament, 2 December, 1756, in which a 
scheme for a national militia, to which George II was known to be 
opposed, was recommended. Although prostrated shortly after by 
gout, he soon reappeared and took energetic measures for carrying 
on the war. Highland regiments were pressed into service, and a 
force of militia was drafted to defend the country in place of a body of 
Electoral troops who were sent back to Hanover. Regardless of the 
charge of inconsistency to which it exposed him, he next proposed a 
grant for the defense of the Electorate, and, in this case, he was 
justified, since the proposed subsidies were not for purely German 
objects, but as a measure of defense against the French, who were 
making ready to attack Hanover. Pitt's great combination of 
military and naval strategy known as his " system," which he now 
began to develop, 1 was for a long time misunderstood, largely owing 
to the remark which he once made, and which has been so frequently 
quoted, that he would conquer America in Germany. As a matter 
of fact, his main energies were devoted to beating the French in 
America and to securing command of the seas in order to prevent 
them from sending reinforcements and supplies to their colonial 
forces. His continental operations were designed to keep them 
occupied and to prevent them from gaining such successes as would 
counterbalance English achievements in the central theater of the 
war. 2 While he contented himself with sending abroad subsidies 
and occasional contingents, France, by virtue of her position, was 
obliged to divide her energies between the European war and the 
colonial and maritime struggle with Great Britain. 

The Execution of Byng, 14 March, 1757. — During December and 
January Byng was tried by court martial at Portsmouth. The court, 
while acquitting him of treachery or cowardice, rendered an opinion 
that he had not done his utmost to relieve St. Philip's castle or to 
defeat the French fleet. According to the Articles of War, it was 
obliged to impose the death penalty for neglect of duty, though it unani- 
mously recommended the Admiral to the royal mercy. The public, 
however, demanded a victim for the loss of Minorca. Threatening 
letters were sent to George, and glaring posters appeared with the 
jingle: " Hang Byng or take care of your King." Pitt strove manfully 
against the tide, but he had no parliamentary support and had not 
yet won the royal favor. So the public had its way. Byng, meeting 
his fate with manly courage, was shot, 14 March, 1757. The judges 
have been criticized for confusing error of judgment with neglect of 

1 Newcastle may have anticipated him in recognizing the usefulness of the 
Highland troops and foreseeing the advantage of concentrating the main efforts 
in America ; but he lacked the force to put his ideas into effect. 

2 Clive was unable to persuade Pitt of the importance of winning an empire in 
India, and the expeditions sent to that region were intended mainly for the protec- 
tion of trade and commerce. Nevertheless, what was accomplished there in this 
war was to bear rich fruit in the future. 



7 28 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

duty ; but the blame rests on the King ; he no doubt felt that an 
example was necessary for hesitating commanders in the future, but he 
was also influenced by the late Ministers who wanted a scapegoat 
for their own short-comings. 

The Dismissal of Pitt. His Recall as Secretary in the Second New- 
castle Ministry. — George II had not yet overcome his aversion 
to Pitt, and he hated his brother-in-law, Earl Temple. As he wrote 
to the Duke of Newcastle, he did not look upon himself as King while 
he was " in the hands of those scoundrels," adding that he was de- 
termined " to get rid of them at any cost." The die was cast by the 
Duke of Cumberland who refused to accept the command of the 
electoral army if Pitt continued as Secretary. As a result, the latter 
was dismissed in April. Newcastle was intrusted with the task of 
forming a Cabinet, but the " Aspen Duke " vacillated long between 
his ',' thirst for place and his dread of danger." For nearly three 
months the distracted country, with a tremendous war on its hands, 
remained without a Government. Public sentiment was manifestly 
for Pitt ; stocks fell, while so many cf the chief towns presented him 
with the freedom of their city that " it rained gold boxes." 1 At 
length, much to the disgust of the King, an arrangement was made 
by which Pitt came back as Secretary with the whole charge of foreign 
affairs, while Newcastle became Prime Minister, devoting himself to 
the congenial task of managing Parliament. 

The Campaign of 1757. — Pitt, forced to " borrow the majority of 
the Duke of Newcastle," was to achieve glorious things; but on his 
advent to office, June, 1757, the prospect seemed gloomy enough. 
" Whoever is in or whoever is out," wrote Chesterfield, " I am sure 
we are undone both at home and abroad. ... I never yet saw so 
dreadful a prospect." Everything was in confusion, the debt was 
piling up, the country was in constant fear of invasion, and the loss 
of Minorca was not only a blow to British prestige, but threatened 
her supremacy in the Mediterranean and her commerce in the Levant. 
Moreover, the military events of the year were almost uniformly un- 
successful. In America the Earl of Loudon, a weak and irresolute 
man — wittily likened to " St. George upon the sign posts, always on 
horseback, but never advances " — proved no match for the able and 
alert Montcalm, commander in Canada. A joint land and naval 
expedition, sent by Pitt in September against the coast of France, with 
a view of effecting a diversion for the Duke of Cumberland and 
Frederick, proved a costly and fruitless failure. In Germany, too, 
the results were most discouraging. Cumberland, with an army of 
50,000 composed of Hanoverians, Prussians, and contingents of mer- 
cenaries, was unable to prevent the French, with a superior force of 
80,000, from overrunning and devastating the Electorate. Finally, 
hemmed in at Stade, with his communications cut off from the neigh- 

1 In reference to the boxes in which the freedom was presented. 



THE DUEL FOR EMPIRE 729 

boring Elbe, where four English men-of-war were stationed, he signed 
a convention at Kloster-Zeven, 8 September, by which he agreed to 
send home his auxiliaries and to withdraw his remaining forces across 
the river, with the exception of a small garrison which he was allowed 
to leave at Stade. Cumberland made the best terms possible, but both 
the English and the Germans denounced the convention as an " ignomin- 
ious capitulation." George, who in a panic had given him full powers 
to treat, immediately recalled the Duke, refused to speak to him, and 
said in his hearing : " This is my son who has ruined me and disgraced 
himself." Cumberland never served again during the remainder of 
his life. Frederick, already hard pressed by the Austrians and 
threatened by the Russians, now had to face, in addition, two French 
armies released from the west by the recent capitulation. So de- 
spondent that he contemplated suicide, he nevertheless managed to 
defeat the French at Rossbach in Saxony, 5 November, and then, 
with amazing energy and ability, to advance into Silesia and to win 
an overwhelming victory over the Austrians at Leuthen, 5 December, 
thus bringing to a triumphant close a long and desperate campaign. 

The Campaign of 1758. Operations in North America and Africa. — 
In 1758 the effect of Pitt's system first began to bear fruit. He de- 
vised elaborate plans to carry on the war on four continents : in America, 
Africa, India, and Europe. His chief energies were devoted to America. 
Three forces were prepared. The main attack, which was directed 
against Louisburg, was intrusted to Amherst, and was supported by 
a fleet under Boscawen. The fortress surrendered 27 July, and the 
submission of the whole island followed at once. Most conspicuous 
for bravery and energy was General Wolfe, the second in command, 
a " chinless, sandy-haired young man " of thirty. His father was a 
general under Marlborough ; he himself had served in the army since 
he was fourteen years old; he was an earnest student of his profes- 
sion, and had fought at Dettingen and other famous battles ; but his 
abilities had first been discovered during the ill-fated expedition against 
the French coast in the previous year. His appointment marked 
one of Pitt's most daring innovations, splendidly justified by its re- 
sults — selection for important posts on the basis of merit rather than 
seniority or influence. A second force, under General Abercromby, 
was ordered to secure the French forts commanding Lake George and 
Lake Champlain in order to open the way for an attack on Canada, 
but he was repulsed in a foolhardy attack against Ticonderoga and 
returned to New York. A third army, sent out from Philadelphia 
under Brigadier Forbes, succeeded in capturing Fort Duquesne, 
thus securing the " Key of the great West." The next year Fort 
Pitt was erected, a name which survives to-day in the great manu- 
facturing city of Pittsburgh. An expedition against the French pos- 
sessions on the west coast of Africa, sent out, curiously enough, at the 
suggestion of a Quaker, secured possession of the river Senegal and the 
Island of Goree. 



730 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

The War in Europe, 1758. — Fleets were fitted out to seal up the 
French ports and to guard the Channel. During the summer, two 
expeditions were sent against the coast of France. In view of the 
actual damage inflicted on the enemy — the destruction of a relatively 
small amount of shipping — Fox's tart comparison, " breaking win- 
dows with guineas, " had some point. Nevertheless, these invasions 
effected their purpose of diverting the French from sending reinforce- 
ments to Germany. Frederick's victories had been received with 
joy in England, where he was hailed as the " Protestant hero." Par- 
liament voted him a subsidy of £670,000 and agreed to support an 
army of 35,000 in western Germany, the command of which, on 
Frederick's suggestion, was given to Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick, 
a capable general who had already distinguished himself in the Prus- 
sian service. Ferdinand during the year fought the French on the 
whole with success; but the poor Hanoverians suffered pitifully 
from the fighting as well as from the marching and countermarching 
through their territory. Farther east, Frederick managed to beat 
back an invasion of the Russians who got within a few days' march of 
Berlin ; but he was severely handled by the Austrians in Saxony, 
though they failed to profit by the victory of Hochkirchen, 14 October, 
in which they nearly annihilated his army. Even Pitt was appalled 
by the increasing cost of the war. " I wish to God," he wrote to New- 
castle, " we could see our way through this mountain of expense." 
But the people supported him loyally, and Newcastle, though with a 
sour grace, used his influence in Parliament to secure the necessary 
grants. The generous outlays were rewarded the coming year by a 
series of victories rarely paralleled in history. 

Measures for Home Defense, 1759. — Owing to a threatened 
French invasion in 1759, Pitt's first care was to provide for the defense 
of the country. There was ample ground for the " magnanimous 
fear " which prompted him. Flat-bottomed boats were building at 
Havre and at various points along the French coast ; fleets were 
equipped at Toulon and Brest, and a squadron was collected at Dun- 
kirk under Thurot. The British preparations were equally elaborate. 
A fleet was stationed in the Channel, troops were drawn up along the 
exposed parts of the coast, and the country militia were mustered : 
" All the country squires are in regimentals," wrote Horace Walpole, 
1 August, 1759. In order to forestall the expected attack, Rodney 
bombarded Havre and demolished many of the transports. Bos- 
cawen, by destroying two ships of the Toulon fleet and forcing two 
more to run aground off Lagos in August, practically put an end 
to the danger of an invasion on a large scale. Another English 
fleet covered Dunkirk, while still another under Hawke blockaded 
Brest. 

The Plan of Campaign against Quebec. — Pitt, however, did not 
allow these measures for home defense to interrupt his plans for the 
conquest of North America. A fleet was dispatched to the West 



THE DUEL FOR EMPIRE 731 

Indies, which, though checked at Martinique, captured Guadaloupe, 
1 May, 1759; but Canada was the main object of the campaign. 
Three expeditions, starting from different points, were directed to 
converge on Quebec, the stronghold of the Province. One from 
the west, forming the left wing and consisting of colonial forces and 
friendly Indians, was to reduce Niagara, sail across Lake Ontario, 
and pass down the St. Lawrence by way of Montreal. The army of 
the center, under Amherst who had superseded Abercromby, was to 
start from New York, strike again at Ticonderoga, secure Lake Cham- 
plain, and push on by the river Richelieu into the St. Lawrence. 
The eastern or right wing, composed of an army under General Wolfe 
and a fleet under Admiral Saunders, was to sail up to Quebec from the 
mouth of the St. Lawrence. It was an extremely hazardous under- 
taking for such widely separated bodies of troops to attempt to co- 
operate ; because, dependent as they were upon slow and uncertain 
means of communication, they stood every chance of failing to com- 
bine at the proper moment, in which case the separate contingents 
were exposed to the danger of being crushed in detail by the vigilant 
and energetic Montcalm. That the attempt succeeded was due to 
the genius of Wolfe, " formed to execute the designs of such a master as 
Pitt," and to the loyal and intelligent cooperation of Saunders. Wolfe 
was frail of body, weak in health, unattractive in manners as well as 
appearance, subject to flurries of temper, 1 and inclined to vain boast- 
ing ; 2 but he was endowed with an indomitable spirit which rose 
supreme over his faults and infirmities. As a general he combined 
bravery with knowledge, dash with caution. 3 

The western expedition succeeded in taking Niagara ; but though 
it did a good work in breaking the line of communication between 
Louisiana and Canada and in partially isolating Detroit and the other 
western posts, it did not undertake to descend the St. Lawrence. 
Amherst, too, was only partially successful. The French abandoned 
Ticonderoga and Crown Point at his approach ; but they gave him 
such serious trouble at the northern end of Lake Champlain that it 
was too late in the season, after he had disposed of them, to proceed 
further. Thus the whole task of reducing Quebec rested upon Wolfe 
and Saunders. Fortunately for Great Britain, the French adminis- 
tration was corrupt and divided and the country was too exhausted 

1 The following is an example of one of his outbursts : "The Americans are in 
general the dirtiest, most contemptible, cowardly dogs you can conceive. Such 
rascals . . . are rather an incumbrance than any real strength to an army." 

2 Pitt invited him to dinner on the eve of his departure for the Quebec campaign. 
During the evening he drew his sword, strutted about and burst into a "stream 
of gasconade and bravado." Earl Temple, the only other guest, relates that, 
after Wolfe had left, Pitt lifted up his eyes and arms and exclaimed : "Good God ! 
that I should have trusted the fate of the country and of the Administration to such 
hands." 

3 George II, who came to have implicit confidence in him, replied to one of his 
detractors : " Mad, is he ? then I hope he will bite some of my generals." 



732 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

by the continental war to send adequate forces to the relief of Canada. 1 
Montcalm, on the news of the impending attack, concentrated the 
whole French defense in and about Quebec, which, from its situation 
on a steep bluff commanding the St. Lawrence, was one of the strong 
places of the world. While the French and Canadians had the ad- 
vantage of position and outnumbered 2 the British as well, the latter 
were better drilled and organized, and were backed by a powerful 
fleet. Between one and two thousand of the defenders were gathered 
in the town ; the remainder, nearly fourteen thousand, were stationed 
along the steep and strongly fortified left bank of the river below the 
town. 

The Capture of Quebec, September, 1759. — From July to Septem- 
ber they successfully withstood all attempts of the British to overcome 
them from this side. At length, on the advice of his brigadiers, Wolfe 
decided to move his forces past Quebec and attack from the other side. 
For thirty miles the river bank was sheer and rocky with only an 
occasional break. Montcalm, who expected that the attempted land- 
ing would be made some miles up the river, had disposed his chief forces 
accordingly ; but Wolfe had discovered a place only a mile and a half 
down the bank which led to the Plains of Abraham, a plateau over- 
looking the town. In the early morning of 13 September, 1759, he 
crossed from the southern shore 3 with four thousand men and made his 
way up the almost impassable ascent by a path so narrow that in 
places two could not walk abreast, and gained possession of the bluff 
which was guarded by a garrison of only two hundred men, who fled 
and left the invaders in possession. Montcalm, when, from his camp 
below Quebec, he heard the sound of muskets, hurriedly mounted 
his horse and rode toward the scene of action. " This is serious busi- 
ness," he murmured, as he saw the redcoats in the distance, and 
hastily summoned his forces. Unable, however, to contend against 
the superior discipline of their adversaries, the French wavered, broke, 
and fled for refuge within the walls of the town. In this conflict on 
the Plains of Abraham, which decided the fate of New France, both 
commanders were mortally wounded. " See how they run," said 
an officer as Wolfe lay dying. " Who run? " cried Wolfe, raising him- 
self on his elbow. " The enemy," replied the officer. " Then God 
be praised ! I die happy." Montcalm died the next day. When 
told that his end was near, he answered: " So much the better; I 

1 Some supplies, however, were sent, and it added greatly to the difficulties of 
Wolfe and Saunders that the French men-of-war in which they were conveyed 
managed to elude the latter's second in command and slip into the mouth of the 
river directly the ice broke up in the spring. 

2 Wolfe started with an army of about 8000. 

3 Before embarking he took from his neck the miniature of his betrothed to be 
sent to her in far-off England in case he did not survive. There is a familiar story , 
that as he floated along the dark, silent stream he repeated to the officers in the 
boat Gray's Elegy, adding : "Now, gentlemen, I would rather be the author of that 
poem than take Quebec." 



THE DUEL FOR EMPIRE 733 

shall not live to see the surrender of Quebec." The garrison yielded 
18 September. However, the junction with Amherst had been pre- 
vented, and the French who fled to Montreal were able to hold out 
for another year. 

Hawke's Victory at Quiberon Bay, 20 November, 1759. — The news 
of the fall of the stronghold which the British had begun to believe 
impregnable was received with wild exultation, but it was mingled 
with mourning for the loss of the man who had brought the conquest 
of Canada within sight. " Joy, grief, curiosity, astonishment," 
wrote Walpole, " were painted on every countenance." On the mo- 
tion of Pitt, who in his speech did not fail to pay a deserved tribute 
to Saunders, the House of Commons voted a monument to Wolfe in 
Westminster Abbey. Within a few weeks came the news that 
Hawke, 20 November, had overcome the Brest fleet in Quiberon Bay. 
His achievement was a marvel of daring and skill. Heedless of the 
rocks and shoals of an unfamiliar coast, and in the teeth of a heavy 
storm and a high sea, he had boldly pursued the enemy toward the 
shore, and with the loss of only two ships he took or sunk five of the 
French and scattered the rest. Following upon Boscawen's victory 
over the Toulon fleet in August, the result was to make the British 
again supreme at sea and to put an end to the prospect of a general in- 
vasion by the French. Thurot did manage to escape the British 
blockading squadron at Dunkirk and to reach the coast of Ireland 
in February, 1760, but his little squadron was defeated and he him- 
self killed in an engagement fought with three British frigates on 
the 28th. 

The War in Germany. — All the while, Frederick was struggling for 
existence against the Austrians and Russians, who were pressing in 
upon the Saxon and Silesian frontier. In spite of defeat and despon- 
dency, he held his ground, leaving Ferdinand of Brunswick free to deal 
with two great armies in western Germany. The latter, after some 
preliminary reverses gained a decisive victory over the combined 
forces of the enemy at Minden, 1 August. The entire destruction of 
the French was only prevented by the refusal of Lord George Sackville 
— either from panic or spleen against Frederick — to charge the 
broken columns with his cavalry, which had been held in reserve during 
the earlier part of the fight. 

The "Great Year" of Victories, 1759. — Altogether, the year 
was unique in the annals of the British military achievement. In 
America, in Africa, in India, in Europe, by land and sea, wherever 
her forces had been engaged, they had been signally victorious. Al- 
most every month had brought news of a fresh triumph : in January 
the capture of Goree ; in June of Guadaloupe ; in August of the 
victory at Minden ; in September of Lagos ; in October of the reduc- 
tion of Quebec ; in November of the success in Quiberon Bay. " In- 
deed," said Horace Walpole, " one is forced to ask every morning 
what victory there is for fear of missing one." Fortunately, too, 



734 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

British trade and manufactures grew and flourished, thus enabling 
the country to bear the enormous burden of the war. Pitt, who by 
his genius and his industry had planned the campaign, equipped the 
expeditions, and selected the commanders, had breathed into' the na- 
tion his own heroic spirit. At length England, as Frederick the 
Great joyfully testified, " had borne a man." Even the King had been 
completely won over. " Give me your confidence, sir," Pitt had said 
to George, not long after his appointment, " and I will deserve it." 
" Deserve my confidence and you shall have it," was the royal reply. 
Pitt made good his pretensions and the King kept his word. " Those 
only who had favors to solicit remembered that there was a Duke of 
Newcastle," the real Prime Minister was Pitt, and the Commons loy- 
ally voted him all that he demanded. 

India, 1756-1760. The " Black Hole " of Calcutta, 20 June, 1756. 
— Meantime, an empire was being won in India. The conquest 
began in Bengal, where a powerful line of princes ruled independently 
of the Moguls in everything but name. In April, 1756, Suraja Dowlah 
succeeded to this great inheritance. He was only nineteen, feeble 
in intellect, but ferocious in temper, and consumed with hatred for the 
Europeans. When the presidency of Calcutta began to erect new 
fortifications against the French, he led forth a vast army and took 
possession of Fort William, 20 June, 1756. That very night, in spite 
of his promise that the lives of the prisoners should be spared, one 
hundred and forty-five men and one woman were, by the command of 
the officers, thrust into the common dungeon of the fort, known 
to the English as the " Black Hole " of Calcutta. It was only eigh- 
teen feet by fourteen, with two small windows overhung by a low 
veranda. After a night of indescribable suffering, witnessed by the 
guards with " fiendish glee," twenty-three of the hundred and forty- 
five were found alive in the morning. Although Suraja Dowlah had 
not given the orders for committing -this atrocity, he expressed no 
regret ; he caused the dead to be flung into a pit, the living to be plun- 
dered, and sent some of them to prison loaded with heavy chains. 
The news which reached Madras, 16 August, found the English in the 
midst of a struggle with the French for the control of the Carnatic. 
After a long quarrel as to who should command, Clive, with a force of 
nine hundred Europeans and fifteen hundred Sepoys, was dispatched 
north in a British fleet. The native garrison at Calcutta was easily put 
to flight, the settlement being abandoned to the English, 2 January, 
1757. Not long after, the news reached India of the declaration of war 
between Great Britain and France. Suraja advanced with a huge though 
motley army, but, frightened at the determined attitude of his foes, 
firsti concluded a treaty of alliance with them, and later sought to ally 
himself with the French. Thereupon, Clive, who in the meantime 
had taken possession of Chandernagore, made up his mind that there 
could be " neither peace nor trade " until Suraja Dowlah was disposed 
of. 



THE DUEL FOR EMPIRE 735 

Clive's Victory at Plassey, 23 June, 1757. — Sending a letter to the 
Nawab in which he charged him with his breach of the recent alliance, 
Clive marched from Calcutta with 3000 men, of whom only a third 
were English. On the morning of 23 June, 1757, he engaged the enemy 
at the village of Plassey, where they had mustered a force of 35,000 
infantry and 15,000 cavalry, together with forty canon under the di- 
rection of Frenchmen in the native service. " If a defeat had ensued," 
declared Clive, " not one man would have returned to tell it." How- 
ever, timidity, lack of organization and treachery neutralized the 
Suraja's superiority of numbers. Before night his army was in full 
flight. With a loss of twenty-two slain and fifty wounded, Clive 
had won Bengal and laid the foundations of the British Empire in 
India. Suraja, who had escaped during the battle, was later caught 
in the foothills of the Himalayas, brought back, and — though without 
the knowledge of the English — executed. The directors of the East 
India Company made Clive Governor of Bengal, in which capacity 
he displayed the same astonishing ability that he had shown as a 
conqueror. When he again returned to England on account of his 
health, in February, 1760, it was said that " with him it appeared that 
the soul was departing from the body of the government of Bengal." 
He was rewarded with an Irish peerage and a seat in the English House 
of Commons. 1 While he had made a fortune for himself, and while 
vanity and instances of bad faith may be charged against him, he was 
subjected to unusual temptations. 2 Chatham, mindful of his achieve- 
ments, hailed him as a " heaven-born general." He was destined to go 
out to India for a third and final visit. 

The Battle of Wandewash and the Winning of the Carnatic, 1760. — 
All the while, the struggle between the English and the French had 
continued in the southeast. In April, 1758, a great French armament 
arrived under the command of the Comte de Lally. His aim was to 
secure Madras and to drive the English altogether out of the Carnatic. 
He succeeded, not long after his arrival, in taking and destroying 
Fort St. David's ; but he alienated the natives by trampling on their 
caste distinctions, he was hampered by lack of funds, and he grew 
steadily unpopular even with the French. In view of all the obstacles 
which he found or created, he was still occupied with the siege of Madras 
when the arrival of an English fleet forced him to retire. Colonel 
Eyre Coote, who later landed with reinforcements of English troops, 
27 October, 1759, captured the French fort of Wandewash about 30 
November. Lally, in an attempt to recover the fort, was defeated by 
Coote at the battle of Wandewash, 22 January, an engagement which 
established the English ascendancy in the Carnatic, as Plassey had 

1 Irish peers were, and are, eligible for election to the English Lower House. 

2 He appropriated £200,000 from Suraja's vast stores of wealth. "When I 
recollect entering the Nawab's treasury," he declared years later, "with heaps of 
gold and silver to the right and left, and those covered with jewels — at this moment 
do I stand astonished at my own moderation." 



736 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

in Bengal. One place after another yielded to their arms, and with 
the fall of Pondicherry in January, 1761, the French lost their last 
stronghold in India. In spite of restorations of territory, made in 
1763, they were never able to recover their lost ground, and their 
East India Company soon became extinct. The future struggles of 
the British were with the natives and not with the rival European 
Powers. Clive, not Pitt, directed the movements which started 
his country on the road to her Indian Empire, but the latter by his 
timely reinforcements and by keeping the French occupied in other 
quarters contributed not a little to the result. 

The Capture of Montreal, and the Completion of the Conquest of 
Canada, 1760. — With the approach of the spring, in 1760, the condi- 
tion of Quebec became critical. The garrison was greatly reduced by 
sickness, the opening of the St. Lawrence was blocked by ice, while 
the defenses of the town on the land side were far from strong. How- 
ever, Murray, the English commander, was able to hold off an attack- 
ing force sent by the French Governor-General, Vaudreuil, until an 
English fleet came to his relief. After his failure to retake Quebec, 
Vaudreuil shut himself up in Montreal. Three British armies were 
sent against him — General Murray's from Quebec, another from 
Crown Point, and the third under Amherst from Oswego. Amherst, 
who acted as commander-in-chief, by " one of the most perfect and 
astonishing bits of work which the annals of British warfare can show," 
managed to concentrate these various forces so effectively that Mon- 
treal, surrounded without hope of relief, was forced to capitulate, 8 Sep- 
tember, 1760, and the British conquest of Canada was finally complete. 

The Turn in the Tide of Frederick's Fortunes, 1760. — While his 
ally was winning empires in America and India, Frederick was trying 
to recover from his reverses and to hold his own against the 
Austrians and the Russians. Unwilling to contract new loans or to 
impose further taxes upon his own subjects, he resorted to desperate 
devices to eke out his English subsidy ; he levied assessments in 
Mecklenburg and Saxony, he sold great quantities of the Saxon forest 
to speculators, he withheld the pay of officials, he debased the coinage, 
he forced prisoners to enlist in his service, and sent hired adventurers 
throughout Germany to secure recruits by force and by specious 
promises. Although he defeated one Austrian army at Liegnitz, 
15 August, 1760, thereby securing Silesia, he was unable to prevent 
another force from joining with the Russians and marching on Berlin, 
which they occupied for three days. Having relieved his capital, 
Frederick marched into Saxony, which the Austrians had again 
entered, and drove them out after a victory at Torgau, 3 November, 
the last and bloodiest battle of the Third Silesian War, in which he 
lost 14,000 and the enemy 20,000. At the close of the campaign he 
fixed his headquarters at Leipzig with the feeling that the tide in his 
fortunes had turned. Ferdinand, though with some difficulty, held 
the southern and western frontier against two French armies which 
together amounted to two hundred thousand men. 



THE DUEL FOR EMPIRE 737 

The Death of George II, 25 October, 1760. — In the midst of the 
triumph of English arms George II, who was seventy-seven years old, 
and who had for two years been losing his sight and his hearing, died, 
25 October, 1760. In spite of his faults, he could boast that during 
a reign of thirty-three years he had not in a single instance violated 
the Constitution. To whatever cause his moderation may have 
been due, the result was happy for England. Coveting military 
glory, he was for years in " awful contemplation of a very involved 
European situation " and at length " plunged into the infinite sea 
of perplexity." Curiously enough, Pitt, the man who had begun by 
earning his hatred, crowned his reign with glorious achievement. 1 
Though George gave his confidence grudgingly, he gave it unreservedly, 
and, from 1757 until the end of his reign, the policy of the country 
was practically Pitt's policy. With the accession of George's son 
a momentous change was to come. 

FOR ADDITIONAL READING 

Narrative. Leadam, Political History, chs. XX-XXVII. Robertson, England 
under the Hanoverians, chs. II, III. Cambridge Modern History, VI, ch. II (bibliog- 
raphy, pp. 844-857). Bright, History of England, III, pp. 966-1033. Stanhope, 
History of England, II-IV. Lecky, England in the Eighteenth Century, I, II. 

Constitutional. Hallam, III, ch. XVI. Taylor, Origin and Growth, II, bk. VII, 
ch. I. 

Biography. Coxe's and Morley's Walpole. Hon. Evan Charteris, William 
Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, 1721-1748 (1913); a brilliant scholarly apology. 
Lord Rosebery, Lord Chatham, His Early Life and Connections (1910) goes to 1756, 
scholarly, and charmingly written. F. Harrison, William Pitt, Earl of Chatham 
(1905) ; a brief sketch. Macaulay, Critical and Historical Essays (3d ed. 1853), I, 
II ; two famous essays on Pitt. The two great biographies of Pitt are A. von Ruville, 
William Pitt, Earl of Chatham (3 vols., 1907, Eng. tr.), and Basil Williams, The Life 
of William Pitt (2 vols., 1913) ; the former hostile, the latter favorable. T. W. Riker, 
Henry Fox, First Lord Holland (2 vols., 191 1). P. C. Yorke, The Life and Correspond- 
ence of Philip Yorke, Earl of Hardwicke (3 vols., 1913). 

Scotland. P. H. Brown, III, bk. VII, chs. VI- VIII. Cambridge Modem History, 
III (bibliography, pp. 858-863). 

Army and Navy. Fortescue, British Army, I, II. Mahan, Sea Power, ch. VIII. 
J. S. Corbett, England in the Seven Years' War (2 vols., 1907). Clowes, Royal Navy, 
III. 

America. Cambridge Modern History, VII, chs. I-IV (bibliography, pp. 753 _ 779)- 
India, ibid., VI, ch. XV (bibliography, pp. 925-932). For further bibliography on 
America and India, Robertson, 523, and Leadam, 515. 

Contemporary. John, Lord Hervey, Memoirs of the Reign of George II to the 
Death of Queen Caroline (ed. J. W. Croker, 2 vols., 1848) ; ill-natured and to be read 
with caution. Horace Walpole, Memoirs of the Reign of George II (ed. Lord Holland, 
3 vols., 1846). 

Selections from the sources. Adams and Stephens, no. 249, and Robertson, pt. I, 
nos. XXIX-XLIII. 

1 "I shall burn my Greek and Latin books," wrote Horace Walpole. "They are 
the histories of little people. . . . We subdue the globe in three campaigns, and a 
globe ... as big again as it was in their days." "You would not know jour 
country again," he writes to his friend, Sir Horace Mann. "You left it a private 
little island living upon its means. You will find it the capital of the world ; St. 
James' Street crowded with nabobs and Indian chiefs." 
3B .. 



CHAPTER XLII 

THE REVIVAL OF THE ROYAL ASCENDANCY. THE FIRST YEARS 
OF GEORGE III (1760-1770) 

The Significance of the Reign of George III. — The accession of 
George III, 25 October, 1760, marked a notable attempt to revive 
the personal power of the sovereign, and a consequent interlude in 
the progress of Cabinet and party government for over twenty years. 
The reign, which lasted for sixty years and which was only exceeded 
in length by that of one English monarch, 1 proved to be one of the most 
eventful in the annals of the country. While his two predecessors 
had seen the wisdom of leaving the Government largely in the hands 
of their Whig ministers, George III bent all his energies to break the 
power of the dominant oligarchy and systematically to impose his will 
upon the nation. No sovereign has ever repeated the attempt, in 
which he succeeded during the first third of his reign. Another result 
of his accession was the return to power of the Tories after nearly 
fifty years of exclusion from office. Events had been working in their 
favor for some years before George III ascended the throne. Al- 
though the Whigs monopolized office and power and controlled Parlia- 
ment, they were at odds among themselves. The party was split 
into various factions, each dominated by one of the great families. 2 
Moreover, Pitt, while he was nominally a Whig, bound by close family 
connection with the Grenvilles and, since 1757, by a working agree- 
ment with Newcastle, hated all party combinations. His views and 
example did something to discredit the old system, though his methods 
and aims were quite the opposite of those of the new King. Pitt's 
idea was to call in the best men of both parties, who were backed by 
the people and who voiced popular opinion. George's was to put in 
office only those who would serve his purpose in establishing the royal 
ascendancy. Consequently, Pitt, in spite of his hatred of the great 
Whig families which he shared with George, was one of the first to go. 
Aside from the disintegration of the Whigs, other causes rendered the 
situation most favorable for the revival of a strong monarchy. The 
Stuart rivals of the Hanoverian line had been hopelessly discredited 
by the failure of 1745. Furthermore, the victories of Pitt had aroused 

1 Victoria, 1837-1001. 

2 These were the Pelham Whigs led by Newcastle ; the Russell Whigs by the Duke 
of Bedford ; the Grenville Whigs by Lord Temple ; and the Cavendish Whigs led 
by the Duke of Devonshire. 

738 



THE FIRST YEARS OF GEORGE III 739 

a tremendous loyalty and national enthusiasm that was bound to 
reflect luster on the Crown. Finally, the new King inspired in his 
subjects the confidence that he was a typical Englishman. 

George III, his Personal Traits. — George III was now twenty-two 
years old. Owing to the quarrels of his father, Prince Frederick, with 
the late King, the boy's early years were passed apart from the royal 
court, so that he grew up " full of prejudices . . . fostered by women 
and pages." He was generally good-natured and cheerful, but idle 
and inclined to fits of sullenness whenever his will was crossed. 
Utterly ignorant of business when he became King, he shook off his 
slothful habits and applied himself zealously to his duties. Yet he 
never overcame his early lack of education. To be sure, he spoke 
French and German fluently ; but he was deficient in general informa- 
tion, and his letters were always ungrammatical and full of mis- 
spelled words. Though he had a good ear for music, of which he 
was very fond, he was woefully lacking in taste for art and literature. 
His favorite occupation was agriculture, which gained for him the 
popular title of " Farmer George." In private life he was unpre- 
tentious, even homely, and most thrifty in his management of his 
household ; in public he bore himself with exceeding dignity, and was 
insistent in small points of ceremony, always requiring, for instance, 
that his ministers should stand in his presence. Perhaps his most 
admirable quality was his unquestioned bravery. This, together 
with his simplicity, purity of family life, and his piety, endeared him 
to the middle-class Englishman. Conscientious he was, too, and right 
in his intentions ; but overestimating his own wisdom and rectitude, 
he could appreciate no point of view but his own, and treated with 
rudeness, vindictiveness, and even treachery all those who presumed 
to differ with him. 

His Policy. — Patriotic and high-minded statesmen who were as- 
sertive and independent were kept out of office, while those who did 
his bidding, however incompetent or dissolute, were given the royal 
confidence and favor. Economically as he managed his household, 
he spent such vast sums in the bestowal of bribes and pensions that 
with a Civil List greater than that of any of his predecessors — it was 
£800,000 — he was always in debt. His money, together with the 
patronage and the boroughs which he controlled, was lavishly em- 
ployed in maintaining a strong body of supporters 1 in Parliament, 
who were known as the " King's friends." They were not admitted 
to the circle of his personal intimates, who were all kindly, honest 
folk ; but a monarch professing such high principles should not have 
tolerated them at all. Employing such men and such methods, he 
might well say : " This trade of politics is rascally business. It is 
a trade for a scoundrel and not for a gentleman." Yet something 

1 He was not above coercing tradesmen. There is a story that in the election 
of 1780, when he opposed Admiral Keppel, he rushed into a shop, crying: "The 
Queen wants a gown, wants a gown. No Keppel ! No Keppel !" 



74 o A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

should be said by way of extenuation. His mother, Augusta of Saxe- 
Coburg, who had so much to do with forming his mind, was narrowly 
pious and brought to England the traditions of a petty German 
court. Ceaselessly she instilled into him the idea of prerogative, and 
exhorted him to " be a King." Her closest and most trusted adviser, 
John Stuart, Earl of Bute, reenforced her teachings. Bute was a 
Scotsman, a handsome man of elaborate polished manners, of literary 
and scientific tastes, with a great talent for intrigue ; but of slender 
ability, pompous, haughty, and unpopular. A magnifier of royalty, 
he is said to have procured for his pupil the manuscript of Black- 
stone's famous Commentaries on the Constitution, 1 which voiced his 
views. The work, however, with which he chiefly influenced the young 
George was Bolingbroke's Idea of a Patriot King, which advocates 
the principle that a king shall govern as well as reign, that he shall 
rule independently of party. 2 Had George carried out these latter 
precepts according to Pitt's ideal he might have rendered a service 
in breaking up the Whig oligarchy ; for its leaders were at odds among 
themselves, it had ceased to stand for definite principles, and it main- 
tained its ascendancy by bribery and corruption in an unrepresentative 
parliament. It admitted Pitt to power solely by virtue of necessity ; 
otherwise it was absolutely regardless of public opinion. Unfortu- 
nately, the state of things which George brought about was worse 
than that which he attacked. In order to restore the influence of the 
Crown, he used the Tories as a body of servile henchmen, instead of 
building up the party on a strong, wholesome footing ; instead of re- 
forming the representative system and the public service he in- 
creased parliamentary and official corruption ; he swelled the National 
Debt, made serious encroachments on the liberty of the' subject, 
and lost to England the richest and most flourishing of her colonies. 
In short, although no one could have had better intentions, he " in- 
flicted more profound and enduring injuries upon his country than 
any modern English King." In a final estimate some allowance must 
be made for the fact that twice in the first half of his reign he was 
attacked by fits of insanity, and spent the last ten years of his life 
in complete mental darkness. 

The Opening of the Reign, 1760. — George's first aim was to break 
up the coalition between Pitt and Newcastle, to put an end to the 
war with France, and to place his favorite Bute at the head of affairs. 
The Cabinet was torn with dissension, and Pitt was so high-handed 
that he had not a single stanch supporter in the whole body. Yet 
he was still the popular idol, while Bute was hated, partly as a Scots- 

1 The four volumes were published successively from 1765 to 1769. 

2 George's Queen, Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, whom he married in Sep- 
tember, 1761, played no part in the politics of the reign. She was a model of do- 
mestic virtues, apparently with little inclination or ability for affairs, concerning 
which the King seems never to have consulted her. She brought up a family of 
fifteen children, though unfortunately some of them, notably the Crown Prince, 
were no credit to their home training. 



THE FIRST YEARS OF GEORGE III 741 

man and more particularly because of the suspicion that the Princess 
Dowager was too much under his influence. Only a few days after 
the beginning of the new reign a handbill appeared in the Royal 
Exchange with " No Petticoat Government " in glaring letters. 
And it was a favorite practice for the city mob at almost every demon- 
stration during the next years to hang a petticoat or a bonnet, together 
with a jack boot, 1 on a pole or burn them in effigy. The King himself, 
however, was received at first with an enthusiasm unequaled since 
the Restoration. He declared his intention of striving for an " honor- 
able and lasting peace," but was wise enough to substitute at Pitt's 
suggestion the words " just and necessary," in place of " bloody and 
expensive," in characterizing the war. In other respects, too, he 
seemed at first to be liberally inclined. After the first Cabinet Council 
he ceased to attend, thus fixing a practice which prevailed henceforth, 
and he yielded his hereditary revenues, except in the case of the Duchies 
of Lancaster and Cornwall, in return for an increased Civil List. 

The Resignation of Pitt, 5 October, 1761. — While the English 
successes continued during the year 1761, and while the Allies in Ger- 
many managed to keep the enemy occupied, there were various indi- 
cations that George's efforts to bring about a peace would soon prevail. 
In March, 1761, Bute became Pitt's colleague as Secretary of State, 
and other Tories were brought into office. What with subsidies and 
the steadily increasing military establishment the debt was piling up 
alarmingly ; increasing difficulty was experienced in filling the ranks, 
and riots were of frequent occurrence. Worse yet, now that the French 
no longer had colonies to defend, there was every prospect that they 
would concentrate in Germany, which meant the loss of Hanover 
unless more men and money were sent abroad. Peace negotiations 
which had begun as early as November, 1759, were resumed in the 
spring of 1761, but Pitt, who had once declared that, so long as he 
retained power, " no peace of Utrecht should stain the annals of 
England," was bent on utterly destroying the power of France. 
Bedford argued in reply that such a result would inevitably bring 
about a great European coalition against England in the interest of 
the balance of power, and that to take Canada from France would 
remove an effective means of retaining a hold on the North American 
colonies. The French, who might have been forced to accept Pitt's 
hard terms, were encouraged to resist when Charles III of Spain, who 
had succeeded the pacific Ferdinand VI in 1759, ranged himself on 
her side and presented a series of demands to the English through the 
French negotiators. Pitt scornfully refused to consider any claims 
brought before him in such a manner, and before long broke off negotia- 
tions with the French as well. Suspecting that the two monarchies 
were in secret alliance, and that Spain was on the point of joining in 
the conflict, he made ready to strike at her exposed places, while, in 

1 To represent John, Earl of Bute. 



742 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

a Cabinet Council, held 2 October, he proposed an immediate declara- 
tion of war against Spain before she could complete her preparations. 
Events proved that he had interpreted the situation correctly ; for, 
15 August, Charles III and Louis XV had signed a new Family Com- 
pact uniting their countries in an offensive and defensive alliance. 
No one in the Council except Lord Temple agreed with Pitt; so, after 
a series of stormy discussions, he resigned, 5 October. 1 

The End of the Newcastle Ministry, 1762. — Thus the King and 
his party succeeded in overthrowing the great War Minister in the full 
course of his victorious career. More than this, they adroitly turned 
the people against him, for the moment, by inducing him to accept the 
title of Baroness Chatham for his wife and a pension for three lives 
for himself and his family. 2 He certainly deserved all the recognition 
which the Government could offer ; but it was contrary to his former 
professions to take a reward for his services, and, what is, indeed, 
pathetic, he received these marks of royal condescension with almost 
servile gratitude. Public opinion, however, veered once more to his 
favor when Spain, having completed her arrangements, openly pro- 
claimed her alliance with France. Great Britain was forced to reply 
by a declaration of war, 2 January, 1762. Thanks to Pitt's prepara- 
tions a series of new and striking successes followed. Martinique 
and the neighboring islands were speedily taken ; 14 August, Havana 
yielded after a siege of little more than two months ; and the capture 
of Manila followed in October. Moreover, the Spanish, who had 
invaded Portugal, were driven out of that country, while the French 
were held in check in Germany. Newcastle, who had rejoiced at the 
fall of Pitt in the hope that he might recover his lost ascendancy, had 
been speedily disillusioned. The King and his followers treated him 
with studied rudeness and neglect. When they ceased even to consult 
him in questions of patronage, the veteran old place-nionger resigned, 
May, 1762, seizing as a pretext Bute's refusal to continue the Prussian 
subsidy. The King's favorite, who for months had been virtually 
Prime Minister, now openly assumed the position. 

The Bute Ministry, 1762-1763, and the Peace of Paris. — Bound 
to secure peace at all costs, Bute bribed the energetic and unscrupu- 
lous Fox with the promise of a peerage to serve as leader in carrying 
it through the Commons. " We must," said George, " call in bad 
men to govern bad men." The resulting Treaty of Paris bears a 
striking resemblance in many respects to that concluded at Utrecht 
in 1 7 13. In both, the terms obtained, though advantageous to Great 
Britain, were nothing like as favorable as her military and naval 

1 In view of what he had achieved the language of a court flatterer to Bute is 
curious : "I sincerely wish your Lordship joy of being delivered of a most impracti- 
cable colleague, his Majesty of a most imperious servant, and the country of a most 
dangerous minister. I am told the people are sullen about it." 

2 "What ! To blast one's character for the sake of a paltry annuity and a long- 
necked peeress !" was Horace Walpole's biting comment. 



THE FIRST YEARS OF GEORGE III 743 

successes entitled her to demand ; both were pushed through Parlia- 
ment by corruption and intimidation in the teeth of stout opposition ; 
in both, the Tories, who came to power after the Whigs had fought the 
battles, excluded from the final settlement the man who had led the 
country to victory. Now, as fifty years earlier, the dominant party 
was accused of deserting the allies of the country. Bute protested 
that Prussia was guaranteed from danger before British subsidies 
and troops were withdrawn from Germany ; but Frederick, who also 
believed that the new Prime Minister intrigued with Austria behind 
his back, was so infuriated that he became hopelessly alienated. The 
loss of his support was seriously felt in the crises of years to come. 

The Terms of the Peace. — The preliminary articles were con- 
cluded, 3 November, 1762, and the definitive peace was signed at 
Paris, 10 February, 1 763. France withdrew her troops from Germany ; 
she restored Minorca, and ceded Canada, Nova Scotia, Cape Breton, 
and all the islands in the river and Gulf of St. Lawrence, together with 
such territories as she claimed east of the Mississippi, except New 
Orleans. She also gave up several of the West Indian islands, in- 
cluding Granada, St. Vincent, and Dominica, as well as her African 
possessions on the Senegal. Great Britain, on her part, restored Belle 
Isle ; she granted the French certain fishing rights in the St. Lawrence 
and off the banks of Newfoundland, ceding the islands of St. Pierre 
and Miquelon as shelters, on condition that they should never be 
fortified, and agreed that the navigation of the Mississippi should be 
free to both countries. She also restored Martinique, Guadaloupe, 
and other West Indian islands, together with Goree in Africa. In 
India there was a mutual restoration of conquests made since 1749, 
though the French were forbidden to have troops or fortifications in 
Bengal, and obliged to agree to acknowledge the native princes in 
the Carnatic and the Deccan whom the British chose to support. 
Spain ceded to Great Britain Florida, together with all her other 
possessions east of the Mississippi, and gave up her claims to the New 
England fisheries. France compensated her with Louisiana and New 
Orleans, while England restored Havana, but reserved the right to 
cut logwood in the Bay of Honduras. Manila and the Philippines were 
handed back without any territorial equivalent, since the news of the 
conquest did not arrive until after the signature of the preliminaries. 1 

The Opposition to the Peace and the Resignation of Bute, 1763. — 
These terms were substantially what Pitt had rejected in 1761, so 
that England profited nothing by another year of victories. She 
had made tremendous gains ; but she had ceded, without adequate 
compensation, territories actually held at the end of the war. The 
restoration of Martinique, Manila, Goree, the exchange of Havana 
for Florida, together with concessions to France of her fishing rights 
and the return of her factories in India roused a storm of protest 

1 Manila, however, paid a ransom of £1,000,000, but half of this sum was in 
bills on the Spanish treasury which Spain refused to honor. 



744 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

throughout England. Bute was hissed and pelted as he went to and 
from Parliament, and had to employ a bodyguard of bruisers and 
butchers to protect him. Numerous abusive libels appeared, some, 
it is said, instigated by the agents of Frederick the Great. The feeling 
against the Administration was embittered by a new loan at n per 
cent, let out to royal supporters, and by a tax on cider which caused 
a revolt in the western counties. Bute resigned, 7 April, 1763. 
Doubtless he was weary of duties to which his abilities were unequal ; 
his unpopularity was injuring the cause of his royal master, and he 
felt that he could exercise his influence just as effectively behind the 
throne. He had accomplished the King's two main purposes of 
putting an end to the war and breaking up the Whig connection ; 
but he left the country seething with discontent and deprived of its 
only powerful ally. 

The Grenville Ministry, 1763-1765. John Wilkes and his Sig- 
nificance. — Bute was succeeded by George Grenville (1712-1770), 
who took the offices of First Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of 
the Exchequer. He had entered Parliament as one of the " Boy 
Patriots," and for years worked side by side with Pitt. Owing, 
however, to his opposition to the increasing cost of the war, he went 
over to the royal side after the accession of George III, receiving the 
office of Secretary of State in Bute's Cabinet. He was upright, in- 
dustrious, skillful in finance, and well versed in parliamentary pro- 
cedure ; but he was overbearing, narrow-minded, and ungracious, 
utterly lacking in tact and breadth of political outlook. George 
hoped that he would prove a pliant instrument ; but in this he was 
disappointed, as he was in the hope that the retirement of Bute would 
put an end to the unpopularity of the royal policy. No sooner had 
the new Minister come into office than he became involved in a momen- 
tous quarrel with John Wilkes, a profane and profligate man of fashion, 
who, by his wit, his audacity, and his skill in meeting the ill-advised 
attempts of the Government to suppress him, became the darling of 
the populace. By the agitation which he stirred up, at least two 
important principles in the progress of the liberty of the subject were 
established : that general warrants 1 were illegal, and that the House 
of Commons may not permanently exclude any member, not legally 
disqualified, whom the constituents may choose to elect. 2 More- 
over, in the conflicts centering about this prince of popular agitators, 
public meetings and associations first came to figure prominently in 
English politics. 

The North Briton Review, No. 45, and its Consequences, 1763- 
1764. — In June, 1762, Wilkes had been chiefly instrumental in found- 
ing the North Briton Review, a journal devoted to attacking the 
Government. Unlike its predecessors, it printed in full the names of 
those against whom its articles were directed instead of using merely 

1 That is, warrants which do not specify the persons to be arrested for a partic- 
ular offense. 2 This was not finally recognized till 1782. 



THE FIRST YEARS OF GEORGE III 745 

the initial letter. In the famous " No. 45," which appeared 23 April, 

1 763 , a speech from the throne defending the recent peace was vigorously 
assailed, together with the whole policy of the past few months. 
While the personal character of the King was referred to with respect, 
his favorite was lashed unmercifully. It had been the practice for 
some time for the chief ministers to prepare the speech from the throne, 
and, as a matter of fact, Bute had been the author of the one in ques- 
tion. Wise old George II had been content to accept the situation ; 
but his grandson was infuriated at the assumption that he was only 
the " first magistrate of this country . . . responsible to his people 
for due exercise of the royal function in the choice of his ministers," 
and he determined to crush the man who sought to reduce him to 
a mere figurehead and who presumed to assail those whom he had 
selected to do his will. Accordingly, a general warrant was issued, 
directing the arrest of the " authors, printers, and publishers " of 
the offensive number as well as the seizure of their papers. Wilkes 
was apprehended on the word of the publishers and lodged in the Tower. 
He protested on two grounds : that general warrants were illegal ; 
and that, as a member of Parliament, he was entitled to the privilege 
of freedom from arrest on civil process. He succeeded in bringing 
the case before the Court of Common Pleas, where Chief Justice Pratt 
decided in favor of his parliamentary privilege and pronounced the 
momentous opinion that general warrants * were illegal. 

The End of the First Stage of the Proceedings against Wilkes, 

1764. — Wilkes was not only released but was awarded damages. He 
celebrated his triumph with audacious assurance ; he accused the 
Secretary of State, who had ordered the seizure of his papers, of robbing 
his house, and reprinted No. 45 with notes, to prove that during the 
two preceding reigns the ministers had written the royal speech from 
the throne. This prompted the Government to measures of sys- 
tematic vindictiveness : Wilkes was dismissed from his office of colonel 
of militia ; spies were set upon his track ; his letters were opened at 
the post office, and the Attorney-General brought suit for libel against 
him in legal form. Parliament met, 15 November, 1763. Though 
the case was still pending, the Commons proceeded to vote No. 45 
" a false, scandalous, and seditious libel," and to order it to be burned 
by the common hangman. In the Upper House, Lord Sandwich, 
one of Wilkes' boon companions and a man of the most abandoned 
morals, suddenly produced an indecent parody of Pope's Essay on 
Man, entitled an Essay on Woman and a blasphemous version of the 
Veni Creator, which the Peers at once voted to be " scandalous, 
obscene, and impious libels." Undoubtedly they were; but Wilkes 
had intended them only for private circulation, and the motives of 
his opponents were only too apparent. The popular excitement be- 
came intense. The London mob defeated an attempt to burn No. 

1 They had hitherto been held to be legal, though regarded as contrary to tha 
spirit of the Constitution and subversive to the liberty of the subject. 



746 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

45, substituting a jack boot and a petticoat in its place. Wilkes was 
nailed as the champion of popular liberty, and his portrait became 
a favorite sign for taverns. In Parliament, however, the Court in- 
fluence was so strong that a resolution was carried through both Houses 
" that privilege of Parliament does not extend to . . . writing and 
publishing seditious libels." Wilkes, in danger of his life, fled to 
France. In his absence he was expelled from the Commons, 19 
January, 1764, and, 21 February, the Court of King's Bench passed 
sentence against him for reprinting No. 45 and for writing the Essay 
on Woman. On his failure to appear he was outlawed. Four years 
later he was destined to return and raise a new issue. 

The Beginning of the Breach with the Colonies. The Causes of 
the Revolution. — No sooner was Wilkes temporarily out of the way 
than Grenville, supported by George III, adopted a series of measures 
relating to the American Colonies which produced the first of a series 
of explosions that led to the Revolutionary War and the consequent 
dismemberment of the British Empire. In order to understand the 
causes for this crisis, at least two great and difficult questions have to 
be answered. First, what was the situation, political, social, and eco- 
nomic, in the Colonies? and what was their attitude toward Great 
Britain when the attempt was made to impose the new policy upon 
them? Secondly, .what measures really called forth the resistance 
and what measures or causes merely contributed? Furthermore, 
one is bound to ask whether the British measures may be justified, 
historically, politically, economically, or legally, and on what grounds 
the Colonies had a right to resist. 

The Institutional Divergence between the American Colonies and 
Great Britain. — The answer to the first question must be sought in 
the institutional development of the two countries, from the first 
planting of the Colonies in America. This will show that two separate 
branches, two types of people, had grown from one parent stock. 
The England of the eighteenth century was not the mother country 
of those settled across the Atlantic ; but both were the offspring of the 
Puritan England of the seventeenth century. Those who migrated 
carried with them the tradition of the opposition to absolute mon- 
archy and an established Episcopal Church, New England, particularly, 
coming to represent the " di'ssidence of Dissent." Those who remained 
at home turned their backs on the extreme results of the Puritan 
Revolution, and even restored, in a modified form, both monarchy and 
Episcopacy. Moreover, growth in a different environment tended to 
accentuate divergence in form and spirit of government. The 
Americans had progressed to far greater lengths in the direction of 
democracy and equality. Almost every man who possessed a moder- 
ate amount of property could vote and be represented in the colonial 
assembly. In some colonies, to be sure, he must own land, but land 
was cheap and easy to acquire. In England the franchise depended 
upon no general rule but upon queer and illogical qualifications. 



THE FIRST YEARS OF GEORGE III 747 

Differences in the Theory and Practice of Representation. — Even 
more striking were the differences in the distribution of representatives 
and in the theory of representation. In the Colonies it was the general 
practice for a member of the assembly to represent his town or district ; 
the areas of representation were frequently reapportioned, and bribery 
at elections was practically unknown. In England corruption pre- 
vailed to an alarming extent, and the greatest inequalities existed. 
Rotten boroughs with scarcely an inhabitant returned two members 
each, while flourishing towns like Manchester and Birmingham sent 
none. It is estimated that a majority of the 558 members of the 
House of Commons were elected by less than 15,000 voters in a popu- 
lation that numbered almost half as many millions, and that 154 in- 
dividuals, among them the King and various peers, controlled the 
choice of 307 members. The British theory was that every one was 
virtually represented in Parliament. The essential thing was to have 
an elective body between the King andthepeople,andit was contended 
that a Cornish man was just as truly a representative of Lancashire 
as if he had been returned from that county. The Colonists, who 
were used to a different system, refused to accept this theory of vir- 
tual representation. Furthermore, they were in a different situation. 
In England public opinion, voiced in petitions and public meetings, 
counted for something even in the unrepresented districts, while a 
handful of colonists three thousand miles across the sea could do little 
to affect the course of British legislation. 

Training and Preparation for Independence. — Thus the English- 
men in the New World were steadily growing apart from the English- 
men in the Old. Moreover, the Colonists had received a long and 
effective training in self-government in their town meetings, in their 
county administration, and in their provincial assemblies. Also 
hard conditions of life in an undeveloped country had generated 
courage, energy, resourcefulness, and independence of restraint. 
Their preachers, saturated with the revolutionary doctrines of Milton, 
Locke, and other advanced thinkers of the seventeenth century, 
preached and taught views quite at variance with the views of the 
men in power under George III. Then, although up to this time 
there had been no common grievance to call forth united resistance, 
there had been constant friction and bickerings between the colonial 
assemblies and the Crown officials, men who were all too frequently 
either incompetent or unscrupulous. 1 

The Commercial System. — Along with these differences in political 
theory and practice, the British commercial system was an equally, 
perhaps a more important factor in preparing the way for the final 
break. As in. the case of the other European powers of the period, 
the British policy for the regulation of colonial trade was mainly one 

1 "America," it was complained, " has been for many years made the hospital of 
Great Britain for her decayed courtiers and worn-out dependents." 



74 8 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

of selfish and jealous exclusiveness. The aim of her Navigation Acts 
was to confine the carrying trade of " English " 1 lands to ships built 
within the British Empire, owned by the people thereof , and navigated 
by officers and crews who were subjects of the English King, and to 
give England a monopoly of colonial trade. Certain colonial products, 
such as tobacco and sugar, known as " enumerated goods," had to 
be laid on the shore of England or pay an export duty from the prov- 
ince where they were produced. Furthermore, with few exceptions, 
European goods destined for the Colonies must pass through England, 
the prime object being to give to English merchants the profit of 
handling the wares. 2 In 1733 the famous " Sugar Act " was passed, 
imposing heavy duties on rum, molasses, and sugar imported from the 
French, Dutch, and Spanish West Indies into English colonies on the 
American continent. This act, had it been enforced, would have 
completely stifled a very profitable three-cornered trade by which 
the New Englanders shipped lumber and fish to the foreign West 
Indies and exchanged them for rum and sugar and molasses. With 
the West Indian rum, and with New England rum made from West 
Indian molasses, they bought slaves on the coast of Africa which 
they sold to the planters. Restrictive as were all these regulations, 
they were to some degree counterbalanced in various ways. Colonial 
industry, especially shipbuilding, was promoted by the share the 
Colonists enjoyed in the carrying trade of the Empire. Then there 
were drawbacks of duties on goods reexported from England ; there 
were bounties to encourage the production of certain commodities; 
and certain privileges and certain exceptions were allowed. For 
example, colonial tobacco enjoyed a monopoly in England, and rice 
could be shipped south of Cape Finisterre directly from the Colonies. 3 
Owing to the lax administration prevailing before the advent of Gren- 
ville, they manufactured what they liked, sent ships where they pleased, 
and purchased European wares more cheaply than Englishmen them- 
selves. The theory of trade regulation was not questioned because 
it was rarely enforced in practice ; but it was a potential grievance. 
The Colonies had become economically self-sufficing and were in a 
position to resist when the restrictions on their trade became a 
reality. 

The Seven Years' War as a Factor in Provoking the Crisis. — At 
the moment when the constitutional and economic development of 
the Colonies was reaching its maturity, the Seven Years' War came to 
precipitate the crisis. It gave the Colonies a sense of unity resulting 
from achievement in a common undertaking, it stimulated a martial 
spirit, and by transferring Canada from France to Great Britain it 
removed a serious menace to the safety of the Colonies, and thereby 
one of the most powerful bonds which might have held them to the 

1 This term included the Colonies. 

2 These provisions may be found in the acts of 1660, 1663, 1672, and 1696. 

3 Also they had the advantage of the English naval protection. 



THE FIRST YEARS OF GEORGE III 749 

Home Country. 1 However, the war furnished the occasion for the 
new British policy which gave the impulse to revolt. The Grenville 
program comprehended three measures : the enforcement of the 
Trade and Navigation Acts ; a Stamp Act ; and a Quartering Act. 
There was justification for them all. Not only had the Colonists 
openly and systematically evaded the acts regulating commerce, 
but they had actually supplied the enemy with goods during the recent 
conflict. Moreover, a formidable rising of the Indians in 1763, known 
as the Conspiracy of Pontiac, had shown that the Colonies were in 
real danger. The English Ministry felt that the Home Government 
should not bear the whole burden of the defense of the Empire, laden 
as it now was with an enormous debt of nearly £140,000,000 and 
intended to employ the money to be raised by the stamp tax solely 
for colonial purposes. On their part, the several Colonies had made 
considerable contributions toward the French and Indian War, for 
which most of them were still in debt. Now it was proposed to curtail 
one of their chief means of livelihood, and, at the same time to subject 
them to taxation over which they had no control. In addition, the 
act for quartering troops in their midst, together with a proposed plan 
for taking over the payment of judges and other chief civil officials 
hitherto at the mercy of the provincial assemblies, threatened to re- 
duce them to complete administrative dependence. They felt that 
they were bound to resist. 

The Question of Parliamentary Supremacy over the Colonies. — 
The question of the legal right of the British Parliament to tax the 
Colonies was hotly debated and provoked sharp differences of opinion 
both in America and in England. Franklin drew a distinction 
between internal taxes and import duties ; but leading patriots 
almost from the start refused to accept it, and it was soon discarded. 
Pitt's distinction between import duties for purposes of revenue and 
for regulation of trade was one that had historical justification, but 
it was impracticable. Moreover, the shackling of the trade was, from 
the colonial point of view, fully as unjust and involved fully as much 
hardship as the imposition of revenue duties. The theory later ad- 
vocated by Edmund Burke was the most reasonable ; that, while 
Parliament had the right to tax, it was inexpedient to exercise it. 
The Colonies, however, not only denied the right of Parliament to tax 
them, but even called in question the legislative supremacy of that 
body, 2 asserting that they were the peculiar subjects of the King. 

1 This result had been predicted by many far-seeing thinkers, among others by 
the Swedish traveler Kalm in 1748, by the French minister Vergennes, and by 
various Englishmen, including Lord Bath and the Duke of Bedford. Canada 
would have been just as dangerous in the hands of Great Britain, except that 
after it became a British possession there was a chance of winning the Canadians 
over to the colonial side. 

2 As early as 1761 James Otis, in a celebrated speech against the legality of 
writs of assistance (i.e. general writs of search which did not specify the particular 
place to be searched), declared that acts of Parliament tyrannical to the subject 
were unconstitutional and hence null and void. 



75 o A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

It was only later that they discovered l that it was George III who 
was responsible for most of the measures which they resented. There 
was another instance of the institutional divergence which had de- 
veloped between the two branches of the English race. England had 
no written rigid constitution limiting the power of Parliament ; the 
English Constitution was the whole body of law and custom which 
had accumulated through the ages. The Puritan Revolution had 
decided that Parliament was practically omnipotent, and since 1707 
the King had never ventured to veto a bill. On the other hand, the 
Colonies all had some form of written constitution supreme over 
legislative enactment — a charter, a proprietary grant, or governor's 
instructions — and the veto was a reality. While they strove to 
extend the powers of their assemblies, they had grown up in the tra- 
dition of limited powers. The Crown lawyers, however, in maintain- 
ing the legislative supremacy of the Parliament over the Colonies 
could point to a long series of measures, including the Navigation Acts, 
which applied to them. 2 Undoubtedly Parliament had a legal right 
to legislate for the Colonies, nor was its claim to impose taxes strictly 
illegal, but it was-contrary to custom. George III and his supporters 
in the Ministry, like the Stuarts before them, failed to realize the un- 
wisdom of insisting upon legal rights in the teeth of popular opposition. 
Summary of the Causes of the Revolution. — This, in brief, was the 
situation. The Colonies were ready to break away. Politically they 
had grown apart from Great Britain, they were prepared for self- 
government by long training in managing their local concerns, and 
they had been estranged by frequent quarrels with the executives sent 
from home. 3 They were economically self-sufficing, and would only 
tolerate the selfish and exclusive system framed in the interests of 
British merchants so long as it was not enforced. The first attempt 
to make it a reality would, no doubt, of itself have provoked opposition. 
It happened, however, that the new policy was accompanied by an 
inexpedient innovation in taxation which led to the first outbreak of 
resistance. 

1 Patrick Henry (in 1763), in arguing a celebrated legal case known as the "Par- 
son's Cause, " which involved the right of the sovereign to veto an act of the Virginia 
Legislature, was one of the few thus early who went further. He declared that even 
a king had no right to veto a good law. 

2 Among them an Act for establishing a General Post Office (17 10); an Act 
regulating the Transportation of Criminals (17 17) ; an Act extending the Bubble 
Act of 1720; an Act for the Naturalization of Foreign Protestants in the American 
Colonies (1740) ; and an Act extending the New Style of Calendar to the Colonies, 
1752. 

3 Another factor which contributed to the final break had its origin in religious, 
ecclesiastical, and sectarian differences. Certain devoted Episcopalians on both 
sides of the water wanted to see Church of England bishops established in the Colo- 
nies. The Government made no attempt to comply with the request ; but the fear 
that it would, became real and general ; the ministers of the opposing sects, together 
with the patriot leaders among the laymen, played upon this fear, and the prejudice 
and apprehension thus excited became a potent cause of estrangement. 



THE FIRST YEARS OF GEORGE m 751 

Grenville 's New Customs Act and Provisions for Enforcing Trade 
Regulations, 1764. — Up to the close of the Seven Years' War the 
British Government had never seriously regarded the Colonies as 
revenue producers, indeed, the greatest ignorance prevailed concern- 
ing them. 1 The new plan of imposing upon them a share of the im- 
perial burden had been contemplated in Bute's administration ; but 
it was left to Grenville to carry it through. 2 His great knowledge of 
administrative detail, his hatred of irregularity and evasion of law, 
and his want of tact led him to press the policy. He found that the 
customs revenue from the Colonies amounted to less than £2000 which 
it cost nearly £8000 to collect, and further, that nine tenths of their 
tea, wine, sugar, and molasses were smuggled. In 1763 the old 
Sugar Act of 1733 expired. In spite of petitions, supported even by 
the royal Governor of Massachusetts, against the renewal of its pro- 
visions, Grenville in 1763 passed a new act imposing several new duties. 
The duty on molasses was reduced one half, and new bounties and 
concessions were offered ; but all this was to no purpose ; for stringent 
measures were taken to prevent smuggling, and the principle was 
announced in the preamble that the purpose was to raise a revenue. 

The Stamp Act suggested, 1764. — The apprehension thus excited 
was further enhanced on the news of the design to quarter 10,000 troops 
in the Colonies. The East India Company and Ireland provided their 
own armies, and the British Government felt that the Americans 
should do the same, since the several provinces were extremely re- 
luctant to supply militia for the common defense, especially to send 
contingents to exposed points when their own particular localities 
were free from danger. It was to help defray the expenses of this 
standing army that the Stamp Act was imposed. It was expected to 
yield about £100,000, an amount less than one third the cost of main- 
taining the contemplated military establishment. There is little 
doubt, however, that if the Colonies had paid their part willingly, they 
would very soon have been called upon to provide the whole. More- 
over, the form of tax was a decided innovation. Hitherto, internal 
taxation had been left to the provincial assemblies. In 1739, a 
similar project for raising funds by a Stamp Act had been proposed 
to Walpole; but he had wisely refused. 3 Again, in 1754, Pitt had 
rejected a more reasonable suggestion to levy a tax to be apportioned 
among the several Colonies and raised in any manner they should see 
fit. Grenville, however, was a man of a different stamp from either 
Walpole or Pitt. In March, 1764, along with his customs bill, he 
introduced and carried a resolution declaring that " for further de- 

1 It is said that letters had been sent even from the Secretary of State to the 
Governor of the Island of New England. 

2 Macaulay's saying is famous that he lost the Colonies, because he was the first 
minister to read the American dispatches. 

3 "I have set Old England against me," he declared to Chesterfield, "and do 
you think I will have New England likewise?" 



752 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

fraying the expenditure of protecting the Colonies it may be proper 
to charge certain stamp duties on the Colonies." At the same time, 
though he preferred this form of tax as the fairest, as well as the easiest 
and least expensive to collect, he gave the Colonists a year to suggest 
a better scheme. 

The Passage of the Stamp Act, 22 March, 1765. — The Colonies, 
instead of suggestions, framed resolutions and addresses denying the 
right of Parliament to tax them at all. If the measure were carried, 
they asserted, " it would establish the melancholy truth that the 
inhabitants of the Colonies are the slaves of the Britons, from whom 
they are descended. ' ' One possible solution of the difficulty, advocated 
by Otis and Franklin, was to admit American representatives into 
the British Parliament. Grenville, after a short consideration, re- 
jected it. It is doubtful if he could have carried it through, and equally 
doubtful whether, in the end, it would have satisfied the Colonies 
themselves. In January, 1765, the measure, so momentous in its 
consequences, was carried in a thinly attended session after a " most 
languid debate." Among the few opponents was Colonel Barre, who 
is said to have originated on that occasion the term " sons of liberty." * 
Pitt, the stanchest colonial champion, was in bed with one of his 
frequent attacks of gout. It received the royal assent, 22 March. Out- 
side, the indifference was as great as in Parliament. George III was 
one of the first to recognize the gravity of the situation. 2 According 
to the Stamp Act all newspapers, bills, policies of insurance, and legal 
documents were to be written on stamped paper to be sold by officials 
appointed for the purpose. It was provided that they should be 
Americans, and Franklin, though as colonial agent 3 he had opposed 
the measure, anticipated so little difficulty that he procured an appoint- 
ment for one of his most intimate friends. 

The Stamp Act Congress and the American Opposition, 1765. — 
When the news reached America, where public sentiment was being 
worked upon by skilful agitators, storms of protest burst forth. 
Virginia passed a series of resolutions which were termed " the alarum 
bell to the disaffected," and 7 November, a Congress representing 
nine Colonies met in New York. Declaring " that it is inseparably 
essential to the freedom of a people, and the undoubted right of English- 
men, that no taxes be imposed upon them, but with their own con- 
sent, given personally or by their representatives 4 ; " they sent 
petitions embodying their views to the King and to both Houses. 
Like the Short Parliament of 1640, the Stamp Act Congress was 

1 The phrase, however, does not occur in the report of the debate. 

2 "I am more and more grieved at the accounts of America," he wrote, 5 Decem- 
ber, 1765. "Where the spirit will end is not to be said. It is undoubtedly the 
most serious matter that ever came before Parliament." 

3 The various Colonies were represented by agents in London. 

4 They repudiated the idea of representation in the British Parliament and in- 
sisted that they could only be taxed by their provincial assemblies. 



THE FIRST YEARS OF GEORGE III 753 

chiefly significant for bringing the leaders of the opposition together 
and enabling them to formulate a common plan of resistance. But 
the opposition did not stop with peaceful methods. In Massachu- 
setts there were wild outbursts of mob violence, an unruly example 
that was followed in many other colonies. The merchants entered 
into agreements to import no more goods, to cancel orders already 
given, and to pay no debts to English creditors till the Act should 
be repealed. The lawyers refused to use the stamped paper, and all 
legal business came to a standstill. On 1 November, the day the 
measure was to have gone into effect, shops were closed, bells were 
tolled, flags were hung at half mast, newspapers appeared with a 
death's head in place of the stamp required by law, and copies of the 
Act were hawked about the streets with the inscription : " The folly 
of England and the ruin of America." Finding that it was hopeless 
to transact business otherwise, the governors were obliged to issue 
orders " authorizing non-compliance with the Act." 

The Regency Bill and the Fall of Grenville, July, 1765. —The 
opposition had been encouraged by the fall of Grenville in July, 1765. 
For some time George had wanted to get rid of him. His Ministry 
was weak and unpopular in Parliament, and had aroused an increasing 
spirit of dissatisfaction among the people. Also, he had proved to be 
a disappointment personally: he was too stubborn to suit the King's 
purposes and wore him out with constant interviews and long lectures. 
" When he has wearied me for two hours," complained George, " he 
looks at his watch to see if he may not tire me an hour more," and he 
once declared : "I would rather see the devil in my closet than Mr. 
Grenville." His only reason for continuing to put up with him was 
the dreadful alternative of falling into the clutches of a Whig Ministry. 
The final break came over a Regency Bill following upon a mental 
disturbance which attacked the King early in 1765. George was 
induced to give his assent to the exclusion of his mother, the Princess 
Dowager, from the list of regents on the ground that otherwise the 
Commons would not pass it. When he discovered that this was 
merely a trick devised by the opponents of Bute, he ordered Grenville 
to announce to the Commons a royal message recommending that the 
Princess be included. The Prime Minister, although no party to the 
original deceit, refused. Thereupon, the King made a vain effort 
to form a Ministry that would consent to his terms. Pitt refused 
twice, because his brother-in-law, Lord Temple, would not join him. 
Grenville, however, had become so intolerable that George dismissed 
him in July, and called in the Whigs under the leadership of the Mar- 
quis of Rockingham. He intended to submit to them only until he 
could make another arrangement. Grenville, whose tenure of power 
had been marked by the disastrous struggle with Wilkes and the 
opening of the conflict with the Colonies, managed to achieve one good 
result before his dismissal : he secured from the King a promise that 
henceforth he would cease to consult Bute in affairs of State. 
3C 



754 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

The Rockingham Ministry, 1765-1766. — The Rockingham Minis- 
try was a " mixture of wornout veterans and raw recruits." The Whig 
majority were young men of rank and wealth. Lord Rockingham, 
their leader, who possessed vast estates and extensive influence, was 
primarily a sportsman. He was lacking in knowledge and industry 
and was a bad and reluctant speaker ; but he was modest, amiable, 
and thoroughly upright. It is said that he had a way of looking 
when George advanced questionable proposals that caused that mon- 
arch to dread him worse than men of more fluent tongues. The com- 
bination was far from strong and it was contemptuously described 
as " a lute-string Ministry fit only for summer wear." Yet by sheer 
force of character and united devotion to the public service it not 
only set a noble example, but made a strong fight against the arbi- 
trary ambition of the King and the prevailing corruption, and carried 
through important remedial measures. It repealed the Stamp Act, 
secured the parliamentary condemnation of general warrants, and 
put an end to the practice of depriving military officers of their com- 
mands for political opposition. It accomplished all this in the teeth 
of the constant and underhanded opposition of the King, and, except 
in the case of the Stamp Act, without the much-needed help of Pitt, 
who had refused to join. 1 While sympathizing with their measures, 
he was opposed to government by the aristocratic Whig connection 
that did not rest on the good will of the King and people. 

The Advent of Edmund Burke, 1765. — In the session of 1 765-1 766 
Edmund Burke made his first appearance in Parliament. The son 
of a Protestant Irish attorney, he had come as a young man to Lon- 
don, where he was soon recognized as a writer of wide learning, deep 
discernment, and uncommon power of literary expression. In 1765 
he became the secretary of Rockingham, through whose patronage 
he secured his seat. Although he never attained the influence in 
the House of Commons which his talents and his commanding per- 
sonality 2 warranted, men of later generations have come to regard 
him as the most profound thinker on political subjects of his time. 
Lofty in ideals and free from corruption, he was at the same time 
tactless, irritable, and partisan, and he was more effective in dealing 
with principles than with men. His fluency, his vast knowledge, 
and the overrichness of his imagination led him to speak too often 
and at too great length, and he emptied the House so frequently that 
he was known as the " dinner bell." A body made up mostly of 
placemen and mediocrities was not calculated to appreciate him. 
Nevertheless, he was from the first recognized as a power to be 
reckoned with, and there were times when the sweep of his eloquence 

1 Chesterfield described the Ministry as "an arch that wanted a keystone and 
that keystone was Pitt." 

2 Dr. Johnson once remarked that: "No man of sense could meet Mr. Burke 
by accident under a gateway to avoid a shower without being convinced that he 
was the first man in England." 



THE FIRST YEARS OF GEORGE III 755 

rendered him irresistible. He differed from Pitt not only upon many 
current questions, but in fundamental principles of policy. For 
example, in opposition to his older contemporary, he believed in 
building up a strong permanent party independent of the Crown. 
Moreover, while he strove against abuses, he was opposed to any 
alteration of the machinery of the Constitution. He advocated the 
publication of debates and improved methods of election and he led 
the fight against placemen and parliamentary corruption. On the 
other hand, he was opposed to shortening the term of Parliament, on 
the ground that more frequent elections would only increase disorder 
and bribery ; a place bill, he maintained, would exclude many men 
of standing and ability ; binding members by instructions from their 
constituents, he insisted, would deprive them of that power of exercis- 
ing the reason and judgment which is the true function of the legis- 
lator. Disfranchisement of rotten boroughs and redistribution of 
seats he condemned as a rash experiment. The excesses of the French 
Revolution drove him into a still more conservative position, though 
his later views are by no means inconsistent with his earlier. Al- 
though the mainstay of the Rockingham party, he never held a seat 
in the Cabinet. 

The Repeal of the Stamp Act, 1766. — Burke made two speeches 
on the repeal of the Stamp Act which " filled the town with wonder," 
and Pitt championed the cause of the Colonies with his wonted fire. 
" The idea of a virtual representation of America," he declared, " is 
the most contemptible idea that ever entered the head of a man." 
He rejoiced that the Colonies had resisted 1 the attempted taxation 
and insisted that the Stamp Act be " repealed absolutely, totally, 
immediately." Effective as were all these speeches, a still more ef- 
fective argument was the attitude of the British merchants, who rep- 
resented in strong petitions that the interruption of American trade 
and the non-payment of debts had already involved a loss of £4,000,- 
000. In vain did the King seek to block the efforts of the Ministry 
by secret instructions to his agents in Parliament. Unfortunately, 
the bill for repeal which passed both Houses in March, 1766, was 
coupled with a Declaratory Act to which the Rockinghamites gave a 
reluctant consent, maintaining the right of Parliament to tax the 
Colonies. For the moment, however, this ill-advised and empty 
assertion did nothing to temper the joy with which the news was 
received throughout England and America. The trouble, however, 
had only begun. The commercial restrictions still remained, 2 and 
the Colonies, having won in their first encounter, were bound to resist 
in the future, any measures that touched their interests. The Minis- 

1 "Three millions of people," he cried, "so dead to all feelings of liberty as 
voluntarily to submit to be slaves, would have been fit instruments to make slaves 
of all the rest." 

2 Though some of the duties, notably on molasses, were materially reduced by 
the Rockingham Ministry. 



756 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

try, which by its conciliatory policy might have won their confidence, 
did not long survive ; for George took advantage of divisions among 
its members to turn it out of office in July. 

The Grafton-Pitt Ministry, 1 766-1 770. — The new Ministry was 
formed by Pitt, who finally consented to employ his great talents 
and popularity in defending the Crown against the great Whig houses 
and their connections. He had other large and ambitious plans, in- 
cluding the formation of a great Protestant league in Europe and the 
reform of Parliament at home ; but his whole undertaking ended in 
failure. Declining to take the responsibility himself, he chose the 
office of Lord Privy Seal and selected as a figurehead the Duke of 
Grafton, one of his admirers who had entered polities from a sense of 
duty rather than for personal or factional ends. Unfortunately, he 
was timid, irresolute, loose in morals, and inclined to neglect public 
business for racing and hunting. Without a party following Pitt 
was obliged to , fill the remaining offices in such a haphazard fashion 
that his product was known as the " Mosaic Ministry." Moreover, 
he dumfounded his friends by accepting a peerage. In ceasing 
to be the " great commoner," for that had been his title, the Earl of 
Chatham impaired his influence with the people, and shut himself 
out of the House which was the only proper field for his match- 
less eloquence. Tortured by the gout, he became increasingly 
irritable, and was finally attacked by a " gloomy and mysterious 
malady," probably nervous prostration, which led him to shun all 
public business. In March, 1767, he went into retirement, whence he 
did not emerge for over two years. 

The Townshend Acts, 1767. — In the absence of Pitt the chief 
power was seized by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Charles Towns- 
hend, whose inability and lack of judgment or scruple was unhappily 
combined with a brilliancy of wit and personal charm which made 
him " the spoiled child of the House of Commons." His budget for 
the year 1767 having been defeated by a vote to reduce the land tax 
from four to three shillings in the pound, 1 he rashly attempted, in- 
stead of resigning, to make up the deficiency by duties on American 
commerce. In thus reopening the controversy he shares with Gren- 
ville and the King the responsibility for the disastrous results that 
followed. Late in the spring he carried an act imposing port duties 
on glass, lead, painters' colors, paper, and tea, legalizing writs of 
assistance and providing that the revenue raised under the act 
should be employed in maintaining civil officials independently of 
the colonial assemblies. Any surplus was to go toward the support 
of troops. Another act aimed to make the customs service more ef- 
fective by establishing an American Board of Commissioners. Before 
it passed Townshend had died, 1767, leaving a fatal legacy to his suc- 
cessors. It was estimated that the Townshend duties would yield only 

1 This is notable as the first defeat of a Ministry on a money bill since the Revo- 
lution of 1688. 



THE FIRST YEARS OF GEORGE III 757 

£40,000; but they involved principles most dangerous in their con- 
sequences — limitless possibilities of taxation, coercion, and crippling 
of trade. 

The Resistance of the Colonies and the Weakness of the Grafton 
Ministry, 1766-1769. — The hollowness of the distinction between 
internal and external taxation was now generally evident 1 and the 
smoldering embers of opposition in the Colonies again burst forth 
into flame. Once more, Massachusetts led the way : the merchants 
renewed their non-importation agreements, the Assembly petitioned 
the King, and a circular letter, composed by Samuel Adams, was dis- 
patched early in 1768 to the other colonial legislatures asking for 
concerted action. The Letters of a Pennsylvania Farmer by John 
Dickinson, recommending peaceful but resolute resistance, both voiced 
and influenced the prevailing sentiment. Unfortunately, the British 
Ministry was unfitted either for conciliation or vigorous repression. 
Grafton could exercise little authority over his disorganized and unruly 
colleagues, and sorely harassed by the attacks of opposing factions, he 
weakly allowed the Cabinet, which had only sullenly acquiesced in 
the passage of the Townshend Acts, to fall more and more under the 
royal control. Townshend was succeeded by Lord North, a favorite 
of the King's, and, one by one, the ministers were replaced by advocates 
of an uncompromising policy. A force of troops under General Gage 
was sent to Boston in the autumn of 1768; but, though quiet was 
maintained for a time, contentment was not restored. Then a sug- 
gestion to apply to Massachusetts an old law of Henry VIII, providing 
that offenders outside the kingdom might be brought to England for 
trial, provoked the Virginia Resolves of 1769. They declared that 
such a step was " highly derogatory of the right of the British sub- 
ject," denied again the authority of Parliament to tax the Colonies, 
and insisted upon the right of joint petition. In general, such resolute- 
ness was displayed, and the non-importation agreements worked so 
effectively against British trade, that the Ministry proposed, as a 
means of reconciliation, to remove all the Townshend duties except a 
tax of three pence per pound on tea. Grafton, and even North, 
wanted to do away with the duty on tea as well, but they were over- 
ruled. The measure, carried in 1770, was announced to the Colonies 
in a " harsh and ungracious " circular letter. 

The Middlesex Election, 1768. — The situation at home was also 
charged with trouble. High prices and hard times had aroused grave 
popular discontent, which manifested itself in frequent riots and strikes. 
The general election of 1768 was marked by more buying and selling 
of votes than ever before, and those in the past had been corrupt 
enough. The most notable fact in the election, however, was the 
choice of John Wilkes as a member from Middlesex. He had divided 
his time abroad between scholarly pursuits and disreputable wander- 

1 A witty Irishman remarked that it made no difference whether the money was 
taken from the coat pockets of the Colonists or their waistcoat pockets. 






758 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

ings. Returning only a few weeks before the election, he had been 
escorted to and from the polling place by an unruly London mob. 
After the votes had been taken he submitted to the authorities, and 
under the old sentence was committed to the King's Bench prison, 
where he remained till April, 1770. During this period of nearly 
two years he was active with tongue and pen, and, besides contesting 
a significant parliamentary issue, managed to get himself elected as an 
alderman of London. A huge mob, which gathered to demand his 
release, was, after an order to disperse, fired upon by the King's troops, 
10 May, 1768. This incident, known as the " Massacre of St. George's 
Fields," aroused intense popular fury. In February, 1769, the Com- 
mons decided on Wilkes' expulsion. So far, they were technically 
within their rights, for they were the sole judges of the validity of 
election returns. When, however, the men of Middlesex proceeded 
to reelect him, they overstepped their authority by declaring him in- 
capable of sitting in the existing parliament. There was no law de- 
claring ineligibility for any of the charges standing against him, and 
it required more than a resolution of either House to make one. 1 

Finally, on the fourth election, Colonel Luttrell, the court candidate, 
though receiving a minority of the votes, was awarded the seat. The 
King, who had influenced the Commons partly through his " Friends," 
and partly by working on their jealousy of privilege, had won a tem- 
porary and costly victory. He had defied the rights of the electors, 
and Wilkes, who in the beginning was supported only by the enemies 
of the Court and the more turbulent among the masses, became the 
popular hero. 2 In spite of annual motions in his behalf, he was never 
admitted to the Parliament of 1768, though he continued to be a 
thorn in the flesh of his opponents. In 1774 he was returned in the 
new general election and admitted without opposition. In May, 
1782, he finally carried a motion to expunge from the Journal the 
record of his incapacity made in 1769. He had given a decided im- 
pulse to public agitation outside, and had taught the Commons a 
lesson which they never forgot — that the voice of the electors could 
not be defied. 3 

The "Letters of Junius," 1769-1772. — The example of Wilkes 
in the North Briton had greatly stimulated attacks on the Government 
in the newspapers. These were usually in the form of letters signed 
with a fictitious name, preferably that of a patriot of antiquity. The 
most famous are the " Letters of Junius " which have survived as an 

1 Such a law, of course, would have to pass both Houses and receive the royal 
signature. 

2 Franklin in 1784 stated as his belief that "if George III had had a bad private 
character and John Wilkes a good one, the latter might have turned the former out 
of the kingdom." 

3 Wilkes, however, had long ceased to be a firebrand ; though he advocated some 
liberal measures he never counted as a force in Parliament. He ended his days 
in the scholarly leisure which he loved, but, owing to his extravagant habits, died 
a poor man. 



THE FIRST YEARS OF GEORGE III 759 

English classic. The first to attract attention appeared in the Public 
Advertiser, 21 January, 1769, and though the " acme of audacity " 
was reached in a famous letter to the King on 19 December, the se- 
ries did not come to an end till 21 January, 1772. They owe their in- 
fluence to three facts : the men and the times which they attacked ; 
their wonderful style ; and the mystery of their authorship. Grafton, 
North, Sandwich, and George himself were fair game ; the policy of 
the Ministry was timid and bungling; the Colonies were defiant; 
Spain and France were contemptuously overriding British foreign 
interests ; the people at home were restive ; and the King could count 
only upon the hide-bound Tories and paid henchmen. Junius, to be 
sure, had no firm grasp of general principles or liberal progressive 
views, having no sympathy, for example, either with the American 
cause or with the parliamentary reform ; but he had an intimate 
knowledge of the political situation, he saw clearly the weakness and 
the vices of the men in power, and exposed them with fiendish skill. 
His style for clearness, polish, and sustained, biting invective has never 
been surpassed, though his prolonged fury grows monotonous, and his 
hatred of those he attacked led him at times to violate both truth and 
decency. Naturally a man who wrote what Junius did could not dis- 
close his identity, but he realized fully that the effect which he pro- 
duced was greatly enhanced by the baffling secrecy in which he wrapped 
himself. " There is something oracular in the delivery of my opin- 
ion," he wrote to Wilkes; " I speak from a recess which no man can 
penetrate ... the mystery of Junius increases his importance." 
True to prediction which he once made, his secret apparently died 
with him. As many as fifty names have been suggested as possible 
authors of the letters. The weight of evidence, however, points most 
conclusively to Sir Philip Francis (1 740-1818), who in early life was 
art amanuensis to Pitt, later a clerk in the War Office, and subsequently 
a member of the Council for India. 

The End of the Grafton Ministry and the Advent of Lord North, 
1770. — Chatham, who emerged from his seclusion in July, 1769, at 
once threw himself into opposition against the Ministry which he had 
constructed in its original form. He vehemently denounced its 
American policy and its attitude toward the Middlesex election, in 
which, he maintained, the Commons had betrayed their constituents 
and violated the Constitution. Lord Chancellor Camden, who sup- 
ported him, was dismissed, 17 January, 1770, and various resignations 
followed. Grafton, unable to fill their places and finding his situation 
hopeless, resigned on the 28th. George at once offered the vacant 
• place to Lord North, who continued to hold the Chancellorship of the 
Exchequer as well. North was ludicrous in appearance : he was un- 
wieldy in figure, awkward in movement, while his prominent, short- 
sighted eyes and puffy cheeks led Horace Walpole to remark that he 
looked like a blind trumpeter. Neither was he a statesman nor orator 
of the first rank ; but he was an admirable gentleman, an excellent 



760 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

scholar, he was gifted with a ready wit l and uncommon tact. Un- 
fortunately, though obstinate at times, he was too easy-going and 
too fond of the King. Against his better judgment, and with indolent 
docility, he allowed George to persuade him into measures so disas- 
trous 2 as to make his Administration one of the most inglorious in 
English history. Again and again he tried to resign, only to yield 
when George begged him not to desert him. In the face of bitter 
attack he placidly slept on the Treasury Bench and made no effective 
effort to check the blundering and corruption for which he was offi- 
cially responsible. After a decade of tireless and unscrupulous effort 
George III had made his personal power supreme, and as long as 
North remained in office the King ruled as well as reigned ; but his 
policy proved so fatal in its results that he was at length obliged to 
resign the conduct of affairs to a Minister responsible to public opinion. 
One result, however, he achieved, — he broke the power of the Whig 
oligarchy beyond hope of recovery. 

FOR ADDITIONAL READING 
See ch. XLIII below. 

1 Once when Thomas Townshend, later Lord Sydney, after whom the capital of 
New South Wales is named, declared in a violent attack: "I will have his head, 
I will have his head," he replied : "The honorable gentleman has expressed a desire 
to have my head, let me state that under no circumstances would I have his." 

2 "In all my memory," he once remarked, "I do not recollect a single popular 
measure I ever voted for." 



CHAPTER XLIII 

THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION AND THE END OF THE PERSONAL 
ASCENDANCY OF GEORGE III (1770-1783) 

The North Ministry and the Ascendancy of the King, 1 770-1 782. — 

Contrary to expectation, North's Ministry, described as a "forlorn 
hope," remained in power longer than all the previous Ministries of 
the reign combined. George III to a large degree directed the policy 
of the Government, and his extensive use of patronage and corruption, 
the activity of his " Friends," together with the adroitness of North 
as a party leader, enabled him to maintain a " crushing and docile 
majority " in Parliament. The eclipse of Chatham in the House of 
Lords and the dissensions between his followers and those of Rocking- 
ham were also elements of strength to the headstrong King. More- 
over, the popular excitement aroused by the Middlesex election gradu- 
ally subsided and gave place to a state of almost unexampled political 
stupor. " A little spirit," George had written to North, " will soon 
restore order in my service." 

The Grenville Election Act, 1770. — Nevertheless, the Opposition 
succeeded in carrying one or two measures of reform. First in im- 
portance was a bill introduced by Grenville for trying disputed elec- 
tions. Formerly such cases had been tried by a committee of the 
whole House, with the result that they had been invariably decided 
in favor of the candidate whose party had a majority in the Commons, 
quite regardless of the rights of the electors. According to the new 
arrangement forty-nine members were chosen by ballot ; from them 
each party removed one member alternately until the number was 
reduced to thirteen, and then added one member each. The body of 
fifteen thus constituted was sworn to render its decisions independ- 
ently of Parliament. As each party would naturally seek to exclude 
the abler men among its opponents, the method of reduction was known 
as " knocking the brains out of the committee," but the Act, limited 
at first to seven years, worked so well in practice that in 1774 it was 
made permanent. It remained in force till 1868, when the duties were 
handed over to the judges. Grenville died a few months after the 
passage of the measure which did honor to his name. 

The Struggle over the Reporting of Debates, 1771. — In this same 
year, 1770, the jury in the case of Woodfall, one of the publishers of 
the " Letters of Junius," brought in a verdict of " guilty of printing 
and publishing only." Nevertheless, Lord Mansfield rendered an 
opinion confirming the old doctrine that the jury could only bring 

761 



762 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

in a verdict as to the facts, and that it was within the province of the 
judges alone to decide whether or no the accused was guilty of libel. 
In spite of intense opposition his ruling remained law till Fox's cele- 
brated Libel Act of 1792. In the session of 1771 the Commons became 
involved in a quarrel with the press over the question of reporting 
debates. It had guarded its privilege of excluding strangers so jeal- 
ously that it was known as " the unreported Parliament." In view 
of the growing strength of public opinion it was unwise to attempt to 
keep its proceedings secret, and it was only natural that erroneous 
and unfair accounts of what was said and done should be spread abroad 
in print. The matter came to an issue when, on the complaint of 
Colonel Onslow, the House sought to arrest some offending printers. 
The newspapers replied with the most vehement denunciations, char- 
acterizing Onslow, for instance, as a " paltry, insignificant insect." 

The Lord Mayor Crosby and the aldermen of London, chief among 
them Wilkes and Oliver, intervened to protect the printers from ar- 
rest within the City, and apprehended the messenger of the Commons 
for assault. For this they were called to the bar of the House, and 
Crosby and Oliver were sent to the Tower, where they were held until 
the end of the session. Wilkes refused to appear except as a member 
from Middlesex. After he had twice repeated his refusal, the Commons 
wisely avoided another conflict with such a dangerous person by sum- 
moning him before them on a day when the House was adjourned. 
George approved of their discretion, declaring that " he would have 
nothing more to do with that devil Wilkes." The result of the struggle 
was really another step in the direction of the freedom of the press, for, 
although the House still maintained that publication of debates was a 
breach of privilege, no further attempt was made to punish the reporters. 
The great progress of the press as a political factor is one of the most sig- 
nificant features of this period ; next to the failure of George's Ameri- 
can policy, it played the most important part in putting an end to the 
personal ascendancy of the monarch which he had succeeded in 
reviving. 

The Royal Marriage Act, 1772. — Blameless in his private life as 
he was corrupt in his political methods, George III suffered keenly 
from the scandalous conduct of two of his brothers, the Dukes of 
Cumberland and Gloucester. Even worse to his exalted ideas of 
royalty was the fact that both of them married below their station. 
To prevent such indiscretions for the future, which would inevitably 
lower the prestige of the kingly family, and, in case of secret 
alliances, might bring confusion to the succession, he procured the 
passage of the Royal Marriage Act. It provided that no descendant 
of George III under twenty-five years of age could contract a valid 
marriage without the consent of the sovereign, nor after that age ex- 
cept by the sanction of Parliament. The Act — which remains sub- 
stantially in force to-day — while working hardship to individuals, 
has proved to be beneficial from the public standpoint. 



THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION 763 

The Boston Massacre, 5 March, 1770. — Meantime, early in 1770, 
the first blood had been shed in the controversy between Great Britain 
and her American Colonies. For some time the more unruly element 
in the city of Boston had been annoying the British troops until, on 
the evening of 5 March, they were provoked into firing upon their 
tormenters. Three were killed, some half dozen were slightly wounded, 
and two mortally. Whoever was to blame, the " Boston Massacre " 
excited the fiercest indignation throughout the Colonies. Yet when 
the soldiers were brought to trial, leading patriots volunteered to de- 
fend them, and all were acquitted except two who received light 
sentences. 

The Hutchinson Letters, 1 773-1 774. — Although the Government 
paid little attention to the Colonies for three years, the unrest there 
grew steadily. Extremists were active ; mobs were frequent ; loyal- 
ists were roughly handled, in some cases tarred and feathered ; and 
revenue officers were obstructed in the performance of their duties. 
In June, 1772, the Gaspee — whose commander had shown more zeal 
than discretion and regard for law in the pursuit of smugglers in 
Narragansett Bay — ran aground and was promptly boarded and 
burned by the natives. An attempt to bring those concerned to 
England for trial failed. It led, however, to the formation of colonial 
committees of correspondence in 1773, which, in conjunction with 
local committees organized the previous year, furnished a complete 
system of machinery for united revolutionary action. Early in this 
same year, Benjamin Franklin, who was acting as agent for Pennsyl- 
vania, Massachusetts, and two of the other Colonies, procured certain 
confidential letters written by Hutchinson ' to a former secretary of 
Grenville, in which the methods which the British Government should 
employ in dealing with the Colonies were very frankly discussed. He 
sent them to Massachusetts to be handed about among a few of the 
leading patriots, on condition that they should not be published or 
even copied. Nevertheless, they soon found their way into print, 
were circulated throughout the Colonies, and aroused the greatest 
indignation. Franklin soon appeared before the Privy Council, 29 
January, 1774, where he was denounced by Wedderburn, the Solicitor- 
General, in terms of studied insult. The Council roared with laughter 
while Franklin stood without moving a muscle. His methods of pro- 
curing the letters may have been questionable ; but he was an old 
and eminent man, while his accuser was a shifty politician of whom 
Junius said : " There was something about him that treachery could not 
trust." The treatment which Franklin received was bound to turn 
him into an uncompromising opponent of the English Government, 2 
and to affect hosts of sympathizers in the same way. 

1 He had been Governor of Massachusetts Bay since 1771. 

2 There is a familiar story, not well authenticated, that Franklin laid aside the 
homespun suit which he wore on that day and never put it on again until he signed 
the French alliance in 1778. 



764 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

The Boston Tea Party, 16 December, 1773. — Meantime the 
Government by an ill-advised attempt to assist the East India Com- 
pany, whose affairs were in a bad way, opened the breach still wider. 
Among other measures of relief it was provided that a large amount 
of tea which the Company had on hand should be sent from England 
free of duty and subject only to a tax of three pence per pound payable 
at the American ports. Since the tea sold in England was burdened 
with duties aggregating a shilling a pound, the Colonists were greatly 
favored over the home consumer. It has commonly been said that 
what they objected to was the principle of taxation involved, and 
that North would have done wisely to impose the duty at the time of 
export, leaving the Company to reimburse itself by a proportional in- 
crease of price on the sale of the goods in America. It has recently 
been shown, however, that the objection was not so much to the tax 
as to the fact that the tea was consigned to friends of the Government, 
and that the resistance was instigated mainly by the English and 
American merchants who resented being discriminated against in 
order that a great monopoly might be benefited. Toward the close 
of the year 1773, consignments of East India tea were shipped to Bos- 
ton, New York, Philadelphia, and Charleston. On the night of 16 
December, a body of men disguised as Indians boarded the vessels 
which had recently arrived at Boston and emptied three hundred and 
forty chests, valued at £18,000, into the harbor. The ships for New 
York and Philadelphia returned without landing their cargoes, while 
the consignment for Charleston was stored in the customhouse, whence 
it was sold later. 

The Acts of 1774. — The action at Boston, following upon the heels 
of the printing and circulation of the Hutchinson letters, determined 
George III to make an example of the town and at the same time to 
impose such coercion upon Massachusetts as would break its spirit 
and check further resistance. To that end, four " penal laws " were 
passed in 1774. The first closed the harbor of Boston and trans- 
ferred the port to Salem until the losses of the East India Company 
should be made good. The second suspended the charter of the 
Province, increased the power of the Governor, transferred to the 
Crown the nomination of councilors, and provided that town meetings, 
regarded as " nurseries of sedition," should not be held without the 
Governor's consent. The third enacted that all persons charged with 
a capital offense in executing the law in Massachusetts should be taken 
to Nova Scotia or to England for trial. The fourth was a new quarter- 
ing act. The so-called " Quebec Act," passed the same year, extended 
the boundaries of Canada to the Mississippi on the west and to the 
Ohio on the south ; granted freedom of worship to Roman Catholics ; 
and allowed them to be tried by French law in civil cases, though in 
criminal matters the English law was to prevail. It provided further, 
that the Governor-General should be assisted by a legislative council 
appointed by the Crown : there was to be no representative assembly, 



THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION 765 

and taxation was reserved to the British Parliament. The measure, 
designed to deal with problems and promises arising from the peace 
of 1763, was a wise and just one, for it gave the Canadians — -nine 
tenths of whom were French — what they expected and desired, and 
they showed their satisfaction by remaining loyal throughout the en- 
suing war. The American Colonies, however, were furious, for the 
Act seemed to them a design to cut them off from the western lands 
which they claimed, and to extend " Popery " and arbitrary govern- 
ment to their very doors. 

The First Continental Congress, 5 September, 1774. — The Ministry 
had calculated that the leaders would be intimidated by a show of 
force and that the other colonies would not support Massachusetts. 
On the contrary, the repressive measures of 1774 called forth a de- 
termined and united opposition from north to south and led swiftly 
to the final crisis. George III himself realized the gravity of the 
situation: " The die is now cast," he declared; " the Colonies must 
either submit or triumph." On 5 September, a Congress met at 
Philadelphia in which all the thirteen Provinces, except Georgia, 
were represented. Doubtless the majority, 1 while insistent on re- 
dress of grievances, hoped that some means of averting the conflict 
might be arranged. As yet there was little thought of independence. 
Owing, however, to the activity of the aggressive party, the Congress 
took a series of decided steps. It approved the " Suffolk Resolves," 2 
looking toward armed resistance in case of necessity; it demanded 
the revocation of a number of recent laws, notably those of 1774; 
it drew up a declaration of rights ; it framed general non-importation 
and non-exportation agreements ; it sent a petition to the King and 
an address to the English people, after which it adjourned till May. 
In spite of warm professions of loyalty it was evident that the 
leaders would consent to no terms short of complete surrender. 
The British Government had failed either to conciliate or coerce, 
and had blundered along to a point where it was impossible to 
turn back. 

Attempts at Conciliation. — Chatham, who had risen from a sick 
bed in time to lift his voice against the last of the repressive acts of 
1774, rejoiced in the " manly wisdom and calm resolution of Con- 
gress." Yet he was anxious to avert a rebellion, foreseeing that France 
and Spain would seize the opportunity to avenge their defeat in the 
Seven Years' War. Moreover, both he and Burke were insistent on 
regulation of trade, failing to realize that the Colonies would now op- 
pose that as strenuously as they had resisted the attempts to tax 
them. A few of the Ministers, including North, were inclined to con- 
ciliation, though they were ready to do the King's will, while Parlia- 
ment was, since the general election of 1774, more than ever under his 

1 According to John Adams, one third were Whigs, one third Tories, and the rest 
"mongrels." 

2 So-called because they were passed in Suffolk County, Massachusetts. 



766 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

control. The views of two of the most acute and most original 
thinkers of the time are interesting. Josiah Tucker, Dean of Glouces- 
ter, argued that it would be for England's best interests to let the 
Colonies go. Since they refused to contribute to the expenses of the 
Empire, they were only a useless burden, while separation would 
make no difference to commerce ; for it was an economic law that 
trade sought the best markets, and England's were far superior to 
those of any European nation. Adam Smith maintained that restric- 
tions of trade were not only injurious to the Colonies, but to the 
Mother Country as well. He favored peaceful separation, though in 
view of the impossibility of bringing it about, he recommended colo- 
nial representation in the British Parliament. Neither the views of 
Tucker nor of Smith, however, met with acceptance even from the 
leading Whigs. Nevertheless, the Opposition in Parliament kept up 
a zealous but futile agitation against coercion. Both Chatham and 
Burke, early in 1775, introduced conciliation schemes which failed to 
pass, and numerous petitions from the commercial towns were 
" shelved." On 20 March, North, with the consent of the King, did 
move a resolution, providing that if any Colony would pay its quota 
toward the common defense and the expenses of the civil administra- 
tion, no taxes would be imposed except for regulation of trade. This 
attempt came too late. 

The Outbreak of War, Lexington and Concord, 19 April, 1775. — 
Already, Massachusetts had been declared in rebellion. On 19 April 
occurred the memorable skirmishes of Lexington and Concord which 
opened the war that lasted until American independence was secured. 
The result was due to the courage and persistence of a resolute mi- 
nority. Many were opposed to fighting at all. Others who in the 
beginning put their hand to the plow later sought to turn back. 
Spread through the Colonies there was a large and influential body of 
loyalists numbering from a third to a half of the population. In a 
minority in New England, it formed a majority in the Middle Colonies, 
and fully equaled the patriot party in the South. It is estimated that 
at least 20,000 subsequently joined the British army. Their motives 
were various. Some were timid, some were indifferent, some had 
large property interests which they feared to jeopardize, others were 
actuated by a sincere desire to maintain the unity of the British Em- 
pire. Many held to their convictions in spite of privation, suffering, 
and danger : they were tarred and feathered, their property was 
destroyed or confiscated, and they were imprisoned and exiled. In 
England, at the beginning of the war, the King and his ministerial 
agents not only controlled Parliament, but were supported by the 
bulk of the nobility and landed gentry, the clergy of the Established 
Church, and the legal profession. The opposition was confined to the 
merchants, the Dissenting preachers, and the laboring classes, the 
latter of whom were disinclined to serve beyond the seas or to fight 
against men of their own blood. 



THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION 767 

Comparative Strength of the Combatants. — The troops who en- 
listed on the Colonial side were mostly raw, insubordinate, and unwill- 
ing to serve for any length of time away from their own neighborhoods. 
The total population was less than two million souls, funds were 
scanty, and the supply of arms, ammunition, clothes, and provisions 
was lamentably inadequate. The Colonists had to contend against 
a wealthy country with a population fully three times their own, 
against trained armies, and a navy reputed to be invincible. 1 Owing, 
however, to recent economies and to dishonest contractors both arms 
of the service were reduced in numbers and faulty in equipment. 
Then the British undervalued the fighting capacity of the Americans 2 
and the obstacles to be overcome. The country which was to be sub- 
dued was three thousand miles off and extended along a thousand 
miles of sea coast. There could be no theater of war, for the vast 
stretch of country was cut into pieces by many and great rivers, and 
reached back to a region of trackless forests. It was difficult to con- 
quer and impossible to hold. Great Britain, " by her command of 
the sea, might easily destroy its commerce, disturb its fisheries, bom- 
bard its seaport towns, and deprive it of many of the luxuries of life, 
but it could strike no vital blow." The Colonies were hardy and re- 
sourceful, they had a widely extended militia system, 3 and they had 
the experience of two great wars, and were led by a commander whose 
greatness of character and devotion to duty have rarely been equaled. 
The British generals proved singularly ineffective 4 and confined their 
attention mainly to taking and holding the leading seaboard towns, 
when their best chance of success lay in tracking down and destroying 
the opposing army. The issue was only decided, however, when 

1 The British army at the opening of the war, including the forces in Ireland 
and the garrisons at Gibraltar and Minorca, numbered less than 40,000. George 
had tried unsuccessfully for some time to increase this establishment. When a 
larger force became necessary, he determined to employ German mercenaries. 
As Elector of Hanover he lent a force to set free the garrison at Gibraltar and hired 
from the petty princes of Brunswick, Hesse Cassel, and Waldeck about 17,000 
troops. The Americans and the English Whigs were bitter against this step; but, 
impolitic as was the action of the King, the conduct of the German rulers was most 
reprehensible. Frederick the Great declared that if their troops passed through 
his territories, he would tax them like cattle. Much more barbarous was the em- 
ployment of Indians. They proved of little value in regular fighting; for they 
fled to the woods at moments of danger when they were most needed, but were guilty 
of bloodthirsty raids against lonely, exposed settlements. The Americans were 
the first to employ Indians and would have used more if they could have got them, 
but that does not excuse the British for sending them to massacre defenseless women 
and children. 

2 The first Lord of the Admiralty, for example, declared : "They will bluster and 
swell when danger is at a distance, but when it comes near, will like other mobs 
throw down their arms and run away." 

3 Though its efficiency was weakened by the custom of short-term enlistments. 

4 Lord North is said to have remarked of the British generals : "I do not know 
whether they will frighten the enemy, but I am sure they frighten me whenever I 
think of them." 



768 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

France and Spain finally threw their weight in the scale against Great 
Britain. 

The Continental Congress, 10 May, 1775. Washington, Com- 
mander-in-Chief. — The Continental Congress assembled at Phila- 
delphia for its second meeting, 10 May, 1775. It assumed executive 
powers, rejected North's plan of conciliation, and provided for the 
organization into a Continental Army of the troops which had flocked 
to the blockade of Boston after the Lexington fight. Doubtless their 
most important step was the appointment of Washington as Com- 
mander-in-Chief, 15 June; for to him more than to any other single 
man was due the triumph of the American cause. 

Bunker Hill, 17 June, 1775. The Siege of Boston, 1775-1776. — 
Before he arrived in Boston the battle of Bunker Hill had occurred, 
17 June, in which the bravery of the British troops and the stupidity 
of their generals were alike conspicuous. It was a defeat for the 
Americans, with all the moral effects of a victory. Washington, when 
he heard " how they had fought," declared that " the liberties of the 
country were safe." The siege of Boston continued for nine months, 
though the American commander found the greatest difficulty in 
holding his ill-assorted forces together during the winter. Howe, 
who had superseded Gage in October and was " equally incompetent," 
was finally forced to evacuate the town, 17 March, 1776. Thence he 
sailed to Halifax, where he waited for reinforcements in order to attack 
New York. King George, who was disappointed in his hope that the 
Southern Colonies would remain loyal, finally resorted to force. He 
sent an expedition against the Carolinas ; but an attempt in June to 
reduce Charleston was heroically repulsed, and the British com- 
mander Clinton sailed to New York to join Howe. For three years 
the South was left free to send help to the North. 

The Declaration of Independence, 4 July, 1776. — By the beginning 
of 1776, the idea of separation had become very strong in the Colonies, 
which, hitherto, had been fighting mainly to secure redress of griev- 
ances. The change of sentiment was due to various causes, among 
them the employment of German troops and the discovery that King 
George and not the Ministry or Parliament was responsible for the 
coercive policy of the past few years. More influential than all else, 
however, was a pamphlet by Thomas Paine 1 (1737-1809), entitled 
Common Sense. Paine was a radical, and later a free thinker, who 
after a quarrel with the English Government, had come to America 
in 1774 and had been warmly welcomed by Franklin. On 4 July, 1776, 
Congress at Philadelphia adopted the Declaration of Independence. 
It was printed the following day, and signed by such members as were 
present, 2 August. 

The Campaign of 1776. — In the teeth of the Whig opposition the 
Government made vigorous preparations for the campaign of 1776. 

1 He later boasted that his pen had been as effective as Washington's sword. 



THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION 769 

At the same time, General Howe and his brother Admiral Lord Howe 
were appointed commissioners to treat with any colonies or individuals 
who were willing to submit. The military operations of this year 
centered about New York. Howe, with his Halifax forces, his rein- 
forcements, and the troops of Clinton, had an army of 25,000 to which 
Washington, who had hurried from Boston, could only oppose 19,000 
ill-equipped and half- trained men. So the Americans were driven 
successively from Long Island, from Manhattan Island, then over the 
Hudson into New Jersey, and finally across the Delaware. It was 
only Howe's incapacity and Washington's energy that prevented the 
" disorderly mob " from being utterly crushed. Washington thought 
" the game was pretty well played out," and Congress in a panic 
fled to Baltimore. Suddenly, however, he revived the dying hopes 
of his countrymen by recrossing the Delaware River on Christmas 
night and capturing a Hessian force at Trenton, and then destroying 
a detachment at Princeton. Neither commander attempted any- 
thing further till spring. In England, although the Opposition 
was so discouraged by the successes of the King's army about 
New York that they almost ceased to attend Parliament, the situa- 
tion was far from satisfactory. It was impossible to procure sailors 
except by impressment and extravagant bounties. Expenses were 
so heavy that another loan had to be raised and new and burden- 
some taxes imposed. 

Burgoyne's Campaign, 1777. — The British plan of campaign for 
1777 was suggested by Burgoyne, a general of high connections and 
considerable military experience, who was also a man of fashion and a 
writer of plays. He was to lead an army down from Canada, by way 
of Lake Champlain and the Hudson, and to effect a junction at Al- 
bany with Howe, who was to march up from New York. Had the 
plan succeeded, the road to Canada would have been secured. New 
England would have been isolated, and the British would have been 
able to concentrate their efforts against the middle and southern prov- 
inces. The cooperation of Howe was essential in order to prevent 
the Americans from thrusting an army in between and crushing Bur- 
goyne before the junction could be effected. Howe, as usual, did the 
wrong thing, and was backed by the Colonial Secretary, Lord George 
Germain, who, as Lord George Sackville, had played such a sorry part 
at Minden. He decided to proceed first against Philadelphia, trust- 
ing that he could return in time to cooperate with Burgoyne, who, he 
calculated, could not reach Albany till September. Leaving Clinton 
with an army of 8500 to garrison New York and to " act as circum- 
stances may direct," Howe embarked late in July. Obliged to take 
the longer route by Chesapeake Bay and forced to fight a battle with 
Washington, whom he repulsed at the Brandywine, it was 27 Sep- 
tember before he occupied Philadelphia. He spent another month 
in opening up the Delaware in order to secure his communications 
with New York, and then passed the winter restfully in the city, while 

3D 



770 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

his troops and officers wasted their time in idleness and social diver- 
sions. Washington, who had been repulsed at Germantown, 4 October, 
in an attempt to enter Philadelphia, went into winter quarters at Val- 
ley Forge. His army, half starved and almost barefoot, seemed on the 
verge of dissolution ; but during those gloomy months the men were 
drilled into an effective fighting machine by Baron Steuben, a German 
officer who had adopted the American cause. Moreover, events had 
happened which turned the tide of the war. 

The Failure and Surrender of Burgoyne. — Burgoyne's first move- 
ments had promised well. George, on receipt of the news, is said to 
have rushed into the Queen's rooms, crying : " I have beat them ! 
beat all the Americans." But his rejoicing proved premature. The 
invaders had a rough country to travel over, they found it difficult 
to procure supplies, and a strong American force was collected to 
meet them on the west bank of the Hudson. Defeated in a series of 
engagements and surrounded by a force outnumbering his own by 
four to one, Burgoyne surrendered to General Gates at Saratoga, 
17 October, 1777. By the Convention there concluded his troops were 
to be allowed to return to England on condition of not serving in 
America again during the war. These favorable terms were doubtless 
due to Clinton's advance up the Hudson early in the month with the 
small force which Howe had left him. The Continental Congress, 
much to its discredit, evaded the agreement, and, although Burgoyne 
and his staff were allowed to go home in the spring of 1778, the rank 
and file were held in the country. Howe's failure to cooperate with 
the northern army and his failure to track down and crush the ex- 
hausted forces of Washington were largely responsible for the miscar- 
riage of the campaign. 1 The result determined France to throw her 
weight in the scale, Spain followed later, and the conflict between 
Great Britain and her colonies was enlarged into another great Euro- 
pean struggle. 

The French Alliance, 1778. — For some time, the French and Span- 
ish Governments had been secretly providing the Americans with 
money and supplies, and many Frenchmen, chief among them the 
Marquis de La Fayette, volunteered for service in the Continental 
Army. 2 Benjamin Franklin, who went as diplomatic agent to France 
in December, 1776, was warmly welcomed by the circle who were be- 
ginning to interest themselves in those problems of religious and politi- 
cal philosophy which heralded the approach of the Revolution of 1789. 
The French Government, however, had no enthusiasm for the American 
cause ; its aim was to revenge the humiliation it had suffered at the 
hands of Pitt and to recover as much as possible of the colonial trade 
and possessions it had lost. On 6 February, 1778, a few weeks after 

1 He sent in his resignation 22 October, after it was too late to retrieve what 
had been lost. 

2 France was not the only country which furnished volunteers. At one time it 
was estimated that, out of twenty-nine major generals, eleven were foreigners. 



THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION 771 

the news of Burgoyne's surrender reached Paris, a formal treaty of 
alliance was concluded with the United States, 1 by which it was agreed 
that, in case of war between France and Great Britain, neither party 
would make peace without consulting the other, or until the independ- 
ence of the United States should be acknowledged. France gave up 
ail claim to Canada, but was to have any conquests she might make in 
the West Indies. This alliance proved a godsend to the American 
cause. It created an effective diversion against Great Britain ; it 
opened French ports to American privateers ; it brought increased 
money, supplies, munitions of war, powerful fleets, and at length an 
army. Furthermore, it breathed enthusiasm into the lukewarm and 
despairing. It was high time, for the situation was gloomy enough. 
Finances were at a low ebb ; large issues of paper money had disor- 
ganized prices and gravely damaged public credit ; enlistments had 
fallen off woefully, and it was difficult to pay the soldiers who remained 
in the service ; Congress was at odds with the army, and the officers 
were intriguing and quarreling among themselves. Now, at last, the 
steadfastness of Washington and those who supported him was to be 
rewarded. 

The Party Situation in England. The Death of Chatham, 1778. — 
The American disaster, while it aroused various individuals and cities 
to raise troops, encouraged the Opposition to renewed attacks against 
the Government. Their force was greatly weakened, however, by a 
sharp difference in policy. Chatham, though continuing to urge 
extreme concessions, stopped short at independence, while the Rock- 
ingham party were now ready to grant even that. North, who had 
carried on the war for years against his better judgment, after begging 
in vain that the King allow him to resign, finally introduced and car- 
ried a conciliation bill conceding practically all that Chatham had 
advocated. Commissioners were sent to America ; but Congress, 
now backed by France, would listen to no terms which did not include 
recognition of independence, and when the commissioners appealed 
to the people in an ill-advised manifesto, they only met with rebuff. 
The Court party in its straits had already made overtures to Chatham, 
who might have had some influence with the revolutionists, but he 
would take no steps without an " entire new Cabinet." George III 
replied stolidly that " no advantage to the country nor personal 
danger to himself would make him stoop to the Opposition." Now- 
adays such action would be impossible ; but for the time being the 
King had arrested the growth of responsible Cabinet government. 
He showed an obstinacy equal to that of the Stuarts though his posi- 
tion was not the same ; for he had a majority in Parliament, even 
though it was held together by corrupt methods unknown in their 
days. Yet George cannot be wholly blamed, for the Opposition was 
bitter, it rejoiced unpatriotically at the American successes, and 

1 The name assumed by the Colonies in the Declaration of Independence. 



772 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

obstructed his military plans. The majority, to be sure, had laudable 
reasons for desiring the failure of the King's war, some because they 
thought it unrighteous, others because it would break down the royal 
ascendancy, force upon the Crown a Ministry of the people, and put 
an end to the regime of corruption. Naturally George could not see 
this. On the other hand, many supported his policy from a sincere 
feeling that the greatness of England depended upon the retention 
of the Colonies even by force. On 7 April, 1778, Chatham, broken by 
illness, appeared in the House of Lords, and made his last speech, 
which was an earnest plea against conceding American sovereignty 
and yielding to the claims of France. In the midst of the debate he 
fell in a fit and was taken home, where he died, 1 1 May. Thus passed 
the " great, illustrious, faulty being " who had achieved so much for 
England. His death made for a partial unity in the ranks of the 
Opposition. 

The Military and Naval Events of 1778-1779. — Clinton, who had 
succeeded Howe as Commander-in-chief, evacuated Philadelphia, 
18 June, 1778, and hastened to New York to meet an expected French 
attack. In July, a fleet under D'Estaing arrived, but, after failing 
in an attack on Newport, departed for the West Indies, without at- 
tempting anything further. The center of the war now shifted to the 
Southern Colonies. In November, Clinton sent a British force to 
Georgia, which captured Savannah, overran the whole Province, and 
opened the way for an invasion of South Carolina before the close of 
the year. In the West Indies, the advantage lay with the French 
during the years 1778 and 1779. In spite of the skill of her officers 
and the boldness of her sailors, Great Britain was failing to maintain 
her supremacy at sea. This was due to the sad state into which the 
naval administration had fallen since the last war, and to the abandon- 
ment of Pitt's policy of striking at the fleets of the enemy before they 
got to sea. On 12 April, 1779, Spain joined France in an alliance 
against Great Britain, and declared war, 16 June. Her first step was 
to attempt the recovery of Gibraltar which, however, was ably de- 
fended by General Eliott during a memorable three years' siege. 
Though the combined French and Spanish fleets were unable to effect 
their aim of destroying British commerce, American privateers proved 
■ very troublesome. It is estimated that by the end of 1778 they had 
taken over a thousand merchant ships. Privateering kept many from 
enlisting in the regular service, drew others from the farm and the 
shop, but it weakened the enemy, brought much money into the 
country, and helped to keep up enthusiasm for the war. A most 
notable exploit was that of John Paul Jones, a Scottish adventurer in 
the American service, who, 23 September, 1779, while cruising off the 
coast of Scotland, attacked a fleet of British merchantmen convoyed 
by the Serapis and the Countess of Scarborough. He compelled the 
two men-of-war to strike, though the merchantmen escaped. His 
ship the Bonkomme Richard, an old French East Indiaman made 



THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION 773 

over, sank the next day. Washington spent the year above New York, 
quietly watching Clinton. 

The English Situation. The Gordon Riots, 1780. — The North 
administration was beginning to lose strength, and the people were 
growing weary of war taxes. On 6 April, 1780, Dunning, an Opposi- 
tion member, succeeded in carrying a resolution in the Commons — 
" that the influence of the Crown has increased, is increasing, and ought 
to be diminished." In the House of Lords, the Duke of Richmond was 
urging manhood suffrage and annual parliaments. Such was the 
situation when a sudden wave of anti-Roman Catholic fanaticism 
swept over the country. In 1778, Sir George Savile had carried a bill 
in Parliament " enabling Catholics who abjured the temporal juris- 
diction of the Pope to purchase and inherit land and freeing their 
priests from liability to imprisonment." A similar measure for Scot- 
land was defeated, owing to a violent popular outcry which manifested 
itself in riots at Glasgow and Edinburgh. This encouraged a number 
of bigots in England to form a Protestant Association under the presi- 
dency of Lord George Gordon, a half-crazed scion of a noble Scottish 
house. On 2 June he marched to Westminster at the head of 60,000 
persons, bearing a monster petition demanding the repeal of Savile's 
Relief Act. The firm refusal of Parliament led to a furious uprising, 
and, from the 2d to the 7th, mob violence reigned in the City. 1 Some 
who took part were honest fanatics, but the majority were the crim- 
inal and disorderly class bent more on plunder than the safeguarding 
of religion. They sacked Roman Catholic chapels and the houses of 
those who favored the Relief Act, they invaded wine cellars, dram- 
shops, and distilleries, smashed open casks of raw spirits and drank the 
fiery contents as it flowed in the streets. They broke into prisons, 
released the inmates, and the terrifying rumor spread that they were 
going to free the lunatics from Bedlam 2 and the lions from the Tower. 
The authorities seemed paralyzed, peaceful citizens were obliged to 
wear blue cockades 3 and join in the cry " No Popery! " to protect 
their lives and property. The man who finally arose to the occasion 
was King George, who declared that there was at least one magistrate 
who would do his duty. By a royal Order in Council the King's 
troops and the militia were called out and they dispersed the rioters. 
Of one hundred and thirty-five prisoners brought to trial twenty-one 
were executed. Gordon was acquitted on the ground that he had 
not anticipated the outrages arising from his foolish demonstration. 4 
Smaller riots took place in Bristol, Hull, and Bath, but the Govern- 
ment stood by its Relief Act. The whole affair is a curious example 

1 Dickens has told the story in a popular and graphic fashion in Barnaby Rudge. 

2 A popular corruption of St. Mary of Bethlehem. The asylum was originally 
a priory. 

3 Symbol of the Association. 

4 He ended a very chequered career in Newgate in 1793, dying in the Jewish 
faith. 



774 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

of belated bigotry and of the weakness of the public authorities. 1 
The riots, however, did something to strengthen the Government ; 
for they discredited popular agitation to which the Whigs had ap- 
pealed, and united the forces of law and order in support of the exist- 
ing system. 

The Armed Neutrality. — In 1778, France had adopted a novel 
principle in maritime law, namely, that the goods of neutral powers 
trading with belligerents were exempt from seizure, provided they were 
not contraband of war. Holland, because of her great carrying trade, 
welcomed this innovation, as did Frederick the Great ; for he saw 
that it would weaken Great Britain, who had always exercised freely 
the right of seizure of ships engaged in commerce with her enemies. 
Early in 1780, Catherine of Russia was induced to issue a declaration 
asserting, in addition to the above principle, that only specified 
goods were contraband and that blockades to be binding must be 
effectual. On the basis of this declaration — accepted by France, 
Spain, and the Americans — Denmark, Sweden, Prussia, and the Em- 
peror joined her in a league of " armed neutrality." Great Britain, 
thus isolated, found it necessary henceforth to deal cautiously with 
neutral ships, since she was dependent upon the Baltic powers for 
naval stores. Fortunately, Catherine was not unfriendly, and jo- 
cosely referred to the league as the " armed nullity." It was a gain 
rather than a misfortune that Great Britain added Holland to the 
list of her enemies by declaring war on her 20 December, 1780. She 
had been supplying France, Spain, and the Americans with military 
and naval stores and had allowed privateers to fit and to sell prizes in 
her ports. Her navy was not strong, and, since she was no longer a 
neutral, her commerce and her colonies could be attacked with im- 
punity. 

The War in 1780-1781. The Southern Campaign. — Early in 
1780, Clinton went South in person and attacked Charleston, which 
surrendered, 12 May. Leaving Cornwallis, who soon overran the 
greater part of South Carolina, he returned to New York, for another 
French fleet was under way, laden with troops to assist Washington. 
The year, however, was a gloomy one for the Americans in the North 
as well as in the South. Washington's army had spent the winter of 
1 779-1 780 at Morristown, exposed to rigorous weather and " con- 
stantly on the point of starving " ; the French squadron which ar- 
rived in July with 6000 troops under the command of Rochambeau 
was blockaded in Newport, Rhode Island, by a British fleet and did 
nothing ; the paper money issued by Congress had so depreciated that 
a hundred dollars in bills was only worth one of gold, and France was 
so nearly bankrupt that her Chief Minister, Vergennes, suggested a 
truce. In September, 1780, Benedict Arnold, after an unsuccessful 

1 "Our danger is at an end," wrote the historian Gibbon, "but our disgrace will 
be lasting, and the month of June, 1780, will ever be marked by a dark and diabolical 
fanaticism which I supposed to be extinct." 



THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION 775 

attempt to betray West Point on the Hudson to the British, fled to 
the enemy's camp and received a commission in the King's army. 1 
For the remainder of the war the decisive fighting was in the Southern 
Colonies and on the sea. General Gates, who had been overwhelm- 
ingly defeated at Camden in South Carolina, 16 August, was super- 
seded in December by Nathaniel Greene, one of Washington's 
favorites, and perhaps his ablest officer. Though unsuccessful in 
winning battles, he had the genius of William of Orange for wag- 
ing victorious campaigns. 2 Aided by bands of irregular forces 
under independent leaders like Sumter and Marion, he gained 
ground steadily. In May, 1781, Cornwallis, after a series of Pyrrhic 
victories, marched into Virginia to join a British force which Clinton 
had sent to that Province. Before the end of the year the forces 
which he left behind had abandoned everything in the Carolinas 
except Charleston. 3 

The Struggle for the Command of the Sea. — With the British 
armies divided between New York and Virginia, the command of the 
sea proved a deciding issue. In the spring of 1780 the English Ad- 
miral Rodney arrived in the West Indies. Owing to the inability of 
his officers to understand his signals, he failed to crush a French fleet 
under De Guichen, after which he sailed for the New York station, 
where he committed a serious blunder in not destroying the squadron 
blockaded in Newport. Although a brave and able officer, he was an 
old man, enfeebled by sickness and dissipation, whose misfortunes 
and mistakes proved very costly in this critical period. On 3 Feb- 
ruary, 1 78 1, he seized the Dutch island of St. Eustatius, a rich entrepot 
for the French, English, and American traders alike. In his anxiety 
to guard his booty he allowed a fleet from Brest under De Grasse to 
reach the American coast in August, 1781. 

The Surrender of Cornwallis, 19 October, 1781. — It was a time 
when " some splendid advantage was essentially necessary ... to 
revive the expiring hopes and languid exertions of the country," when 
the " poor old currency was breathing its last gasp." Assured of the 
cooperation of De Grasse, Washington and Rochambeau now ar- 
ranged a joint movement against the British. Washington wanted to 
strike at Clinton in New York ; but yielded to the French, who pre- 
ferred to direct their efforts against Cornwallis in Virginia. He man- 
aged to deceive Clinton as to their intentions by letters meant to be 
intercepted. Supported by the King and his Ministers, Cornwallis 
had marched into Virginia against the wishes of his superior officer, 
who wanted him to remain in the Carolinas until he had conquered 

1 Major Andre, who acted as Clinton's agent in the negotiations was captured, 
tried by court martial, and hanged as a spy. He has had many sympathetic advo- 
cates, but it is now generally agreed that his trial was fair, his sentence just, and that 
Washington only did his duty in refusing to mitigate it. 

2 "We fight," he said, "get beat and fight again." 

3 The British held Charleston and Savannah till the end of the war. 



776 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

them completely. As the result of a misunderstanding, due to this. 
difference of opinion, Cornwallis concentrated his forces at Yorktown 
on a tongue of land between the mouths of the York and James Rivers, 
where he could be easily bottled up. Admiral Graves, 1 who sailed 
south in pursuit of the French fleet from Rhode Island, found De Grasse 
blocking the Chesapeake and was so roughly handled that he went 
back to New York to refit. Cornwallis, cut off from all help from the 
sea, surrendered to Washington and Rochambeau, 19 October, 1781. 
On that same day Graves had again left New York, bearing on board a 
relieving army under Clinton. Finding that they were too late, they 
turned back. The catastrophe at Yorktown was due to four causes : 
to the conflict of opinion between Clinton and Cornwallis ; to the un- 
tenable position which Cornwallis selected ; to the fact that Clinton 
allowed himself to be deceived by Washington ; and to the failure of 
the British admirals to secure the command of the sea. It sealed the 
fate of the war. 

The Resignation of North, 20 March, 1782. — The King received the 
news with his accustomed fortitude, and stubbornly insisted on con- 
tinuing the fight, but North now gave up all hope. Various reverses 
followed : Minorca was lost in February, and by spring the French 
had secured many of the West India Islands. The peace party grew 
to be overwhelming in Parliament and throughout the country : the 
Opposition combined forces against the Government, and, 20 March, 
North, after barely escaping a vote of want of confidence, announced 
his resignation. George was so appalled that he talked of retiring to 
Hanover. Although they had acted together for the moment, there 
were still two parties in the Opposition. Lord Shelburne led the old 
Chatham Whigs opposed to party connection and American inde- 
pendence, while Rockingham, backed by Burke and Charles James 
Fox, stood for both of these policies. As the lesser of two evils, George 
invited Shelburne to form a Ministry, but, realizing that he could not 
get one without the Rockinghamites, Shelburne refused. George was 
finally forced to accept Rockingham as Prime Minister, though he 
refused to negotiate with him personally. Shelburne was made 
Secretary for Home and Colonial affairs and Charles James Fox 
became Foreign Secretary. Burke had to content himself with the 
office of Paymaster of the Forces. By a curious compromise that 
would be no longer possible the Tory Lord Thurlow 2 was retained 
as Lord Chancellor. 

The Second Rockingham Ministry, March- July, 1782, and its Work. 
— The new Ministry, in spite of the royal attempt to thwart its efforts, 
accomplished much during its brief tenure of power. Contractors 
were excluded from the House of Commons and revenue officers were 

1 He had with him a portion of the West India fleet under Hood sent by order of 
Rodney, who had gone home on sick leave. 

2 One of his great assets was his imposing appearance. Burke once said that 
no one could be as great as he looked. 



THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION 777 

deprived of the right to vote. 1 Burke, after having tried for years, 
succeeded at length in carrying a measure of economical reform. 
While far short of what he desired or his party expected, it saved the 
country £72,000 a year by the abolition of useless offices. This 
Ministry also opened the peace negotiations and granted legislative 
independence to Ireland. 

The Irish Situation. — Although the material condition of the people 
had improved during the century, Ireland was in a pitiable state at 
the opening of the reign. It was governed as a subject country. It 
was excluded from the benefits of the Navigation Acts and from all 
commerce that might compete with that of England. Greedy agents 
and middlemen crushed the peasantry with heavy rents and burdens, 
while the great landlords were mostly absentees. Arable lands were 
turned into pasture, and rights of common were disregarded. In- 
tense poverty and suffering were the result. Religious grievances 
were equally acute. Although the worst provisions of the penal laws 
were not enforced, Roman Catholics were excluded from office, from 
the practice of law, and from the army. The poor were called upon to 
pay tithes for the support of the Anglican Establishment, the clergy 
of which were indifferent to their interests and whom they hated as 
cordially as they loved their own ignorant but devoted priests. Par- 
liament represented exclusively the Protestant aristocratic minority. 
The management of affairs was in the hands of a body of men called 
" undertakers," and abuses in corruption and patronage flourished 
rankly. In 1761, a secret organization, known as Whiteboys, from the 
white smocks which they wore, began to manifest the widespread 
resentment against enclosures and tithes by nocturnal raids in which 
they maimed cattle, destroyed fences, and resorted to other violence. 
They were eventually put down, but their advent marks the beginning 
of secret associations and armed risings. 

The Independence of the Irish Parliament, 1782. — The American 
war exercised a marked influence on the situation. The reasons were 
three: heavier taxes and the closing of the American and French 
markets aroused increased discontent ; the example of the American 
Colonists stimulated resistance ; and the English Government was too 
much occupied to crush it. Pressed by their leaders, Grattan and 
Flood, Lord North in 1778 removed a few of the restrictions on trade. 
He would have gone further but for the opposition of the English 
manufacturing interests. Another bill was passed enabling Catholics 
to secure leases for nine hundred and ninety-nine years, and even to 
inherit lands, provided they were not converts. As a means of secur- 
ing further concessions, non-importation agreements were formed ; but 
another method proved more effective. The war had necessitated 
the removal of the Irish garrison. To supply their place in defending 

1 It was estimated that there were from 40,000 to 60,000 in an electorate of 
300,000. 



778 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

the country from attack and internal disorder, the Irish Protestants x 
organized into bodies of volunteers. While thoroughly loyal, they were 
masters of the situation and insisted on their demands. In conse- 
quence, the English Parliament, at North's instigation, removed a 
number of the remaining shackles in 1779-1780. About the same time 
a bill was passed freeing the Irish Dissenting Protestants from the 
sacramental test for omceholding. 2 Grattan now began an eloquent 
and earnest demand for legislative independence. This was finally 
granted by the Rockingham Ministry in May, 1782. A host of 
grievances still existed and bitter struggles were to follow ; but 
something had been gained. 

The Revival of British Sea Power, 1782. — The British still occupied 
New York, Charleston, and Savannah, and now their navy, which had 
at length been brought into shape, showed itself worthy of its tradi- 
tions, even those of the days of Pitt. On 12 April, 1782, Rodney, 
having returned to the West Indies, engaged De Grasse, who was 
planning to join the Spanish in an attack on Jamaica. The " Battle 
of the Saints," so-called because it was fought off the Isle des Saintes, 
is notable for the successful employment of a form of tactics common 
in the Dutch wars of the seventeenth century. Recently revived, 
it was destined to be used with great effect in the next war with France. 
The form of fighting most in vogue during the interval had been to 
engage the enemy ship by ship, van to van, center to center, and rear 
to rear. By the new manceuver, known as " breaking the line," the 
British ships would force a gap somewhere in the enemy's line, isolate 
a portion of their ships, and overwhelm them by force of numbers. 3 
At the Saints the French line was cut in two places and the attack 
directed against the center, De Grasse was captured, together with 
five of his ships, Jamaica was saved, and a serious blow struck at the 
French navy. In September, Eliott met a final attack on Gibraltar 
with admirable skill and daring, though the siege was not finally raised 
till February, 1783, after the close of the war. 

Lord Shelburne (1737 1805). — The Rockingham Cabinet worked 
together in securing domestic reforms and granting legislative inde- 
pendence to Ireland ; but a split came over its chief problem — the 
peace negotiations. This was due to the strained relations between 
the two remarkable men who dominated all the others. The Earl of 
Shelburne had passed fourteen years in opposition, but was now en- 
joying the royal favor because of his hostility to the Rockingham 
wing. He was a progressive thinker, quite in advance of his time in 

1 Many of the Catholics would have joined them, but they were prevented at 
first by the old law forbidding them to bear arms. 

2 It was not till 1828 that English Dissenters secured this concession. 

3 It is no longer believed that Rodney was responsible for the revival of this 
form of fighting. Howe and Kempenfelt were among the first to take it up, while 
Rodney, who belonged to the old school, opposed it for some time. The sinking of 
Kempenfelt's ship, the Royal George, at Spithead, 19 August, 1782, is the subject 
of a famous poem by Cowper. 



THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION 779 

many of the policies which he advocated. He supported parlia- 
mentary and economical reform, free trade, and the protection 'of 
neutrals ; he sympathized with the principles of the French Revolu- 
tion ; and was one of the first statesmen to appreciate the rising impor- 
tance of the middle class. In spite of his great abilities and broad 
outlook — possibly to some degree because of them — he was perhaps 
the most unpopular and distrusted public man of his time. The 
aversion with which he was regarded was, aside from jealousy, due 
largely to his undisguised contempt for parties, his plausible and 
insinuating manner, coupled with his suspicious nature and cynical 
estimate of the motives of other men. 1 

Charles James Fox (1749-1806). — Charles James Fox was the 
son of Henry Fox, Lord Holland. He entered Parliament at the age 
of nineteen as a member from the deserted borough of Midhurst, where 
his father bought him a seat. At first he was chiefly noted for his 
extravagance, 2 his dissipation, and for his reckless but brilliant opposi- 
tion to all liberal measures. In 1774 he left the Tory party and passed 
the remainder of his life mostly in opposition, as an ardent champion 
of popular liberty. Curiously enough, his breach with the King's 
party was based rather on personal grounds than on those of broad 
general policy. His estrangement began with the passage of the 
Royal Marriage Act of 1772, which he opposed because he was born of 
a runaway match. His final secession was due to his dismissal from 
the Treasury because he had embarrassed North by advocating stronger 
measures against the printers than the prime minister cared to take. 
Then he joined the Rockingham Whigs, came under the influence of 
Burke, and opposed the war against the Colonies, as well as most of the 
other policies of the King. Much can be urged against him besides 
the irregularities of his private life. He was violent in his attacks on 
the Government, sometimes even forgetting loyalty to his country in 
the zeal with which he defended, first the American and later the French 
Revolution. Also, he was deficient in qualities of statesmanship and 
was a bad party manager. 3 On the other hand, he was unusually 
gifted as a debater, with the rare power of stripping away all super- 
fluities and penetrating directly to the heart of a question. He had 
a love for the best in literature which the riotousness of his life never 
blunted. Moreover, in spite of his hot partisanship, he harbored no 
personal rancors. His nature was simple, generous, lovable, and 
noble : he was the chivalrous defender of the unfortunate and 
waged unselfish war against religious intolerance and political op- 
pression. 

1 There is a famous eulogy of Shelburne in Disraeli's Sybil. Disraeli was one 
of his few admirers. 

2 His father before his death paid £140,000 to meet debts which his son had con- 
tracted mainly in gambling. 

'His blunders in 1 783-1 784 and in 1788 proved especially disastrous to his 
party. 



780 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

The Opening of the Peace Negotiations. — Aside from other differ- 
ences, Shelburne and Fox represented opposing policies. Fox wanted to 
acknowledge the independence of the Americans immediately in order 
to detach them from the French alliance, while Shelburne wanted to 
make the acknowledgment of independence one of the conditions of 
a joint treaty with the Allies as a means of obtaining better terms. 
The question was complicated from the fact that, so long as Shelburne's 
view prevailed, he remained in charge of the American negotiations 
as Colonial Secretary, while as soon as the United States was acknowl- 
edged as an independent power, all diplomatic dealings with them 
would pass to Fox as Foreign Secretary. Thomas Grenville, whom 
Fox named as his agent to treat with the French Minister Vergennes 
at Paris, complained that he was hampered by Oswald, the represent- 
ative whom Shelburne had sent to treat informally with Franklin, 
and that the Colonial Secretary was concealing from the Cabinet a 
proposition from Franklin concerning the cession of Canada. Fox, 
furiously indignant, proposed, 30 June, the recognition of American 
independence forthwith. When he was outvoted in the Cabinet, he 
threatened to resign. The very next day Rockingham died, and 
George III, seizing the chance to break the power of the party, ap- 
pointed Shelburne head of the Ministry. 

The Shelburne Ministry, July, 1782-February, 1783, and the Com- 
pletion of the Peace Negotiations. — It was now possible to continue 
the peace negotiations without friction in the Cabinet. Shelburne, 
however, soon came round to Fox's policy of detaching the Americans 
from the French alliance, and, to that end, acknowledged the inde- 
pendence of the United States, 27 September, 1782. Less than two 
months after, the American commissioners, 30 November, without 
consulting the French Minister, signed preliminaries of peace, on con- 
dition that a final treaty should be concluded after terms had been 
arranged between Great Britain and France. Owing to the condi- 
tional nature of the arrangement, the commissioners cannot be fairly 
charged with violating the terms of the alliance of 1778. On the other 
hand, they had not observed their instructions from Congress to 
negotiate only in harmony with the French Government. Their 
justification rests on the fact that they suspected, with good reason, 
that France was backing Spain in an effort to restrict American 
boundaries to the narrowest geographical limits, and, on her own ac- 
count, was anxious to exclude the new country from Newfoundland 
fisheries. Franklin, devoted as he was to the French, might of him- 
self have been shrewd and patriotic enough to resist these designs, 
but much credit is due to John Jay and John Adams who joined him 
in July and October, respectively. 1 The definitive treaty of peace 

1 Jay had been Minister to Spain, where he had learned something of the Spanish 
designs as well as of the acquiescence of France, and suspected much more. Adams 
had been negotiating a treaty with Holland. He was naturally suspicious of the 
French, and, as a New Englander, was profoundly interested in the fisheries. 



THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION 781 

between Great Britain and the United States was signed at Paris, 3 
September, 1783. France and Spain signed their treaty with the 
British at Versailles on the same day. 

The Terms of the Treaty of Paris. — The chief terms of the Treaty 
of Paris were the following : (1) The independence of the United States 
was formally acknowledged and the boundaries of the new country 
defined. (2) The United States was to have the right to fish off the 
banks of Newfoundland and in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, as well as 
the right to cure fish on certain specified shores. (3) The navigation 
of the Mississippi was to be open to both countries. (4) Debts con- 
tracted before the war were to be binding. (5) The restitution of the 
confiscated estates of loyalists was to be recommended by Congress 
to the several states. 1 

The Treaty of Versailles. — France received certain of the West 
India Islands and restored some that she had conquered. In Africa 
she got both Senegal and Goree, which had changed hands during the 
war. Her rights in the Newfoundland fisheries were defined ; she 
received the islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon in full sovereignty, 
and her commercial establishments in India were restored. Spain re- 
tained Minorca and West Florida, which she had recently conquered, 
and Great Britain ceded East Florida back to her. On her part, she 
restored the Bahama Islands and confirmed the British claim to cut 
logwood about the Bay of Honduras. 

The Defeat of the King. — America, although she emerged from the 
contest poor and exhausted, had gained almost everything for which 
she had striven. Great Britain had lost the most valuable of her 
colonies. It was years, however, before any change was manifest in 
the principles or practice of her colonial system, either administrative 
or economic. Nevertheless, at subsequent crises in her constantly 
increasing Empire, she showed that she had not forgotten the costly 
lesson which she had learned. The more immediate result was at 
once evident. George's system of personal government had broken 
down, and, though he soon shook himself free from the hateful dom- 
ination of the Whigs, he never succeeded in reviving his ascendancy. 



FOR ADDITIONAL READING 

Tsiarrative. William Hunt, Political History of England, 1760-1801 (1905), from the 
Tory standpoint, chs. I-XII (annotated list of authorities, pp. 459-469) . Robertson, 
England under the Hanoverians, "The Reign of George III," chs. I, II. Cambridge 
Modem History, VI, ch. XIII (bibliography, pp. 902-912). Bright, History of Eng- 

1 Shelburne could obtain no better terms on this point. Of the thousands who 
left the country, some settled in Great Britain; but the greater part established 
themselves in the present province of New Brunswick and along the valley of the 
St. Lawrence. The states made no restitution, and Great Britain provided for 
them as far as she was able. Besides grants of land, pensions, and half pay to officers 
she distributed over £3,000,000. 



782 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

land, III, pp. 1035-1112. Stanhope, History of England, IV-VII. Lecky, England 
in the Eighteenth Century, III-V, chs. IX-XVI. 

Constitutional. T. E. May (Lord Farnborough) , Constitutional History of Eng- 
land since the Accession of George III (3 vols., the edition of 191 2, ed. by Francis 
Holland, continues the work to 191 1) ; the best work on the period ; the arrangement 
is topical and not chronological. Taylor, Origin and Growth, II, bk. VII, ch. 2, 
sees. 1-6. 

Biography. The lives of Chatham cited in ch. XLI above. Sir G. O. Trevel- 
yan, The Early Life of Charles James Fox (1880) ; goes to 1774; an admirable pic- 
ture of the life of the period. J. Morley (Viscount), Burke, a Historical Study (1867) ; 
"the best estimate of Burke's political position." Morley, Edmund Burke (1879) 
is a brilliant and valuable sketch. Lord Edmund Fitzmaurice, Life of the Earl of 
Shelburne (Marquis of Lansdowne) (3 vols., 1875-1876 ; new ed., 1913), while aiming 
to place Shelburne in a favorable light, is a distinct contribution. 

Contemporary. Horace Walpole, Liters (16 vols., ed. Mrs. P.Toynbee, 1903-1905). 
Walpole is the acknowledged prince of English letter writers. His Memoirs of the 
Reign of George III , 1760-1772 (4 vols., ed. G. F. R. Barker, 1894), and Journals of 
the Reign of George III ,1771-1783 (2 vols.,ed. Doran, 2 vols. 1859) are gossipy and 
Whig in sympathy, but are the records of a keen observer. N. W. Wraxall, Histori- 
cal and Postumous Memoirs, 1772-17S4 (89) (ed. H. B. Wheatley, 2 vols., 1884); 
garrulous and amusing. Correspondence of George III with Lord North, 1768-178 3 
(2 vols., 1867, ed. W. B. Donne) ; excellent for illustrating George Ill's system of 
personal government. Mme. D'Arblay, Diary (7 vols., 1854, new ed. A. Dobson) ; 
a graphic but adverse picture of life at the court of George III. The Letters of 
Junius (2 vols., 1904). 

The American Revolution. For bibliography see Hunt, 465-466 ; Cambridge 
Modern History, VII, 780-788. The latter work, chs. V-VII, contains a good brief 
account of the causes and course of the Revolution. E. Channing, History of the 
United States (1912), vol. Ill; the best general work on the period. John Fiske, 
American Revolution (2 vols., 1891) is a very readable, popular treatment. Sir G. O. 
Trevelyan, The American Revolution (4 vols., published 1899-1912) is a brilliant 
piece of writing marked by the Whig sympathy for the American cause, which may 
be used to check the Tory bias of Hunt. For special phases of the subject see : 
G. L. Beer, Commercial Policy of Great Britain toward the United States (1893) and 
British Colonial Policy (1907) ; H. E. Egerton, British Colonial Policy (1898) ; A. L. 
Cross, The Anglican Episcopate and the American Colonies (1902) ; C. H. Van Tyne, 
The Loyalists in the American Revolution (1902). 

Military and naval. Fortescue, British Army, III. Clowes, Royal Navy, IV. 
Mahan, Sea Power, chs. IX-XIV. 

Selections from the sources. Adams and Stephens, nos. 250-254. Robertson, 
pt. I, nos. XXXIV-XXXVII, pt. II, nos. XIV-XXI. 



CHAPTER XLIV 

EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY ENGLAND TO THE EVE OF THE INDUS- 
TRIAL REVOLUTION 

Characteristics of the Period. — The three most significant features 
of the century following the Revolution of 1688 were: the develop- 
ment of Cabinet and party government ; the expansion of England ; 
and the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution. Of these, the two 
former have already been considered in connection with the political 
narrative. In many respects the period between 1688 and 1784 may 
be considered as a unit. While the development of the party system 
was not finally completed until the reform of Parliament gave the 
people a full share of representation, the Cabinet had, by 1760, taken 
practically its modern shape, and the advent of the younger Pitt to 
power, twenty-four years later, marked the end of the efforts of George 
III to stop its growth. If Great Britain's position as a World Power 
was not secure until the overthrow of Napoleon, she had, by 1763, 
driven the French out of Canada and become the dominant power in 
India, and, within twenty years, the American Revolution and the 
teachings of Adam Smith had contributed to break up the old colonial 
system, to discredit its principles, and to prepare the way for a more 
liberal commercial policy. Still a third factor, making for the new 
laissez-faire policy, was the Industrial Revolution which introduced 
machine production and factories, and which was even more momen- 
tous in its consequences than the great political upheaval in France. 
The series of inventions by which the transformation was brought 
about culminated, about 1785, in the application of the steam engine 
as a motive power. The effect in changing the attitude of the manu- 
facturer and the merchant toward the traditional trading policy is 
obvious. With superior methods of production they realized that 
they could supply better and cheaper goods than any other 
European country, and that, with unrestricted competition, they 
could command the markets of the world. 

Industrial Development previous to the Great Inventions. — The 
interval between the Revolution of 1688 and the era of machinery 
and steam was not without evidences of industrial progress. Much 
of this was due to the Huguenots, who, fleeing from France, introduced 
new industries and improved methods. But industries and processes 
which came into conflict with those already established were bitterly 
opposed. Furthermore, native workmen manifested stubborn hos- 
tility to the competition of the refugees and the introduction of labor- 

783 



784 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

saving devices. Also, there was a growing friction between labor and 
capital ; for even before the age of machinery and factories, there 
were evidences of the rise of capitalism. In a few towns, manufac- 
tures on a large scale had appeared, while, even in the country, capi- 
talists had begun to supply the domestic workers with materials as 
well as with looms and stocking frames. The purer form of the 
domestic system survived longest in Yorkshire, where, as a rule, the 
spinners and weavers owned their instruments of production, pro- 
vided their own wool, and sold their cloth to traders in neighboring 
towns or at periodical markets and fairs. Elsewhere, however, even 
in the seventeenth century, troubles in the cloth trade indicate that 
differences were developing between the worker and the capitalist 
owner. These had gone so far by 17 18 that a proclamation was 
issued against " lawless clubs," a forerunner of the later measures 
against trade unions. This was followed by an act of Parliament 
(12 Geo. I, c. 3) against combinations of workmen; but this did not 
prevent occasional strikes, one of which occurred at Norwich in 1754. 
The wool manufacturers steadily fought their rivals, the linen manu- 
facturers, chiefly strong in Ireland, as well as the importers and 
manufacturers of cotton. 

The Cotton Industry. — Cotton products in the form of calicoes, 
cambrics, and chintzes were originally brought from India, and became 
speedily popular because of their lightness and cheapness. ' It is 
difficult to say when the manufacture began in England, since the 
name was originally applied to a certain type of wool fabric. The first 
unequivocal mention in literature occurs in 1641. Toward the close 
of the century those interested in the woolen business, having become 
seriously alarmed, succeeded in arousing great popular opposition, 
and persons who wore cottons were attacked in the streets. In re- 
sponse to numerous petitions, a law was passed, in 1700, prohibiting the 
importation of these fabrics, while another, in 1721, practically for- 
bade the use of, for dress or furniture, printed or dyed goods con- 
taining any cotton. But the public demand proved too strong to be 
resisted; the law was evaded, and an act of 1736 allowed the manufac- 
ture of goods, with a weft l of cotton, provided that the warp was of linen 
yarn. The prohibition of pure cotton fabrics was not removed till 
1774. As a matter of fact, the linen warp was essential, since the art 
of spinning a sufficiently tough cotton thread for the purpose was for 
a long time unknown. The chief center of the industry was in and 
about Manchester. This Lancashire district was peculiarly adapted 
for the industry ; Liverpool furnished a convenient port for the im- 
portation of raw cotton from India, and, more particularly, from the 
American Colonies, which soon came to be the chief source of supply, 
while in the moist climate of the west midlands the threads were less 
likely to break than in dryer regions. 

1 The weft consists of the threads running from side to side, the warp of those 
running up and down. 



EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY ENGLAND 785 

The Flying Shuttle and the Spinning Jenny. — Although it re- 
quired several spinners to keep one weaver supplied, the first of the 
new inventions was an improvement in the hand loom. Hitherto, 
the shuttle which carried the weft had to be transferred from one hand 
of the weaver to the other as it passed through the warp. Not only 
was the process slow and cumbersome, but, owing to the shortness of 
the human arm, breadths of cloth wider than three quarters of a yard 
had to be woven by two persons. This was remedied by a mechanical 
device, known as the " flying shuttle," patented by John Kay in 1733, 
by which the shuttle was thrown from side to side along a board. As 
a result, the inequality between the weavers and the spinners was 
greater than ever. Kay and others busied themselves with the 
problem of improving the process of spinning ; but no practical re- 
sults were achieved until James Hargreaves, about 1764, invented the 
spinning jenny with which eight spindles could be worked in a row. 
Moreover, the machine was so simple that a child could run it. At 
his death, in 1778, there are said to have been 20,000 jennies in opera- 
tion with eighty spindles each. Both Kay and Hargreaves were at- 
tacked by angry mobs of artisans, who furiously insisted that bread 
was being snatched from their mouths. Kay died in poverty on the 
Continent, and Hargreaves got only an inadequate return for his 
invention. 

The Water Frame and the Beginning of the Factory System. — The 
spinning jenny was worked by hand. It had scarcely appeared when 
Richard Arkwright (1732-1792) put into practical operation a spin- 
ning machine which came to be known as the "water frame," though 
it was first worked by horse power. Aside from the more effective 
motive force, it had a further advantage of spinning a harder and 
firmer thread than Hargreaves' jenny. Arkwright began as a 
barber's apprentice and later became a hair merchant. During the 
course of his visits to rural cottages he came to realize the need of 
improved processes of manufacture. Since he was absolutely without 
mechanical training, he sought the aid of a clock maker who showed 
him the model of one Thomas Highe, which he proceeded to appropriate. 
Obtaining his first patent in 1769, he at once erected a spinning mill, 
and, in 1775, "patented a series of adaptations for performing on one 
machine the whole process of yarn manufacture." Unscrupulous in 
making use of the inventions of others, he was energetic and resource- 
ful in developing previous processes, as well as in enlisting capital for 
his enterprises, and left a fortune of £600,000. A forerunner of the 
modern captain of industry, he was, more than any other single man, 
the founder of the factory system. The spinning mule of Samuel 
Crompton (1 753-1827), invented 1779, combined the best features 
of the jenny and the water frame, and, in addition, spun a thread 
finer and stronger than had hitherto been possible. The art of spin- 
ning was now far in advance of the art of weaving, but the water loom 
of Edmund Cartwright (1 743-1 823) — a machine which he patented 

3E 



786 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

in 1785 — restored the balance. Cartwright was a clergyman, and 
the idea of undertaking the invention was suggested to him by a chance 
conversation with a group of Manchester gentlemen who were visiting 
some cotton mills near Matlock. Having no mechanical training 
himself, he got a cabinet maker and a smith to aid him. Unlike Ark- 
wright, however, his plans were his own ; he was also unlike Arkwright 
in that he had no capacity for money making. Another momentous 
invention of 1785 was that of cylinder printing which multiplied a 
hundred fold the printing of calico, formerly done by hand. The im- 
proved processes of spinning and weaving were first employed in the 
cotton manufacture, and were only slowly adopted in the woolen 
industry. 

The Pottery and Iron Industries. — The second half of the eigh- 
teenth century also marks an era in the pottery industry. Chelsea 
china became famous in the first half of the century, and the manu- 
facture of earthenware was already started in Staffordshire ; but the 
finest work was done abroad till Josiah Wedgewood (1 730-1 795) be- 
gan to produce his wares. He started as a poor boy in the potteries 
of Burslem. In 1759, he opened works of his own, and ten years later 
he established his famous manufacturing village of Etruria. Relying 
upon the superiority of his product, he only took out one patent in 
his lifetime. Besides pottery for practical use he produced works of 
exquisite art, and not only gained the English market, but invaded 
the Continent, whither he exported five sixths of his wares. The prog- 
ress of the iron manufacture was for a long time seriously hampered 
from the fact that charcoal was used in smelting, and there was a great 
outcry against depleting the forests for this purpose. In 1735, Abram 
Darby began to use coke. The next stage in iron manufacturing 
came in 1760, when the Carron works were erected in Stirlingshire 
under the superintendence of John Roebuck (17 18-1794), who intro- 
duced blast furnaces supplied by pit coal. In less than a quarter of a 
century the processes of puddling and rolling iron had been put into 
operation. From the time when pit coal began to be employed the 
output of iron steadily increased, though it was only after the employ- 
ment of steam engines to work the blast furnaces that real progress 
began. 

Canal Transportation. — Improved facilities for transportation, due 
to the construction of canals, contributed vastly to the increasing 
industrial development. Canals with locks had long been in use on 
the Continent ; but it was not till 1761 that the first one was opened in 
England. It connected the coal mines of the Duke of Bridgewater 
with Manchester, seven miles distant. While the funds were provided 
by the Duke, 1 the actual construction was due to the genius of his 

1 The story of the Bridgewater Canal is one of the accidents of history. On his 
return from the grand tour, he became engaged to a famous beauty, the widowed 
Duchess of Hamilton ; but they quarreled, the engagement was broken, and the 
Duke went to his Worsley estates and devoted his vast wealth and exhaustless 



EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY ENGLAND 787 

steward, James Brindley (1716-1782), a man without any advantages 
of early education. Some of his engineering feats, such as carrying 
the canal over a river by an aqueduct thirty-nine feet high, made him 
seem a magician to his contemporaries. From Manchester he extended 
the canal to the Mersey, thus uniting by a water route the growing 
manufacturing center to Liverpool, destined to become the greatest 
of Atlantic ports. Brindley, before his death, had designed nearly 
four hundred miles of canal, the Grand Trunk being among the works 
which he projected but did not live to finish. In 1790, a chain of water 
routes was completed by which the four great ports of London, Hull, 
Bristol, and Liverpool were connected, and the same year marked the 
opening of the canal between the Forth and the Clyde. Before the 
advent of the railways more than 2600 miles of canals had been con- 
structed in England alone. In view of the miserable condition of the 
roads, the effect of the new system of transportation, which decreased 
the cost of carriage about seventy-five per cent, was incalculable. 
Markets were extended, and coal, iron, stone, and other heavy mate- 
rials, could, for the first time, be utilized at considerable distances 
from the center of supply. The potteries profited greatly ; for, in the 
case of this brittle ware, safety as well as cheapness had to be consid- 
ered. 

James Watt and the Steam Engine. — The final stage in the Indus- 
trial Revolution came with the introduction of the steam engine for 
running machinery in mills x and factories. Although Hero of Alex- 
andria is reputed to have devised, in the third century B.C., a steam 
engine, it was not till the very end of the seventeenth century that the 
expansion of steam was practically applied. In 1698, Thomas Savery 
patented a steam pump for raising water from mines. Seven years 
later, Thomas Newcomen, a blacksmith, put into operation a cheaper 
and more effective engine. For three quarters of a century steam 
power was used only for pumping. It was the genius of James Watt 
(173 6- 181 9) that transformed it into a genuine motive force. Watt 
was the son of a Scotch shipwright. He became instrument maker 
to the University of Glasgow, and developed not only great manual 
dexterity, but unusual scientific attainments and wide culture. With 
the conscious purpose of improving upon his predecessors, 2 he mastered 
French, Italian, and German, in order to familiarize himself with the 
work already done in other countries, and made a careful study of the 
Newcomen engine. As a result, he developed the old device for pump- 
ing up and down into an impulse for circular motion. He took out 
his earliest patent in 1769. First associated with Roebuck in the con- 
struction of improved steam engines, he joined himself, after Roebuck's 
failure in 1773, with Matthew Boulton, who had a great manufacturing 

patience to the canal problem.' Had he married and settled down as a man of 
fashion in London, England might have had to wait for years for her canals. 

1 The name "mill" is a curious survival from the days of water power. 

2 The old story about the tea kettle is apparently a myth. 



788 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

works at Soho near Birmingham. He secured his second patent in 
1 781, but he and Boulton had a long uphill fight in the face of mishaps, 
opposition of reactionaries and rivals, and infringements on patents. 
Success finally came, and Watt opened the way for endless possibilities 
in production and distribution. In 1785, the first steam spinning ma- 
chine in a cotton factory was set up at Papplewick ; the example was 
soon followed in industries of all sorts, and the factory system, which 
was destined within a generation to make England the workshop of 
the world, had entered upon its modern phase. 1 

The Effects of the Factory System. — The effects of the Industrial 
Revolution, 2 for good or ill, were tremendous. One of the most 
immediate was that it gave the country resources to carry on another 
war with France which resulted in the overthrow of Napoleon. Then 
it led to a complete transformation of the condition of laborers. Those 
who had hitherto lived in the country, spinning and weaving in their 
own cottages and generally cultivating a little farm at the same time, 
were turned into factory hands. Another result was the shifting of 
the chief area of population from the south and east to the midlands 
and north. Bare moorlands, dotted with small villages, began to 
swarm with life, crowded towns sprang up, and the air was blackened 
with the smoke from countless chimneys. The moneyed classes had 
formerly been the landowners, the merchants, and the financiers ; now 
a new class emerged — ■ the capitalist manufacturer — destined to at- 
tain great social and political influence. Some were cultivated men 
like Boulton and Wedgewood; others were grinding taskmasters. 
Much good came from multiplying the conveniences of life ; moreover, 
the cheapening of processes of production stimulated consumption, 
and, in the long run, made for increased employment ; but at first 
the displacement from old employments resulted in bitter suffering. 
Also, the overcrowding of towns with no sanitary provisions for in- 
creased numbers, as well as exacting supervision in the factories, was 
grievous to operatives brought up in fresh country air, who, even if 
they worked long and hard, had at least been their own masters. In 
one sense, the riots provoked by the new inventions were blind and 
unreasoning ; in another, they were justified ; for they were provoked 
by real misery. The middle classes generally favored the laborers, 
partly from natural conservatism and partly for fear of increased 
poor rates ; but the capitalists had the balance of strength on their 
side in the struggle against the forces of discontent. There were no 
laws to hinder them from employing child labor and no effective regu- 

1 William Murdock, who was associated with Watt and Boulton, in 1784 set 
up the first traction engine in England and one of the first in Europe. In 1798, 
he introduced gas lighting at Soho, sharing with Lebon the honor of first utilizing 
this form of illumination. 

2 The new industrial system was greatly fostered by two developments which 
preceded it — the expansion of commerce, resulting to a large degree from the 
great wars, which gave Great Britain access to world markets, and to the organi- 
zation of credit and capital which began with the foundation of the Bank of England. 



EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY ENGLAND 789 

lations against lowering wages, while increasingly strict measures were 
passed against combinations of workmen. The domination of capital 
and the movements to resist it antedate the factory system ; but the 
problem now became more acute. The cessation of trade and labor 
regulation, of protection and special privileges, made for expansion of 
business, and developed a robust self-reliance, but, with the absolute 
and uncontrolled power which the great masters of industry enjoyed 
under the regime of laissez-faire which came to prevail for half a cen- 
tury and more, the strong throve and the weak were crowded to the 
wall. 

Maritime Enterprise. — During the eighteenth century, English 
seamen were sailing in distant waters and exploring far-off lands. 
Many of them were chiefly bent on seizing the treasure and crippling 
the resources of Britain's enemies, some even were buccaneers; but 
they contributed much to foster the colonial and commercial suprem- 
acy of their country by extending her oversea possessions and open- 
ing new markets. In the early part of the period, the West Indies and 
the African coast were still terrorized by the pirates who made war 
on British and foreign merchantmen alike. One of those sent out to 
suppress these sea rovers was the notorious Captain Kidd, who turned 
buccaneer himself, and, after five years of nefarious activity, was cap- 
tured and hanged in 1701. In 1722, Roberts, the infamous Madagas- 
car pirate, was disposed of by Captain Ogle of the Royal Navy. The 
career of William Dampier (1652-1715), who, in 1708, rescued from 
Juan Fernandez the sailor Alexander Selkirk — whose narrative 
formed the basis of Robinson Crusoe — had an adventurous career 
directly the opposite of Kidd's. Beginning as a freebooter, he later 
entered the Government service and published valuable records of his 
travels and observations on the natural features of the places he 
visited. But the greatest explorer of the century was Captain James 
Cook (172 8- 177 9), who finished " the main track of ocean discovery " 
and prepared the way for British dominion in Australia and New 
Zealand. 

The New Agricultural Revolution. — There was, during the eight- 
eenth century, a revolution in agriculture as well as in industry. 
While it was greatly stimulated by the factory system, which created a 
growing demand for food for the operatives, the transformation in 
farming methods began before the new industrial organization was 
fairly established. The enclosures made during the fifteenth and 
sixteenth centuries had left five sixths of the land untouched. The 
movement which was now resumed had an object different from the 
previous one. Instead of turning the common lands and the small 
holdings into sheep pasture, the guiding motive was to redistribute and 
consolidate the scattered strips of arable land with a view to effecting 
improvements in tillage, which were impossible while the old system of 
common cultivation lasted. Contrary to the older practice, when the 
villeins were simply dispossessed, the work was authorized by statute 



7QO A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

or by " deed of mutual agreement," though almost invariably the initia 
tive came from the landowners and manorial lords, and the small 
cultivators seldom dared to refuse. The defects of the old system of 
intermingled strips, common cultivation, and common pasture were 
many and serious. An enterprising farmer was seriously handicapped, 
because he could do nothing without the consent and cooperation of 
those associated with him, who might be incompetent and backward. 
Again, much time was consumed in going fromoneacre strip to another, 
and much land was wasted by footpaths, as well as by the balks or 
stretches of unplowed land which separated the various holdings. 
Then the absence of permanent walls, fences, or hedges led to encroach- 
ment, to disputes, and consequent litigation. Finally, the herding of 
cattle, belonging to all sorts of men, on the common pastures was a 
fruitful source of contagion. The new system was attended with 
many inestimable advantages ; not only were the scattered strips con- 
solidated and the common pastures partitioned, but much uncultivated 
land was enclosed, waste was reclaimed, and more scientific farming 
was introduced. 

Pioneers in the Movement. — The little villages with large stretches 
of unused acres ceased to be self-sufficing, and, aided by improved 
roads and canals and more productive methods, began to seek more 
distant markets ; but only by the abandonment of the old routine was 
it possible to meet the demands of the growing industrial population. 
The chief pioneers of improvement were Jethro Tull, Lord Townshend, 
Robert Bakewell, and the famous traveler and agricultural expert, 
Arthur Young. Jethro Tull (1674-1740), who has been called " the 
greatest individual improver of the century," was more significant for 
the principles he established than for his own practical achievements. 
More effectively than any one before him, he demonstrated the value 
of clover and turnips as a substitute for fallow. The increase of the 
turnip crop, he argued, made it possible to keep more stock; this 
meant more fertilizer for the soil, which, thus enriched, would, in turn, 
yield more crops for man and beast. Tull's more original contribu- 
tions were the drill for planting seed, which prevented the waste from 
sowing broadcast, and the introduction of horse hoeing, which facili- 
tated the work of keeping turnips and other growing crops free from 
weeds. His experiments were only carried to practical success by such 
great landowners as Lord Townshend, in this period, and Coke of 
Holkam, chiefly in the next. Townshend (1 676-1 738), after his retire- 
ment from politics in 1730, withdrew to his estate at Rainham in 
Norfolk, where he introduced rotation of crops, cultivated turnips, 
and increased his yield by seed drilling, horse hoeing, and the revived 
practice of marling. The great innovator in stock breeding was 
Robert Bakewell (1725-1795) of Dishley in Leicestershire. Up to 
his time sheep had been raised mainly for wool, and cattle for draught 
purposes and milking. Thin sheep produced the finest wool, while 
long-legged, raw-boned cattle were best for drawing heavy burdens. 



EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY ENGLAND 791 

To meet the growing demand for food, Bakewell set himself to breed 
fat types that would yield more mutton and beef. His efforts were 
crowned with amazing success, though more especially in the case of 
sheep. As a result of the impulse which he fostered, the average size 
more than doubled. 1 

Results of the Agricultural Revolution. — The results, however, 
were not effected without grave disturbances of the old rural order. 
In spite of nominal compensation, the small freeholders almost invaria- 
bly lost by the redistribution. Indeed, from lack of capital to intro- 
duce the improvements required under the new system, a great major- 
ity of them, and of the lesser tenants as well, were extinguished. Much 
of the land was bought up by the great landlords or by wealthy mer- 
chants and manufacturers, who either let it to large farmers on long 
leases or cultivated it themselves. Between 1740 and 1788 it is esti- 
mated that between 40,000 and 50,000 farms were absorbed by the 
great proprietors. 2 While a greater portion of this land was devoted 
to tillage, there were certain districts where cattle raising prepon- 
derated. Coke, when he was complimented on the building of his 
new castle at Holkam, replied : " It is a sad thing to be alone in the 
country in which one dwells ; I look about me and see no other house 
than mine. I am the ogre of the legend and have eaten all my neigh- 
bors." Some of the dispossessed yeomanry sank to the rank of laborers, 
others flocked to the growing industrial centers, while a few were 
fortunate enough to rise to the position of capitalist tenant farmers. 
The typical member of this new class was often a very grand person 
indeed. He kept great hospitality ; he entertained his guests with 
French or Portuguese wines; his daughter played the piano and dressed 
in imitation of the nobility. In short, he became more prosperous 
than the old squire, and was as much above the freeholder as the man- 
ufacturer was above the artisan. The agricultural transformation, 
though not accomplished without petitions and even riots, was inevi- 
table. The domestic system with its adjunct farming was on the 
road to extinction when the rise of the factories precipitated it. 

Science and Scholarship. — While no discoveries in pure science 
were made during this period comparable to Newton's, or to those 
which the future had in store, the eighteenth century was a period of 

1 At the Smithfield market in London the average weight of sheep and beeves 
In 1 7 10 was 28 and 370 lb. ; in 1795 it had increased to 80 and 800 respectively. 

2 As the century advanced enclosures multiplied amazingly, as may be gathered 
from the following table : 

Number of acts Acres inclosed 

Anne 2 i,439 

George T 16 17,660 

George II 226 3 I 8,778 

Under George III, from 1760 to 1796, the number of acres enclosed had swelled to 
2,804,197. 



792 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

growing enlightenment, of diffusion of knowledge, and of patient 
research as well. John Ray (1627-1705), who worked at the classi- 
fication of plants and insects, is sometimes described as " the father of 
modern zoology." John Woodward (1625-1728) did pioneer work in 
recognizing the existence of various strata in the earth's crust, and is 
recognized as one of the founders of experimental plant physiology. 
Edmund Halley (1656-1742) is notable for making the first calcula- 
tion of the orbit of a comet, and for originating the sciences of life 
statistics and physical geography. Joseph Black (1728-1799), whose 
popular lectures at Edinburgh on chemistry were famous, laid the 
foundations of quantitative analysis and originated the theory of 
specific heat, while his investigations in latent heat gave the first 
impulse to Watt's improvement of the steam engine. Joseph Priestley 
(1 733-1804) discovered oxygen in 1774, a discovery which through the 
work of Lavoisier in France led to a complete reconstruction of chemi- 
cal science. Benjamin Franklin, in 1754, sent to England an account 
of his famous experiment with the kite and key which " established 
the identity of thunder and lightning with the phenomena of elec- 
tricity," and important work was done by contemporary Englishmen 
in the subject destined to be so big with possibilities. 1 Little progress 
was made, especially during the time of the first two Georges, either 
in medicine or surgery. Among the few signs of advance was the 
introduction of inoculation, which became a general practice about 
1740. In spite of its dangers, it contributed much to stay the scourge 
of smallpox before the days of vaccination. Another significant step 
was the breaking down of the monopoly of the Barber-Surgeons by 
independent teaching in anatomy and surgery. 

Richard Bentley (1662-1742) is generally regarded as the greatest of 
England's classical scholars. His most famous achievement was to show 
that the Epistles of Phalaris were the forgery of a later age. More im- 
portant than his conclusion is his method, which marked an epoch in 
the science of critical investigation. He also showed that the so-called 
^Esop's Fables were not the work of their reputed author, but an adapta- 
tion by a fourteenth-century Byzantine from those of an earlier date. 
The second half of the century witnessed the rise of a new and impor- 
tant school of historians — the popular and literary. Foremost among 
them was the celebrated philosopher David Hume (1711-1776), whose 
History of England (1754-1761), though manifestly biased against the 
Puritans, and though superseded, to a large degree, by the work of 
investigators since his time, is distinctive for its style and from the 
fact that it fashioned the views of the rank and file of readers for a 
century. But the greatest of all English historians was Edward 
Gibbon (173 7-1 794), whose Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, 
notwithstanding its unsympathetic treatment of Christianity and its 

1 The reputed inventor of the term "electricity" was William Gilbert (1540 - 
1603), physician to Queen Elizabeth and author of the first great physical work in 
the English language, a work in which he showed that the earth was a magnet. 



EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY ENGLAND 793 

ponderous style with monotonously recurring periods, remains among 
the world's classics. 1 

Religion and Theology. — While not lacking in acrimonious con- 
troversies, the greater part of the century was marked by an absence of 
religious enthusiasm, by a tolerant, rational, and materialistic spirit. 
It was an age of common sense in thought and conduct. The mass 
of the rural clergy were still poor and often ignorant. Among those 
with better incomes the sporting parson, keen on hunting and hard 
drinking, was becoming a familiar figure, while many of the incum- 
bents of London parishes were immersed in society and politics. 
Even the better sort preached cold, unimpassioned sermons, inculcat- 
ing industry and moderation on prudential grounds, advocating 
charity and benevolence, to be sure, but shunning any approach to 
mysticism and asceticism. The sacrifice of the principle of Divine 
Right, the admission of latitudinarians to episcopal office, and the 
suppression of Convocation all tended to shake the prestige of the old 
orthodox High Church party. Another evidence of religious apathy 
was the decline of Nonconformity, which began to be remarked about 
the beginning of the second quarter of the century. A characteristic 
feature of the age was the rise of a school of English Deists, who, while 
believing in a. personal God, rejected most of the distinctive features of 
the Christian religion, such as revelation and the authority of the 
Church. 2 John Toland (1670-1722), one of the best known, was the 
inventor of the term " pantheism." Although provocative of much 
controversy, they had no great or enduring effect on English religious 
thought. On the other hand, they exercised a strong influence on the 
French Encyclopedists and contributed to the rise of Biblical criticism 
in Germany. 

Philosophical Speculation. — The third Earl of Shaftesbury (1671- 
17 13), whom his opponents have classed among the Deists, led a 
reaction against the ethical doctrines of his former master Locke. 
From his study of the ancients he came to the conclusion that the 
moral sense was innate and that morality was not something imposed 
by external authority. 3 George Berkeley (1685-1753), Bishop of 
Cloyne, who made war on the Deists, but more especially on mate- 
rialism, was a more profound thinker than Locke. He rejected the 

1 An important step in the progress of art, learning, and science was the founding, 
in 1 753,. of the British Museum, one of the world's great libraries. It consisted of 
three great collections — the Cottonian, formed by Sir Robert Cotton in the reign 
of Charles I and purchased by the Crown in the reign of Anne; the Sloane, as- 
sembled by the physician Sir Hans Sloane ; and the Harleian, brought together by 
Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford. The two latter were secured about this time for 
a sum far below their real value. They were housed in Montagu House, the resi- 
dence of the last Duke, who had died in 1749. The money for its purchase was 
raised by lotteries authorized by Parliament. 

2 Their earliest English forerunner was Lord Herbert of Cherbury (1583-1648). 

3 Francis Hutcheson (1694-1746), one of his supporters, is the reputed orig- 
inator of the phrase: "the greatest happiness of the greatest number," which 
was adopted by Jeremy Bentham and became the watchword of the Utilitarians. 



794 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

doctrine of the reality of matter and taught that time and space have 
no existence except in the mind. In one sense his teaching led to skep- 
ticism ; in another, by making mind the ultimate reality, he was the 
founder of modern idealism. The most acute thinker of the century, 
however, was David Hume, whose History has already been noticed. 
In 1 739-1 740 he published his Treatise oj the Human Understanding, with 
the design of introducing the experimental method of reasoning into 
moral subjects. Most of his subsequent philosophical writings are 
developments of this early work. While his attacks on the prevailing 
systems of metaphysics and natural religion and his attempted reduc- 
tion of all reasoning to a product of experience were destructive or 
skeptical, he prepared the way for constructive work in many fields. 
By overthrowing the prevailing fallacy of the " original contract," 
he broke ground for a truly historical study of institutions. In ethics 
he was the intellectual father of Bentham and the Utilitarians, and 
by his writings on political economy he profoundly influenced Adam 
Smith. He was the forerunner of the associationist psychology * ; 
he was the pioneer of modern empiricists, 2 and, both through his fol- 
lowers and his opponents, has left an enduring impress on all metaphys- 
ics since his time. Though he owed much to Locke and Berkeley, he 
repaid the debt with usury. Among the other thinkers of the century 
should be mentioned Richard Price (1723-1791), the author of Pitt's 
Sinking Fund, 3 whose system of ethics anticipated that of Kant, as 
Hume anticipated the epoch-making German in some of his metaphys- 
ical views. 

The Wesleyan Methodists. — Meantime, earnest men had come to 
realize that a revival of spiritual life could not be brought about by the 
prudential ethics and rational orthodoxy inculcated by the divines of 
the period, that it was essential to make an appeal to the common 
people by means of the supernatural and the spiritual, by fervid, 
evangelical exhortation. This was achieved through the efforts of 
three Oxford men — John Wesley (1703-1791), Charles (1707-1788), 
his brother, and George Whitefield (1714-1770) — who brought about 
a tremendous revival, known as Wesleyanism or Methodism, which 
ranks as one of the great movements of the century. Not only did it 
create a great sect, one of the greatest in the present English-speaking 
world, but it left an enduring influence on the Church of England, and 
modified profoundly the social and political consequences of the Indus- 
trial Revolution and the upheaval in France. The Wesleys were the 
sons of a rector of Epworth in Lincolnshire. In 1729 they joined a 
little band of students in an organization for mutual improvement, 
nicknamed the " Methodists." John Wesley was the real organizer 
of the subsequent movement, Charles was most famous for his hymns, 

1 The theory which regards the association of ideas as the fundamental laws 
of mental action and development. 

2 One who bases all knowledge on direct experience and observation rather than 
on theory. 3 See below, p. 817. 



EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY ENGLAND 795 

many of which are in general use to-day ; while Whitefield was the 
eloquent popular preacher. The truly vital moment came in 1739, 
when John Wesley was " converted," when he first felt that Christ 
had taken away his sin. Then followed the wonderful course of field 
preaching with appeals to men and women to seek salvation by throw- 
ing themselves upon the mercy of the Savior. Unhappily, a difference 
grew up between John Wesley and Whitefield over the question of free 
grace, but although, in 1749, the two men became hopelessly estranged, 
each continued to pursue in his own way the work they had begun in 
common. John Wesley was, curiously enough, a High Churchman, 
who always regarded himself and his Society as members of the Estab- 
lishment. It was only when urged by others that he adopted such 
innovations as lay preachers. Although he took to field preaching, 
partly because most of the Anglican clergymen refused him the use 
of their pulpits and partly because no ordinary church would hold the 
enormous crowds who flocked to hear him, he always insisted that such 
meetings should not be held during the regular hours of church ser- 
vices and that the sacrament should not be administered by ministers 
not ordained according to the forms of the Church of England. Four 
years after his death these restrictions ceased to be observed, and, in 
1795, the Wesleyans or Methodists became an independent sect. 1 

There is much to criticize about Wesley and his followers — they 
were often self-righteous, extravagant, and superstitious — but they ac- 
complished a great mission. They sought out the lowly and the vicious 
and " revealed to them a new heaven and a new earth " ; they restored 
their self-respect and kindled hope in their bosoms by assurance of 
forgiveness and salvation for "all who repented of their sins. They 
diverted into channels of religious enthusiasm much of the discontent 
engendered by the suffering caused by the industrial changes and 
stimulated by the French Revolution. They contributed to awaken 
the Church from its torpor ; and the new religious enthusiasm which 
they aroused led many to join the old Nonconformist bodies which 
took a fresh start toward the end of the century. Furthermore, they 
quickened the development of Sunday schools, and, directly or indi- 
rectly, the philanthropic and humanitarian movements which led to 
prison reform and the abolition of the slave trade, and which were big 
with results in coming generations. 

Adam Smith and the Wealth of Nations. — In 1776 Adam Smith 
(17 23-1 790) published his Wealth of Nations, which marked an epoch 
in political economy. Even before the book appeared, advanced 
thinkers had attacked the most cherished of the mercantile theories, 
arguing that money was not wealth, but only a measure of value ; that 
it was a fallacious principle to hamper trade by prohibiting the export 

Already, in 1784, Wesley, under pressure of necessity, had ordained two pres- 
byters — Coke and Asbury — as "superintendents" to ordain ministers and to 
perform other episcopal functions in the United States, thus laying the foundation 
of the American Methodist Episcopal Church. 



796 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

of specie, by fixing legal rates of interest, and by forcing foreign mer- 
chants to spend the proceeds of their sales in buying native goods. 
Already, too, the American Colonies had repudiated the exclusive trade 
policy of the Mother Country, and manufacturers had begun to strive 
against the old restrictions which shackled competition in the produc- 
tion and distribution of wares. Moreover, in view of the additional 
fact that Hume and Tucker, as well as the French minister Turgot, 
furnished Smith with a goodly stock of ideas, his admirers have gone 
too far in hailing him as the creator of political economy. Neverthe- 
less, his work is of incalculable significance in first presenting in a 
luminous, orderly, and convincing form, views and tendencies that 
were just beginning to take shape. The gist of his argument, which, 
within a generation, came to meet with general acceptance, was : 
that economics must be divorced from politics ; that national power, 
resting on the balance of trade and the accumulation of specie, was 
distinct from the well-being of the people ; that, under the mercan- 
tilist system, the interests of consumers and, indeed, of a great mass 
of producers, were sacrificed to those of a small privileged group ; that 
the individual should be left free to pursue gain in his own way ; and 
that the greater the sum total of individuals who prospered, the greater 
would be the national wealth. He showed, too, that, in international 
trade, every nation must buy as well as sell, and that, in time of peace, 
such reciprocal trading was a benefit to all parties concerned. Some 
of his views and assumptions were erroneous; but, in the main, his 
teachings we're adapted to the stage of development at which Great 
Britain had arrived. 

Prose Writers of the Age of Anne. Addison and Steele. — Classi- 
cism, or pseudo-classicism, dominated English literature during the 
greater part of the century. Many eminent writers flourished partic- 
ularly during the reign of Anne, which is sometimes called the " Augus- 
tan Age " of English literature. While it was a period of decided 
limitations, there was perfection within certain limits. In contrast to 
the Elizabethan and Stuart periods, there was little sweep of imagina- 
tion, little display of ornate diction, or quaint and obscure learning. 
Conventions were carefully observed and clearness and finish were 
sought rather than originality. Much of the writing reflected the 
artificiality of existing society and was often social or political in its aim. 
In prose, the miscellaneous or social essay was highly perfected and the 
novel took its rise. The Weekly Memorial, 1689, containing literary 
reviews and book notices, and Defoe's Review, 1704, were the fore- 
runners of the more famous Tatler, 1709, and Spectator, 17 11. The 
Tatler aimed to combine " morality with wit," and to recover its 
readers out of " that desperate state of vice and folly into which the 
age is fallen." Richard Steele (1672-1729), the founder, was soon 
joined by Joseph Addison (167 2-1 7 19). First in the Tatler, then in 
the Spectator, as well as in the later but inferior Guardian, the two 
accomplished a notable work. By their comments on current events 



EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY ENGLAND 797 

they have left a valuable record of the political and social conditions 
of their time ; by their exhortations and by their example they made 
the coarseness and cynicism of the Restoration drama unfashionable ; 
by gentle irony and by precept they inculcated more gracious standards 
in the art of living ; by their reviews of British and foreign books they 
fostered knowledge and love of literature ; and, finally, by the easy 
elegance of their style they furnished a model which profoundly 
affected the development of English prose writing. Addison, the 
creator of the immortal Sir Roger de Coverley, though he achieved his 
lasting fame as an essayist, also wrote verses; produced Cato, a 
tragedy which had a great vogue in his day; and was active as a 
Whig pamphleteer. Furthermore, he sat in Parliament, held office 
under the Government, and, though somewhat reserved, was, by his 
grace and serenity of manner, a popular figure in society. " Dick " 
Steele was his schoolfellow, both at Charterhouse and at Oxford, 
and, likewise, supported the Whig party in Parliament and in his 
writings. In contrast to Addison's placid, prosperous existence, 
Steele led a chequered career, frequently involved in financial and 
other difficulties ; but he was as lovable as he was irresponsible, and, 
in spite of his irregularities of conduct, remained through life a genial 
apostle of decorum, elegance, and good taste. He generously recog- 
nized the superior popularity of his collaborator and prided himself on 
starting him as an essayist, declaring that the world owed Addison to 
Steele. Unhappily, toward the end of Addison's life the two friends 
got into a quarrel that was never healed. 

Jonathan Swift (1 667-1 745). — The most striking literary figure, 
however, of the period of Anne and the early Georges was Jonathan 
Swift. Born in Dublin of English stock, he went, after a reckless 
career at Trinity College, to act as the secretary of Sir William Temple 
in England. Subsequently, he took holy orders, becoming Dean of 
St. Patrick's, Dublin, in 1713. His life was a series of disappoint- 
ments, which embittered a nature, not without noble, generous qualities, 
though curiously crossed with traits of meanness, of bullying, and self- 
seeking. During his later life he was afflicted by a mental disorder, 
evidences of which had manifested themselves even earlier, and which 
help to explain his peculiarities. Most of his writings were called 
forth by one or another current problem : with one exception they 
appeared anonymously ; and Gulliver's Travels was the only one for 
which he received any pay. The Battle of the Books was inspired by 
I the famous Bentley controversy regarding the Letters of Phalaris, a 
j controversy in which Sir William Temple was engaged. In the same 
year appeared the Tale of a Tub, written seven years earlier, a 
; remarkable satire on the theological conflicts between the Romanists, 
I the Anglicans, and the Dissenters. Swift also contributed several 
notable party pamphlets first on the Whig and then on the Tory side, 
his Conduct of the Allies ranking as his greatest achievement in this 
field. His mixed nature is seen in his break with the Whigs about 1 7 10, 



7Q8 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

It was partly due to lack of preferment ; but, also, he resented the 
fact that Queen Anne's Bounty was not extended to the Irish clergy 
and that the Whigs were inclined to favor the Dissenters, whereas, he 
wanted to maintain the integrity of the Church of England, not so 
much on spiritual grounds, but as a political bulwark against religious 
extremists. Much of his political satire, violent as it is, was inspired 
by hatred of sham, injustice, and oppression, rather than by party bias. 
His attitude toward the Irish in the case of Wood's Halfpence best 
illustrates his peculiar disposition. He always professed great con- 
tempt for the people and the country, and stayed away as much as he 
could ; but a feeling that they were being treated unfairly impelled 
him to write the Drapier Letters, which made him a popular hero 
among those for whom he had so little regard. His pleasantest work 
was his Journal to Stella, a daily account of his doings during the brief 
period that he was a foremost figure in London society and politics, 
written to Esther Johnson, whom he is supposed to have secretly 
married. Gulliver's Travels, on account of its strange and diverting 
adventures, has always been a favorite children's book, though, curi- 
ously enough, it is fundamentally a scathing satire on the weaknesses, 
follies, and vices of mankind, with particular reference to Swift's own 
day. For biting humor and unadorned simplicity and clearness — 
often veiling, however, a most subtle innuendo — his style has never 
been equaled. Coarse but virile, it ranges from the most comical 
grotesqueness to the sternest tragedy. 

The Age of Dr. Johnson. — New characteristics are manifest in the 
early Georgian period. It marks the beginning of the Grub Street 
author, 1 who had to fight poverty and lived in a literary Bohemia. 
The era of literary patronage had practically passed and men of letters 
had to rely more and more on their own efforts. It has been argued 
that the Grub Street tradition has been exaggerated, and that much of 
the suffering was due to the faults and peculiarities of individuals 
themselves ; but the lot of struggling authors was hard enough in all 
conscience. Another distinctive feature of this period was the rise of 
the modern novel. The age, too, was stamped by the literary domina- 
tion of Dr. Johnson, though, all-powerful as he was, he strove in vain 
to stem the tide of a growing romantic revolt against the prevailing 
classic traditions. Samuel Johnson (i 709-1 784) was the son of a 
Lichfield bookseller. He was educated at Oxford, spent a few years 
as a provincial journalist and schoolmaster, and, in 1737, went to 
London, He had a long, hard fight to attain recognition and financial 
independence ; but the experiences which he underwent taught him 
pity for the struggling members of his craft. His famous Dictionary, 
1755, the fruit of seven years of toil, marked the turn in his fortunes. 
Undoubtedly the best of his many works is his Lives of Poets, which 
appeared in ten volumes between 1779 and 1781. Meanwhile, in 

1 So-called from a poor street where many of the hack writers lived. 



EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY ENGLAND 799 

1763, he made the acquaintance of James Boswell, who later immor- 
talized him in the most delightful biography in the English language. 
It is a mine of quotable sayings, and, moreover, since nothing was too 
minute for his biographer to record, Johnson is made to stand out be- 
fore us in the midst of his circle as no"man in the past. He was a unique 
personality. A talker of unusual gifts, though somewhat ponderous 
and domineering, he shone preeminently at the Literary Club, founded, 
in 1764, by Sir Joshua Reynolds, and frequented by Burke, Goldsmith, 
Garrick, and Gibbon. As a writer, Johnson was a critic rather than 
an originator, with a style that is overelaborate, heavy, and — particu- 
larly in his early days — wordy, though always clear and correct. In 
spite of strong prejudices, he was generally sane in his judgments, an 
enemy to all shams, and one who set high moral standards in writing 
and conduct. Altogether, he was a man greater than what he wrote. 

Defoe and the Rise of the Novel. — The novel, the rise of which 
dates from this period, is as dominating in modern English literature 
as was the drama in the Elizabethan and early Jacobean ages. The 
name is derived from novella, the Italian word for a short prose story. 
The more realistic descend from the Spanish picaresque l tales which re- 
late the adventures of roving scapegraces, selected as heroes. On the 
other hand, the knightly epic of the Middle Ages prepared the way for 
the later novel of romance. After Bunyan, Daniel Defoe (1661-1731) 
was the pioneer among modern realistic novelists. While he made no 
use of religious allegory and chose to picture sordid phases of life with 
the coarsest frankness, the edifying and moral endings of his books 
show that, like the author of Pilgrim' 's Progress, he aimed at reaching 
the Dissenters of the lower and middle classes. He spent the greater 
part of his life as a journalist and pamphleteer and was nearly sixty 
before he produced his first famous work of fiction, Robinson Crusoe, 
1719, which has been a joy to succeeding generations of youth. In 
1722 appeared the Journal of the Plague Year, a fictitious account of 
the visitation of 1666 put in the mouth of a pretended eye-witness. 
In his novels, of which Moll Flanders and Colonel Jacque are the best 
known, the incident is the main feature, and there is little direct attempt 
at characterization. Defoe was without imitators in his own life- 
time. Samuel Richardson (1689-1761), a printer, who produced 
Pamela, 1730, Clarissa Harlowe, 1748, and Sir Charles Grand ison, 
1753, discarded adventure to a large degree. In his novels, told in 
the form of letters, love appears as the main theme, there is consider- 
able attempt at psychological analysis of character, and contemporary 
life is minutely pictured. Richardson was the first of the sentimental- 
ists and very didactic as well, aiming in his writing to inculcate virtue 
and correctness of behavior. 

Fielding, Smollett, and Sterne. — The most delightful novelist 
of the century, unquestionably, was Henry Fielding (1707- 17 54). 

1 From picaro, meaning literally "rogue." 



800 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

A man of good family, he went to Eton, studied law at Leyden, and 
served as a London police magistrate, thus seeing many aspects of life. 
He began his literary career as a writer of plays. His first novel, 
Joseph Andrews, 1742, was a parody on Pamela, the smug sentimental- 
ism of which aroused his disgust, but, instead of telling his story in 
the form of letters, he reverted to Defoe's novel of incident, and devel- 
oped his subject into a vivid picture of life of contemporary England, 
of its innkeepers, justices, parsons, its people of fashion, and their 
footmen and ladies' maids. Tom Jones, 1749, and Amelia, 1757, 
while primarily an elaboration of the same general type, have the 
added element of more involved plots. Fielding was intensely realis- 
tic. " I have writ little more than I have seen," he tells us : his charac- 
ters and incidents are drawn from life, " and not intended to exceed 
it." His humor is broad ; he is never subtle or analytic ; he rails at 
pretense and selfishness, endowing some of his characters with a 
plentiful supply of these qualities ; but by nature he was a whole- 
some optimist, without a touch of sourness or moroseness. Not the 
least charming parts of his work are the pages where he stops the flow 
of his narrative to tell us his view of things in general, or where he airs 
his learning through the mouth of one of his characters, usually an 
indigent scholar. Tobias Smollett (1721-1771), whose best-known 
books are Roderick Random, 1748, Peregrine Pickle, 1751, and Hum- 
phrey Clinker, 1771, is another novelist of the picaresque type, who, 
from his experience as a ship's surgeon, adds to our knowledge of the 
life of the period by his pictures of seafaring people and conditions on 
shipboard. He had an original and powerful gift for character draw- 
ing ; but his work is marred by coarseness and his savageness in satire. 
Laurence Sterne (1713-1768) was a parson of a very unclerical sort. 
In 1766 he produced Tristam Shandy, which he wrote " with no clear 
design of what it was to turn out ; only a design of shocking people 
and amusing myself." Two volumes of his Sentimental Journey 
appeared in 1768. His work is marked not only by the absence of 
plot, but by a conscious disregard of it ; his humor is subtle, allusive, 
and insidious. He was a fantastic sentimentalist who pictured life, 
not as it actually existed, but for the sake of the moods it aroused in 
him. His real achievement was the creation of such a lovable, whim- 
sical character as Uncle Toby, one of the immortals of literature. 

Goldsmith, Fanny Burney, and Horace Walpole. — Among the 
notable single novels of this period is the Vicar of Wakefield by Oliver 
Goldsmith (1728-1774), which Dr. Johnson sold for him in 1766, thus 
saving him from a debtor's prison. The peculiar charm in this work 
is due to the sweet, unworldly figure of Dr. Primrose, to its bits of 
exquisite nature description and to its pervading sentimentalism, 
which vaguely foreshadows the later romantic prose. Fanny Burney, 
or Madame D'Arblay (1 752-1840), continued the realistic tradition, 
notably in Evelina. Like Richardson, she wrote with a moral aim ; 
but her work is chiefly interesting for the light which it throws on the 



EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY ENGLAND 801 

fashionable London life of the period. Horace Walpole (1717-1797), 
fourth Earl of Orford, famous as a collector, as a virtuoso in art, as 
the author of spirited memoirs, and as the most fascinating letter 
writer in the English language, led a return to far-off, unreal things, to 
medieval romance, in his Castle of Otranto, 1764. This gave the 
impulse to a type of " Gothic " romance, many of which appeared 
during the half century following. Philip, Earl of Chesterfield (1694- 
1773), in his Letters to His Son, once so widely read, represents the 
hollow, superficial standards and worldly wisdom characteristic of 
the men of rank of his day. 

The Poetry of Pope. — The unquestioned leader among the poets 
of the days of Anne and the first two Georges was Alexander Pope 
( 1 688-1 744), a man who attained perfection in a particular form of art 
by virtue of his very limitations. As a Roman Catholic he was cut 
off from the public service, and by deformity and weak health from 
various other forms of activity. He took up the heroic couplet of 
Dryden and gave to it an exquisite finish that surpassed even that of 
his master. He showed the first real taste of his quality in the Rape 
of the Lock, 1712. His translation of Homer, which occupied him 
from 1715 to 1725, brought him between £8000 and £10,000, the 
highest price ever obtained for a piece of literary work up to that time. 
His Dunciad, or rhymed essay on dullness, which appeared in successive 
parts, was a venomous attack on his literary enemies, far inferior to 
the satire of Dryden. The oft-quoted Essay on Man, a subject sug- 
gested to him by Bolingbroke, was only a part of a contemplated series 
of poems intended to be a comprehensive survey of human nature. 
Toward the close of his life he was occupied with a group of transla- 
tions from Horace, which rank as his most finished products. Not 
only was he unexcelled as a deft craftsman in versification, but he 
voiced the spirit of the age, its love of polished satire, its proneness 
for moral reflections, and its regard for external elegancies and artificial 
social conventions, together with its lack of imagination and imperfect 
appreciation of nature. His mean and spiteful nature was due partly, 
no doubt, to his physical infirmities. 

The Signs of the Romantic Revolt. — Although some excellent poems 
appeared 1 during the interval between the passing of Pope and the 
wonderful revival which began toward the close of the century, these 
two generations can scarcely be called a poetic age. The most signif- 
icant fact was the growth of a revolt against the reigning classicism 
— against the heroic couplet of Dryden and Pope, and against the 
tendency to deal with man chiefly in his conventional social environ- 
ment. There was an effort to sound the deeper springs of the human 

1 Among the minor poets were hymn writers who have made a profound appeal 
to successive generations of worshipers. Isaac Watts (1674-1748) and Charles 
Wesley both wrote numbers of famous hymns, though it is doubtful if any single 
hymn of either of them attained a higher degree of popularity than the Rock of 
Ages of Augustus Toplady (1 740-1 778). 

3* 



802 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

soul, to reawaken reverence for the past, and an enthusiasm for the 
beauties of nature. The Seasons of James Thomson (i 700-1 748) is a 
manifestation of the new tendency, both in the subject which he chose 
and the blank verse in which he wrote it. 1 Then the Night Thoughts 
of Edward Young (1 683-1 765) is marked by an introspective gloom, 
a communing of man with his own heart, quite foreign to the school of 
Pope. Thomas Gray (1716-1771) was noted for his wide learning, 
and, in spite of his sad, secluded life, was a man of varied interests, 
active as a letter writer and diarist. He also had an enthusiasm for 
natural scenery and Gothic architecture ; yet, for all his romantic 
aspirations, he never wholly freed himself from the fetters of the 
times in which he lived. However, his Elegy Written in a Country 
Churchyard is one of the most perfect poems in the English language. 
A curious evidence of the reviving interest in the past was James 
Macpherson's publication of two poems, Fingal and Temora, in 1762 
and 1763, as the alleged work of an ancient Gaelic poet Ossian. They 
were denounced as forgeries by Dr. Johnson and others ; but they 
were really based, though how far is uncertain, on genuine legends. 
More remarkable, though less regarded at the time, were the literary 
forgeries of the precocious poet Thomas Chatterton (1752-1770), who, 
as a boy of twelve, attained access to the medieval charters of St. 
Mary Redcliffe Church, Bristol, and began to fabricate verses, and 
other pieces, which he tried to pass off as genuine works of antiquity. 
Unable to obtain recognition, he was reduced to despair and poverty, 
and poisoned himself in London when only eighteen. A work which 
had the profoundest effect in reviving an interest in old English poetry, 
and which inspired the leaders of the dawning romantic movement, 2 
was the Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, published by Bishop 
Percy in 1765. 

Drama and Music. — Though many of the so-called " Restoration " 
dramatists were writing at the beginning of the century, they were 
survivals of a past age. In the reign of Anne the theater began to give 
way to opera. This was due partly to the fashionable craving for 
novelty, partly to a real reaction of morals and taste, and partly to the 
activity of the Government in suppressing as " licentious," plays of a 
dangerous political complexion. In 1 73 7 a Play House Bill was passed, 
prohibiting the production of plays without a license from the Lord 
Chamberlain, and providing that all unlicensed actors should be classed 
as " rogues and vagabonds." For a time, the Italian opera had a great 
vogue. To be sure Colley Cibber (1 671-17 5 7) had considerable suc- 
cess, both as a playwright and as an actor, but the stage only came 
to its own again when David Garrick (171 7- 177 9) began his won- 
derful career with the revival of Shakespeare in 1741. In 1774 

1 Among other poems he was also the author of the famous Rule Britannia. 

2 Goldsmith, though he wrote some charming verses, including the Traveller, 
1764, and the Deserted Village, 1770, was not primarily a poet, and apparently was 
uninfluenced by the revolt. 



EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY ENGLAND 803 

Mrs. Sarah Siddons (1755-1831) was the first of the famous 
Kemble family of actors to achieve recognition. About this time, 
began to appear those comedies of Goldsmith and Sheridan, which 
have continued to be a source of delight ever since. Goldsmith's 
Good-natured Man was produced in 1768, his She stoops to Conquer in 
1773, while Sheridan's Rivals, School for Scandal, and the Critic date 
from 1775, 1777, and 1779, respectively. Meantime, the oratorio had 
gained an enduring hold on the English public. This was due to the 
genius of Handel (1685-1759), who, in 1712, took up his permanent 
residence in the country. At the age of fifty-four, after three succes- 
sive failures as an opera manager, and after he had written no less 
than forty-two operas, he turned to oratorio — a form of composition 
in which he had made two ventures before he came to England. While 
he made no advance over his predecessors on the instrumental side, 
he developed choral music to a point which has never been excelled. 
From the appearance of Saul, in 1739, his success was permanent and 
lasting. Among his most famous productions are the Messiah (1741), 
Judas Maccabeus (1747), and Joshua (1748). 

"The Golden Age " of English Painting. — In painting there was, 
from the Revolution to the middle of the eighteenth century, an in- 
terval of darkness destined to be followed by a glorious dawn. The 
official portrait painters were mediocre foreigners and natives of even 
less talent. Kneller (1646-1723), who came to England in 1675, sup- 
planted Lely, and for forty years was so deluged with commissions 
that ordinarily he painted only the head and hands of a portrait, 
leaving the rest to be filled in by his assistants. The Dilettanti 
Society, 1734, and the Society of Arts, 1753, did much for the encour- 
agement of painting, particularly by instituting competitive prizes 
and by lending their rooms for exhibitions. Meanwhile, in the 
painter and engraver William Hogarth (1697-1764) an artist of unique 
genius had arisen. Knowing his London as few have known it 
before or since, he portrayed its comedy and its tragedy with a rare 
gift of pictorial satire and a strong didactic sense. His chief weakness 
was as a colorist and his absence of feeling for beauty of form. Some 
of his pieces were simply engraved, others were engraved first and 
then painted. His first print, The Taste of the Town, appeared in 1724. 
Among his best-known works are : the Harlot's and the Rake's Pro- 
gresses, 1732 and 1735 ; the Marriage a la Mode, 1745, and the portrait 
of Simon Fraser, 1746. During the second half of the century there 
flourished a wonderful triumvirate — Reynolds, Gainsborough, and 
Romney. Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792), the first president of the 
Royal Academy (founded 1768), created a new epoch in portrait paint- 
ing, and is generally regarded as the greatest master of the art which 
England has ever produced. He discarded conventional draperies 
and excelled in reproducing the individuality of his subjects in feature 
and pose as well as in dress. On the other hand, he suffered from 
a lack of early training in drawing and anatomy, which he himself 



8o 4 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

lamented, and his delicate coloring has not withstood the ravages of 
time. Thomas Gainsborough (172 7-1 788) made him look to his 
laurels, while George Romney (1 734-1802), although a less finished 
artist, had a keener sense of purely physical beauty, and painted with 
more warm human feeling than either of his two great contemporaries. 
Richard Wilson (1714-1782) was the pioneer of modern English 
landscape painters, though he showed strong traces of the influence 
of Italian scenery and of the classical style of older Frenchmen, 
Poussin and Claude Lorrain. Unhappily, he was not appreciated 
until after his death, and spent most of his days in destitution. Even 
Gainsborough, who went far beyond him in the fidelity with which he 
reproduced distinctively English scenes, had to rely on his portraits 
for his living. 

Population and Pauperism. —The population of England, in 1750, 
has been estimated at six and one half millions. In 1801, the date 
of the first official census, it had increased to nearly nine. This is 
very striking in comparison with the growth since the Restoration, 
when the country contained about five million inhabitants. Equally 
striking was the shifting of the centers of density from the south and 
east to the midlands and the north. Thanks to abundant harvests 
and steadily increasing trade, the laboring classes seem to have been 
fairly well off during the first three quarters of the eighteenth century, 
or until the depression due to the Industrial and Agricultural Revolu- 
tion. The amount expended for poor relief sank from £819,000 in 1698 
to £600,000 in 1742, and then rose again, first slowly and then rapidly, 
till it reached £2,000,000 in 1784. These figures, however, are some- 
what illusive, since a workhouse test was imposed in 1723, and out- 
door relief was not resumed till 1782. During the interval many pre- 
ferred to suffer rather than go to the poorhouse. Many of the pro- 
visions of the famous Act of 1834 were suggested far back in this 
period, as were the measures passed in the first decade of the twentieth 
century for old-age pensions and for the compulsory insurance of 
laborers to provide sick benefits ; and it was argued then, as now, that 
such provision could best be achieved through voluntary friendly 
societies. 

Evidences of Reforming Zeal. — Although the age, particularly 
before the Wesleyan revival, was a material one, when the majority 
were chiefly intent on business or pleasure, there are some isolated 
instances of philanthropy and reforming zeal. In 1736 an act was 
passed to check the alarming increase of gin drinking among the lower 
classes. It led to so much smuggling and evasion that its principles 
were practically abandoned in 1743. Regulation of the traffic in 
1751 and 1753 abated the evil only to a small degree. There were a 
few private philanthropists, lonely voices crying in the wilderness. 
Chief among them was James Oglethorpe (1696-1785), who, in 1729, 
succeeded in procuring a parliamentary inquiry into prison condi- 
tions. Horrible abuses were exposed, a few regulations were 



EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY ENGLAND 805 

made, and some of the worst offenders were removed and 
punished ; but no thoroughgoing reform was undertaken for over a 
century, and Oglethorpe turned his attention to the colony of Georgia, 
which he founded in 1733 as a refuge for poor debtors and oppressed 
foreign Protestants. Forty years later, John Howard (17 26-1 790) 
took up the work which Oglethorpe had abandoned in discouragement. 
He was a Dissenter of independent means, who became High Sheriff 
of Bedfordshire in 1773. He began his work of prison reform in the 
same year, apparently inspired by the knowledge, gained from his 
new office, that persons acquitted of guilt were kept in confinement on 
account of fees incurred while held for trial. He also discovered 
appalling conditions, resulting in a frightful prevalence of jail fever. 
As a result of his evidence, presented before the House of Commons, 
two bills were passed in 1774: one providing for fixed salaries in 
place of jailers' fees ; the other, for improving the prevailing unsanitary 
conditions. These provisions were generally evaded ; but he kept on 
unwearyingly, publishing his findings in a series of works on the State 
of Prisons, the first of which appeared in 1777. He made inspection 
tours, not only throughout the United Kingdom, but in most of the 
continental countries as well, spending £3000 of his own money in 
the work. Reform came slowly, but his ceaseless efforts bore fruit 
in the following century. 

Lawlessness and Crime. — Brutal punishments still continued. 
Prisoners hung in chains all over the land. After the '45, heads were 
seen rotting on Temple Bar. By a law not repealed till 1790, women 
guilty of murder or treason were to be publicly burnt, though in 
practice they were usually strangled first. The barbarous law of 
pressing to death prisoners who refused to plead before a jury was not 
repealed till 1772, though the practice was abandoned in 1735. The 
pillory was still a cruel and degrading spectacle, and men and women 
were still publicly whipped at the cart's tail. All that can be said is 
that conditions were worse on the Continent, where torture and arbi- 
trary imprisonment were still legal. Partly owing to the overseverity 
of the criminal code, more especially owing to the inadequate machin- 
ery for its enforcement, lawlessness prevailed to an alarming extent. 
The high duty on tea, coffee, French wines and brandies, muslins, 
and cambrics led to a large amount of smuggling, though Pitt's 
measures * somewhat decreased the amount. Goods were landed by 
night at secluded inlets and bays, and loaded by armed bands on 
wagons and pack horses. Customhouse officers were overawed, or 
more often bribed, and we even hear of fifty or a hundred desperate 
men doing their work by day on the open beach. Highwaymen con- 
tinued to ply their calling. The mail between London and Bristol 
was robbed five times in five successive weeks, and in 1757 a mail 
robbery took place within two miles of London. George II, while 

1 See below, p. 816. 



806 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

walking alone in the gardens of Kensington palace, was confronted 
by a thief, who jumped over the wall, pleaded poverty in courteous 
language, and took his purse. Thefts, shoplifting, pocket picking, 
and even open robbery occurred in the very heart of the city. Hanging 
and transportation proved of little avail. Jack Sheppard, who was 
hanged in 1724, and Dick Turpin, who followed him to the gallows in 
1739, were regarded as heroes by many youths who were tempted to 
emulate their stirring, adventurous careers. The first quarter of the 
nineteenth century had already run its course before milder laws and 
the beginnings of an effective police system prepared the way for a 
decrease of crime. 

Life in London. — In London, throughout the century, there was 
an epidemic of card playing among the upper and middle classes 
which tended to displace reading and intelligent conversation. Lot- 
teries and raffles were extremely popular. Fashionable folk gambled 
for stakes that were appalling. In those days, before art galleries^or 
zoological gardens, the lions at the Tower were one of the great sights 
of the Town, whence the term " social lion." The fairs — Bartholo- 
mew Fair, May Fair, and Southwark Fair — still flourished, and, next 
to the theater, were regarded as the " chief est nurseries of vice." 
Ranelagh (on the site of a villa of Viscount Ranelagh in Chelsea) was 
opened in 1742, and vied with Vauxhall as a place of amusement. 
The London season extended from October to May, while, during the 
intervening four months, the theaters were closed and all social func- 
tions ceased. The standard of manners and conduct set by the 
essays of Addison and Steele declined under the first George, largely 
owing to the example furnished by him and his court, but developed 
toward the middle of the century into the formal stilted type repre- 
sented in Chesterfield's Letters. About 1750, Mrs. Montagu, follow- 
ing the lead of the late Queen Caroline, made an heroic effort to 
improve the intellectual status of women by giving parties at which 
cards were excluded. She and her set gained the name of " blue 
stockings " from the fact that Benjamin Stillingfleet attended some 
evening assemblies of one Mrs. Vesey, at Bath, in gray-blue worsted 
stockings, instead of the black silk required for evening dress. Mrs. 
Thrale was another woman of literary aspirations, and at her parties 
Burke and Dr. Johnson exercised their unequaled gifts in conversa- 
tion. Great extravagances of dress continued nearly through the 
century. Men were resplendent in coats, waistcoats, and breeches of 
bright-hued silks, while women appeared with huge hoopskirts and 
amazing headdresses or pompadours a foot high. But the new in- 
ventions and the effects of the American and French wars were soon to 
change all this. In dress, as in agriculture, in industry, and in so 
many other ways, England had reached the threshold of the modern 
world. 



EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY ENGLAND 807 

FOR ADDITIONAL READING 

General conditions. Traill, Social England, IV, ch. XVI; V, chs. XVII, XVIII 
(authorities, pp. 225-226, 495-496). Robertson, England under the Hanoverians, 
introduction, pt. I, ch. IV; pt. II, ch. IV. Leadam, Political History, ch. XXVIII. 
Hunt, Political Historv, ch. XIII. Lecky, Eighteenth Century, I, chs. I, II ; II, ch. 
V; VII, ch. XXI. 

Social and industrial. J. Ashton, Social Life in the Reign of Anne (2 vols., 1882), 
and Old Times (1885); the latter made up of newspaper cuttings and caricatures. 
W. C. Sydney, England and the English in the Eighteenth Century (2 vols., 1891). 
E. S. Roscoe, The English Scene in the Eighteenth Century (191 2). T. Wright, 
England under the House of Hanover (2 vols., 3d ed., 1852, reprinted as Caricature 
History of the Georges). Creighton, History of Epidemics. J. Howard, The State 
of the Prisons (4th ed., 1792). Warner, Landmarks in English Industrial History 
(1899). E. P. Cheyney, Industrial and Social History of England (1901). Both of 
these are good brief sketches. Cunningham, English Industry and Commerce, 
(4th ed., 1907), pp. 403-668. Macpherson, Annals of Commerce (4 vols., 1805). 
J. R. Porter, Progress of the Nation in its Various Social and Industrial Relations 
(1851, new ed. F. Q. Hirst, 1911). A. Toynbee, Lectures on the Industrial Revolu- 
tion of the XVIIIth Century in England (1896). S. Smiles, Lives of Engineers 
(3 vols., 1861-1862). S. and B. Webb, Englis'h.Local Government, 1688-1835 (3 vols., 
1906) ; valuable for local conditions. A. Young, Tour in the Southern Counties (4 vols. , 
1788); Tour through 'the North (4 vols., 1770); and The Farmer's Tour through the 
East of England (4 vols., 1771). Rogers, Six Centuries of Work and Wages and Agri- 
culture and Prices, V, VI. Prothero, Pioneers of English Farming, chs. VII, VIII. 

Learning and literature. Cambridge Modem History, VI, chs. XXIII, XXIV, 
(bibliography, pp. 964-970). Moody and Lovett, chs. X-XII. Taine, English Liter- 
ature, III. G. Saintsbury, Short History of English Literature (1898). Cambridge 
History of Literature, IX, X (bibliographies at the end of the volumes). T. S. Perry, 
History of English Literature in the Eighteenth Century (1883). E. Gosse, Eighteenth 
Century Literature (1898). L. Stephen, English Thought in the Eighteenth Century 
(2 vols., 2d, ed., 1881), and English Literature and Society in the Eighteenth Century 
(1909). W. Raleigh, The English Novel (1894). 

Religion. Wakeman, chs. XVIII, XIX. Stoughton, Religion in England, VI. 
Lecky, III, ch. VIII, for a discriminating account of Wesleyanism. For a full 
bibliography of religion in the eighteenth century see Cambridge Modern History, 
VI, pp. 851-857. 

Life in Scotland. Lecky, II, ch. VI. H. G. Graham, Social Life in Scotland in the 
Eighteenth Century (2 vols., 1900). For a full bibliography see P. H. Brown, III, 
PP- 435 _ 444- W. L. Mathieson, The Awakening of Scotland, 1747-1797 (191 1) con- 
tinues his Scotland and the Union. 



CHAPTER XLV 

THE YOUNGER PITT: THE NEW TORYISM AND ADMINISTRA- 
TIVE REFORM (1784-1793) 

The Coalition Ministry, April-December, 1783. — Shelburne re- 
signed, 24 February, 1783, owing to a vote of censure on the terms of 
the peace. The terms were as good as Great Britain could expect, 
but Fox and North combined against their common political enemy, 
and the Prime Minister, now -more unpopular than ever, could not 
muster followers enough to meet their attack. This " unnatural 
junction " with the man to whom he had been persistently hostile was 
defended by Fox on the grounds that the country needed a " broad 
and stable administration," and that, what with the close of the war 
and the end of George's personal rule, his chief points of difference 
with North were at an end. But, strong party man as he was, it would 
have been more consistent to have attempted to unite the two factions 
of the Whigs, since the question of American independence no longer 
kept them apart. The King was desperate, for he had always hated 
Fox, and he was infuriated at North for deserting his cause. After 
a stubborn fight, during which he again threatened to retire to Han- 
over, he was obliged to accept the Coalition Ministry. The Duke of 
Portland was made nominal head, but the real leaders were North 
and Fox, who became Secretaries of State. The King's hostility to 
Fox was accentuated because of his intimacy with the Prince of Wales, 
a dissipated spendthrift. Fox abetted the Prince in his extravagance, 
who reciprocated by warmly supporting the Coalition, which George 
III was accustomed to designate as " my son's Ministry." He was 
determined to get them out as speedily as possible. When they 
came to kiss hands, 1 it is said that he put back his ears with the air 
of a vicious horse determined to overthrow its rider. He nearly suc- 
ceeded on the question of providing for the Prince's establishment ; 
but the rock on which the coalition foundered was a bill for the settle- 
ment of the government of India. 

The State of India at the Close of the Seven Years' War, 1763. — 
Up to 1763 the English in India had been mainly occupied in over- 
coming European competitors. By that date they had practically 
excluded their rivals. Henceforth, they were concerned chiefly with 

1 A ceremony performed by each Ministry on its introduction to office. 



THE YOUNGER PITT 809 

extending their sway over the native rulers and in establishing a 
satisfactory system of government. The Company, under its royal 
charter, which since 1708 x had been renewed at intervals of about 
twenty years, consisted of a court of proprietors, or stockholders, 
and a board of directors. It was represented in India by the govern- 
ors, or presidents, and their councils, at Calcutta, Madras, and Bom- 
bay. The authority of the Moguls at Delhi had faded almost to a 
shadow. Beside the viceroys of provinces and the rulers of tributary 
states, who exercised practically independent powers, there were the 
Marathas, a group of tribes of Hindoo stock who, under the Peshwa 
of Poonah, were very strong in the western and central districts, 
though they, too, were somewhat on the decline. The affairs of the 
Company were sadly mismanaged during the period following its 
triumph over the French. In 1765 Clive, who had been in England 
for five years, was sent back as Governor of Bengal with full powers 
to set matters right. He deprived the officers of the " double batta," 
or extra allowance, which they had been collecting from the native 
rulers, and put down a mutiny which they started in consequence ; 
he forbade the civilians to receive presents ; and put an end to private 
trading. Unfortunately, ill health compelled him to return to Eng- 
land, in January, 1767, before he had completed his work. 

North's Regulating Act, 1773. — Suddenly, Madras was exposed 
to serious danger from the attacks of Haidar Ali, a Mohammedan 
adventurer of rare ability, who had made himself master of Mysore, 
a province in the hill country on the border of the Carnatic. This 
danger, together with the departure of Clive, dissensions at the India 
House, and the general ineffectiveness of the Company's rule, caused 
its stock to drop to 60 per cent. A parliamentary inquiry followed, 
and a brief immunity from governmental intervention was secured 
only by a promise on the part of the Company to pay £400,000 a year 
and to appoint supervisors to order its affairs. Then came a famine 
in Bengal, in 1770, which so reduced its resources that it had to turn 
to the Government for help. As the result of another parliamentary 
investigation, Lord North, in 1773, passed a measure known as the 
Regulating Act. It provided that the annual payment should be 
remitted, that a loan of £1,000,000 should be advanced, and that 
bonded tea might be shipped to America free from English duties. 
In return, the dividends of the Company were reduced to 6 per cent 
until the loan should be repaid, and the government in India was 
extensively reorganized. A supreme court was set up, the Governor 
of Bengal was made Governor-General, and was surrounded by a coun- 
cil of four members named by Parliament. During the investigation 
leading up to the passage of this act a fire of criticism was directed 
against Clive, and a vote of censure was passed condemning many 
of his acts. Though it was declared that he " did at the same time 

1 The date when the old and the new companies were united. 



810 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

render great and meritorious services to his country," he was so un- 
strung by the strain of the conflict that he died by his own hand 
November, 1774. 

Warren Hastings (1732-1818). — Warren Hastings, the Governor 
of Bengal, was appointed the first Governor-General. He had come to 
India as a youth of eighteen, and in the course of twenty years had 
worked his way to the top by sheer force of ability. Frail in appear- 
ance, he was a masterful and even ruthless man. . The situation which 
he had to face was one of enormous difficulty. The people were in 
the depths of distress, affairs had been grossly mismanaged, the 
English in India were intent on private gain, and the directors in 
London were at odds among themselves in everything except a con- 
suming desire for dividends. Already as Governor of Bengal, Hastings 
had proved an effective administrator and had introduced excellent 
reforms. He now brought order out of chaos ; he replaced the native 
ministers, whom Clive had employed, by Englishmen ; moreover, by 
improved methods of taxation and by careful economies, he increased 
the revenue, while at the same time he protected the people against 
plunderers. Unfortunately, however, the pressure of war and the 
financial demands of the Company led him to adopt too many high- 
handed and cruel measures. One of the earliest was to let to the 
Wazir of Oudh, for forty lacs of rupees, 1 a body of English troops 
to destroy his enemies, the Afghans, who had conquered Rohilcund 
on the northern border. Confronted, after he became Governor- 
General, first with a war against the Marathas and then with another 
against Haidar Ali, he resorted to acts of pitiless extortion. He re- 
quired from Chait Singh, the Raja of Benares, in addition to his 
annual tribute of £50,000, a considerable subsidy. When the Raja, 
already suspected of disaffection, refused, Hastings promptly increased 
his tribute tenfold — a penalty out of all proportion to the offense. 
To enforce his demands Hastings went to Benares with a small force, 
and in the teeth of a popular insurrection, in which he showed him- 
self magnificently indifferent to personal danger, he drove out Chait 
Singh and set up a successor pledged to obey him. Then he made a 
bargain with the young ruler of Oudh to deprive his mother and grand- 
mother, the Begums or Princesses, of the lands and treasure of the 
late Nawab. In order to accomplish his purpose he subjected them 
to a siege, wasted their territories, and tortured and starved their 
chief ministers. The landed property was given to the reigning 
Prince, the treasure was appropriated for the Company. While 
it does not excuse the inhumanity and injustice of the acts for which 
he was responsible, it must be borne in mind that Hastings took noth- 
ing for himself, 2 that his sole aim was to secure resources to save the 
British dominion in India. 

1 A rupee is worth about fifty cents, and there are a hundred thousand in a lac. 

2 Moreover the treasure belonged not to the Begums, but to the Nawab, and the 
Begums were engaged in a conspiracy to root out the British power in India. 



THE YOUNGER PITT 811 

Fox's India Bill, 1783. — Rumors of what was going on, the fact 
that the Company's loan was still unpaid, and the hostility of the 
Rockingham Whigs to an official who was a product of North's Regu- 
lating Act led to a parliamentary investigation in 178 1. In the report 
which followed, the administration of the Company was condemned, 
and the removal of Hastings recommended. The Directors refused. 
Since they had the legal right so to do, the only way of effecting any 
reforms was by a complete reorganization. The logic of events 
had made a trading company the ruler of vast territories. Necessity 
of wars for extension and defense, coupled with a desire for constant 
dividends, had led to inevitable results. The struggle became acute 
in the autumn of 1783 when Fox introduced the famous measure 1 
to deprive the Company of its exclusive powers of government and to 
remedy the crying abuses in the existing system. There were two 
bills. The first transferred the government of India to a body of seven 
commissioners nominated by Parliament and holding office for four 
years. Vacancies were to be filled by the sovereign. These commis- 
sioners were to act as trustees for the Company's property, though its 
management was to be in the hands of a council of proprietors acting 
under the orders of the commissioners. They were also named in 
the Bill, but vacancies were to be filled by the court of proprietors. 
The second bill dealt with administrative reforms ; for example, the 
curtailing of monopolies and the extortion of presents, the regulation 
of the hiring out of British troops, and turning the holdings of native 
landholders into hereditary estates. The arrangement was attacked 
furiously both as a party measure and as a violation of vested rights. 
It was pointed out" that the commissioners named in the act were all 
supporters of Fox 2 and that they would have control of patronage 
worth £300,000 a year, which would give them an enormous political 
influence. The answer to these objections was that the appointments 
were limited to four years, that the commission was bound to lay its 
proceedings before Parliament, and that the King, on the address of 
both Houses, had the power to remove any or all the members. The 
measure, however, was defeated, not on the ground of any of the 
objections which were raised, but by the King's hatred of the ministers 
who framed it. 

The Defeat of Fox's India Bill and the Overthrow of the Coalition, 
December, 1783. — After it had passed in the Commons, King George 
eagerly adopted a plan suggested by Lords Temple and Thurlow to 
block it in the Upper House. Temple was given a paper to circulate 
among the peers, stating that His Majesty would " consider as an 
enemy " whoever voted for the India Bill, and was empowered to use 
stronger words if he thought necessary. By this underhand means 

1 Though popularly known as "Fox's India Bill," the details were largely the 
work of Burke. 

2 Lord Thurlow declared : "The King will in fact take the diadem with his own 
hands and place it on the head of Mr. Fox." 



8i2 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

it was lost by nineteen votes. The Commons vainly protested in a 
resolution, declaring that " to report any opinion or pretended opin- 
ion of his Majesty upon any bill " pending in Parliament in order to 
influence votes was " a high crime and misdemeanor." A resort 
even to the long-discarded right to veto which the King originally 
contemplated — though contrary to the principle of government by 
a responsible ministry — would at least have enabled him to accom- 
plish his purpose in a straightforward manner. 

Pitt's Struggle with the Coalition, 1783-1784. — On 18 December 
George dismissed the Ministry and in his perplexity he turned to 
William Pitt to form a new one. Pitt was the second son of the Earl 
of Chatham ; he had entered Parliament in 1780 at the age of twenty- 
one, and with all the vehemence of his father had opened his career 
by denouncing the war with the American Colonies, as " most accursed, 
wicked, barbarous, cruel, unnatural, unjust, and diabolical." He 
had haughtily refused a subordinate office in the Rockingham Ministry, 
but Shelburne had paid a tribute to his name and talents by making 
him Chancellor of the Exchequer and leader of the House of Commons. 
Now, when not yet twenty-five, with a remnant of the Chatham Whigs 
and a few Tories at his back, with a Ministry, save for himself, drawn 
exclusively from the Upper House, and discredited by the fact that 
he was the appointee of a sovereign who had been guilty of a piece of 
unscrupulous tyranny, he had to face a hostile majority led by two 
veterans, one the most skillful party manager and the other the most 
adroit debater of the period. It was an audacious but heroic under- 
taking, which to the Opposition appeared to be a " boyish freak." l 
The battle which followed is perhaps the most remarkable in parlia- 
mentary history. At first it was an uphill fight : motion after motion 
was carried against him, and an India bill which he framed was de- 
feated both in the first and second readings. Nevertheless, he re- 
fused to resign, nor was he keen on dissolving Parliament until he was 
sure of a majority in the elections. Fox, who led the Opposition, 
played into his hands by his violence and his blunders. His most fatal 
error was in insisting that the present Parliament should continue. 
His aim was to hold on to his majority till 25 March, 1784 when the 
Mutiny Bill expired, and then to paralyze the administration by re- 
fusing to renew it. Pitt's patience, courage, calmness, and dis- 
interestedness gradually won him supporters until, when the Mutiny 
Bill came up for vote, it easily passed. Multitudes of addresses from 
all parts of the country convinced Pitt that he could now safely try the 
issue of a general election. He secured an overwhelming majority. 2 

1 It was described as a "mince pie administration which would end with the 
Christmas holidays." 

2 It has been suggested that Pitt's victory was due to influence and to adroit 
electioneering rather than to real popularity; but though those factors played a 
part they always played a par{. then, and in this instance it is a part that can be 
easily exaggerated. 



THE YOUNGER PITT 813 

Fox had offended the Whigs by his outspoken opposition to an appeal 
to the people during the preceding winter and had alienated the Tpries 
by his attacks on the royal prerogative. One hundred and sixty 
of his supporters, " Fox's Martyrs " as they came to be called, lost 
their seats. Although the Whigs had been routed, it was a triumph 
not for the King but for Pitt. Henceforth, the Prime Minister con- 
trolled the Government. While he came to call himself a Tory, he 
represented a new, liberal form of Toryism resting on popular more 
than on royal support. 

The Westminster Scrutiny, 1784-1785. — Pitt's triumph was 
marred by one ungenerous action — his treatment of his rival in the 
so-called " Westminster Scrutiny." The election was hotly con- 
tested, and all eyes had been centered upon it because of the candidacy of 
Fox. He was supported by numerous powerful friends, among them 
the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Portland, and the charming Georgiana, 
Duchess of Devonshire, who was accused of dispensing kisses in return 
for votes. Westminster returned two members, for which there 
were three candidates, including Fox. The two others were Pitt men. 
One of them, Admiral Lord Hood, easily won first place. Fox, who 
started at the bottom of the list, had finally reached second place 
when the polls were closed at the end of forty days. The rejoicing of 
the Whigs was cut short when Wray, the defeated candidate, demanded 
a scrutiny on the ground of fraudulent voting. As a matter of fact, 
there had been more votes cast than there were electors, so the High 
Bailiff was quite within his rights in granting the request ; but he 
should have returned Fox's name on the day the writ was returnable, 
and left the final settlement to the committee of the Commons ap- 
pointed under the Grenville Act. This he refused to do and was 
supported by Pitt. Although the Bailiff was ordered to proceed with 
" all possible dispatch," eight months were wasted on a single parish. 
It was only after a vote had passed the Commons ordering an im- 
mediate return that Pitt gave way. Fox, who in the meantime 
had been sitting for a small Scotch borough, finally took his seat as a 
member from Westminster and ultimately secured £2000 damages. 
Parliament sought to prevent such injustice for the future by a law 
providing that, henceforth, the polls were to be closed at the end of 
fifteen days, and that, though scrutinies might still be granted on 
demand, they must be stopped six days before the day on which the 
writs were returnable. 

William Pitt. — For an unbroken period of seventeen years Pitt 
was Chief Minister. After an interval of three years he came to power 
again, and died in office in his forty-seventh year. At an age when 
most Cabinet ministers have only begun their career, his was ended 
after he had held the chief position in the State for twenty years. 
He had many qualities peculiarly fitting him for his great opportuni- 
ties and responsibilities. He had uncommon talents as a parliamen- 
tary speaker which had been carefully developed by his father and by 



814 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

his own efforts in the University and in the House of Commons. He 
had a rich sonorous voice ; he spoke with exquisite finish, convincing 
logic, and, when he chose, with extreme clearness. In addition, he 
was fluent and ready, dignified, courageous, and resourceful. On the 
other hand, he was not original or profound, he lacked imagination 
and fervid enthusiasm. Burke referred to him as the " sublime of 
mediocrity." His printed speeches are often verbose and repetitious, 
hardly bearing out the great reputation which he enjoyed in his time ; 
but he doubtless suffered from the faulty system of reporting ; more- 
over, as the defender of the Government policy, he had often to use 
words to conceal thought and to parry the searching questions of the 
opposition. In a word, he spoke as a party manager rather than as an 
impassioned orator. In public he was awkward, stiff, cold, and formal, 
with a " good deal of marble " in " his composition." Even as a 
young man he bore himself " with all the sour and severe insolence of 
sixty." l Yet he could be merry and simple enough with his relatives 
and his few chosen friends, and he had a rare power of sensing the 
temper of the nation. While he did not attract, he dominated his 
political associates and commanded their respect. His private life 
was pure ; he was absolutely indifferent to financial gain. 2 His only 
vice was one all too common in those days — intemperate drinking of 
port which contributed to his early death. 3 He was avaricious of 
power, more than once dropping a measure of which he approved 
for fear of weakening his position, though he had this excuse that he 
ruled in a critical time, and may have honestly felt that the security 
of the State depended upon his tenure of office. 

His Position and Problems. — His position in the spring of 1784 was 
one of unusual strength. He had the prestige of his father's great 
name ; he had won a dramatic fight against a combination which 
seemed well-nigh irresistible ; the Whigs were hopelessly eclipsed 
and the extreme Tories were still discredited by the failure of the 
American war. He was pledged to no particular policy, he was sup- 
ported by the moderate men of both parties, while the King, bound 
to him by gratitude, and realizing that the strength of the Govern- 
ment depended upon his popularity, was obliged to recognize him as 
Prime Minister in fact as well as in name. Pitt not only restored 
and firmly established the rule of the responsible minister, but during 
his ascendancy practically did away with parliamentary corruption. 
To be sure, he was only carrying on the work of the second Rockingham 
Ministry, and he had little temptation to resort to illicit methods ; 

1 The phrases are Burke's. The French contemporary Chateaubriand de- 
scribes him dressed in black, pale of face, his nose in the air, irregular in his meals 
and in his sleep, negligent in attire, devoid of pleasure or passion, greedy of power, 
scorning honors, and wishing to be only William Pitt. 

2 He was usually financially embarrassed, a prey of dishonest tradesmen and 
servants. In the winter of 1 783-1 784 he refused the Clerkship of the Pells, a sine- 
cure which yielded £3200 annually when his private income was only £300 a year. 

3 He once came to the House so drunk that he saw two Speakers instead of one. 



THE YOUNGER PITT 815 

nevertheless, his high ideals and his achievements in this regard de- 
serve recognition. For example, he did away with the abuse of dis- 
tributing contracts for loans and lotteries to favored supporters of the 
Government and awarded them to the lowest bidder. To prevent 
fraud the proposals were sent sealed to the Bank of England. Almost 
the only questionable step to which Pitt resorted for strengthening 
his power was the lavish creation of peers. 1 At the Revolution of 1688 
the number of temporal peers was one hundred and fifty, at the acces- 
sion of George III there were only one hundred and seventy-five. 
Previous to 1783 the creations and promotions under George III 
aggregated seventy- two, while Pitt in nineteen years added one 
hundred and forty. The result was to make the House of Lords a 
Tory stronghold and to greatly lower the average intelligence of that 
body. This was the price paid for breaking up the Whig oligarchy. 

Pitt's India Bill, 1784. — In the session of 1784, Pitt succeeded 
in carrying an India Bill which differed in some particulars from that 
which had wrecked the Coalition. It provided for a Board of Control 
consisting of six members appointed by the King. While the Com- 
pany was left in the control of patronage, its civil and military ad- 
ministration was put under the superintendence of the new board. 
That body could transmit orders to India without informing any but a 
secret committee of three of the directors. The Governor-General, 
together with the presidents and councils in India, were chosen by 
the Company subject to the royal approval, and the King had the 
power of removal at any time. A court was set up in England for 
the trial of abuses committed in India. In addition, there were many 
provisions for internal regulation adopted substantially from Fox's 
bill. With the exception of a few amendments, Pitt's arrangement, 
with its system of dual control, continued in force until 1858. 

The State of the Finances. — Pitt's greatest services were in 
the field of financial reform, where the situation which he had to face 
demanded uncommon courage and ability. The Public Debt had 
increased from £126,000,000 to £240,000,000 since 1775, and the 
deficit for the year 1783 was not far from £3,000,000. The public 
credit was at a low ebb. Three per cents 2 stood 56 or 57. About 
£14,000,000 of the debt was unfunded, while outstanding bills 
circulated at a discount of from 15 to 20 per cent. Commerce had 
suffered from the loss of colonial trade. The customs revenues were 
greatly diminished, owing to wholesale and shameless smuggling. It 
was estimated that £2,000,000 was lost in this way; for example, 
out of 13,000,000 pounds of tea imported annually, less than one half 

1 In the graphic words of Disraeli : " He made peers of second-rate squires and 
fat graziers. He caught them in the alleys of Lombard Street, and clutched them 
from the counting houses of Cornhill." 

2 Government stocks paying 3 per cent interest. They were called "consols" 
because the interest was paid from the Consolidated Fund. Three of the great 
funds, the South Sea, the Aggregate, and the General Funds, had been consolidated 
in 1751. 



816 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

paid duty. The abuse of franking ' deprived the Government of at 
least £170,000 a year. Since postage was very high, " franks " were 
much sought after by the friends and supporters of members, and were 
frequently bought or even forged. Grave abuses existed in the 
department of public accounts. There were £40,000,000 to be ac- 
counted for. In 1785 there were four Treasurers of the Navy and 
three Paymasters of the Forces whose accounts had never been settled 
since they left office. One Treasurer had retained public moneys 
in his hands for forty years. The auditors left all business to clerks 
who were powerless, even if they tried, to enforce any regulations. 
The customs were in a most confused and complicated state. Even 
after Burke's economical reform, one hundred and ninety-six sinecures 
existed in this department alone. There were sixty-eight separate 
groups of duties. Many different duties were imposed on the same 
article — in one case fourteen — appropriated at various times to 
pay interest on different branches of the National Debt. 

Pitt's Reforms. — Pitt set himself to simplify and purify this chaos 
of confusion and corruption, to increase the revenue, and to put the 
finances on a sound basis. He began, in 1784 and 1785, by funding 
the unfunded debt. Also he framed effective measures against 
smuggling. By the " Hovering Act " he provided for the confisca- 
tion of suspected vessels found hovering within four leagues of the 
coast. Furthermore, he lessened the temptation to smuggle by re- 
ducing many duties that were too high, making good the loss by im- 
posing other taxes more equally distributed and less liable to evasion. 
For example, he reduced the duty on tea from 119 to 12I percent, and 
made up the difference by a window tax. Following the excellent 
plan which Walpole had failed to carry through, he transferred the 
customs duty on wine to the excise. The revenue was slightly in- 
creased by checking the abuse of the franking system. To guard 
against further misuse of public moneys, he provided that the Treasurers 
of the Navy should close their accounts every year. In place of 
the old inefficient auditors he set up a new commission, and appointed 
another body to inquire into fees and perquisites of public officers. 
Burke, who should have stanchly supported the measures, opposed 
them solely on party grounds, describing the plan for a commission 
of inquiry as a" rat-catching bill instituted for the purpose of pry- 
ing into vermin abuses." Pitt, however, went on undeterred. As 
sinecures in the customs department became vacant he ceased to 
fill them up, and abolished fifty vacancies which had accumulated in 
1798. Before the close of his Ministry the revenue had increased 
from £14,000,000 to £22,000,000, and cost only £3000 a year more to 
collect. Doubtless his greatest reform in financial administration, 
and one of the most important in English commercial history, was his 
consolidation of the different branches of the customs and excise in 

1 Franking was the privilege which members of Parliament enjoyed of writing 
"free" across the cover of letters. 



THE YOUNGER PITT 817 

1787. He abolished the existing duties on different articles, substitut- 
ing in each case a single duty, usually equal to the former total. Then 
he brought the whole into a single Consolidated Fund on which the 
Public Debt was secured. This measure, so simple in theory, proved 
so complicated in practice that it required no less than three thousand 
resolutions to carry it into effect. 1 Burke gave it his enthusiastic 
support. 

The Commercial Union with France, 1786-1787. — In common with 
a few advanced thinkers of the time Pitt saw the inestimable advan- 
tages of unrestricted commercial intercourse between Great Britain 
and her neighbors. His attempt to establish freedom of trade with 
Ireland in 1785 failed, but he succeeded the following year in carrying 
through a commercial union with France. The idea was not new. 
At the close of the late war Shelburne had made a vain effort to es- 
tablish such a union. 2 The opposition was strong and persistent. 
Narrow views as to the advantage of trade exclusiveness still pre- 
vailed, and any association with France, generally regarded as the nat- 
ural enemy of England, was particularly repugnant to a great ma- 
jority. The agreement provided for complete freedom of trade except 
in certain specified articles. The duties on all commodities not speci- 
fied were reduced or placed on the footing of the most favored nation -* 
Fox and Burke led in assailing the project, mainly on the political 
ground that it was essential to the balance of power for England to 
hold France in check instead of aiding her to expand her resources. 
Others, arguing more from the economic standpoint, contended that 
France would flood England with luxuries and drain away all her 
specie. In spite of the gloomy prophecies of the Opposition, the treaty, 
which remained in force for six years, 4 proved very beneficial to both 
countries. 

Pitt's Sinking Fund, 1787. — Of all Pitt's financial measures his 
Sinking Fund probably made the greatest impression upon contem- 
poraries. His motive was most praiseworthy. With the return of 
peace he felt that steps should be taken to redeem at least a portion of 
the Public Debt in order that posterity might be less heavily burdened. 
Owing to his wise administration and to the growth of commerce 
and manufactures, he found himself with a surplus of £900,000 at the 
end of 1786. By a slight increase of taxation he determined to bring 
this amount up to £1,000,000, and to raise a like sum every year for 
the reduction of the debt. Instead of being paid out at once, this 
annual surplus was to form a Sinking Fund. Once before England 
had had such a Sinking Fund ; but Walpole gradually began to draw 

1 A beginning in this direction had already been made in 1751. 

2 A twenty-year agreement with Russia expired in 1766. 

3 This, however, was without prejudice to the Family Compact of 1761 or the 
Methuen Treaty. While the duty on French wines was reduced, that on Portu- 
guese wines was proportionately lowered. 

4 It was broken off on the eve of a new war with France. 

3G 



818 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

on it for current needs, and by 1735 it was practically exhausted. The 
plan adopted by Pitt was somewhat more elaborate. It was due to 
Dr. Price, a Nonconformist minister who attained a considerable 
reputation from his writings on public questions. His scheme was in 
substance to set aside an annual sum for the purchase of stock, the inter- 
est of which was to be employed in buying more stock. Thus the fund 
was to go on accumulating at compound interest and was ultimately 
to be applied toward the extinguishing of the debt. The principle 
worked admirably so long as there was a surplus ; but the difficulty arose 
when money was borrowed to maintain and increase the Sinking Fund. 
This happened in 1792 when it was provided that one per cent of 
every loan contracted should be applied to this object. Sometimes 
money was borrowed at a higher rate of interest than the old debt 
bore or the Sinking Fund earned. Even if the rate was the same, there 
was a loss due to the expense of the transaction. It was estimated 
that before the Sinking Fund was done away with in 1823 it had cost 
the country about £20,000,000. J Thus the measure of which Pitt 
was most proud proved to be the most indefensible, at least from the 
standpoint of pure finance. Politically, his action may be justified 
on the grounds that he believed that the war which began in 1793 
would prove a short one, and that the popular veneration of the Sinking 
Fund kept up a martial enthusiasm which would speedily have damp- 
ened if he had begun by laying heavy taxes. 

His Attempts at Parliamentary Reform, 1782, 1783, and 1785. — In 
1785 he brought forward a scheme of parliamentary reform. It was 
a subject in which his father had been much interested, and he him- 
self had already introduced two measures, one in 1782, the other in 
1783. His plan of 1785 contemplated disfranchisement of the de- 
cayed boroughs, but only with the consent of those who controlled 
them and in return for a money compensation. The members were 
to be transferred in the first instance to the counties, in subsequent 
cases to the populous towns. The right of voting was also to be ex- 
tended. The Bill was defeated, and Pitt never brought up the ques- 
tion again. It must be said in his defense that, so late as 1788, he 
did not have a party on which he could depend for all purposes. His 
personal following has been estimated at 52. The " Crown party," 
which supported him only so long as the King willed it, numbered 
185. The Opposition amounted to 138, and the balance of the 558 
members were independent voters. Hence, his apparent timidity 
or even hostility toward many meritorious measures. 

The African Slave Trade. — His attitude on the abolition of the 
African slave trade, while not above criticism, was more praiseworthy 
than in the case of many other reforms. In 1787 a Society was 
formed for the suppression of this horrible traffic. It was composed 
mainly of Quakers, though many of the leaders were not of that sect, 

1 A new Sinking Fund was started in 1875, but it is constituted solely from surplus 
revenues, and depends for its continuance on the annual vote of the Commons. 



THE YOUNGER PITT 819 

notably William Wilberforce, Thomas Clarkson, and Zachary Macau- 
lay, father of the historian. Pitt appointed a committee to investigate 
the charges of cruelty alleged against those engaged in the transpor- 
tation of slaves. Shocking disclosures resulted. It was found that 
the unfortunates were packed tightly on the lower decks and in dark, 
stuffy holds ; that they were supplied only with bread and water and 
very scantily at that, and were flogged at frequent intervals to give 
them sufficient exercise to keep them alive. Pitt introduced a bill 
to suppress the trade in 1788; in the following year he joined Fox 
and Burke in supporting another introduced by Wilberforce ; and in 
1792 he made a speech on the subject which was perhaps the greatest 
he ever delivered. Powerful interests, however, with which the King 
was allied, stood in the way, and though Pitt alienated many sup- 
porters by his outspoken attitude, and though Wilberforce and 
Clarkson retained their confidence in him to the last, it remained 
for Fox, confronted by the same obstacles, and as a member of 
one of the weakest ministries in English history, to prepare a 
measure of suppression which carried easily in 1807, shortly after his 
death. 

Pitt's Strength and Achievements. His Limitations. — A survey 
of Pitt's activity as Prime Minister during these years will go to show 
that he did his greatest work as a reformer of administrative detail, 
especially in finance. It is true that he made use of the ideas of others ; 
but he showed the capacity of the statesman in carrying them into 
effect. In matters of larger policy he was less successful, as his later 
management of the Sinking Fund indicated. In other fields of domes- 
tic policy, for example, parliamentary reform, abolition of the slave 
trade, religious toleration, and concessions to Ireland, his views were 
generally wise and liberal. Nevertheless, he accomplished almost 
nothing to carry them into effect. He had ideals which his great 
predecessor Walpole had apparently scorned ; but, like him, he was 
overready to drop measures which threatened such opposition as to 
endanger his ascendancy. During the last part of his first and during 
all of his second Ministry he was secure in a substantial majority, but 
by that time the country was involved in a war with France which 
absorbed all the energy of the Government. Moreover, the French 
Revolution had provoked among the rank and file of Englishmen a 
horror of progressive measures which lasted for a generation. In 
one sense Pitt did not show himself to be a great war minister : he 
frittered away the resources of the country in subsidies to. foreign 
powers and in scattered, futile expeditions. On the other hand, his 
popularity, his persistence and courage kept alive the national en- 
thusiasm and thus tided the war over a critical period. If he was not 
a great constructive statesman or war minister, few have done more 
■to reform and purify the English financial administration, few have ex- 
celled him as a parliamentary debater, and none as parliamentary 
leader. 



820 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

Impeachment of Warren Hastings, 1786-1795. — In February, 1785, 
Warren Hastings returned from India. Already inclined to throw 
up his office on account of the opposition and criticism he had met with, 
he finally made up his mind when he found that Pitt would give him 
no hope of support. While the King and the Court party received 
him with great favor, the Opposition straightway proceeded to attack 
him as a means of dealing a blow at the Government. Their hostility 
was whetted by the opportunity of putting Pitt in a dilemma. If he 
supported their charges, he ran the chance of breaking with the King 
and his following ; if he refused, he might properly be accused of seeking 
to cover up grave scandals. Nevertheless, Hastings might never have 
been brought to trial but for the indiscretion of his parliamentary 
agent, Major Scott, who challenged Burke to produce evidence for 
the accusations made by the Whig party. As a result, charges pre- 
paratory to an impeachment were framed and put to vote in the Com- 
mons. The first, relating to the Rohilla War, was dismissed. The 
second, dealing with the fine imposed on the Raja of Benares, carried. 
The result was largely due to Pitt, who declared, that while the Raja 
was bound to furnish money and men, the fine imposed upon him was 
"exorbitant, unjust, and tyrannical." The Prime Minister's sense 
of justice in this case rose superior to party considerations, and the 
King sustained him, though he declared that it was not possible to 
" carry on public business " in India " with the same moderation 
that is suitable to an European civilized nation." The third charge, 
based on the treatment of the Begums of Oudh, was then easily carried. 
Burke presented the impeachment before the Lords, 11 May, 1786, but 
the trial did not begin till 13 February, 1788, and dragged on for 
seven years. The accusers, especially Burke and Sheridan, 1 spoke 
with wondrous eloquence, but marred their case by violence and abuse. 
It was established that Hastings had been confronted by unusual 
problems ; that, while he had been guilty of acts of cruelty and 
extortion, he had done nothing for his own enrichment ; and that 
he had ruled with effectiveness and success. Finally, in 1795, he was 
acquitted on every count. The trial cost him £70,000, which was 
subsequently repaid to him. 

The Misconduct of the Prince of Wales. — Meantime, a crisis had 
occurred in which Pitt once more proved his superiority over Fox as 
a parliamentary tactician. It was bound up with the latter's intimacy 
with the Prince of Wales, whose relations with his father had grown 
steadily worse. King George was stern and unsympathetic ; but the 
character and conduct of the Prince would have been the despair of 
the most indulgent parent. He was mean and false, as well as ex- 
travagant and dissipated. In December, 1785, he committed an 
act of incredible folly by marrying secretly Mrs. Fitzherbert, a 
widow of Roman Catholic faith, who was five years his senior. She 

1 The famous dramatist, who had been in Parliament since 1780. 



THE YOUNGER PITT 821 

was a woman of excellent reputation, who yielded to his proposal 
only after he had threatened to kill himself if he were refused. By a 
provision in the Bill of Rights he was thus disqualified from the throne, 
except for the fact that the Royal Marriage Act rendered secret mar- 
riages of the royal family null and void. The marriage was first 
mentioned in Parliament in 1787, when the payment of the Prince's 
debts came up for discussion. Fox, declaring that he spoke from 
" direct authority," emphatically denied the rumor. When he 
learned that the Prince had deceived him, he refused to speak to him 
for a year. The denial proved so effective that the Commons granted 
£180,000 toward the payment of the Prince's debts, though that by 
no means covered all that he owed. Pitt brought about a reconcilia- 
tion with his father, and procured for him an additional £10,000 a 
year from the Civil List upon his promise never to run into debt again. 
It was not long, however, before he resumed his old courses. 

The King's Insanity and the Regency Question, 1788. — On 5 
November, 1788, the King was attacked by a fit of insanity which for 
a time was regarded as incurable. A Regency seemed inevitable. 
Though the Prince was far from fit to rule the country, every one 
agreed that the office of Regent belonged to him. That meant the 
return of the Opposition to power under Fox, who had again resumed 
friendly relations with his former boon companion. Regarding the 
position of the existing Government as hopeless, Lord Chancellor Thur- 
low " ratted " to the other side. On a chance that the King might 
recover, Pitt postponed the meeting of Parliament by successive ad- 
journments, though only for a time : much as he loved power, and 
although he was a poor man, he was prepared to lay down office ; 
but he was determined that the Prince should only be appointed 
Regent with limited authority defined by Parliament. Fox and his 
party, anxious for a free hand, especially in patronage, insisted that 
Parliament had no right to impose limitations. This was absolutely 
inconsistent with all of Fox's political principles and a great tactical 
error. Pitt, when he heard him declare his position, slapped his leg 
and cried : " I'll unwhig the gentleman for the rest of his life." Plac- 
ards were posted in the streets with the legend : " Fox for the Prince's 
prerogative, and Pitt for the privileges of Parliament and the liberties 
of the nation." 

The Regency Bill, 1 788-1 789. The King's Recovery. — Finally, a 
bill was drawn up conferring the Regency upon the Prince of Wales 
and defining the limitations to be imposed upon him. A curious 
device was adopted by Pitt to give it the legal character ordinarily 
secured by the royal assent. The Great Seal was to be put in com- 
mission and the commission was to affix the seal to the Bill. This 
attempt to create a " phantom king " was sharply criticized, espe- 
cially by Burke, who declared that it was an attempt on the part of 
the two Houses to legislate contrary to a statute of Charles II. 1 
1 Passed in May, 1661, the 13th year of Charles II. 



822 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

This was sound criticism ; but, as usual, he damaged his cause by the 
violence of his denunciations. He seemed " folly personified, shaking 
his cap and bells under the name of genius." Pitt, with rare dis- 
interestedness, agreed that the Regent should have full power of 
dismissing his ministers and dissolving Parliament ; but, by the Bill, 
he was bound by other rigid restrictions. He could confer no peer- 
ages save on members of the royal family ; he could grant no offices 
or pensions not terminable at the King's pleasure, except in unavoid- 
able cases, such as judgeships ; he could not give away .any part of 
the King's estate, real or personal ; and he was to have nothing to do 
with the care of the King's person or the management of the royal 
household, which was entrusted to the Queen. The Prince, with the 
greatest reluctance, accepted the terms, on condition that they should 
not be binding for more than three years. They were carried through 
the Parliament in the form of resolutions. In order to give that 
body a legal status, it was formally opened by commission under the 
Great Seal, 3 February, 1789, and the resolutions were turned into a 
bill. It had passed the Commons in this form and had already 
reached the committee stage in the Lords, when it was stopped by the 
news that the King was on the road to recovery. On 10 March, it 
was announced that he was completely restored to health. The result 
was due largely to intelligent treatment by Dr. Willis. 1 Pitt, by the 
tact and good judgment which he had shown throughout the crisis, 
strengthened his position with King, Parliament and people, while 
Fox, by his woeful blunders in striking at the authority of Parliament 
and in attempting to overthrow a Ministry possessing the popular 
confidence, greatly diminished the already waning influence of his 
party. 

The French Revolution and its Effect on England. — Not long after, 
a tremendous upheaval began in France which was destined to exercise 
a profound influence upon the history of England. The spirit of 
liberty, of equality, of opposition to established institutions, and hos- 
tility to class privileges which underlay all its excesses, proved ulti- 
mately a potent factor in helping to create the modern English demo- 
cratic State ; but its immediate effect was to check the progress of 
reform for more than a generation. It produced a terror of innova- 
tion not only in the minds of conservatives, but even of moderate men, 
and it plunged the country into a war which absorbed its chief wealth 
and energy from 1793 to 181 5. The Tory party which carried this 
war to a triumphant conclusion was securely intrenched in power for 
more than a decade after its close. Meantime, England was going 
through the great Industrial Revolution, due to the introduction of the 

1 Directly the King began to mend, Thurlow changed sides again, much to the 
disgust of the leaders of both sides. In a speech in the House of Lords he recalled 
the favors he had received from the King. "When I forget them," he said, "may 
God forget me !" "The best thing that can happen to you," was Burke's com- 
ment, while Pitt cried : "Oh, the rascal !" 



THE YOUNGER PITT 823 

factory system. Acute social problems were pressing for solution, 
problems resulting from overpopulation, and from poverty caused 
by the war and by the readjustment of economic conditions. With 
these problems the dominant party, primarily concerned with pre- 
serving its class privileges, had little understanding or sympathy. 
The Whigs, who, since the break-up of its aristocratic cliques, had 
again become the party of progress, were weakened by the secession 
of their more moderate members, and discredited by the revolutionary 
principles of the extremists and by the critical and anti-national atti- 
tude which they assumed toward the French war. 

The Causes of the French Revolution. — The causes of the French 
Revolution may be traced partly to philosophical speculations. The 
writings of Montesquieu, of Voltaire and the Encyclopedists 1 led 
to a spirit of unrest, to a questioning of existing institutions in Church 
and State. More important still, were the works of Rousseau advocat- 
ing views on the popular origin of government and the natural equality 
of man, which were largely colored by the theories of the English 
philosophers of the seventeenth century, notably Hobbes and Locke. 
These speculations, and England's example in the Puritan Revolution 
and in the Revolution of 1688, all played a part in weakening, among 
thinking Frenchmen, respect for tradition and established authority. 
Yet these influences, solely of themselves, would not have brought about 
a revolution in France. The French philosophers contemplated 
peaceful reform by the spread of education and the properly directed 
efforts of a strong, enlightened monarch. But the logic of events 
proved too powerful. The reverses in the struggles against the Eng- 
lish, especially in the War of the Spanish Succession, had broken the 
spell which attached to the Old Regime. Then came the American 
Revolution to serve as a further stimulus to the discontented and the 
oppressed. These speculations and these events were the sparks 
which lit the flame. The inflammable material was to be found in the 
deplorable conditions existing in France — the wretchedness of the 
lower classes, all the more striking from the splendor and extravagance 
prevailing at Court, and accentuated by the special privileges of the 
noblemen and the clergy who owned two thirds of the lands, who were 
largely exempt from taxation which bore so heavily upon the poor, 
and who enjoyed seigniorial rights oppressive to the unfortunate peas- 
ants who cultivated their estates. The arbitrary power of the sovereign, 
the expensive and wasteful administration, and the injustice of the 
laws completed the burden of grievances. England was happy by 
comparison. To be sure, the governing classes were selfish, extrava- 
gant, and, even yet, not free from the taint of political corruption; 
moreover, there was much poverty and distress among the lesser folk. 
On the other hand, there were few recognized class privileges ; there 
was nothing corresponding to the French noblesse, which was a closed 

1 The Encyclopedia was produced by many collaborators under the supervision 
of Diderot and D'Alembert, 1 751-1765. 



824 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

hereditary feudal caste 1 ; the English laws were in theory the same for 
all ; and Parliament, in spite of its imperfections, was virtually a 
representative body. The smaller gentry sat side by side with trades- 
men and merchants in the Commons. The majority of the landlords 
lived on their estates and were closely identified with the interests of 
their tenantry. Furthermore, owing to over a century of almost 
continuous wars, to the wasteful administration, and the extrava- 
gance of Louis XIV, France was bankrupt. 

The Outbreak of the French Revolution, 1789. — In the autumn of 
1787 Arthur Young, the famous authority on agriculture, reported 
" a great ferment among all ranks of men who are eager for some 
change without knowing what to look to or to hope for." The situa- 
tion was rendered more acute by a famine in the following year, caused 
by a drought and a destructive hail storm. A bitterly severe winter 
intensified the suffering and discontent. For a number of years 
the King's Ministers had labored in vain to bring about a better con- 
dition of things. At length, Louis XVI, acting upon the advice of his 
Minister, Necker, summoned the Estates General to meet at Versailles, 
5 May, 1789. This body had not met since 16 14. The commons or 
third estate, who equaled the number of clergy and nobles put together, 
soon formed themselves into a National Constituent Assembly. 2 On 20 
June they assembled in a tennis court adjacent to the palace, where 
they took an oath not to separate until they had given their country 
a constitution. On a rumor that Necker was to be dismissed and the 
Assembly dissolved, a mob arose in Paris, 14 July, and stormed the 
celebrated state prison known as the Bastille. Following the disturb- 
ances in Paris came risings of the peasants against their seigniorial 
lords in various provinces. In the confusion which ensued, many of 
the more uncompromising nobles began to emigrate. The 4th of Aug- 
ust was marked by the surrender of seigniorial rights, the abolition of 
titles, and the sweeping away of various other privileges and abuses. 
The Declaration of the Rights of Man appeared on the 27th. Early in 
October, the King was forced to move from Versailles to Paris, whither 
the Assembly accompanied him. A democratic, monarchical constitu- 
tion was then drawn up, to which he gave his assent, 14 July, 1790. 

The Reception of the Revolution in England. — The news of the 
events in France during the first few months following the outbreak 
of the Revolution was received in England with general satisfaction. 
Pitt thought with the majority that the overthrow of the Old Regime 
would be followed by the establishment of orderly, constitutional 
government. Moreover, with Britain's old enemy thus occupied, he 

1 All but the eldest sons of English peers ranked as commoners, and the ranks 
of the nobility were not infrequently recruited from men who had succeeded in 
the professions and trade. 

2 The various Revolutionary Governments were : the National or Constituent 
Assembly (1789-1791); the Legislative Assembly (1791-1792); the National 
Convention (1792-1795) ; the Directory (1795-1799) ; the Consulate (1799-1804) ; 
and the Empire under Napoleon (1804-1815). 



THE YOUNGER PITT 825 

hoped for a period of peace and light taxes. Burke, however, took 
an opposite view from the start, He foresaw that the frenzy which 
had manifested itself in mob violence would never stop with moderate 
reforms, that the French example might be so contagious as to endanger 
the stability of existing institutions in England and other European 
countries. The attitude of Fox was quite different from that of 
either Pitt or Burke. On the news of the taking of the Bastille he 
wrote : " How much it is the greatest event that has happened in the 
world and how much the best." While regretting the attending 
bloodshed, he rejoiced at every step in the progress of the Revolution. 
Events proved that Burke's fears were only too well founded. The 
upheaval in France resulted not in constitutional government, but in 
anarchy, followed by a military despotism and a series of aggressive 
wars in which almost every state in Europe was shorn of territory 
or had its government overthrown. The ultimate results of the Rev- 
olutionary movement, however, went far to justify Fox's admiration 
of its fundamental principles. The democratic spirit, if not wide- 
spread, was at first very active in England. Dr. Priestley, a famous 
Unitarian divine and man of science as well, wrote in October : " There 
is a glorious prospect for mankind before us." He hoped that the 
movement would spread to other countries, putting an end to civil 
and ecclesiastical tyranny. Dr. Price and Shelburne, now Marquis 
of Landsdowne, were equally hopeful. " The Society for Com- 
memorating the Principles of the French Revolution," generally 
known as the Revolution Society, met on 9 November, 1789, under 
the presidency of Lord Stanhope and sent a congratulatory address 
to the National Assembly, a proceeding which called forth Burke's 
celebrated Reflections on the French Revolution. 1 Other clubs sprang 
up -in many of the larger towns, and the press was busy turning 
out pamphlets and libels expressing advanced views. Nevertheless, 
the spirit of disaffection made little progress. The King had recovered 
the popularity lost by the failure of the American war, his illness had 
called forth increased loyalty, and the control of affairs was in the 
hands of a Prime Minister secure in the public confidence. 

The Split in the Whig Ranks, 1791. — Burke's Reflections was an- 
swered by Thomas Paine in his Rights of Man, a rough, stirring appeal 
to the masses, and by James Mackintosh in his more polished V in- 
dicia Gallica; but they failed to check the steadily increasing con- 
servatism of the majority. Fox and Burke were growing more 
estranged, owing to their opposing views on the French Revolution. 
The final break came in the debates on a Bill for the Government 
of Canada in the spring of 1791. Fox, who objected to some of its 
provisions — among them one authorizing the sovereign to grant 
hereditary titles — taunted Burke at every opportunity with the re- 
actionary attitude which he had adopted toward the French Revolu- 

1 Burke took as a text for his Reflections a sermon which Price preached on that 
occasion. 



826 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

tion, although that was a matter which had no bearing on the question 
at issue. Burke's final speech, 6 May, was one of the noblest and most 
pathetic efforts of his whole life. Previous differences of opinion had 
never interrupted his long and intimate friendship with his old polit- 
ical disciple. That friendship he now declared he was prepared to 
sacrifice. Fox, moved even to tears, protested without avail. The 
debate resulted in more than a personal break between Fox and Burke, 
it marked another split in the ranks of the Whig party. At first 
Burke, denounced as a deserter, stood almost alone. Within a year, 
however, the majority came round to his side, while the following of 
Fox shrank to the " weakest and most discredited Opposition " Eng- 
land has ever known. In his Appeal from the Old to the New Whigs 
and in his private correspondence Burke defended the consistency of 
his attitude, distinguishing, with great effect, the Revolution of 1688 
and the American Revolution from the movement in France. He 
made a powerful plea for the party " attached to the ancient tried 
usages of the Kingdom " and to security of property. " It was now 
absolutely necessary," he insisted, " to separate those who cultivated 
a rational and sober liberty upon the plan of our existing Constitution, 
from those who think they have no liberty, if it does not comprehend 
a right in them of making to themselves new Constitutions at their 
pleasure." He was hot for intervention, on the express condition, 
however, that such intervention should be solely for the purpose of 
restoring order in France, and with no idea of territorial aggrandize- 
ment or setting up despotism anew. But he failed to realize the 
futility of attempting to suppress permanently the new ideas to which 
the French Revolution had given birth, or to gage accurately the 
selfish conflicting aims of the European powers. 

Pitt's Foreign Policy, 1783-1788. The Triple Alliance, 1788.— 
Pitt was more cautious, and his policy, though the logic of events 
forced him later to depart from it, was simple and consistent — to 
avoid interfering directly or indirectly in the affairs of France. Dur- 
ing the decade which had elapsed since he came to power, England had 
managed to keep clear of European wars, and in his foreign relations 
Pitt had met with only one serious setback. England had emerged 
from the American war without a friend on the Continent. Prussia, 
who was equally isolated, seemed to offer the only prospect of alliance ; 
but Frederick was still unfriendly. Joseph II, who became Emperor 
on the death of his mother, Maria Theresa, in 1780, was full of restless 
plans, big with possibilities of disturbance. One of his feats was to 
annul the Barrier Treaty of 17 15 and force the Dutch to withdraw 
their garrisons from the barrier fortresses. This facilitated the French 
conquest of the Netherlands, three years after the outbreak of the 
Revolution, a step which furnished one of the principal causes for 
drawing England into the great French war in 1793. The death 
of Frederick the Great, 17 November, 1786, paved the way for the 
closer relations between Prussia and England. Shortly after, an 



THE YOUNGER PITT 827 

occasion arose which led to a close alliance.. France allied with the 
Dutch republicans and drove the Stadtholder from power. When 
the dominant party went so far as to arrest the Princess of Orange 
and refused to grant satisfaction for the insult, Frederick William II, 
who was her uncle, determined to take action. He sent an army into 
Holland, England made active preparations to assist him in the inter- 
ests of the Orange party, France backed out, and a Triple Alliance was 
formed, in 1788, between Great Britain, Prussia, and the Dutch Orange 
party for mutual defense and the maintenance of peace in Europe. 
The British had succeeded in withdrawing from their isolation. 

Nootka Sound, 1789-1790. — The outbreak of the Revolution, 
which in its first stages absorbed the whole energies of France, enabled 
Pitt to secure a great advantage in a quarrel with Spain. The antag- 
onism between the two countries still continued. England persisted 
in her efforts to break through the Spanish colonial monopoly, while an 
added cause of friction had arisen from the suspicion that the British 
were encouraging disaffection in the South American colonies. In 
order to strike a counterblow, the Spanish attacked an English 
trading settlement on an island in Nootka Sound, off Vancouver. 
They refused satisfaction on two grounds : that they had an exclusive 
claim to the west coast of America as far north as 6o°, and that they 
had been the first to explore and occupy this particular district. 
Great Britain retorted that the Spanish occupation had not been 
effective and so could not preclude British rights of trading, fishing, 
and settlement. Her position was supported by the other members 
of the Triple Alliance, while Spain was disappointed in her hopes of 
aid from Austria, Russia, or the United States. The National As- 
sembly offered help only upon terms impossible to accept. So Spain, 
in spite of imposing warlike preparations, was obliged to sign a treaty, 
28 October, 1790, yielding the territory in dispute. Thus Pitt was 
able to gain a great diplomatic triumph, not the least important 
feature of which was the fact that he detached Spain from France. 

Pitt's Failure to check the Expansion of Russia, 1791. — The 
general aim of Pitt's foreign policy was to secure peace and maintain 
the balance of power by means of the Triple Alliance. Catherine of 
Russia was determined to extend her power north and south, and, to 
this end, sought to encroach upon the dominion of the Turks and to 
get a tighter grip on Poland. So, in 1787, she forced the Turks into a 
war. Pitt managed to obtain a favorable peace for Gustavus III of 
Sweden who had been contending against Russia in the Baltic region ; 
but he was unable to force Catherine to come to terms with the Turks 
on the basis of the status quo. She insisted on retaining her conquest 
of Ochakov and the territory to the river Dniester. He was greatly 
hampered by the fact that the Prussians were anxious to share in 
another partition of Poland. 1 Austria, of course, inclined to Russia. 

1 There were three partitions of Poland between Russia, Austria, and Prussia, 
which took place in 1772, 1793, and 1795, respectively. 



828 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

His chief difficulty, however, came from the opposition in Parlia- 
ment, which refused to back him in a war because of the damage 
to English trade and manufactures which it might involve, and 
because of the view always held by Pitt's own father that friend- 
ship with Russia offered an effective check against France and Spain. 
Burke denounced the new policy as an " anti-crusade " for assisting 
" destructive savages " against a Christian power. Consequently, 
Russia was able to arrange a peace on her own terms, August, 1791, 
and was left free to continue her aggressions against Poland as well. 

Pitt's Effort to avoid Intervention in French Affairs. — For a time 
Pitt held aloof from any attempt to intervene in France. In spite of 
his belligerent attitude toward Russia he was really anxious for peace, 
to develop his commercial and financial reforms, to keep down taxes, 
and to reduce the debt. Moreover, he thought that Burke exaggerated 
the danger and even the importance of the French Revolution. It 
was clear that the majority of Englishmen were opposed to Revolu- 
tionary doctrines. However, it soon became apparent that the 
French Revolutionists, far from confining themselves to their own 
country, were determined to spread their gospel of freedom through- 
out Europe. In England, in spite of the prevailing hostility to Rev- 
olutionary ideas, various societies were formed to promulgate them. 
In addition to the Revolutionary Society there were the Society for 
Constitutional Information and the London Corresponding Society, 
all of which were in communication with the . Jacobins in Paris. 1 
The London Society was the most violent of all. Inflammatory 
speeches were made at its meetings, and under its auspices the most 
violent pamphlets and broadsides were circulated. Notwithstanding 
the opposition of Fox and the other extreme Whigs, a royal proclama- 
tion against seditious writings was issued, 21 May, 1792, and proved 
effective in checking the Revolutionary propaganda. Thomas Paine 
fled to France to avoid proceedings against him. The French am- 
bassador, Chauvelin, who protested against the Proclamation, re- 
ceived a just rebuke. 

French Aggressions in the Netherlands, 1792. — Meantime, although 
Pitt felt so secure that he divided the surplus of the past year between 
the Sinking Fund and a remission of taxes, events were moving rapidly 
on the Continent. Marie Antoinette, the Queen of Louis XVI, had 
applied for aid to her brother, the Emperor. Before steps were 
actually taken in response to her request France declared war on 
Austria, 20 April, 1792. In August Louis XVI was deposed and he 
and his Queen imprisoned. The English ambassador was recalled 
forthwith, on the ground that the sovereign to whom he was accredited 
reigned no more. Chauvelin remained in London without official 
status. Then came the September massacres in Paris, which filled 
even Fox with horror. Meantime, the Austrians, and the Prussians 
who had allied with them, crossed the frontier, 31 August. Fred- 

1 The Society of Friends of the People was chiefly interested in parliamentary 
reform and held aloof from the French Revolutionary party. 



THE YOUNGER PITT 829 

erick William II had declared : " The comedy will not last long 
. . . the army of advocates will soon be annihilated ; we shall be 
home before autumn ; " but the invaders were repulsed at Valmy, 1 21 
September, and before the end of October were forced to withdraw 
from France. The French commander Dumouriez next turned to the 
Netherlands ; he defeated the Austrians at Jemappes, 6 November, 
after which he overran the whole country. Territorial aggression 
and the spread of Republican ideas went hand in hand. In Holland the 
old Republican party raised its head again, whereupon the States 
General appealed to Great Britain and received assurances that in 
case of need they would be protected. 

The Opening of the Scheldt, and the Decrees of 19 November and 
15 December, 1792. — On 16 November, the French declared the 
river Scheldt open to navigation. This was at once a violation of 
the treaty rights 2 of the Dutch and a defiance of Great Britain, who 
was bound to protect them. The triumphant Revolutionists, who had 
also annexed Savoy and Nice, declared in their exultation that they 
would " break all the Cabinets of Europe." They held out hopes to 
the English societies with whom they corresponded that a republic 
would soon be set up in Great Britain, and sent emissaries to stir 
up disaffection in different parts of the country. It was an especially 
favorable time. Owing to a bad harvest, the price of wheat was high, 
and the poor, particularly among the manufacturing classes, were 
suffering for food. Riots broke out, accompanied by frequent cries 
of "No excise! " "No King! " On 19 November, the National 
. Convention issued a decree offering to assist, even by force of arms, 
all nations aspiring to liberty. In view of the aggressions in the Nether- 
lands and of this open invitation to revolt, the English Government 
began to prepare for a possible conflict, though Pitt still hoped to 
maintain peace. A proclamation was issued, 1 December, calling 
out the militia, and Parliament was summoned to meet on the 13th. 
When it had assembled, the Government, which had already taken 
steps to increase the army and navy, introduced an Alien Bill which 
became law in January, 1793. It placed all foreigners under sur- 
veillance; prohibited them from bringing arms or ammunition into 
the country ; and authorized the Government, if necessary, to expel 
them. Fox declared that the danger was exaggerated, resisted all 
restrictive measures, and advised the recognition of the French Re- 
public, which had been declared, 22 September. But he was little 
heeded ; for the designs of the dominant Revolutionary party grew 
steadily more menacing. They began to treat the Austrian Nether- 
lands as a part of France and to introduce democracy. On 15 Decem- 
ber, 1792, the National Assembly issued another decree, declaring that 
in every country occupied by French armies the commander should 
proclaim the sovereignty of the people and suppress the existing 

1 Goethe, who was in the Prussian camp, declared : "On that day a new era of 
history began." 

2 It had been closed to all except the Dutch by the Peace of Minister in 1648. 



830 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

system of government. " The French Nation," so ran the decree, 
" will treat as enemies the people who, refusing or renouncing liberty 
and equality, are desirous of preserving their prince and privileged 
castes, or of entering into accommodation with them." 

The Outbreak of War with France, 1793. — As late as 31 December, 
1792, Grenville, the British Foreign Secretary, declared that his 
Majesty still desired peace, but a peace " consistent with the 
interests and dignity of his own dominions, and with the general 
security of Europe." All the while, the French were preparing to 
invade Holland, though they were full of soothing assurances to the 
English that they did not mean to hold the Netherlands in permanent 
subjection, and that their decree of 19 November was meant to apply 
only to countries where the desire of the people for a Republican 
Government was. manifestly expressed. However, in a vote of 13 
January, which was really an ultimatum, they refused to reverse their 
action in opening the Scheldt ; they insisted that they should judge 
when to interfere in behalf of insurgents in other countries ; and de- 
clined to set a definite time for their withdrawal from the Nether- 
lands. Grenville sent a haughty reply ; but negotiations were still 
dragging on when the execution of Louis XVI, 21 January, sent a 
shudder of horror through England, and the very people in the streets 
cried: " War with France! " 1 Chauvelin, who had been informally 
representing the Republic, though Grenville refused to accept his 
credentials, was ordered to leave the country, and, 1 February, France 
declared war on Great Britain and Holland. Though the declaration 
came from France, Pitt and Grenville had come to realize that the. 
conflict was inevitable, and had virtually closed the negotiations by 
refusing to listen to more assurances and by their abrupt dismissal of 
Chauvelin. The active promulgation of Revolutionary doctrines 
taken alone would not have dragged Pitt from his neutral attitude ; 
and, unlike Burke, Frederick William II, and the Emperor, he had no 
desire to undertake a crusade for the restoration of monarchy in 
France. It was the violation of the treaties relating to the Scheldt, 
which threatened the security of the public law of Europe, the occupa- 
tion and threatened annexation of the Austrian Netherlands ; and the 
danger of an invasion of Holland, that finally determined his attitude. 2 
In his opinion it would bea" very short war and certainly ended in 
one or two campaigns." Burke predicted that it would be a " long 
war and a dangerous war." As a matter of fact, with one brief lull, 
it lasted for over twenty years. 

FOR ADDITIONAL READING 
See ch. XLVII below. 

1 The Prince of Wales declared : "If God Almighty came over as an envoy, He 
could not now prevent a War." 

2 France in possession of the Low Countries with Antwerp as a port would 
have been a grave menace to British maritime supremacy. 



CHAPTER XLVI 

THE GREAT WAR WITH FRANCE TO THE PEACE OF AMIENS 

(1793-1802) 

General Features of the War. — The outbreak of the war in 1793 
found England unprepared to undertake military operations on a large 
scale. In the year 1792 the British army numbered only 17,300 men, 
while at the time of the French declaration it had only been increased 
by 10,000. Instead of strengthening it at once, Pitt relied on small 
expeditions sent out to cooperate with the French royalists. This 
plan proved futile as well as costly, and Pitt might have foreseen it ; 
for English experience had proved that a people, however disaffected, 
seldom cooperate cordially with a foreign invader. It was not till 
new methods were employed after Pitt's death that the British army 
achieved effective results. Another source of weakness in the begin- 
ning arose from the fact that the first generals were chosen because 
of their family connections rather than for their military ability. 
In striking contrast, the British navy showed from the start the su- 
periority for which it had been famed. In February, 1793, the sea 
force was raised to 45,000; from that time on the number of ships 
and men was constantly increased, and under skilled and heroic com- 
manders a steady succession of victories resulted. Nevertheless, 
while the British navy effected much by blockading French ports, 
sweeping her fleets from the sea, and capturing her colonies, the final 
issue had to be fought out on land. A significant factor was the ulti- 
mate transformation in the character of the war. Great Britain's 
continental allies in the beginning were not peoples, but absolute 
monarchs concerned in maintaining their power and preserving or 
extending their boundaries. Then the French Government changed 
from a Republic bent on a general crusade for liberty to a military 
despotism aiming primarily at territorial aggrandizement. The re- 
sult was to produce a great national reawakening in Spain, Russia, 
and Prussia. Only after that happened was France struck down in 
her victorious career. Great Britain alone had from the very begin- 
ning been animated by an intense and persistent national opposition 
against the Republic and the Napoleonic Empire alike. Meantime, 
with her fleets and her subsidies, she had saved Europe by sustaining 
her allies until they were able to turn and overthrow their aggressor. 
Great Britain emerged from the war with an enormous debt of 
£840,000,000. Although the favored classes gained huge profits 

831 



832 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

from the expansion of commerce and manufactures and the high prices 
of foodstuffs, the poor suffered intensely and the country had to face 
more than one sharp financial crisis. 

The First Coalition, 1793-1797. The Campaign of 1793. — The 
war opened with a period of hard times and a money stringency. The 
bad harvest of 1792 had produced widespread distress. On top of 
that came a sudden shrinkage of credit and withdrawal of deposits, 
due to the prospect of a general European conflict. The banks, 
having greatly extended their circulation since the recent industrial 
development, were hard put to it, and many failures resulted, partic- 
ularly in the country and the smaller towns. The Prime Minister 
only checked the crisis by getting the assent of Parliament to issue 
£5,000,000 in exchequer bills l to be advanced at reasonable interest 
on good security. In spite of this unpromising state of affairs, the 
Government went on with its preparations for war. Alliances were 
formed with Prussia and Austria 2 ; Russia, whose troops were occupied 
in Poland, agreed to lend her fleet to assist the British in preventing 
neutrals from supplying the French with food ; Portugal promised 
to send ships to the Mediterranean ; British subsidies were advanced 
to the King of Sardinia ; treaties were made with the King of the 
Two Sicilies ; and troops were hired from Hanover and Hesse Cassel. 
This First Coalition, as it came to be called, began with a series of 
decided successes. The French were driven out of the Netherlands 
and defeated in the Rhine country, while a British fleet, assisted by 
Spain, which joined the Coalition in May, captured the important 
naval station of Toulon. The prospect looked dark enough for France. 
On the borders her troops were unruly, her generals were inefficient, 
her ablest commander, Dumouriez, fled to the Austrians, and her war 
ministers proved incompetent. Most of the leading cities outside 
Paris were in revolt, while a formidable insurrection had broken out 
in the Vendee. The Allies, with 300,000 men posted along the frontier 
from the Alps to the Netherland sea coast, might by a sudden con- 
certed movement have taken the French capital, but their troops were 
kept inactive while they quarreled about the partition of territory, 
much of which was not yet in their possession. The crisis inspired 
the French to heroic efforts. In August they ordered a universal con- 
scription, and under a new War Minister, Carnot, who proved a genius 
in the work, the raw recruits were amalgamated with the regulars into 
an effective army. They recovered ground in the Netherlands as 
well as in the Rhine country, whence Frederick William II had with- 
drawn to look after his Polish interests. The Vendeans were crushed 
and scattered, while a British force sent to aid them returned home 
without even landing. Toulon also was recovered, in which achieve- 

1 These are negotiable, interest-bearing bills of credit issued by the Exchequer 
under authority of acts of Parliament. They are issued for five years at most and 
in sums of £100, or in multiples of that amount. 

2 Great Britain and Holland were already allied. 



THE GREAT WAR WITH FRANCE 833 

ment a young Corsican artillery officer, Napoleon Bonaparte, first 
came into military prominence. All this was only slightly offset by 
British successes in the West Indies and in India, and by their cap- 
ture of St. Pierre and Miquelon. 

Measures of Repression, 1793-1795. — The turn of the tide, due to 
the patriotic enthusiasm of the French and the selfish division of 
the Allies, was accompanied by the " Reign of Terror " in France — a 
carnival of bloodshed lasting from early in 1793 to the summer of 1794, 
when the extremists, who had got control of the Convention, acting 
through Revolutionary committees sent hundreds to the guillotine, 
either because they would not go far enough in support of the Revolu- 
tion or because their condemnation offered a chance to confiscate their 
goods. The result was to convince Pitt of the necessity of over- 
throwing the existing Government. 1 At length he had come round to 
adopt the attitude of Burke. Fear that the French victories and the 
ascendancy of the violent party might encourage the Republican 
sympathizers in England, although there is little evidence that they 
were gaining ground, led to further repressive measures. Late in 1793 
a Traitorous Correspondence Bill was carried which made it treason 
even to purchase French stocks. Printers and preachers of sedition, 
or what was interpreted as such, were prosecuted, and spies were 
employed to report every sign of disaffection. A few were rigorously 
punished. One poor billsticker was imprisoned for six months for 
posting an address asking for parliamentary reform, and an attorney, 
who remarked in a coffeehouse that he was " for equality and the 
rights of man," had to go to prison and stand in the pillory. The 
courts, however, showed their fairness in the acquittal of others, 
notably in the case of Home Tooke, a sturdy agitator and former sup- 
porter of Wilkes, who was tried for treason in 1794. Yet in the same 
year the Habeas Corpus Act was suspended for the first time since 
1745. In the teeth of a small but vociferous opposition in Parliament, 
60,000 men were enrolled in the army and 85,000 in the navy. Volun- 
teers were added and letters were sent to lords lieutenants to collect 
subscriptions from the counties. These were denounced by Fox 
and Sheridan as revivals of the old benevolences, but there was this 
important difference, that, irregular as was the proceeding, it was 
sanctioned by Parliament. 

The Campaigns of 1794-1795. — In July, 1794, Pitt's Government 
was greatly strengthened when the Duke of Portland and other leading 
Whigs, who had seceded from the portion dominated by Fox, took 
office in the Cabinet. The Reign of Terror in France came to an 
end on the 27th of the same month, 2 when Robespierre was arrested, 
together with a number of his violent associates. With the return of 
the moderates to power the English peace party raised its voice. 

1 "Any alternative," he declared early in 1794, "was preferable to making peace 
with France upon the basis of its present rulers." 

2 9 Thermidor, according to the new Revolutionary calendar. 

3H 



834 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

Pitt, however, realized that it was not a time to secure favorable 
terms. To be sure, the British successes continued at sea. They 
gained in the Mediterranean and in the West Indies and, in a notable 
fight lasting from 28 May to 1 June, known as the " Glorious First 
of June," Hood won a decisive victory over the Brest fleet off Ushant, 
though he failed to intercept a provision fleet from America for which 
the French were anxiously waiting. It was in this battle that " break- 
ing the line " was first employed as a deliberate policy by the British 
commander. But the campaign in the Netherlands, whence the 
British designed, in company with the Dutch, the Prussians, and the 
Austrians, to march on Paris, resulted disastrously for the Allies. On 
26 June they were defeated at Fleurus and forced to evacuate the Aus- 
trian Netherlands. In September the Prussians retired across the 
Rhine and were followed by the Austrians in the spring. The French 
invaded Holland in the winter of 1 794-1 795, whence the British, left 
unsupported, were obliged to withdraw. The Stadholder fled to 
England, the Franco-Dutch party set up the Batavian Republic, 
and, 10 May, 1795, entered into a dependent alliance with France. 
Prussia, who was mainly interested in the final partition of Poland 
which took place in this year, concluded with the Convention the 
Peace of Basle, 5 April, and, 22 July, Spain followed suit. Pitt, who 
had got authority from Parliament to levy new taxes and to raise new 
loans, guaranteed a monthly subsidy to Austria. Russia, too, gave 
her financial aid ; but, even thus fortified, Austria was unable to hold 
her ground against the French, either in Germany or northern Italy. 
In June two successive bodies of emigres, who, assisted by the British, 
landed at Quiberon Bay to support another rising of the Breton royal- 
ists, were decisively defeated by the Republican general, Hoche, while 
a third expedition, under the Count of Artois, younger brother of 
Louis XVI, which came to the aid of the Vendeans, was no more 
successful. The royalist cause in the west of France was ruined. 

Suffering and Discontent in England. The Repressive Acts of 
!795- — The year 1795, so disastrous to the Allies on the Continent, 
was also marked by great suffering among the English poor. Two 
more bad harvests in succession brought the price of wheat, which had 
been 43 shillings the quarter 1 in 1792, to 75. Bread riots broke out 
in many places, and the Government, in spite of its efforts to meet the 
situation, was blamed for the prevailing distress. Demands were 
made for annual parliaments, for universal suffrage, and a speedy 
peace. When the King rode to and from the opening of Parliament, 
29 October, 1795, he was hailed with hisses and cries of: "Bread! 
Bread ! No Pitt ! " His carriage was pelted and the windows were 
broken. Two more repressive measures resulted. The Treasonable 
Practices Bill declared the mere speaking or writing against the King 
or the established Government to be treason, and made it a misde- 

1 A quarter was eight bushels or a quarter of a long ton by weight. 



THE GREAT WAR WITH FRANCE 835 

meanor to incite another to such speaking or writing. The Seditious 
Meetings Bill forbade any political meeting except upon previous 
notice by a resident householder, and even authorized any two jus- 
tices of the peace to dissolve a meeting called in a legal way. These 
drastic acts were fortunately limited in duration, and, as a matter of 
fact, were never enforced. 

Pitt's Failure to make Peace, 1796. — The power of France was 
greatly strengthened by a new constitution, October, 1795, vesting the 
executive in a directory of five. Carnot, who was a leading member, 
planned a comprehensive campaign against Austria in which three 
armies were to converge against Vienna by way of the Main, the 
Danube, and the Po. While the two northern armies were unsuccess- 
ful, the third, under Napoleon Bonaparte, managed to push its way 
to within eighty miles of Vienna. In consequence, the Austrians were 
forced to sue for peace in April, 1797. Meantime, Pitt had shown his 
readiness to end the war, particularly since the Republican excesses 
had apparently run their course and the French Government seemed 
to have been established on a stable basis. Preliminary negotiations, 
opened in March, 1796, were rejected by the Directory, and the British 
Government again offered terms in the summer only to meet with 
another rebuff. The Directory alleged as an excuse Great Britain's 
insistence on the surrender of the Austrian Netherlands ; but really, 
although there was a strong party opposed to continuing the war, 
they had no desire to make peace, particularly since Catherine of 
Russia, who died in November, 1796, was succeeded by her son Paul, 
who declared himself neutral. Moreover, owing to a defensive al- 
liance concluded with Spain, 19 August, 1796, British fleets and com- 
merce were excluded from the Mediterranean, and Napoleon was free 
to pursue his designs against the Austrians without fear of his com- 
munications by way of Italy being broken. Such being the situation, 
the French Government dreamed of ruining British trade by closing 
the continental ports against her, of isolating her from her European 
allies, of stirring up rebellion in Ireland, of invading her shores, and 
of overthrowing Pitt and the Monarchy. 

The Critical Years, 1796 1797. — In December, 1796, an expedi- 
tion from Brest sailed for Ireland. Owing, however, to stress of 
weather and the incapacity of French naval officers, the fleet was 
scattered, the commander, Hoche, did not arrive at all, and, though a 
portion of the fleet managed to reach Bantry Bay, it turned back 
without even attempting to land. The invaders thus missed the 
chance of an easy conquest ; for there were scarcely any regular troops 
to defend the country. Another French expedition landed at Fish- 
guard Bay ; but the French soldiers, disconcerted, it is said, by some 
old Welsh women in red cloaks and beaver hats, whom they took for 
regular troops, were easily captured by hastily mustered forces of local 
levies. Nevertheless, the condition of England was critical : indeed, 
the years 1796 and 1797 were the darkest in the whole war. The 



836 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

debt had increased £80,000,000 since the epening of the conflict, 
while every variety of taxation had been tried as well. Her allies 
had met with an almost constant succession of defeats. Threatened 
at any moment with an invasion, though Fox declared that there was 
more danger to the people of England from the encroachment of the 
magistrates, strenuous efforts were made to strengthen the army and 
navy and to raise more money. The response was warm and enthu- 
siastic. A loan of £18,000,000 was subscribed so quickly that hundreds 
were turned away. Thus it came to be known as the " loyalty loan." 1 
Then came an acute monetary crisis. It was due, not to lack of 
credit or of substantial wealth, but to a dearth of currency to carry on 
the business of the country. The payment of subsidies, the necessity 
of purchasing food supplies abroad, and the closing of the markets in 
France, Spain, Holland, and Italy had all contributed to the scarcity 
of specie. Then the fear of invasion caused many to draw their 
desposits from the local banks which in their turn drew on the Bank 
of England. To meet the threatened run, the Bank, after consulting 
with the Government, suspended cash payments in February, 1797. 
This measure, intended to be temporary, lasted till 1810. It is a 
tribute to the soundness of English business and financial conditions 
and to the public confidence that there was never more than a slight 
depreciation of paper. 

The Battle off Cape St. Vincent, 14 February, 1797. — Notwith- 
standing the fiascos at Bantry Bay and Fishguard Bay, the French 
proceeded with their plans of invasion. A Spanish fleet sailing from 
Carthagena was to join the French at Brest, and, together with a 
Dutch squadron gathered off the Texel, the combined forces were to 
make a simultaneous descent on the English coast. On St. Valen- 
tine's Day, 14 February, 1797, Sir John Jervis attacked the Spanish, 
who greatly outnumbered him, off Cape St. Vincent. After a hard 
day's fighting, in which Commodore Nelson distinguished himself 
by his audacious courage, the British fleet won a notable victory. 2 The 
result was to cheer greatly the English in the midst of their financial 
crisis and to lessen materially the danger of the dreaded French in- 
vasion, though the Brest and Texel fleets, each guarded by a British 
squadron, were still intact. 

The Mutinies at Spithead and the Nore, 1797. — At this juncture, 
when all depended upon the navy, a widespread mutiny broke out. 
While the sailors were worked upon by pamphlets distributed by the 
democratic societies, they had many real grievances. Their pay had 
not been increased since the reign of Charles II, though the cost of 
living had risen 30 to 40 per cent 3 ; owing to the dishonesty of con- 
tractors, their food and clothing were both bad and insufficient, their 

1 The Government offered £112 of stock at 5 per cent for every £100 subscribed. 

2 Jervis was created Earl St. Vincent. Nelson became a rear-admiral, 20 Febru- 
ary, although his promotion was already decided upon before the battle. 

3 The pay of the army had, to some degree, kept pace with changing conditions. 



THE GREAT WAR WITH FRANCE 837 

quarters were frightfully unhealthy, and they were subject to arbitrary 
and barbarous punishments. Most of the men were pressed and 
many of them were recruited from the lowest criminal class, who were 
ripe for anything. In the winter of 1 796-1 797 the able seamen, who 
had an especial grievance in being withdrawn from the more prof- 
itable merchant service, sent a petition to Lord Howe. When the 
Admiralty hesitated to grant their demands, they raised the red flag 
of mutiny at Spithead on 15 April, just as the fleet for Brest was about 
to put to sea. Then the authorities agreed to all their demands. 
It required another armed demonstration, however, before the bill 
to raise their pay was pushed through Parliament, whereupon Howe, 
whom the sailors knew affectionately as " Black Dick," went down 
from London with the news of the vote, together with a royal pardon, 
and quelled the mutiny. The result encouraged an outbreak 12 May, 
in the fleet off the Nore, 1 which was destined to reenforce the North Sea 
squadron. The movement here was in the hands of a much more 
desperate class, who blockaded the mouth of the Thames and pre- 
vented trading vessels from going in and out. However, the vigorous 
efforts of the authorities, assisted by the better-minded men, soon 
forced the mutineers to give in and surrender Parker, their leader, 
who was hanged at the yardarm. The Government, recognizing the 
gravity of the crisis and the justice of the complaints, was wisely 
lenient. Less than a score were put to death. Although impress- 
ment and flogging continued for a long time to come, the condition 
of the crews was steadily improved. 2 

The End of the First Coalition, 1797. The British Victory off Cam- 
perdown, 11 October. — While Great Britain was struggling with a 
financial crisis and a mutinous fleet, France, too, was in difficulties. 
Public spirit was at a low ebb, loans could only be procured at exorbi- 
tant rates of interest, and taxes were arbitrary and crushing. Carnot 
was opposed to the extreme Republicans, while another member of 
the Directory was a royalist. Pitt seized the occasion to reopen 
negotiations for peace in the summer of 1797, but while the terms 
were being discussed, a coup d'etat, 4 September, 3 resulted in the ex- 
pulsion of the two moderates from the Directory. The two Jacobins 
who replaced them were hot for war and demanded impossible con- 
cessions. Austria, 17 October, concluded with France the treaty of 
Campo Formio. Great Britain was isolated, and the First Coalition 
had been broken into pieces. England was saved from invasion, 
however, by another great naval victory. The mutiny had spread 
even to the fleet of Admiral Duncan who was blockading the Dutch 
off the Texel. At one time he had only one ship besides his own, 
but he managed to keep the enemy in port by constantly running up 
flags to make them believe that he was signaling to parts of his fleet 

1 The name is applied to the estuary of the Thames. 

2 Nelson's care for his men was particularly noteworthy. 
8 18 Fructidor, according to the new calendar. 



838 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

which were not in sight. When they at length weighed anchor, he 
was strong enough to engage, and won a decisive victory off Camper- 
down, n October, 1797. 1 The French were still reluctant to give 
up their cherished project. In the following spring they collected an 
invading force along the coast prepared for transport ; but Napoleon, 
who was placed in command of this " Army of England," felt that it 
was hopeless to attempt an invasion while Great Britain retained her 
mastery of the seas. Consequently, he turned to another plan which he 
had formed, of striking India by way of Egypt. This left England free 
to deal with a dangerous rebellion which had come to a head in Ireland. 
The Situation in Ireland, 1782-1789. — In Ireland the grant of 
legislative independence in 17.82 had done little or nothing to relieve 
the situation. The interests of the Roman Catholics, the Protestant 
Dissenters, the Episcopalians, the native Irish, the Anglo-Irish, the 
English, the landowners, and the peasantry conflicted and inter- 
mingled in a most bewildering fashion. The Irish Parliament, while 
nominally free, was composed of Protestants — nobles, gentry, and 
placemen — over whom the English government officials exercised great 
control by means of patronage, bribery, and influence. The Roman 
Catholics not only had no representation, but no vote, and were ex- 
cluded from office as well as from all the professions except that of 
medicine. The Protestants were divided among themselves. There 
were two main groups. One consisted largely of those in the English 
interest, mostly officeholders and pensioners, chief among them 
Fitzgibbon, the Chancellor, and the Beresfords, a family who con- 
trolled a vast number of appointments. The opposition, in which 
Grattan was the leading figure, was made up partly of men of wealth 
and family who chafed under English control ; but there were many 
attached to this party who desired a genuine reform of Parliament. 
Within this group there were some, headed by Grattan, who desired to 
include the admission of Roman Catholics in their scheme of reform ; 
others wanted merely to break up the government control of boroughs, 
which was even more shameless than in England. Below those who 
were working mainly for political equality were the peasantry, whose 
chief grievances were financial and economic. The exorbitant rents 
squeezed from them by the middlemen, who hired the lands from the 
great landlords — often absentees — and the tithes for the support of 
the Established Church were burdens which bore heavily on the lesser 
folk, whether Protestant or Catholic. In their wretchedness they saw 
no hope but in force. The Whiteboys, who resumed their nightly 
raids in Munster and parts of Leinster, were of the Catholic faith, but 
they directed their efforts mainly against the rent collectors and the 
tithe proctors. In spite of the common grievances Ulster was torn 
by acute religious animosity. Protestant "Peep of Day Boys " 
combined to protect themselves, and sought to deprive their Catholic 

1 Duncan was created Earl of Camperdown as a reward for his achievement. 



THE GREAT WAR WITH FRANCE 839 

neighbors of arms which by law they were forbidden to carry. The 
latter formed themselves into societies of " Defenders." New Prot- 
estant organizations followed which took the name of Orange Lodges. 
Thus lawless violence was met by lawless violence. 

The French Revolution. Wolfe Tone and the United Irishmen. — 
In the midst of this wild disorder came the news of the French Revolu- 
tion and the visits of Revolutionary agents promising the overthrow 
of tyranny, religious and secular, and a millennium for the downtrodden. 
The Roman Catholics at first had little sympathy with the movement 
which included in its propaganda the overthrow of their Church ; 
but the northern Protestants of the lesser sort, many of whom were 
Republicans at heart, eagerly welcomed the new teachings. They 
hated the exclusive knot which governed the Irish Parliament as much 
as they hated those of the opposite faith, and they longed to be rid 
of middlemen and tithes. There was an opportunity for the ruling 
classes to maintain their ascendancy by playing the opposing religious 
parties against each other. Foreseeing this, Wolfe Tone, a Dublin 
barrister, nominally a Presbyterian, but really a free thinker, formed 
in 1 79 1, the Society of United Irishmen, in which he sought to make 
the hostile elements set aside their religious animosity in pursuit of a 
common object — the breakdown of the English power through reform 
of Parliament. Tone's activity caused a split in the ranks of the 
Roman Catholics. The minority, composed of the bishops and the 
educated classes who looked to Pitt for further measures of relief, 
broke off all connection with the more violent majority, who threw 
in their lot with the United Irishmen. Instead of wisely granting 
sufficient concessions to satisfy the moderates, those in authority, 
after holding out great hopes, only conceded grudgingly just enough 
half measures to anger the Protestant clique and to stir up the Roman 
Catholics to increasing agitation. In 1792, a bill was forced through 
the Irish Parliament admitting them to the practice of law and re- 
pealing restrictions on education and intermarriage. In 1793, they 
were admitted to the grand juries and to the magistracies ; the 
prohibition to bear arms was repealed; and they were given the 
right to vote for members of the Lower House. This last conces- 
sion was far from satisfactory ; for the poor and ignorant tenantry 
who received the franchise were completely under the control of the 
landlords and borough owners, while the wealthy and intelligent 
Catholics were still excluded from sitting in Parliament and from the 
higher offices of State. 1 It is natural to suppose that the dominant 
Protestants would fight to the last ditch the admission of the Roman 
Catholics, who from their vastly superior numbers would speedily get 
control of the country. 

Fitzwilliam made Lord Lieutenant. His Recall and its Conse- 
quences, 1795. — The reformers, however, were filled with new hope 

1 Parsons, in a debate, declared : "It courts the rabble and insults the Catholic 
gentry." 



840 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

when Lord Fitzwilliam, one of the Portland Whigs who had joined 
Pitt's Cabinet in 1794, came out as Lord Lieutenant early in 1795. He 
understood that he was to have a free hand. Pitt, however, though he 
favored further measures for the relief of Catholics, was disinclined to 
concede any more than was absolutely necessary while the war lasted. 
Consequently, he gave the Lord Lieutenant instructions to yield only 
so far as he was obliged to. In view of the sentiment which he found 
prevailing, Fitzwilliam felt justified in taking decided steps directly 
on his arrival. He at once arranged with Grattan to introduce a bill 
to admit Roman Catholics to Parliament, and dismissed from office 
the chief of the powerful Beresford connection. The pensioners and 
placemen set up a furious howl ; Beresford appealed to London ; Pitt 
bowed to the storm, recalled Fitzwilliam, and the bill was defeated. 
Fitzgibbon, now created Earl of Clare, managed by indirect means 
to persuade King George that he could not, without a breach of his 
coronation oath, consent to any further Catholic relief. 1 The events 
of 1798 defeated the only possible chance of a peaceful settlement of 
the Irish question. Many of the disappointed threw themselves into 
the arms of Tone, who, however, was obliged to leave the country, 
and sailed for America. On the other hand, the violence of the em- 
bittered Catholics forced numbers of the northern Protestants over to 
the Government side, and the Orange Society was founded. A rev- 
olution was rapidly approaching. 

The Government averts a Rising in Ulster. — The United Irishmen, 
who had been forcibly suppressed in 1794, were now reconstituted on a 
basis distinctly republican and treasonable. Instead of trying any 
longer to hold the two religious parties together, the leaders sought to 
influence the Catholics by persuading them that the Protestants were 
plotting their extermination. They also emphasized their agrarian 
grievances, and sought to lessen their distrust of the French Revolu- 
tion by pointing out that it had led to the abolition of tithes. In 
consequence, the " Defenders " combined with the United Irishmen, 
adopted a military organization, and appealed to France, whither Tone, 
from his exile in America, went for aid in 1796. The French reply 
was to send the two expeditions which came to such a futile end. 
Meanwhile, the Government acted with prompt decision. In the 
autumn of 1796 the Habeas Corpus Act was suspended, and bodies of 
yeomanry and infantry were organized from the gentry. Shortly 
before the sailing of the French fleet several leaders of the United 
Irishmen were arrested in Belfast. Early in 1797 martial law was 
proclaimed. Arms were searched out and seized, houses were burned, 
and Catholics were barbarously tortured and put to death. There 
were few regular troops in the country, and the volunteers who sup- 
plied their place were goaded to excess by long-existing feuds. Aber- 
crombie, the Commander-in-Chief, sought to mitigate their harshness, 

1 One further concession was granted : the foundation at Maynooth of a col- 
lege for the training of priests. The endowment, however, was most scanty. 



THE GREAT WAR WITH FRANCE 841 

but he was overruled and resigned. The work of suppression was car- 
ried on by General Lake. Informers assisted, by constant reports of 
the movements of the conspirators. The Irish authorities were given 
free hand, and the English Ministers declined all requests to interfere 
on the side of mercy. 

The Rebellion of 1798. — A general rising was planned for 23 May, 
but owing to the prompt arrest of many leaders, to the loyalty of the 
moderate Catholics, and the energy of the authorities, the designs of 
the rebels were in a large measure frustrated. An attempt on Dublin 
failed, and a rising in Kildare, marked by destruction and cruelty on 
the part of the insurgents, was speedily put down. In Carlow they 
were suppressed with a savagery that surpassed their own. Houses 
in which arms were found were burned ; suspected persons were shot 
or barbarously tortured. The most gruesome instrument of torture 
was the " pitch-cap " ; a cap lined with burning pitch was forced on the 
head of the unhappy victim, and he could only remove it by tearing off 
his scalp. One man, at least, drowned himself to end his misery. 
William Judkin Fitzgerald, the High Sheriff of Tipperary, stamped out 
the rebellion in his country with a courage only exceeded by his 
ferocity. After the revolts in the north and west had been practically 
suppressed, the civil war came to a head in Wexford and Wicklow, 
where little resistance had been anticipated. The outbreak, partic- 
ularly in Wexford, where strife raged for some weeks, was precipitated 
by the Protestant yeomanry and militia. The real though not the 
nominal leader of the rebel army, which rapidly swelled to a force of 
15,000 men, was a priest, Father John Murphy. After taking the city 
of Wexford, where they left a garrison, they marched to a place called 
Vinegar Hill. There they set up a camp, there they heard mass, there 
their anti-Protestant hatred was inflamed by fiery sermons, but, 
frenzied and undisciplined, they failed to make the most of their 
opportunities except for violence and revenge. 1 The loyalist forces 
struggled bravely until the arrival of General Lake with regular troops. 
By the capture of Vinegar Hill he broke the back of the rebellion, 2 1 
June. It had been practically confined to the province of Leinster ; 
for only two outbreaks had occurred in all Ulster, while Munster 
and Connaught remained quiet. 

The Aftermath of '98. — The French, hampered by the fact that 
the British fleets controlled the Channel, sent two small expeditions 
to Ireland, which arrived after the Rebellion was over, only to be 
finally overcome and taken. Among the prisoners was Wolfe Tone 
who was condemned to death, but committed suicide in prison. Lord 
Cornwallis who had succeeded as Lord Lieutenant and Commander- 
in-Chief, 20 June, managed to check the bloodthirsty execution which 
followed the Wexford war by an act of indemnity containing only a 
few exceptions. Unhappily, the burning and wasting, the ruthless 

1 Many of the better sort, however, including the priests, did their best to pre- 
serve order. 



842 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

destruction of life and property committed by both parties impover- 
ished the country, led to a stagnation of industry and credit, revised 
and accentuated the old religious and racial animosities, and undid the 
effect of such slight conciliation as had been attempted during the past 
two decades. The most direct result of the Rebellion was to determine 
Pitt and his Cabinet to bring about a union between the Irish and the 
English Parliaments. As early as 1782, he had thought of this possi- 
bility as the only solution of the vexed question of Catholic relief. 
Catholic members absorbed in the English Protestant Parliament 
would count for little, while they would inevitably dominate the Irish 
once they were admitted within its walls. Moreover, a union offered 
a means of breaking up the corrupt rule of the Protestant minority 
and of checking the revengeful fury of the Orangemen. The charge 
that Pitt fostered the Rebellion in order to pave the way for his project 
is absurd, though there is little doubt that he eagerly welcomed the 
opportunity. 

The Irish Union, 1799-1800. — The two Parliaments had been 
united for a brief period under Cromwell, but the arrangement had 
come to an end at his death. At the time of the union with Scotland, 
and occasionally in the years which followed, the Irish Parliament sug- 
gested such an arrangement in the interest of their trade. After the 
commercial concessions of 1 778-1 780 l and the repeal of Poyning's 
law in 1782 the prevailing sentiment came to be that such a step would 
be a sacrifice of Irish nationality. After the Rebellion the matter was 
brought forward by a recommendation in the royal address opening 
the Irish Parliament in 1799. It was bitterly, and, for the moment, 
successfully opposed by the leaders of the Irish opposition, headed by 
Grattan. The Roman Catholic bishops supported the Government 
in the hope of securing provision for their priests, commutation of 
tithes in money payments, and Catholic emancipation. The main 
energies of Cornwallis and his Secretary, Castlereagh, who, with the 
Earl of Clare, had the measure in charge, were directed toward the 
manipulation of the members of Parliament and the powerful interests 
which controlled the seats. They justified the means which they 
employed on the ground of disagreeable necessity. To Cornwallis 
it was particularly " dirty work " for which he despised himself, and 
he often longed to kick those whom he was obliged to court. Not 
daring to hazard a general election, sixty-three members of the exist- 
ing House of Commons were replaced by supporters of the Govern- 
ment ; some exchanged their seats for office, some sold them outright, 
some resigned to avoid taking sides. Borough owners, who would 

1 In 1785, just previous to the commercial treaty with France, Pitt framed a 
measure of free trade with Ireland. His scheme was accepted by the Irish Parlia- 
ment, who agreed in return to pay a fixed contribution to the support of the Brit- 
ish navy. Unfortunately, the jealousy of English merchants compelled the Prime 
Minister to modify his original proposition. The Irish rejected the plan in its 
amended form, and one more cause of estrangement was the result. 



THE GREAT WAR WITH FRANCE 843 

lose profit and influence by the destruction of the Irish Parliament 
were bought with £15,000 apiece. Twenty new Irish peers were 
created, sixteen were promoted, and five were rewarded with English 
peerages. Some votes were bought with places and pensions, some by 
direct bribes, but the amount employed for the latter purpose has 
doubtless been greatly exaggerated, and Cornwallis seems not to have 
had anything to do with it. In one way and another, however, the 
Government spent £1 ,000,000. In spite of the preponderating strength 
of the Government supporters, the anti-unionists fought stubbornly 
even raising £100,000 to outbid their opponents. The Articles of 
Union were carried in the new session which opened 15 January 1800 
The bill based upon them, after passing both the Irish and English 
Parliaments, received the royal assent 1 August. 

The Terms of Union. — In the change in the royal title and arms 
the now long meaningless " King of France," which Edward III had 
adopted in 1339, was dropped. By the terms of the Act of Union, 
four spiritual peers sitting in rotation in ■ successive sessions, and 
twenty-eight temporal peers elected for life, represented Ireland in the 
House of Lords, 1 and one hundred members in the House of Commons. 
Free trade was established between the two countries ; Great Britain 
was to contribute fifteen parts, and Ireland two, toward the revenue 
of the United Kingdom, and the debts of the two countries were to be 
kept distinct for twenty years, or until they reached the same propor- 
tion as_ their respective contributions to taxes. The preservation of 
the United Church of England and Ireland was to be an " essential 
and fundamental part of the Union." The first session of the united 
Parliaments was held 22 January, 1801. 

Pitt and the Union. His Resignation, 1801. — The Union seemed 
to offer a way out of pressing difficulties, and certainly the old arrange- 
ment—with a separate and independent Irish Parliament and an 
executive appointed and instructed by an English Ministry dependent 
on English party changes — was far from satisfactory. Nevertheless, 
the measure was carried by methods that cannot be'justified and was 
forced down the throats of the Irish, five sixths of whom are said to 
have been against it. Furthermore, the most influential Roman 
Catholics, who might have seriously hampered the efforts of the 
Government, were won over by the assurance circulated by Castle- 
reagh that as soon as the Parliaments were united they would be re- 
warded by the three concessions which thev desired — State payment 
of their priests, commutation of tithes, and, above all, Catholic eman- 
cipation. While Pitt gave no formal pledges, he was sincerely anxious 
to realize their hopes, but he had to contend against the monumental 
obstinacy of King George. Very likely it would have been wiser for 
Pitt to have insisted upon a preliminary pledge from the sovereign 

1 The creation of new peerages was limited to one for every three that lapsed 
until the number was reduced to one hundred. Contrary to the Scotch practice, 
Irish peers were entitled to sit for English constituencies. 



844 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

and the Cabinet that the Union would be accompanied by the con- 
cessions desired, and that otherwise he would resign and oppose the 
whole project. George might thus have been obliged to yield, as he 
had more than once before. 1 Once the Act had been carried he was in 
a better position to resist. In September, 1800, Pitt brought a meas- 
ure of Catholic relief before the Cabinet for discussion. Wedderburn, 
now Lord Loughborough and Chancellor, betrayed the secret to the 
King, so that Pitt had no opportunity either of preparing the mind of 
his sovereign gradually or of pushing through his project with a rush. 
When he formally opened the question in January, George declared : 
" I shall reckon any man my personal enemy who proposes such a 
measure." His scruples about his coronation oath were groundless, 
since Pitt was devising a new political test binding the Catholics 
to support the existing Constitution in Church and State. Yet, rather 
than oppose the royal will, he resigned, 5 February, 1801. In March, 
after the King had been threatened with another attack of his old 
malady, he agreed, whether in or out of office, never again to open the 
question during the reign. Once more the hopes of the Catholics had 
been raised only to be dashed. They were not admitted to Parlia- 
ment till 1829, commutation of tithes was not conceded till 1838, and 
payment of priests has never been granted. The failure to carry these 
concessions, to which the Government was morally if not literally 
bound, was responsible for much of the trouble with Ireland which 
followed. 2 

Napoleon in Egypt. Failure of his Designs against the British Power 
in India, 1 798-1 799. — A few days before the outbreak of the Rebellion 
of 1798, Napoleon started for the Mediterranean with the design of de- 
stroying the British power in India. Many years later, while in exile at 
St. Helena, he lamented his change of plan. " On what do the destinies 
of Empires hang ! " he declared. " If, instead of .the expedition of 
Egypt, I had made that of Ireland, . . . what would England have been 
to-day, and the Continent, and the whole political world ? " He was 
able to carry out the first steps in his new project without a setback. 
He captured Malta, passed on to Egypt, took Alexandria, July, 1798, 
and defeated the Mamelukes 3 in the Battle of the Pyramids on the 
21st. Nelson, however, in hot pursuit attacked him at Aboukir Bay, 
and in the famous Battle of the Nile, 1 August, destroyed his fleet, 
and with it his hopes of establishing a French empire in the East. 
Nelson, wounded in the engagement, refused the eager surgeon who 

1 Though this was the first time his religious convictions had ever been at stake, 
and it is doubtful if he could have been induced under any circumstances to sacrifice 
them. 

2 An abortive rebellion instigated by the French, which broke out in 1803, re- 
sulted in the execution of the leader, Robert Emmet, and in coercive measures which 
only accentuated the bitterness of the Irish. 

3 Formerly slaves, they were now an effective body of cavalry who, under their 
beys or chiefs, ruled the country of which the Sultan of Turkey was the nominal 
overlord. 



THE GREAT WAR WITH FRANCE 845 

hastened to his side, saying : " I will take my turn with my brave 
fellows." Learning that the French admiral's ship was on fire, 1 he 
generously sent boats to rescue the sailors who had flung themselves 
into the sea. Napoleon, after his defeat, started for Syria with the 
design of capturing Constantinople and attacking Europe from the 
East. Failing in an attempt to take Acre, the key to the control of the 
Syrian coast, May, 1799, he returned to Egypt, where he received news 
which caused him to leave his army and hasten to France. In India 
Tipu — the successor of his father Haidar Ali as ruler of Mysore — 
who had been in communication with Napoleon, was awaiting aid 
from him to start* a revolt. To anticipate the threatened danger the 
Governor-General, Lord Mornington, sent an army against him. 
Tipii was defeated and slain, while Mysore was divided and placed 
under British protection. Mornington was created Marquis of 
Wellesley. His brother, Sir Arthur Wellesley, who commanded a 
division of the invading army was destined later, as the Duke of Well- 
ington, to become the conqueror of Napoleon. The failure of the 
Eastern expedition was attended by two important results : it averted 
a serious danger to the British ascendancy in India as well as to the 
supremacy of British commerce in the East, and it led to the formation 
of the Second Coalition. 

The Second Coalition, 1799-1801. — The first step toward the new 
Coalition was taken by the half-crazy Paul of Russia. Encourage- 
ment at Napoleon's defeat, resentment at the seizure of Malta which 
belonged to the Knights of St. John, of whom he was protector, and 
fear of the spread of Republicanism were the motives which prompted 
him. The actual organization was the work of Pitt. The Coalition, 
consisting of Great Britain, Russia, Austria, Portugal, Naples, and 
Turkey, was completed in the early months of 1799. At the start, 
the Allies were successful in forcing the French across the Rhine and 
in driving them out of northern Italy. Moreover, in Naples a republic, 
set up in 1798 with the aid of the French, was overthrown in June, 
1799, by a counter-revolution. In the autumn the tide began to turn. 
On 26 September, the Russian general Korsakov, with a body of Aus- 
trian allies, was defeated at Zurich. Thereupon, Suvorov, the vic- 
torious commander in northern Italy, who had crossed the Alps with 
the design of invading France, gave up the campaign and retired with 
the Russian troops to Germany. Moreover, a joint invasion of Hol- 
land by the English and Russians, assisted by the Orange party, ended 
at a great cost of men and money in the capitulation in October of 
the Duke of York, 2 the nominal commander, and the withdrawal of 
the Allies. During the winter Paul, disgusted at the failure of his 
arms and convinced that Austria and Great Britain had not cooperated 
cordially with him, withdrew from the Coalition. 

1 The heroism of Casabianca has been celebrated by Mrs. Hemans in a familiar 
poem. 2 Second son of George III. 






846 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

The Break-up of the Second Coalition, 1799. — Meantime, Napoleon, 
hurrying from Egypt, had reached France in October. With the aid 
of his grenadiers the Directory, which had grown very unpopular, 
was overthrown by the coup d'etat of 18 and 19 Brumaire (9 and 10 
November). By a new constitution proclaimed in December, the 
fourth since 1789, Napoleon was made First Consul for ten years with 
virtually supreme powers. While he was able to forestall another 
expedition planned by Pitt to assist the royalists in La Vendee and 
Brittany, he sent a personal letter to George III, expressing a desire for 
peace. He later declared that his motive was to strengthen himself 
with the French party, now in the majority, which desired to end the 
war. The British Government, thinking that France was too ex- 
hausted to hold out much longer, played into his hands by insisting 
upon impossible terms. In England the burden of the war was growing 
heavier and heavier. An income tax went into effect in April, 1799, 
and new loans were contracted. The commercial classes were thriving, 
and so were the farmers ; but the poor suffered more and more from 
soaring prices, especially of food. Wheat rose to 106 shillings the 
quarter. A meeting was held in London which petitioned for peace ; 
but the great majority still supported the war policy of the Govern- 
ment and frowned on the expression of Revolutionary opinion. Bills 
were passed toward the end of the year 1800 suppressing corresponding 
societies, restricting debating societies and combinations of workmen, 
and obliging printers to obtain certificates and to affix their signatures 
to all they printed. The repressive measures were now so complete 
in theory that " the popular constitution . . . was practically sus- 
pended." Austria, which was supporting the allied cause in northern 
Italy, was defeated by Napoleon at Marengo, 14 June, 1800, largely 
owing to the failure of the British to send troops in season. Great 
Britain recovered Malta, but the Austrians, defeated at Hohenlinden, 
3 December, were unable to hold out any longer, and, 9 February, 1801, 
signed the Peace of Luneville. Among other things they ceded 
Belgium (the Austrian Netherlands) and recognized the Batavian, 
Helvetian, Cisalpine, and Ligurian Republics, all of which were under 
French domination. The Second Coalition had gone the way of the 
first. 

The Bombardment of Copenhagen, 1801. — Paul, won over by the 
blandishments of Napoleon, who, he hoped, would crush out repub- 
licanism and establish a dynasty, had, in the meantime, planned an 
armed neutrality similar to that organized by his mother nearly twenty 
years earlier. By the terms of this new agreement — signed by Russia, 
Sweden, Denmark, and Prussia in December, 1800 — it was provided 
that : (1) the neutral flag should cover an enemy's goods, not contra- 
band of war ; (2) blockades to be binding must be effective ; (3) ships 
convoyed by a man-of-war belonging to the sovereign of any of the 
signatories should be exempt from search on a declaration from the 
captains that they contained no contraband. The situation had 



THE GREAT WAR WITH FRANCE 847 

again become critical for Great Britain. She was bereft of her strong- 
est allies, while the action of the Northern Powers threatened not only 
to exclude her from profitable markets, but to cut off her main source 
of supply for naval stores and for much of her wheat. This fact, com- 
bined with another bad harvest, sent the price of the latter commodity 
up to 156 shillings the quarter. However, the British fleet was still 
the strongest on the seas, and was successfully blockading the French 
and Spanish in all their principal ports. On 14 January, 1801, the 
Government placed an embargo on the ships of Russia, Sweden, and 
Denmark, and prepared to send a fleet to the Baltic. It sailed for 
Copenhagen, 12 March, under Sir Hyde Parker, with Nelson second 
in command. When the Danes refused to accede to the British de- 
mands, the fleet attacked their capital. 1 Exposed to a fierce bombard- 
ment, the city must soon have surrendered. Suddenly, however, the 
news arrived that Paul had been murdered in the night of 23 March. 
His successor, Alexander I, was willing to compromise. It was 
agreed that blockades by proclamation should be given up, and the 
right of search was more accurately defined, but the League broke up 
without gaining its other demands. The French forces left behind in 
Egypt after a series of defeats were forced to abandon the country in 
September. As an offset to these triumphs, the French scored several 
diplomatic gains, following the Peace of Luneville. Spain ceded back 
Louisiana, 21 March, 1801, and agreed to make war on Portugal, 
which was obliged to contract alliances with both France and Spain 
and to close her ports against Great Britain. The King of the Two 
Sicilies was forced, 28 March, to agree to the same conditions, while, 
in July, the Pope consented to a concordat regulating the status of 
the Church in France. Both Great Britain and France were ready 
for peace ; indeed negotiations were opened in March, though since 
each side hoped to gain better terms by further conquests, the fight- 
ing continued till autumn. 

The Addington Ministry, 1801-1804. The Peace of Amiens, 25 
March, 1802. — Pitt on his resignation in the previous February was 
succeeded by Addington, a dull though well-meaning man, in such close 
agreement with the King that George regarded conversation with him 
as " thinking aloud." Pitt, according to a promise which he had 
made, began by supporting the new Administration. Grenville and 
Canning were in opposition from the start. The latter, destined to 
become one of England's most brilliant Prime Ministers, was unweary- 
ing in his attacks on the new Premier. In a famous couplet he de- 
clared : 

Pitt is to Addington 

As London is to Paddington. 2 

1 There is a familiar story that at the beginning of the attack Parker, finding the 
defense stronger than he had expected, gave the order to cease firing, whereupon 
Nelson placed his telescope to his blind eye and declared that he could not see the 
signal. Recent authorities have cast doubt on this story. 2 Then a rural suburb. 



848 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

Only the least able of the old Cabinet stayed on. Pitt's friends urged 
him to return to office, and he himself wanted to do this, both because 
he loved power and because he felt that the country needed him. 
After he had given his promise not to raise the Catholic question again 
the way seemed clear ; but Addington refused to resign, and Pitt, 
who had been his friend since childhood, would take no steps to force 
him out. The peace negotiations were finally concluded at Amiens, 
25 March, 1802. The treaty was signed by Great Britain, France, 
Spain, and the Batavian Republic. 1 Great Britain gave up all her 
conquests from France, together with all those from French allies 
except Trinidad and Ceylon, which had been taken from the Spanish 
and the Dutch, respectively. The Cape of Good Hope, also a conquest 
from the Dutch, was to be a free port, Egypt was to be handed back 
to Turkey, while Malta was to be restored to the Knights of St. John. 
Its independence was to be guaranteed by Great Britain, France, 
Spain, Austria, Russia, and Prussia, and was to be defended by a 
Neapolitan garrison until the Order was strong enough to undertake 
the task. Such were the main terms of the peace of which Sheridan 
said: " All men are glad of, but no man can be proud of." Yet it 
was carried in the English Parliament by a large majority, and though 
a few foresaw that Napoleon could not be trusted, there was general 
rejoicing throughout the country. 

FOR ADDITIONAL READING 
See ch. XLVII below. 

1 The Sultan of Turkey was admitted as an accessory. 



CHAPTER XLVII 

THE STRUGGLE AGAINST NAPOLEON: FROM AMIENS TO 
WATERLOO (1802-1815) 

The Resumption of War, 1803. — The Peace of Amiens proved to 
be a mere breathing time. Indeed, Napoleon admitted frankly that : 
" A renewal of war was necessary for his existence." Even while 
negotiations were pending, he had made himself President of the 
Cisalpine, now called the Italian Republic ; and before many months 
it was evident that he was bent on destroying utterly the European 
balance of power. He annexed Piedmont ; he formed a new constitu- 
tion for Switzerland ; he kept an army in Holland ; and he sent spies 
to Ireland. His colonial projects were equally disquieting ; he planned 
to recover Egypt and stirred up disaffection in India. In one direc- 
tion his designs miscarried. He had aimed to establish a great empire 
in North America ; but a revolt in San Domingo, started by the negro 
leader Toussaint L'Ouverture, cost him so many troops that he gave 
up his project in disgust and sold Louisiana to the United States in 
the spring of 1803. Yet, in spite of all that he did and all that he 
schemed, he had in no way violated the letter of the Treaty of Amiens. 
On the other hand, he had long resented the attacks made upon him 
in papers conducted by French exiles in London. Jean Peltier, editor 
of L'Ambigu, who was particularly ferocious, was convicted of libel, 
though numbers of Englishmen were outspoken against the sentence, 
and the Government declined either to expel the emigres or to suppress 
their papers. Moreover, Great Britain would not evacuate Malta, 
on the ground of Russia's refusal to guarantee the independence of 
the Island, 1 and she persisted in holding on to the French towns in 
India. On 13 March, 1803, Napoleon, in a burst of petulance, accused 
the English ambassador of representing a nation which was bent on 
war and which did not respect treaties. While his manner was almost 
insulting, he was technically correct in asserting that Great Britain 
had not carried out the terms agreed upon at Amiens, although he was 
the real disturber of Europe. His anger soon subsided, and negotia- 
tions for settling the points at issue were resumed ; but it was evident 
that Great Britain could not keep peace with safety and honor, so, 
18 May, she declared war. The situation was absolutely changed 
since the beginning of the conflict ten years before. It was no longer 

1 In view of the resumption of Napoleon's designs against Egypt, Turkey, and 
India, it was felt to be unsafe to allow the Island to fall again into his hands. 

3 1 849 



850 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

a question of the preservation of monarchy, aristocracy, and property 
against the spread of Republicanism, now it was a struggle for existence 
on the part of Great Britain and the continental countries against 
Napoleonic aggrandizement. 

Pitt's Second Ministry, May, 1804, to January, 1806. The Third 
Coalition. — Pitt, in view of the crisis, made up his mind to resume 
office as Prime Minister. He was able to make Addington yield the 
Premiership ; but great difficulties arose in getting him and his fol- 
lowers to resign from the Cabinet. Finally, Addington lost his major- 
ity in a discussion raised by Pitt on the question of the state of the 
army and navy, and resigned, 29 April, 1804. The wits remarked 
that the new Ministry consisted of "William and Pitt." It was 
greatly weakened from the fact that Grenville refused to come in 
without Fox — for the two sections of the Whig party had again 
united — whom George III declared that he would never admit even 
if civil war resulted. Also, Pitt was greatly broken in health. On 
18 May, Napoleon was proclaimed Emperor of the French and was 
crowned, 2 December, or rather crowned himself, though the Pope 
had been brought from Rome to Paris to perform the act. In May 
of the following year, he was crowned King of Italy in the Milan cathe- 
dral. Before the close of 1805, Pitt managed to complete a Third 
Coalition, consisting of Russia and Austria, in addition to Great 
Britain. 

Trafalgar, 21 October, 1805, Austerlitz, 2 December. End of the 
Third Coalition. — Napoleon desired to undertake again the invasion 
of England which he had been once obliged to give up. To this end 
he gathered an army at Boulogne which was to be conveyed across 
the Channel in flatbottom boats under cover of the Brest and Toulon 
fleets. In order to shake off Nelson, who had been watching the 
Mediterranean for two years, Villeneuve sailed with the Toulon 
squadron to the West Indies. Nelson, however, followed him over 
and back, and finally engaged him, off Cape Trafalgar, 21 October, 
1805. The French admiral, who had picked up the Spanish fleet, had 
thirty-three ships of the line, while Nelson had only twenty-seven. But 
the British were superior in equipment and discipline and infused with 
the spirit of their commander, who, as he went into action, flew from 
his flagship the signal : " England expects every man to do his duty." 
Nelson, mortally wounded in the action, lived long enough to learn 
that he had won a great triumph. 1 Again, as in 1797, England had 
been saved by her navy. Already some weeks before, Napoleon, 
despairing of any help from Villeneuve, had marched across the Rhine 
with his " Army of England." He entered Vienna, 13 November, 
whence he marched forth, and at Austerlitz gained a decisive victory, 
2 December, over the Austrians and a contingent of Russians. By the 
Peace of Pressburg, concluded on the 26th, the Austrian Emperor was 

1 At Trafalgar was exhibited in its perfection the famous "Nelson touch," i.e. 
his method of breaking the line. 



THE STRUGGLE AGAINST NAPOLEON 851 

obliged once more to withdraw from the war. The break-up of the 
Coalition was too much for Pitt, whose constitution was already under- 
mined by drink and overwork ; though in his last speech he showed 
that invincible faith which had animated him from the beginning of the 
struggle by the memorable words : " England has saved herself by her 
exertions, and will, as I trust, save Europe by her example." He 
died 23 January, 1806. l 

The Ministry of " All the Talents," February, 1806-March, 1807. 
— Unable to get anybody else of note to carry on the Administration, 
George III finally turned to Grenville, and with a sour grace agreed to 
admit Fox as Foreign Secretary. Thus was formed the Ministry of 
" All the Talents," which survived scarcely more than a year. Though 
the combined Whigs were in the majority, there were two Tories, 
Addington, now Lord Sidmouth 2 and the Chief Justice, Lord Ellen- 
borough. 3 Fox, only surviving his great rival by a few months, died 
13 September. Though he failed in his dearest hope of bringing about 
a peace, he crowned his career of single-hearted devotion to the cause 
of the oppressed humanity by preparing the measure which led to the 
abolition of the African slave trade. 4 The break-up of the Third 
Coalition marked the end of attempts on the part of the British Govern- 
ment to wage war against Napoleon by means of such dynastic com- 
binations. Fox had long declaimed against them, and Pitt before his 
death had come to recognize their futility. Under Castlereagh, 
Canning, and Wellington a new policy was soon developed of aiding 
national risings against Napoleonic aggression — a policy which led 
ultimately to glorious results. Meantime, Napoleon was remaking 
Germany and the neighboring states. By the Peace of Pressburg 
he forced Austria to recognize Bavaria and Wiirtemburg as kingdoms. 
In June, 1806, he transformed the Batavian Republic into the kingdom 
of Holland under the rule of his brother Louis. In July, he set up the 
Confederation of the Rhine, and, 6 August, Francis II, who had as- 
sumed the style of Emperor of Austria, renounced his old title, and 
the Holy Roman Empire 5 ceased to exist. Frederick William III 
had been bribed by the gift of the Kingdom of Hanover to join the 
French side and to close her ports to British ships. Unable, however, 
to endure the constant humiliation which Napoleon heaped upon 
him — for example, regardless of his recent concession, the Dictator 
offered to restore Hanover to Great Britain — the Prussian King was 

1 It was not on his deathbed, but shortly after Austerlitz that he uttered the 
remarkable prophecy : "Roll up that map (of Europe), it will not be wanted these 
ten years." 

2 Canning once said that Sidmouth was very like the measles, everybody had 
him once. 

3 His was the last case when the holder of that office ever sat in the Cabinet. 

4 It passed, 25 March, 1807. 

6 It had begun with Charlemagne a thousand years before. Since 1438 members 
of the Hapsburg House had been elected without a break. Voltaire once said 
that it was neither "holy," nor "Roman," nor an "Empire." 



852 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

obliged to declare war. Without a single ally to help him, his armies 
were crushed at the twin battles of Jena and Auerstadt, 14 October, 
1806. The Grenville Ministry fell in March, 1807, in a vain attempt 
to extend to Roman Catholics the right to hold commissions in the 
army and navy. 

The Treaty of Tilsit, 7 July, 1807, and the British Seizure of the 
Danish Fleet. — The Duke of Portland was selected to be the figure- 
head of the new Administration, but its real leader was Spencer Per- 
ceval. Russia, in the meanwhile, had managed, 8 February, 1807, to 
administer the first check to Napoleon's victorious career in the drawn 
battle of Eylau. The British Government failed to profit by the oppor- 
tunity to send troops or even adequate subsidies, and, assisted only by 
the feeble support of Prussia, the Russians were overwhelmed at 
Friedland, 14 June, 1807. The Tsar Alexander, incensed at Great 
Britain's neglect, desirous of conquering the Turks who had declared 
war on him, and full of vague dreams for the reconstruction of Europe, 
thereupon gave ear to Napoleon's enticing proposal for dividing be- 
tween them the empire of the East and West. The two held an in- 
terview on a raft in the river Niemen, which resulted in the Treaty of 
Tilsit, 7 July, 1807, to which Prussia was forced to accede. She was 
shorn of her territories between the Rhine and the Elbe, which Napo- 
leon proceeded to incorporate into his new Kingdom of Westphalia, 1 
over which he placed his brother Jerome. Russia agreed to join 
France in coercing Sweden, Denmark, and Portugal into adopting 
Napoleon's "Continental System," by which the European markets 
were to be closed to British trade. By a secret article, the Tsar even 
agreed to join in a war against Great Britain in case she did not make 
peace before 1 November, while the French Emperor agreed to render 
like assistance to Alexander against the Turks and the Poles. To 
forestall the danger in the north, Great Britain promptly sent a naval 
armament to Denmark, offering an alliance to which the condition was 
attached that the Danes lend their navy to the British Government. 
On their refusal, Copenhagen was bombarded and the Danish fleet 
taken to England as a prize of war. This high-handed act, which 
caused a great outcry even among the English, was justified on the 
ground of military necessity. 

The " Continental System." The Imperial Decrees and the Orders 
in Council. — The Prussian proclamation closing her ports to the 
British had been issued, 28 March, 1806. The British had replied 
by laying an embargo on all Prussian vessels in the harbors of Great 
Britain, and declaring a blockade of the coast of Europe from Brest 
to the Elbe. This was followed by an Order in Council, 2 declaring the 
seizure of all vessels sailing under Prussian colors. On 2 1 November, 

1 Her Polish possessions were incorporated into the Grand Duchy of Warsaw. 

2 Orders issued usually in emergencies by the sovereign nominally, with the 
advice of his Privy Council ; but really of selected Cabinet ministers who happen 
to be members. 



THE STRUGGLE AGAINST NAPOLEON 853 

Napoleon issued his celebrated Berlin Decree, which proclaimed a 
blockade of the British Isles ; prohibited all commerce between them 
and France, including the states dependent on her; and announced 
the confiscation of British merchandise in the harbors of such countries. 
On 7 January, 1807, new Orders in Council forbade neutrals, under 
penalty of forfeiting ships and cargo, to trade between the ports of 
France and her allies, or between ports of nations which should 
observe the Berlin Decree. Thus the trade war was well under way 
before the Treaty of Tilsit. Napoleon's Milan Decree of December, 
1807, and other restrictive measures, were followed by more Orders in 
Council, till neutral trade was in theory absolutely destroyed. By the 
close of 1808 every country of Europe, except Sweden and Turkey, 
had been brought into the System. Neither side, however, could en- 
force completely its policy of commercial exclusiveness. Not only 
was there much smuggling, but both the Emperor and the British 
Government were obliged to issue licenses authorizing evasion in speci- 
fied cases. Napoleon's plan was to reduce Great Britain to subjec- 
tion by a policy of absolute isolation ; but the English had an over- 
whelming advantage in their method of warfare. England controlled 
the seas, she was able to exercise a far more effective right of search 
than the French, and, with her powerful navy, she was able to inflict 
irreparable damage on the merchant marine of those whom Napoleon 
sought to combine against her. Moreover, he needed commodities 
which she alone could supply, such as cloth, machinery, and certain 
raw materials ; indeed, on one occasion, he procured 50,000 British 
overcoats for his troops. Finally, inadequately as it was enforced, 
his Continental System caused serious hardship and suffering to the 
countries involved, and contributed perhaps as much as his territorial 
aggressions toward the growth of that combined national opposition 
which subsequently overthrew him. 

The Beginning of the National Revolt in Spain and the Opening of 
the Peninsula War, 1808. — Spain set the example. As a step in 
enforcing his Continental System, Napoleon determined to secure 
control of the Peninsula ; to close its vast stretch of sea coast to British 
shipping ; to break up the alliance which had connected England and 
Portugal for over a century, and to possess himself of Portugal's rich 
and extensive colonies. To that end he deluded the Spanish Minister 
Godoy into making a treaty whereby the House of Braganza 1 was to 
be driven from the throne, and the Kingdom partitioned between 
Spain and France. Having established an army for the ostensible 
purpose of conquering Portugal, he took advantage of a revolt against 
the worthless Charles IV — during which his still more worthless son 
Ferdinand was proclaimed in his stead — to force both of them to 
retire on a pension and to set up his brother Joseph 2 as King of Spain. 
This was in May, 1808. The original rising of the Spanish had been 

1 The Royal House of Portugal. 

2 He was transferred from Naples, where he had been King since February, 1806. 






854 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

prompted by fear of French subjugation, and the movement now 
spread swiftly throughout the land. Already in the latter part of 

1807, the royal family of Braganza had fled to Brazil ; but the Por- 
tuguese, counting on British support, also rose in rebellion, and forced 
Junot, the commander of the French invading army, to shut himself 
up in Lisbon. On 13 August, 1808, Sir Arthur Wellesley landed near 
Oporto with a force of 12,000 men. He was instructed to afford 
" the Spanish and Portuguese nations every possible aid in throwing 
off the yoke of France." Thus began the Peninsular War. After a 
terrific struggle lasting six y£ars, the British army, which — largely 
through the efforts of Castlereagh 1 — had been reorganized into an 
effective fighting force, finally succeeded in driving the French across 
the Pyrenees. 

VimeL"o and the Convention of Cintra, 1808. The Retreat and 
Death of Sir John Moore, 1808-1809. — Castlereagh had designed 
Wellesley for the supreme command in Portugal ; but the latter's 
efforts were hampered for a time by the fact that two ineffective seniors 
were placed over him in succession. He routed the French, 21 August, 

1808, at Vimeiro, and had he been allowed to follow up his victory he 
might have cut them off from Lisbon. By the " Convention of 
Cintra," condemned alike by the British public and by Napoleon, 
Junot's army was allowed to evacuate Portugal. Wellesley, who was 
summoned home, with his Commander-in-Chief, to stand trial, was 
later exonerated. In October, Sir John Moore was given the command 
with orders to cooperate with the Spanish against the French forces in 
Spain, south of the Ebro. Owing to delays, to inadequate equip- 
ment, and the ineffective support of the native levies, he was obliged 
to turn and flee before Napoleon, who had recently come to the coun- 
try and occupied Madrid. Receiving news of approaching trouble 
with Austria, Napoleon was obliged to abandon the pursuit to Soult. 
In the teeth of all manner of obstacles Moore conducted a masterly 
retreat. He reached Corufla, 16 January, 1809, where he made a deter- 
mined stand; he managed to repulse his pursuers and to cover the 
embarkation of his troops, though he himself was mortally wounded. 2 
His allies had lured him on to a hopeless enterprise by willfully mis- 
representing the true state of affairs. Yet the campaign was not 
wholly without result ; for by keeping the French occupied in the north 
and west it enabled the Spanish to gain ground in the south. Napo- 
leon had recently declared in a speech to the citizens of Madrid that : 
" The Bourbons can no longer reign in Europe," 3 and " No power under 
the influence of England can exist on the Continent." He failed to 
realize the power of a people, however incapable and undisciplined, 
once roused to defend their native land against foreign aggression. 

1 As Secretary for War, 1807-1809. 

2 The incident inspired Wolfe's famous poem, "The Burial of Sir John Moore." 

3 They had been driven from three thrones in succession — from those of France, 
the Two Sicilies, and Spain. 



THE STRUGGLE AGAINST NAPOLEON 855 

The boastfulness of the Spanish far exceeded their achievements ; 
often they embarrassed the British by their untrustworthiness and 
insubordination ; but by their relentless hostility to the invader and 
their persistent guerilla warfare they contributed, in no small degree, 
toward the final success of their ally in liberating their country. 

Wagram, Walcheren, and Talavera, 1809. — The Spanish example 
encouraged Austria once more to enter the lists ; but Napoleon hurried 
an army across Europe, and, by a series of victories culminating in 
the bloody battle of Wagram, 6 July, 1809, forced her to sign a peace 
at Vienna which put her out of the fighting for four years. The 
British, 28 July, sent a tremendous armament to attack Antwerp, to 
close the Scheldt, and to reduce the island of Walcheren. The admiral, 
Sir Richard Strachan, was a capable commander ; but he was hope- 
lessly hampered by the leader of the land forces, the Earl of Chatham, 
who had inherited his father's title without any of his talents. The 
expedition returned ingloriously home, 27 December, having accom- 
plished almost nothing. The men and money thus wasted could have 
been employed to advantage by Wellesley, who, 2 April, 1809, had 
^finally been appointed Commander-in-Chief of the British armies 
in the Peninsula. Before leaving England he submitted to the Govern- 
ment a plan for the conduct of the war, to which he adhered stead- 
fastly in his subsequent campaigns. This was to make Portugal the 
center of his operations. With the sea on the west and the mountains 
on the east, he had a base which could be readily supplied by the 
British navy and which could be easily defended against the French. 
Shortly after his arrival he advanced into Spain in the direction of 
Madrid with a combined force of British and Spanish. On 27 and 28 
July, in a stubborn contest in which his own troops bore the brunt 
of the fighting, he defeated the French who had rashly ventured out 
from a strong position at Talavera, where they had collected to bar his 
progress. The battle brought Wellington the title of Viscount Well- 
ington, it restored the prestige of British arms, and it taught Welling- 
ton the valuable lesson, which he might have learned from Moore's 
experience, that it was hopeless to attempt to act in conjunction with 
the Spanish contingents. Otherwise the victory was a barren one. 
The diverting of men and supplies for the fruitless Walcheren expedi- 
tion threw him on his own resources and exposed him to great depriva- 
tion, just when Napoleon's victorious Austrian campaign freed 
thousands of French troops who overran Spain. So Wellington retired 
to Portugal to wait for better times. 

The Beginning of the Regency, 181 1. — Toward the close of this 
discouraging year, 1809, Portland resigned on the pretext of ill health, 
though his retirement was doubtless hastened by a quarrel between 
Canning and Castlereagh, 1 culminating in a duel. Spencer Perceval 
became Prime Minister. The only gleams of light in the prevailing 

1 The former was Foreign Secretary, the latter War Secretary. 



856 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

gloom were the continued successes of the British navy in the West 
Indies, the Indian Ocean, and the Mediterranean. In November, 
1810, George III, after six years of failing eyesight, became blind, his 
insanity came on again as well, and he passed the last ten years of his 
life in complete mental and physical darkness. In 181 1 the Prince 
of Wales was made permanent Regent. Contrary to the hopes of 
the Whigs, his advent brought no change in the party situation ; for 
the overtures which he chose to make were not such as they could ac- 
cept. On 11 May, 181 2, Perceval was assassinated in the lobby of the 
House of Commons by one Bellingham, a demented creature who had 
a fancied grievance against the Government. Lord Liverpool was 
chosen to head the Cabinet, most of the ministers were retained, and 
the Tory ascendancy continued unbroken for fifteen years. 

Industrial Disturbances in England, 1811-1812. The Luddites. — ■ 
While the country was straining all its resources to carry on the struggle 
with Napoleon, the industrial disturbances were so acute as to produce 
risings among the people. The trouble was due to a complication of 
causes. One was the Continental System, which restricted the Euro- 
pean markets and led to a trade war with the United States. Another 
resulted from the invention of spinning and weaving machinery, 
which the lower classes regarded as the chief cause of their misery. 
During the autumn and winter of 181 1 they started on a career of 
machine breaking, 1 accompanied by violence and even murder. 
The Government, which feared that revolutionary designs were back of 
this unrest, passed an act, in 181 2, making machine breaking a capital 
offense ; troops were called out ; magistrates were intrusted with new 
powers to search for arms to suppress tumultuous assemblies ; and 
several Luddites were convicted and put to death. By such means 
disaffection in the manufacturing districts was held in check till the 
close of the war. The condition of the agricultural laborers was al- 
most as bad, though discontent was less openly manifested. In 181 2 
wheat was 130 shillings the quarter, in 1813 it fell to 75. Fluctuations 
in other commodities were equally violent. It was thus impossible 
to adjust wages on any stable basis, while poverty was fostered rather 
than diminished by the baneful system of indiscriminate outdoor poor 
relief. Finally, after much discussion, a bill was passed admitting 
foreign corn free of duty when the price reached 80 shillings. 2 

The Peninsular Campaign, 1810-1812. The Turn of the Tide, 1812. 
— For months Wellington was occupied in constructing the famous 
lines of Torres Vedras. There were three in all, running in parallel 
direction from the river Tagus to the sea, and were about twenty-five 
miles north of Lisbon. The French, after a vain attempt to penetrate 
these impregnable defenses, retired, much spent by the campaign 

1 They were known as "Luddites," from a half-witted man named Ludd, who 
had destroyed two stocking frames year3 before. 

2 It was admitted from British North America when the price reached 67. 
Until these prices were reached no foreign wheat could be admitted. 



THE STRUGGLE AGAINST NAPOLEON 857 

(November, 1810-March, 1811). The following year was marked by 
bloody battles along the Spanish border and by harassing guerrilla 
warfare conducted by the natives. Owing to Napoleon's withdrawal 
of 60,000 of his best troops to assist in the invasion of Russia, Welling- 
ton made notable gains early in 181 2. In January he captured 
Ciudad Rodrigo and, in April, Badajoz, the respective keys of the 
northern and southern roads between Spain and Portugal. Leaving 
Soult in undisturbed occupation of Estramadura and Andalusia, he 
marched north against Marmont, whom he defeated at Salamanca, 
22 July. This battle was the most decisive yet fought in the Penin- 
sular War : it forced Joseph to abandon Madrid and established 
Wellington's reputation as a general. With inadequate supplies and 
equipment he pressed on after the remnant of the beaten army, to the 
great peril of his recently acquired strongholds of Ciudad Rodrigo and 
Badajoz. Thus endangered, and suffering from lack of food, his 
troops, becoming utterly demoralized, broke loose from all restraints. 
It required all his iron will to restore discipline ; but it proved to be 
the last crisis he had to weather. The Liverpool Ministry, backed by 
popular sentiment, had come to appreciate his achievements and from 
now on gave him enthusiastic support, while the French, weakened 
by the loss of their best troops and worn down by the incessant at- 
tacks of the natives, steadily lost ground. Moreover, Wellington, 
who was at this time made Commander-in-Chief of the Spanish forces, 
was able by thoroughgoing reforms to organize them into more 
effective allies. 

Wellington brings the Peninsular Campaign to a Victorious Close, 
April, 1814. — He opened the campaign of 1813 with the fixed inten- 
tion of driving the French out of Spain. His army, recruited and 
supplied in Portugal, 1 advanced northeast, driving the enemy before 
them. At Vittoria he fought, 21 June, the greatest battle of the war. 
The French had with them the spoils of their five years' occupation 
of Spain — art treasures, and other valuables, including $5,500,000 
in specie, besides arrears of pay for two years and a half which Napo- 
leon had recently sent. The long line of baggage trains choked the 
only roads by which they could retreat with their possessions. They 
were nearly surrounded by Wellington's army, and only finally saved 
themselves by headlong flight. The victors were almost demoralized 
by the temptation to plunder ; indeed, the camp followers and soldiers 
secured most of what was left behind except munitions of war. Napo- 
leon, directly he heard the news, sent Soult to take command. In 
spite of his efforts, Wellington forced the passage of the Pyrenees in 
October. Soult next made a manful but vain attempt to hold Bayonne, 
whence he retreated to Bordeaux ; but the news that Napoleon was on 
the verge of being overthrown led to a strong royalist reaction, and 
that city declared for the old Bourbon line. With such troops as 

x It is said that when he crossed the frontier 22 May, he waved his hand and 
said: "Good-by, Portugal." 



858 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

stood by him Soult finally took refuge in Toulouse. There, 1 2 April, 
1814, Wellington forced him to surrender, though the capture of the 
city cost the British more troops than the French. The Peninsular 
War was over. Wellington, while he made many mistakes in tactics 
and strategy, deserves the utmost credit for realizing the significance 
of the liberation of Portugal and Spain as a decisive factor in the 
struggle against Napoleon, and for sticking to his work in the teeth 
of all manner of discouragements and hardships until he brought it 
to a glorious conclusion. 

The Russian Campaign, 1812. — Meantime, Napoleon's annexations 
and his rigid enforcement of the Continental System had prepared the 
way for a breach with Russia. In January, 181 1, the Tsar asserted 
himself by opening his ports to neutrals and imposing a duty upon 
French commodities. Napoleon, for a second time disregarding the 
irresistible power of popular national hostility, took the fatal step of 
invading Russia. Since the Tsar did not feel strong enough to fight 
beyond his frontiers, the King of Prussia was forced to make a treaty, 
24 February, 181 2, by which he allowed the French free passage through 
his territory and supplied his mortal enemy with 20,000 troops. 
Austria agreed, 16 March, in return for a promise of grants of territory, 
to provide 30,000 men to guard the flanks of the invading army on the 
southwest frontier. Both monarchs were unwilling allies, prepared to 
change sides at the earliest opportunity. The Tsar, on his part, at 
the price of some concessions, made peace with Turkey and allied 
himself with Sweden and Great Britain. On 24 June, Napoleon 
entered Russia with a vast army of over 300,000 men, exclusive of the 
Prussian and Austrian contingents. He marched to certain destruc- 
tion, through a barren country, vast in extent, teeming with a popula- 
tion who viewed him with sullen hatred, and driving before him an 
army ready to turn and pounce upon him when his forces were suffi- 
ciently exhausted. The bloody but indecisive battle of Borodino, 
7 September, cost the French 30,000 men and the Russians 40,000. 
Kutuzov, the Russian commander, retreated to Moscow, but departed 
with all the military stores and the bulk of the inhabitants on the 
approach of Napoleon. On the 14th, when the French entered the 
city, a destructive fire broke out which raged for six days. Failing to 
bring Alexander to terms, Napoleon was obliged to evacuate Moscow 
and retrace his steps with Kutuzov hanging on his rear. Worn down 
by the frequent attacks of his pursuers, and by the hardships of a 
terrible winter, a miserable remnant of not more than 60,000 dragged 
themselves out of the country. The Russians were too exhausted to 
deal a crushing blow, and the other Powers did not at once realize the 
magnitude of the disaster which had befallen the hitherto victorious 
despot. 

The War of Liberation, 1813-1814. Napoleon's Abdication. — Napo- 
leon, with unquenchable energy and resource, was able by a drastic 
conscription to gather a new army and resume the offensive in the fol- 



THE STRUGGLE AGAINST NAPOLEON 859 

lowing year. But Prussia, Austria, and Sweden had at length roused 
themselves and combined forces with Russia. Although Great Britain 
sent no troops to Germany, where the conflict centered, she supported 
Austria with subsidies. This was all and more than could be expected 
of her, since she was bearing the burden of the Peninsula Campaign 
and had a war with the United States as well. The Russians opened 
the memorable campaign of 181 3 by resuming their pursuit of the 
retreating French through northern Germany. Frederick William, 
in spite of his a'liance with Napoleon, had issued stirring appeals to 
his people to join the War of Liberation, and declared war against 
France, 17 March. In April, Napoleon brought an army of 200,000 
into the field ; but they were young and raw recruits, for he had lost 
the bulk of his seasoned veterans in Russia. His plan was to crush 
Russia and Prussia, and then to concentrate his whole strength on 
Austria, who clung for a time to a policy of mediation. His plans 
came to naught, for Austria declared war, 12 August. On the 26th 
and 27th of the same month Napoleon won at Dresden his last decisive 
victory. In the " Battle of the Nations " at Leipzig, 16, 18, 19 
October, he received a crushing defeat, losing 50,000 of a force which 
he had at length raised to 250,000. In those three bloody days 
Prussia showed the fruits of a wonderful administrative and military 
reorganization which her patriotic statesmen and generals had been 
slowly perfecting during the recent years of her humiliation, and her 
Landwehr, or national levy, aided by Russian and Austrian allies, 
gloriously revenged the past. National risings against the French 
domination spread throughout Europe. Holland rose in revolt in 
November and Switzerland in December. Napoleon's troops were 
'forced to abandon everything beyond the Rhine, the Alps, and the 
Pyrenees, and to take refuge behind their own borders. The Allies 
moved on France with three great armies, and, 31 March, 18 14, 
occupied Paris and proclaimed the restoration of the Bourbon line in 
the person of Louis XVIII. 1 Napoleon, after a vain attempt to 
recover the capital, was forced to consent to an unconditional abdica- 
tion, 11 April, 1 814. The Allies, however, allowed him the island of 
Elba as an independent principality, where he arrived 4 May. 

The War of 1812 with the United States: its Causes. — Great 
Britain was now free to devote her energies to the war with the .United 
States which had broken out nearly two years before. It was a direct 
result of the Continental System. During the first years of the French 
war the United States drove a thriving neutral trade. All was changed 
when Napoleon and the British Government, by Imperial Decrees 
and Orders in Council, proclaimed a state of blockade, and, particu- 
larly, when the two contending Powers, in order to force the United 

1 He was a younger brother of Louis XVI, whose son, nominally Louis XVII, 
died a prisoner of the Revolutionary Government, 8 June, 1795. There is appar- 
ently little doubt that the little Dauphin died, though many pretenders appeared 
later to impersonate him. 



860 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

States into an alliance, began to seize her ships accused of trading with 
the prohibited ports. President Jefferson and the Republican party 
sought to avoid war, but the Federalists, hoping to secure greater 
commercial privileges from the mistress of the seas, favored Great 
Britain. The British, however, aroused increasing animosity by the 
rigid exercise of the right which they claimed of searching American 
vessels and impressing such of the crews as were British born. Ac- 
cording to the British law no subject could forsake his allegiance with- 
out the consent of the Government, 1 while, according to the United 
States, any foreigner could become an American citizen after residing 
in the country for a specified term of years, and fulfilling certain legal 
requirements. The friction was accentuated by the British contention 
that the Americans encouraged desertion by offers of higher pay. 
Jefferson, in 1806, caused an act to be passed prohibiting the import 
of a number of British commodities. This measure, which remained 
in force only six weeks, was followed by another, 22 December, 1807, 
laying an embargo on foreign bound vessels in American ports and 
prohibiting all trade with European countries. Owing to the fact that 
this restriction hurt the Americans as much as those against whom it 
was aimed, a Non-intercourse Act was substituted, 1 March, 1809, 
which applied only to Great Britain, France, and their dependencies. 
It expired in May, 1810, providing that it might be revived against 
either Power when the other repealed its Orders or Decrees. Madison, 
who became President in 1809, having been led to believe that Napo- 
leon had canceled his Decrees, revived the Non-intercourse Act against 
Great Britain, in February, 181 1. Directly the Liverpool Ministry 
took office it withdrew the Orders in Council ; but it was too late, for 
the United States declared war 18 June, 181 2. 

The Course of the War, 1812-1814. The Treaty of Ghent, 24 
December, 1814. — Neither side was in a position to be very effective. 
While Great Britain was involved in the Peninsular War, the United 
States was ill-prepared with money, supplies, and troops. It was a 
great disappointment to the Americans that the Canadians remained 
loyal ; the Indians, too, were on the British side, and the campaigns 
on the Canadian border proved generally ineffective. The failures 
in that direction, however, were redeemed by a series of brilliant 
victories at sea. Contrary to the prevailing traditions of the past 
two centuries, the fighting consisted of engagements between individ- 
ual ships instead of fleets. The British had a number of small, swift 
cruisers in American waters to watch for deserters and contraband 
of war and to protect their West India commerce. The American 
ships, though fewer in number, were superior in every way to those of 
the enemy: they were larger and better built 2 ; they carried more 
and heavier guns ; their crews were larger ; they included a greater 

1 This remained the case till 1870. 

2 Though they were referred to in the British Press as "bundles of pine boards 
sailing under a bit of striped bunting." 



THE STRUGGLE AGAINST NAPOLEON 861 

proportion of able seamen, and their gunners were more accurate 
marksmen. For reasons of economy the British Government had 
made the fatal mistake of neglecting gun practice. While defeats in 
single engagements were far less disastrous than those in which whole 
squadrons were involved, they had the effect of lowering the maritime 
prestige which the British had so long enjoyed. The success of 
Commodore Perry on Lake Erie, in 1813, was another asset on the 
American side. As the war progressed they gained fewer victories at 
sea. Profiting by experience, the British avoided ships likely to out- 
class them, and improved their gunnery. Moreover, they maintained 
a more effective blockade in American waters. While the Americans 
were the more destructive of commerce, they suffered severely from 
the cutting off of their own trade. After the overthrow of Napoleon, 
14,000 British regulars were sent over ; but, owing to ineffective gen- 
eralship, they accomplished far less than had been expected. One 
force, however, succeeded in capturing Washington, in 1814, and 
during an occupation of less than a week they burned all the public 
buildings. This regrettable action has been defended on the ground 
that the Americans had set the example in two small towns on the 
Canadian border. Toward the close of the year another army of 
Peninsular veterans was dispatched across the Atlantic, but was 
defeated at New Orleans by General Andrew Jackson, 8 January, 181 5. 
It was a needless sacrifice of life ; for peace had already been signed at 
Ghent, 24 December. The Treaty provided for a mutual restoration 
of conquests and for the appointment of commissioners to settle out- 
standing differences, notably those relating to boundaries. Strangely 
enough, the issues which led to the conflict were not mentioned. The 
Orders in Council had been withdrawn before the opening of hostilities. 
With the fall of Napoleon the encroachments on neutral trade ceased. 
Yet, as a result of this otherwise futile war, Great Britain tacitly 
dropped her claim to the right of search. 

The First Treaty of Paris, 30 May, 1814, and the Opening of the 
Congress of Vienna. — After the entry of the Allies into Paris the 
Tsar and the King of Prussia accepted an invitation to visit England. 
The Emperor of Austria declined. Less than seven years before, one 
of the august guests, now so enthusiastically welcomed, had entered into 
an agreement to divide Europe with the exile at Elba, while the other, 
partly by force and partly by the grant of George's Hanoverian posses- 
sions, had closed Prussian ports to British trade. By a treaty, signed 
at Paris, 30 May, 1814, between the new French monarch and the four 
allied Powers of Great Britain, Russia, Austria, and Prussia the bound- 
aries of France were reduced to those of 1792, and the independence of 
various states subjugated by Napoleon was recognized. In order to 
readjust the disturbed European situation and to make the necessary 
arrangements for carrying out the terms of the Treaty, a Congress was 
appointed to meet at Vienna. It assembled in September and contin- 
ued till June, 1 81 5. The four leading Powers intended to dominate 



862 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

the Congress, but owing to the supreme diplomatic skill of Talley- 
rand 1 France secured a voice. He insisted that the existing Bourbon 
Government had opposed the Republic and Napoleon as decidedly as 
any of the other dynasties concerned. Castlereagh represented Great 
Britain till February when Wellington came to take his place. The 
Duke, 2 however, was soon called away by the startling news that 
Napoleon had escaped from Elba, and had landed at Cannes, i Marc!). 

The Return of Napoleon from Elba, i March. — Although Napoleon':, 
return had not been wholly unexpected, no proper precautions had be. .1 
taken to meet it. He came with only four hundred of his guards, bat 
thousands flocked to join him as he passed through France. The bulk 
of the soldiers and the lower classes had been sorely disappointed by 
the reactionary measures of the Bourbons, who, it is said, had learned 
nothing and forgotten nothing. Many, too, were drawn to his side 
by the sole magnetism of his presence. Ney, one of his old marshals, 
who had sworn to bring him back in an iron cage, deserted to him with 
his whole army. Thereupon, Louis XVIII, who had made strenuous 
efforts to defend the Kingdom, fled to Ghent. On 20 March, Napoleon 
was once more in possession of Paris. The brief period of his suprem- 
acy is known as the " Hundred Days." United by pressing danger,' 
the Powers who had been wrangling at Vienna acted with energy. 
The four great Powers voted to bring more than 700,000 men into the 
field. 3 With all possible speed the allied troops were massed on the 
frontier from the Low Countries to the Upper Rhine. To Wellington 
was assigned the command of the British, Hanoverian, and Netherland 
contingents, amounting all together to about 8o,oco men, while the 
forces on the Lower Rhine, numbering not far from 120,000, were 
placed under the Prussian general Bliicher. Wellington took up his 
headquarters at Brussels. Bliicher posted his main force at Namur 
with a line of defense stretching eastward almost to the town of 
Ligny. Napoleon started from Paris, 7 June. His plan was to make 
a rapid dash into the Netherlands, to push between two forces opposed 
to him, to crush Bliicher, and then to fall upon Wellington before 
reinforcements could reach him. Partly through his own fault, but 
more especially owing to the mistakes of his marshals, his plan mis- 
carried. His total force amounted to 125,000 men, including 20,000 
veterans of the Imperial Guard. 

The Waterloo Campaign, Ligny, and Quatre Bras, 16 June, 181 5. — 
The Waterloo campaign, extending from 16 to 18 June inclusive, con- 
sisted of the double battle of Ligny and Quatre Bras, fought on the 
1 6th, and of the main battle of Waterloo and a skirmish at Wavre on the 

1 Formerly Bishop of Autun. He had taken a prominent part in the various 
Revolutionary Governments ; but quarreled with Napoleon. He played a leading 
role in the restoration of the Bourbons and was made Minister of Foreign Affairs 
by Louis XVIII. 

2 Wellington had been created a duke at the close of the Peninsular War. 

3 With contingents of the smaller states a grand total of over a million was 
promised. 



THE STRUGGLE AGAINST NAPOLEON 863 

1 8th. Wellington, who had expected Napoleon to advance on Brus- 
sels, remained there until well into the night of the 15th with the bulk 
of his army. He had a smaller force at Quatre Bras, sixteen miles 
to the south. At half-past two on the afternoon of the 16th, Napoleon 
attacked Bliicher, who had advanced the main body of his army to 
meet him at Ligny, situated six miles to the southeast of Quatre Bras. 
In a hot fight, which raged till evening, the Prussians were over- 
whelmed, but retreated in good order to Wavre, some miles north- 
ward. On the same day, Ney was engaged in a furious battle with the 
Allies at Quatre Bras. He made two mistakes which had an important 
effect on the ultimate issue. For one thing, he did not observe Napo- 
leon's orders to hold himself merely on the defensive. He could 
safely have done this, since, early in the day, he was opposed only by 
an inferior force of Dutch and Belgians under the Prince of Orange. 
Following such tactics he would have been in a position to send a corps 
against the right and rear of the Prussians at Ligny. Thus he might 
have blocked Blticher's retreat, destroyed his army, and prevented him 
from reenforcing Wellington on the 18th. Failing to furnish the sup- 
port on which Napoleon counted, Ney's other mistake was in delaying 
his attack until Wellington had time to hurry sufficient troops from 
Brussels to repulse him. 1 With all day before him — for the British 
reinforcements did not arrive till the evening of the 16th — Ney lost a 
golden opportunity of destroying the Prince of Orange's weak con- 
tingent. One corps of the French army, that of D'Erlon, confused 
by contradictory orders from Ney and Napoleon, rendered no service 
at either battle, when they might have turned the tide for the French 
at Quatre Bras or have struck a decisive blow at Bliicher. Wellington, 
who, after repulsing Ney, learned of the Prussian retreat from Ligny, 
drew off his own troops toward Brussels. Napoleon himself was re- 
sponsible for two costly blunders. He should have hastened on the 
17th to join Ney and overwhelm Wellington before Bliicher could 
recover sufficiently to come to the assistance of the British commander. 
He not only failed to do so, but he also allowed himself to be deceived 
as to Blticher's line of retreat. Calculating that he would retire to 
his base of supplies at Namur, he sent Marshal Grouchy eastward, 
whiie the Prussians were hurrying straight north. With the comfort- 
able but erroneous hope that he had checkmated Bliicher, Napoleon 
rested a whole day before attacking Wellington, who had taken a 
position just to the south of Waterloo. 

The Battle of Waterloo, 18 June, 1815. — Having detached a 
force of 17,000 to guard the approach to Brussels, Wellington was left 

1 Wellington only heard of Ney's advance toward Quatre Bras on the night of 
the 15th, just before the opening of a famous ball given by the Duchess of Rich- 
mond, where he put in an appearance before starting for the front. This ball 
has been a notable theme for poets and novelists. It inspired Byron's oft-quoted 
lines in Childe Harold, beginning "On with the dance, let joy be unconfined." 
There are famous accounts in Thackeray's Vanity Fair and Charles Lever's Charles 
0' Medley. 



864 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

with only 67,000, of whom less than 24,000 were British, to face 
71,000 Frenchmen, most of them veterans of the Grand Army. His 
opponents were superior in cavalry and artillery as well, though 
their advantages were offset by the fact that they were scantily sup- 
plied with food. Napoleon opened the battle l at half past eleven 
on the morning of the 18th with an attack on the allied right, which 
was strongly posted in the chateau and enclosures of Hougomont. 
While the French were wasting their left in this way, their right was, 
under cover of a tremendous artillery fire, thrown against the allied 
left distributed in the farms of Papelotte and La Haye and in an ad- 
joining hamlet. The Dutch and Belgians had to give way ; but a 
furious charge of British horsemen, though routed in the end, saved a 
disaster in this quarter. Meantime, the French center had gone into 
action. At one o'clock, in the thick of the fight, a force of Prussians 
appeared on the French right. Napoleon, believing that Grouchy 
was close behind them, ordered him to attack them in the rear. 
At the same time, feeling that his best chance lay in breaking 
Wellington's line before the arrival of the main body of Prus- 
sian reinforcements, he hurled his cavalry in charge after charge 
against the immovable squares composed mainly of the British 
infantry. At length Ney succeeded in carrying the farm of La 
Haye Sainte 2 where the British center was posted. With the key 
to the allied position in his hands, Napoleon nerved himself for a su- 
preme effort. Leading the Imperial Guard to the front, he gave them 
over to the command of Ney. They made a glorious but unsuccessful 
charge, and were thrown back and scattered. Meanwhile, Bliicher 
arrived. Grouchy, on finding that he had not gone to Namur, had 
made a long detour to Wavre, which he reached to find only a remnant 
of the Prussians still there. He proceeded to engage them ; but on 
learning of Napoleon's defeat, he withdrew and later fled to France. 
Aided by Blucher's reinforcements, the Allies, charging against the 
broken columns of the French, drove them from the field. The retreat 
became a rout, but the troops who had borne the heat and burden of 
the day left the pursuit to the Prussians, who never stopped until 
they had chased the fleeing Frenchmen across the Sambre. The 
battle cost the Allies 20,000 lives, and the French 37,000. With all 
Europe arming against him, the ultimate triumph of Napoleon would 
doubtless have been impossible, even had he won at Waterloo ; but 
he might have prolonged the contest for some time longer. His defeat 
rendered immediate overthrow certain and was followed by forty 
years of peace. He abdicated for a second time, 22 June, while, in 
July, the Allies once more occupied Paris. Napoleon, after a vain 
effort to escape, surrendered on board the British ship Bellerophon. 
In agreement with the other allied Powers the British Government 

1 There is a stirring account of the battle in Victor Hugo's remarkable novel, 
Les Miserables. 

2 Not to be confused with La Haye which lay farther eastward. 






THE STRUGGLE AGAINST NAPOLEON 865 

sent him to the island of St. Helena, where he remained a prisoner till 
his death in 1821. 

The British and the Congress of Vienna. The Quadruple Alliance 
20 November, 1815. — The work of the Congress of Vienna in settling 
the general European situation was completed in June, but the bound- 
daries of France were not definitely defined till the second treaty of 
Paris, 20 November, 1815. 1 Great Britain's territorial gains, though 
they excited the contempt of Napoleon, were considerable. They in- 
cluded Malta, Ceylon, the Cape of Good Hope, Mauritius, Trinidad, 
St. Lucia, Tobago, and Heligoland. The latter was ceded to Germany 
in 1890. Great Britain also obtained the protectorate over the Ionian 
Islands, which she exercised till they were handed on to the Greeks in 
1864. She labored to secure from the Congress some regulation of 
the slave trade. All she gained on this point, however, was a decla- 
ration that it was " repugnant to the principles of civilization and of 
universal morality. ' ' The Tsar got Austria and Prussia to sign , 2 6 Sep- 
tember, a so-called Holy Alliance, which was a fantastic scheme for 
uniting all European rulers in bonds of Christian brotherhood and 
pledging them to mutual service for the preservation of the peace. 
All the continental rulers, except the Pope and the Sultan, either joined 
or gave their approval to this " sonorous nothing," as Metternich, 
the Austrian minister, described it. Since the leading British states- 
men either had no sympathy with it 2 or positively distrusted it, Great 
Britain refused to become a party. It has sometimes been held re- 
sponsible for the policy of repression which, under the guidance of 
Metternich, stifled all attempts at liberalism and nationalism in Europe 
for a number of years to come. That policy, however, was due really 
to the Quadruple Alliance, signed by Great Britain, Russia, Austria, 
and Prussia, 20 November, 181 5, by which they pledged themselves 
to intervene in case another revolution or usurpation threatened the 
tranquillity of any of the States. They also arranged for frequent 
congresses which should consider such measures as might be neces- 
sary " for the maintenance of the peace of Europe." 

ADDITIONAL READING FOR CHAPTERS XLV, XLVI, XLVII 

Narrative. Hunt, Political History, chs. XIV-XX. Brodrick and Fothering- 
ham, Political History of England, 1801-1837 (1906), chs. I-VII. Robertson, Eng- 
land under the Hanoverians, pt. II, chs. Ill, V, VI. Sir H. Maxwell, A Century of Em- 
pire (vol. 1, 1909) ; a Conservative history of the nineteenth century; vol. I covers the 
period 1801-1832. Cambridge Modern History, VI, ch. XIII ; VIII, ch. X. Lecky, 

1 The boundaries of France, which by the treaty of 1814 were reduced to those of 
1792, were now still further reduced to the limits of 1790. France was also forced 
to pay the Allies an indemnity of 700,000,000 francs. 

2 Castlereagh pronounced it a "piece of sublime mysticism and nonsense. " 

3 One commendable provision of the Congress of Vienna was carried out in 18 16 
by Great Britain. Lord Exmouth was sent to the Mediterranean against the Bar- 
bary States, and forced them to put an end to piracy and the enslaving of Christians. 

3K 



866 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

Eighteenth Century, V, chs. XV, XVI ; VI ; VII, ch. XX, to 1793. Bright, History 
of England, III, 1 132-1346. J. H. Rose, William Pitt and the Great War (191 1) ; the 
standard work on the younger Pitt and a notable contribution to the general history 
of the period ; very favorable to Pitt. For further authorities dealing with the 
years 1784-1815 see Hunt, 459-469; Brodrick and Fotheringham, 443-450; 
Robertson, 517-532, a,nd Cambridge Modern History, VI, 902-912, and VIII, 791 ff., 
dealing with the French Revolution in general, and IX, 773 ff., dealing primarily 
with the Napoleonic wars. 

India. Bright, III, 1 1 1 3-1 1 34, contains a good survey of India from 1 600 to 1 784. 
See also Seeley, Expansion of England, pt. II. A. D. Innes, A Short History of the 
British in India (1902). A. C. Lyall, The Rise and Expansion of the British Dominion 
in India (5th ed., 1910). The best apology for Warren Hastings is to be found in 
G. W. Hastings, Vindication of Warren Hastings (1909), and should be contrasted 
with Macaulay's famous essay on Hastings. For further references on India see 
Cambridge Modem History, VI, 925-932; Robertson, 523, 530; Hunt, 468; Brod- 
rick and Fotheringham, 449. 

Ireland. O'Connor Morris, Ireland, 14Q4-1905 (2d ed., R. Dunlap, 1909). 
Lecky, Ireland in the Eighteenth Century, I-V. Froude, The English in Ireland. 
T. D. Ingram, Critical Examination of Irish History (2 vols., 1900), and History of the 
Irish Union (1887) ; an attempt to justify the English methods. For further refer- 
ences see Cambridge Modern History, VI, 913-924; VIII, 878-882; Hunt, 468; 
Robertson, 521-522. 

French Revolution. Lecky, VI, ch. XVIII. J. H. Rose, The Revolutionary and 
Napoleonic Era (1901). H. M. Stephens, European History, 1789-1815 (1900). 
For further references see Cambridge Modern History, VIII, 791 ff., especially 791- 
793. For the Napoleonic Era. J. R. Rose, Napoleon (2 vols., 1902, 1 vol., ed. 1907). 
Lanfrey, History of Napoleon, I (Eng. tr., 4 vols., 1871-1879) ; incomplete, very hos- 
tile to Napoleon. H. A. L. Fisher, Napoleon (191 2) ; an admirable sketch. For fur- 
ther references see Cambridge Modern History, IX, 773 ff., especially 773-786. 

Military and naval. Fortescue, British Army, III-VI, to 1809. Sir W. Napier, 
History of the War in the Peninsula (6 vols., 1834-1840). C. Oman, History of the 
Peninsular War (vols. I-IV, to 1811, 1902-1911), and Wellington's Army, i8og-i8i4 
(1913). J. C. Ropes, The Campaign of Waterloo (1892-1893). Mahan, Influence 
of Sea Power upon the French Revolution (2 vols., 1893) ; Life of Nelson (2 vols., 
1897) ; and Sea Power in its Relation to the War of 1812 (2 vols., 1905). 

Biographies and special works. G. Pellew, Life and Correspondence of Lord 
Sidmouth (Addington) (3 vols., 1847). Rosebery, William Pitt (1891). W. Sichel, 
Sheridan (2 vols., 1909). R. and S. Wilberforce, Life of William Wilberforce (5 vols., 
1839). A. G. Stapleton, The Political Life of George Canning (3 vols., 1831); George 
Canning and His Friends (ed. J. F. Bagot, 2 vols., 1909). Good short Lives are those 
by H. W. V. Temperley (1905) and J. A. R. Marriott (1903). Sir H. Maxwell, 
The Life of Wellington (2 vols., 1899). W. T. Laprade, England and the French 
Revolution( 1909). Fortescue, British Statesmen of the Great War, 1793-1814 (191 1) ; 
marked by strong prejudices. 

Selections from the sources. Adams and Stephens, nos. 256-259. Robertson, 
Select Statutes, pt. I, nos. XXXVIII-XLIII ; pt. II, nos. XXII-XXIV. 






CHAPTER XLVIII 

FROM THE OVERTHROW OF NAPOLEON TO THE EVE OF THE 
GREAT REFORM BILL. THE LAST YEARS OF GEORGE III, 
AND THE REIGN OF GEORGE IV (1815-1830) 

Characteristics of the Period from 1815 to 1830. — The close of the 
war was hailed in England with general rejoicing. The dominant Tory 
party nourished the comfortable assurance that their aristocratic 
privileges, which the French had threatened to subvert, were now secure. 
With the cessation of the drain of heavy war taxes and the end of the 
Continental System, which had disturbed trade and manufactures 
and checked the import of foreign corn, the masses hoped for a return 
of prosperity and contentment. Instead, the peace, which only the 
farmers had dreaded, was marked, during its first few years, by dis- 
content, agitation, violence, and repression. Happily, this grievous 
state of affairs did not last very long ; for economic conditions began 
to improve, manifestations of popular unrest ceased for a time, and 
far-reaching reforms were undertaken which changed profoundly the 
industrial, social, religious, and political system. While the humbler 
folk gained something by these changes which tended to break down 
the exclusive privileges and power of the land-owning aristocracy, they 
represented, in a large degree, a triumph of the middle classes. The 
Industrial Revolution, beginning in the previous century, had produced 
a great body of wealthy merchants, manufacturers, and traders who 
were bound to demand an increasing share in the control of public 
affairs. Moreover, the principle of equality promulgated by the 
French. Revolution acted as an inevitable stimulus, so soon as the 
danger from France had been overcome and the unrest in England 
had been quieted. The period from the close of the Great War to 
the passage of the Reform Bill of 1832, which resulted in a sweeping 
change in the balance of political power, has been divided into four 
well-marked stages. (1) During the years from 1815 to 1822 the 
middle class, fearing the violence produced by the widespread distress, 
united with the governing aristocracy to preserve the existing order. 
(2) From 1822 to 1827 a group of Liberal Tories, representing the 
interests of the middle class to which they belonged, was in control 
and passed a number of progressive measures. (3) The years from 
1828 to 1830 witnessed a vain attempt upon the part of reactionary 
leaders of the party to resist inevitable changes; but they were 
obliged to consent to the repeal of the acts excluding Dissenters. 

867 



868 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

from office and to carry a liberal measure for Roman Catholic relief. 
(4) Finally, the years from 1830 to 1832 were occupied in an exciting 
struggle which led to a notable extension of the franchise. 

The Political Situation at the Close of the "War. — Lord Liverpool, 
who had been Prime Minister since 181 2 and who continued in office 
until 1827, was only nominal head of the Government, occupied 
chiefly in trying to induce his ministers to work in harmony. The 
real directors of the Cabinet policy during the half dozen years following 
the close of the Great War were Viscount Castlereagh, Foreign Secre- 
tary and leader of the House of Commons, and Lord Chancellor Eldon. 1 
In accordance with their aim of resisting all innovation, the term of 
their regime was marked by a legislative stagnation and the repression 
of all popular demands. The Whig Opposition was torn by internal 
divisions between the conservatives and the Radicals 2 and discredited by 
the hot zeal of the latter. Nevertheless, they manfully raised their 
voice against the dominant oligarchy, and cried for " peace, retrench- 
ment, and reform." They accused the Government of designing to 
maintain an expensive establishment in order to aid continental sover- 
eigns in the suppression of popular rights, and of reckless extravagance 
in other respects. The first charge was, to some degree, justified by 
the aims of the Quadruple Alliance to which Great Britain was a party ; 
the second was even more well-founded. The war had fostered a 
spirit of wastefulness which the example of the Regent, who regarded 
himself as the " first gentleman in Europe," further encouraged. 
The public debt had climbed to over £840,000,000, bearing an annual 
interest of more than £32,000,000, while George every year spent more 
than twice the £800,000 allotted to him in the Civil List. In Henry 
Brougham the Whigs possessed a tower of strength. Vain and erratic 
almost to the point of madness, his knowledge, his industry, and zeal 
seemed boundless. When he succeeded in defeating the Government 
project of retaining half the 10 per cent income tax which had been 
imposed as a war measure, the Cabinet, instead of resigning, went 
further, and, as a concession to the country gentry, abolished the war 
duty of two shillings a bushel on malt. Castlereagh declared that 
these reductions of the revenue made no difference, since a large loan 
would have to be raised anyway. 

Industrial Depression and Distress among the People. — The 
thriftlessness of the Government and the upper classes was all the more 
indefensible since, in the place of the expected prosperity, the country 
had to face a period of acute distress. During the war, British manu- 
factures and commerce had thriven, owing to the successful evasion 
of trade restrictions, and to the effective protection rendered by the 
British navy and to the enormous demand for clothes, food, and muni- 
tions of war to support the armies and the fleets. The pressure of 

1 A wit of the period remarked that he wished he had done as much good as El- 
don had prevented. 

2 This group got its name from its advocacy of "radical reform." 



AFTER THE OVERTHROW OF NAPOLEON 869 

military necessity and the dangers involved in the traffic had forced 
prices up to dizzy heights. With the advent of peace, inflated prices 
dropped to their normal level. Continental countries, so long de- 
vastated by war, bought as little as possible and sought to build up 
their own shattered industries. Moreover, the reduction of the army 
and navy to a peace footing flooded the country with men seeking 
employment. Owing to the increasing use of labor-saving machinery 
there was little or no opportunity in the industries, while a bad har- 
vest in 181 6 threw numbers of agricultural laborers out of work. The 
universal distress led to alarming outbursts of violence — to renewed 
rick burning and machine breaking. The authorities, who attributed 
all this to revolutionary spirit rather than to misery, resorted to coer- 
cive legislation and repression instead of seeking remedies to alleviate 
the causes of discontent. The only excuse for their attitude was the 
fact that political agitators were busy inflaming the mob in addresses 
and pamphlets. The Radicals were of all grades : some were " visionary 
and sincere," some were " unprincipled and self-seeking," some were 
socialists, others looked merely toward political reform. The man 
who exercised perhaps the greatest influence was William Cobbett 
(1762-1835) through the medium of his Weekly Political Register, 
and he was not in favor of violence at all. One of his demands — 
universal suffrage — has since been practically conceded ; another — 
annually elected parliaments — has generally been regarded as im- 
practicable, while most of the rest — such as the withdrawal of paper 
money from circulation, the canceling of interest on the National 
Debt, and the destruction of British commerce in order to bring labor 
back to the land — were wild in the extreme. The hidebound Tories 
in the Ministry lumped the Radicals, violent and peaceful, frenzied 
and sensible, without discrimination, as revolutionists. Many, 
even of the Whigs, sought to clear their skirts of contamination by 
violent denunciation of those who held more advanced views than 
themselves. 1 Pitt had at least this justification for repression, that 
he had to deal with revolutionary agitators looking for aid to the men 
and arms of France. Now there was no such danger; not Jacobin 
theories, but economic and social facts were the real causes of the dis- 
turbances which filled the winter of 1816-1817. 

The Disturbances of 1816-1817. The Repressive Policy of the 
Government. — Plans were made for a great demonstration, 2 Decem- 
ber, 1816, in Spa Fields, with an address by " Orator " Hunt, a windy 
demagogue who was the tool of bolder spirits. Hunt did not appear, 
while the mob, after doing some damage and causing some bloodshed, 
was easily dispersed. In February, 1817, the Regent's carriage was 
attacked on his return from the opening of Parliament. As a result, a 
secret parliamentary committee was appointed, who reported that a 

1 "The Radicals," wrote Brougham, "have made themselves so odious that a 
number, even of our own way of thinking, would be well pleased to see them and 
their vile press put down at all hazards." 



870 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

design existed on the part of the Radicals to subvert existing institu- 
tions and to distribute or destroy all private property. Thereupon, 
a series of repressive measures were devised. A new Seditious Meet- 
ings Bill was passed ' ; the Habeas Corpus Act was again suspended, 
for the first time since 1801 2 ; and Lord Sidmouth, the Home Secre- 
tary, sent a circular letter to the Lords Lieutenants directing them to 
order the magistrates to seize all persons charged with publishing 
or writing seditious or blasphemous literature. Early in March, a 
body of men started from Manchester to lay their grievances before 
the Prince Regent in person. This is known as the " March of the 
Blanketeers " because every man carried a blanket to keep himself 
warm on the road. The Blanketeers never reached their destination. 
Far more serious was the " Derbyshire Insurrection," in which armed 
rioters, forcing the more peacefully inclined to join their ranks, terror- 
ized the neighborhood. The magnitude and danger of this and other 
outbreaks was greatly exaggerated by a Government agent, known as 
" Oliver the Spy." Doubtless, too, he helped to stir up risings for 
his own purposes, though it is not true, as some believed at the time, 
that the Government encouraged him in this sort of thing. Sidmouth, 
however, was all too ready to see evidences of organized conspiracy 
in isolated outbreaks. Furthermore, the Government went alto- 
gether too far, in most instances, in charging the accused with treason. 
The juries were with the people ; so that, except in the case of the Der- 
byshire rioters, three of whom were sentenced to death and several to 
transportation, no convictions were secured. Even the ringleaders 
in the Spa Fields demonstration escaped. All this tended to bring 
the authorities into contempt, though Cobbett found it advisable to 
withdraw to America for a time. On the other hand, the manifesta- 
tions of 1816-1817 proved very disastrous to the Whig party. Those 
who sided with the repressive policy lost their influence with the masses, 
while those who showed popular sympathy were shunned by moderate 
men as dangerous radicals. The only remedial measure of the Govern- 
ment was to vote £1,000,000 for new churches, on the ground that the 
prevailing disquiet was due to inadequate religious instruction. 

The " Peterloo," or Manchester Massacre, 1819. — Owing to a 
temporary return of better times, comparative quiet prevailed in 1818 ; 
but in 1 81 9 another bad harvest, together with renewed industrial 
depression, brought fresh trouble. The agitation for parliamentary 
reform reached a fever heat. In Manchester, which did not enjoy the 
privilege of sending members to Parliament, an enormous meeting 
was planned for 16 August to choose a " legislative representative." 
Although the magistrates declined to authorize the proposed meeting, 
50,000 people assembled in St. Peter's Fields, bearing banners with : 
" Equal representation or death," and similar inscriptions. In an 

1 The measure of 1795 had been limited in duration. 

2 The suspension lasted till 1818. Since that date the suspension has never been 
repeated in England. 



AFTER THE OVERTHROW OF NAPOLEON 871 

attempt to arrest " Orator " Hunt, who was to address the meeting, 
the magistrates, losing their heads, ordered the mounted soldiery to 
charge the crowd. Five or six were killed and about fifty wounded. 
Rumor, however, greatly exaggerated the number, and popular senti- 
ment was bitter. The slaughter was>quite unnecessary ; for the meet- 
ing might have been prevented, or Hunt might have been arrested 
beforehand. The affair is known to history as the " Manchester " or 
" Peterloo Massacre." The Ministry, without waiting to learn where 
the real blame lay, very unwisely sent a letter, signed by the Prince 
Regent, approving the action of the magistrates. 

The Six Acts. — Parliament, directly it met, passed a series of 
measures, known as the " Six Acts," reviving and extending the tem- 
porary legislation of 181 7. The first two, empowering the magistrates 
to seize arms and to prevent military training for unlawful purposes, 
as well as the third, designed to secure speedy trials, were justifiable. 
The fourth, providing for the punishment of publishers of seditious 
libels and the seizure of their works, was not long enforced and was 
repealed in 1830. The fifth, aimed at publications like Cobbett's 
" Two-penny Trash," 1 imposed a stamp duty on small pamphlets. 2 
The sixth act was the most burdensome of all. It prohibited meet- 
ings in corporate towns and counties unless summoned by the Mayor 
and the Lord Lieutenant respectively. It fell with peculiar heaviness 
on towns like Manchester, which, since they were unrepresented in 
Parliament, were thus practically deprived of their only means of 
voicing grievances. Happily, the duration of the Acts was limited to 
five years. Once more economic conditions improved, and there was 
little manifestation of popular discontent for some time to come. 

The End of the Regency, 1820. The Accession of George IV. — It 
was regarded as a national calamity when the Princess Charlotte, 
the only child of the Prince Regent, died in 181 7. She was very 
popular, and her marriage to Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg had been 
hailed with joy, since it seemed to insure the prospect of a happy 
succession. In 1818 three of the Regent's brothers married. The 
following year a daughter was born to the Duke of Kent, the most 
highly respected of them all. The child was destined to become Queen 
Victoria, and to enjoy the longest and one of the most wonderful reigns 
in English history. George III died, 29 January, 1820, after lingering 
on for a decade as a blind and imbecile wreck. George IV, as his suc- 
cessor now came to be called, had reached his fifty-eighth year. Ex- 
cept that he had broken with the Whig connections of his youth, he 
was much the same as Regent and King as he had been as Prince. 
Though lazy, he was clever and versatile, with a taste for finery, music, 
and building. When he chose, he could be gracious and winning, 
and was a master of that artificial code of politeness known as " de- 

1 His Register, which sold for 2 d. 

* A similar tax on newspapers had been in force since Queen Anne's time. 



872 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

portment." l But he never acquired any stability of character, and 
he never shook off those vices for which he was so notorious in his youth. 
He remained to the end " a dissolute and drunken fop, a spendthrift 
and a gamester." His word could never be trusted; he was mean 
and treacherous to his father, to his wife, to his daughter, and to his 
subjects. More wicked kings have reigned over England, but none 
who was more contemptible. One service only the country owes him, 
just because he was despicable, the growth of the personal power of 
the sovereign, which his father had done so much to revive, received a 
decided check. 

The Cato Street Conspiracy, February, 1820. —On 23 February, 
1820, less than a month after the reign began, one of the Government 
agents exposed a horrid plot for destroying the whole Ministry at a 
Cabinet dinner. It was devised by Thistlewood, the wildest of the 
Radicals, with the help of a band of desperate followers. The Cato 
Street Conspiracy, as it was called, got its name from the fact that the 
plotters held their meetings in a stable-loft on that street. Lord 
Holland, nephew of Charles James Fox, whose house was the social 
center of the leading Whigs, voiced the sentiments of the Opposition 
party when he declared that such conspiracies were the natural re- 
sult of the suppression of public discussion. Nevertheless, the re- 
pressive policy of the Government did something to quell popular 
agitation. 

Queen Caroline and her History, 1795-1820. — In this same year 
George and his ministers had to face a crisis growing out of the King's 
relations with his unfortunate Queen, Caroline. Caroline, daughter of 
the Duke of Brunswick, had been forced into this ill-starred marriage 
against her will, 8 April, 1795, while the Prince had consented 2 solely 
because it was the only condition on which Parliament would vote to 
pay his debts. He disliked her from the first day he saw her. Her 
good qualities he could not appreciate, and her frivolity, her indiscre- 
tions, and lack of breeding shocked his fastidious nature. They sepa- 
rated in 1796, though she continued to live in the neighborhood of Lon- 
don, receiving as guests some of the leading men of the time. She 
was carefully watched, and an investigation into her conduct was made 
in 1806 ; but no evidence of real immorality was discovered. In 1814 
she went abroad, where she spent some years traveling, chiefly in Italy 
and about the Mediterranean. Her manner of life was at least ques- 
tionable, and, in 1818, the Regent sent over a secret committee to 
secure evidence for a divorce. It was the Queen herself, however, who 
finally forced the issue. Already smarting from the humiliation of 
receiving no official recognition at foreign courts, she was stung to fury 
when her name was omitted from the new Prayer Book issued at 

1 Dickens caricatured him as "Mr. Turveydrop" in Bleak House. 

2 His alliance with Mrs. Fitzherbert was regarded as illegal because contrary to 
the provisions of the Royal Marriage Act. She was ultimately awarded a pension 
and lived till 1837. 



AFTER THE OVERTHROW OF NAPOLEON 873 

the accession of her royal consort. 1 So she started for England to 
appeal to the people and to plead her cause in person. Landing at 
Dover, in June, 1820, she journeyed to London amid a storm of en- 
thusiasm. Public chivalry was aroused in the cause of a woman who, 
whatever her faults, had been despitefully treated by one who was a 
notorious evil liver. The Whig politicians rallied to her support as a 
means of striking both at the King who had deserted them and the 
Ministry in power. 

The Struggle over her Divorce, 1820. — The royal advisers, though 
they agreed to an investigation in the House of Lords, sought to ar- 
range terms with the Queen through her counsel, of whom Brougham 
was the chief. After Caroline had refused any concession on the two 
essential points — her formal recognition at foreign courts and the 
insertion of her name in the Prayer Book — Lord Liverpool introduced 
a bill of pains and penalties, 8 July, to deprive her of her title and to 
divorce her from King George. In the face of a steadily dwindling 
majority, which amounted only to nine at the third reading, 12 Novem- 
ber, the Prime Minister withdrew the measure. To have pushed it 
further might have jeopardized the throne. The news was hailed 
with tumults of joy, and London was illuminated for three nights. 
Thus encouraged, Caroline continued the fight. She succeeded in 
obtaining a parliamentary grant of £ 50,000 a year, though she failed 
to get her name in the Prayer Book. Further, she failed in a frantic 
effort to have herself crowned with the King, and committed the fatal 
blunder of making an undignified attempt to force her way into West- 
minster Abbey on coronation day, 19 July, 182 1. This alienated the 
people, who showed no resentment at her being turned away. She 
did not long survive her disappointment ; for she died, 7 August, much 
to the relief of King George. After brief visits to Ireland and Scot- 
land, in 1 82 1 and 1822, respectively, he withdrew more and more from 
the public view, only emerging once or twice toward the close of his 
reign in futile efforts to block the cause of progress. 

The Advent of the Liberal Tories, 1822. — While Liverpool's Tory 
Ministry hung on till 1827, its character was profoundly modified 
in 1822. Napoleon, disturber of the peace of Europe, was dead, 
popular outbreaks had ceased, and the middle class, relieved from 
fear of invasion or revolution, were prepared to demand more 
freedom of commerce, a greater voice in public affairs, and, in 
general, a resumption of the work of reform in which Pitt had been so 
rudely interrupted. The Queen's cause had served as a means of 
focusing and manifesting their strength, and had made it clear to the 
tyrannical clique who had thus far clung so stoutly to the existing 
system, that at least some degree of concession was necessary. In 
consequence they took the momentous step of admitting into the 
Cabinet four liberal Tories. The new Ministers — all sprung from 

1 It is customary to insert a prayer for the King and Queen by name. 



$74 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

the middle class and voicing its aspirations — while they were not in 
favor of parliamentary reform, nor, at the outset, of Catholic relief, 
at Once set on foot a series of legislative and administrative changes 
which opened a new era. 

Robert Peel. — In January, 1822, Robert Peel (1788-1850) re- 
placed Sidmouth as Home Secretary. Peel, who was the son of a rich 
manufacturer, had already been a member of Parliament for more 
than ten years. He was destined to be twice Prime Minister, to form 
a new Conservative party, and to be the author of epoch-making 
liberal measures. On 12. August Castlereagh 1 committed suicide. 
Masterful, courageous, and absolutely indifferent to public opinion 
he was intensely unpopular, except with the reactionaries who fol- 
lowed his leadership. His energetic part in putting down the Rebel- 
lion of 1798 and his share in the questionable methods by which the 
subsequent Union was brought about had embittered the majority 
of his own countrymen against him. On the other hand, he had 
rendered signal service to Great Britain and to Europe. Largely 
owing to his efforts, the British army was effectively reorganized and 
the Peninsular War undertaken, he selected and supported Wellington, 
and led the combination of the Powers that finally overcame Napoleon. 
Moreover, he played a leading role in the subsequent settlement of 
the European situation. While that settlement and his share in it is 
open to the serious criticism of disregarding liberty and nationality, 
it had, at least, the merit of averting another European conflict for 
forty years. 

Canning and Huskisson. — George Canning (1770-1827) suc- 
ceeded Castlereagh as Foreign Secretary and leader of the House of 
Commons. Since his quarrel with his predecessor in 1809 he had held 
no important Cabinet office. George IV, who hated him because of 
his sympathy with the late Queen Caroline, had only sanctioned his 
appointment with the greatest reluctance. Brilliant and versatile 2 and 
possessed of unusual literary power, Canning was doubtless one of the 
most eloquent orators and one of the most skillful debaters and parlia- 
mentary managers of the century. Many, however, distrusted his 
sincerity and his judgment. Directly on entering office he assumed 
" even in the presence of Lord Liverpool the tone and authority of 
Premier." He proceeded to surround himself with men after his 
own heart. Robinson, " prosperity Robinson," as he came to be 
known, was made Chancellor of the Exchequer ; but the most notable 
appointment was that of William Huskisson (17 70-1830) as President 
of the Board of Trade. Huskisson was the greatest authority of his 
time in finance, trade, and commerce, though his abilities were only 
slowly recognized, partly because of his reserved, awkward manner 

1 He had succeeded his father as Marquis of Londonderry in 182 1. 

2 It was said that he could dictate to two amanuenses at the same time, on such 
complicated and totally different questions as in relations with Greece and South 
America. 



AFTER THE OVERTHROW OF NAPOLEON 875 

and partly because he was distrusted as a free trader. Canning, 
burdened with the double weight of the home and foreign, policy oi 
his country, depended much upon his new colleagues for initial sug- 
gestions and the working out of details in domestic reforms. 

The New Era of Remedial Legislation. Peel as a Law Reformer. — 
The remedial legislation which they undertook covered all sorts of 
fields — legal, judicial, social, colonial, commercial, and industrial. 
While great strides were made during the next few years, much re- 
mained for later generations to perfect and complete. Already, in 
1819, Peel had, as chairman of a committee of finance, introduced bills 
providing that, by May, 1823, the Bank of England should, on demand, 
redeem all notes in legal coin. As a matter of fact, 1 May, 1821, 
marked the complete resumption of the specie payments. The meas- 
ure, based on the ideas of the famous economist Ricardo, caused 
some temporary difficulty by lowering prices, but was an honest return 
to a sound policy. As Home Secretary, Peel, in consultation 
with Brougham, Sir James Mackintosh, and Jeremy Bentham, was 
particularly active in law reforms. 

The Beginning of Huskisson's Reforms. His Colonial Policy. — In 
1823, Huskisson substantially modified the operation of the Naviga- 
tion Laws, though they were not actually repealed till 1849. By a 
Reciprocity of Duties Bill, European countries were allowed a share 
in the British colonial trade, subject to certain restrictions, provided 
they would extend equal privileges to Great Britain. 1 Contrary to 
the prevailing notion that the British colonial system was a monop- 
oly belonging to the Mother Country because of the protection and 
defense which she rendered, Huskisson declared that the trade interests 
of the Colonies deserved consideration and that they were insepa- 
rably bound up with those of England. The home trader continued 
to receive a certain preference in tariffs ; but colonial commerce and 
immigration were systematically fostered. One abuse persisted. 
Colonial patronage was still lavishly bestowed upon those who were 
often as incompetent as they were importunate. A deaf and dumb 
peer received a large salary as Governor of the Barbadoes ; the clerk 
of the Privy Council drew £3000 a year as nominal Governor of Jamaica, 
though he never visited the island ; while a peeress received £1000 for 
an equally glaring sinecure in Trinidad. Nevertheless, Huskisson's 
wise and generous policy aroused a sentiment of loyalty in the Colonies 
hitherto unequaled. In this same year, 1823, Great Britain was finally 
relieved of that old incubus, the Sinking Fund. The measure, carried 
out by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, was doubtless suggested by 
Huskisson. Henceforth, it was provided that no additions were to 
be made to the Sinking Fund except from the surplus for the year. 

His Tariff and Taxation Reforms. — Huskisson proceeded, in 1824, 
to grapple with the whole existing system of tariffs and taxation. 

1 The United States had secured similar concessions in 1814. 



876 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

Much as Pitt had done to unravel the tangle, hosts of anomalies re- 
mained. Furthermore, many new taxes had been imposed in a more 
or less random fashion to meet the needs of a war revenue. There 
were bounties to assist old and decrepit industries, while those that 
were young and growing received no support. Many of the productions 
propped up by bounties were in turn weighed down by a heavy excise. 
Trade and manufactures were hampered by vexatious duties, chief 
among them those on the import of raw and spun silk and on both the 
import and export of raw wool. Finished silks were excluded alto- 
gether. Huskisson was in principle a free trader ; he thought that 
bounties and prohibitive restrictions fostered unprofitable industries 
and discouraged invention and progress. So he abolished as many 
as he could, and provided for the gradual doing away with many 
more. At the same time, he swept away various unproductive taxes, 
revising others or distributing them more equally. In remodeling 
the tariff he followed the plan of leaving a slight duty to protect the 
manufacturer, as well as further to assist him by making raw materials 
as free as possible. The old duties ranged from 1 8 to 40 per cent, those 
which Huskisson substituted, from 15 to 30. Among the commodi- 
ties affected were silk, cotton, woolens, sugar, paper, and glass. The 
development which followed was striking. Snipping, which had 
increased 10 per cent in the nineteen years preceding, increased 
45 in the twenty-one following. Exports, which, so near as can 
be estimated, had fallen from £45,000,000 in 1814 to £38,000,000 
in 1820, had risen again in 1824 to £49,000,000. The loss of revenue 
due to reduction in taxes was, to a large degree, offset by this increase 
of trade, as well as by the future suppression of smuggling which the 
old duties had encouraged. Much, however, as Huskisson's measures 
contributed to this increased prosperity, other causes were, to a still 
greater degree, operative. The Spanish- American colonies threw off 
the yoke of Spain and opened their trade freely to the world. The 
Portuguese possession of Brazil, which became an independent empire 
in 1822, did the like. Moreover, commercial relations with the United 
States steadily improved after the War of 181 2. And, finally, the 
recovery of the European Continent from its exhaustion affected Eng- 
land as a buyer, seller, and as a distributing agent. 

His Combination Laws, 1824-1825. — Huskisson was also respon- 
sible for various measures regulating and improving the condition 
of the working classes and their relations with the capitalists. Laws 
forbidding the exportation of machinery and the emigration of laborers, 
which it had always been difficult to enforce, were abolished. In 
1824 he passed an act allowing peaceful workingmen to meet without 
penalty, and, indeed, legalizing every sort of a combination. This 
step, however, had to be partially retraced the following year ; for, 
owing to a temporary return of hard times, a number of disturbances 
and riots broke out. In consequence, a new act was passed in 1825 
forbidding certain kinds of meetings, and empowering the magistrates 



AFTER THE OVERTHROW OF NAPOLEON 877 

to deal in a summary fashion with both employers or workmen who 
resorted to threats or intimidation. 

The Financial Crisis of 1825. — The year 1825 was marked by a 
sharp but temporary financial crisis. The recent prosperity had 
resulted in a considerable increase of capital, which tempted many to 
seek for promising fields of investment. The new South American 
republics seemed to offer the chief attractions, and a frenzy of specula- 
tive fever set in which recalled the days of the South Sea Bubble. 
All kinds of visionary and fantastic schemes were afloat. One for 
the shipment of warming pans and skates to the tropics is doubtless 
an invention; but it is stated as a fact that " Scotch dairy maids 
emigrated to Buenos Ayres for the purpose of milking wild cows and 
churning butter for a people who preferred oil." Speculation was 
stimulated by excessive note issues, chiefly by the country banks. 
By the spring of 1825 prices had reached a height whence they were 
bound to topple. Then came a rumor that the South American 
republics were going to repudiate their debts. At the same time, the 
Bank of England, which had been drained of specie on account of 
heavy loans to France, contracted its note issue. Money became 
tight at once. Many, either from fright or because of the necessity 
of meeting outstanding obligations, began to sell their stocks at 
tremendous sacrifices. Numbers of the leading banks in London 
suspended payment, causing the failure of still greater numbers of 
country banks dependent on them. By the opening of 1826 over 
seventy had fallen with a crash. Only the wise measures of the min- 
isters in power, backed by the more solid element of the mercantile 
community, averted complete disaster. The Government prohibited 
the Bank of England from suspending cash payments. At the same 
time, the supply of small notes was increased and more coin was hurried 
from the mint. One hundred and fifty thousand sovereigns a day were 
struck off, and the accidental discovery in the vaults of the Bank of 
a chest containing seven hundred thousand one-pound notes proved a 
godsend. Furthermore, the Bank of England was allowed to es- 
tablish branches in certain provincial towns, and to make advances 
up to £3,000,000 on merchants' goods. Further issues of smaller 
notes by the country banks were forbidden. Confidence slowly re- 
turned, and the country at length weathered the crisis. 

The Question of the Corn Laws, 1826. — In 1826 a sharp struggle 
arose between the commercial and the landed interests over the 
Corn Laws. The Act of 181 5 had been passed, partly to encourage 
the farmers to retain a large area of corn land in order that the country 
might be more self-sufficing in the event of another war, and partly 
for the purpose of protecting them from the fall in prices which would 
come from the free admission of foreign-grown wheat. However, 
the steadily increasing body of artisans, and the agricultural laborers 
who owned no land and worked for hire, clamored for cheaper food. 
The influential merchants and manufacturers naturally supported 



878 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

them because low prices for bread meant keeping wages down. In 
1826 an -insufficient harvest, and the misery which it involved, 
prompted the Government to place on sale a large supply of foreign 
corn which was being held in bond until the price should reach the 
rate of 80 shillings. Not only was the action sustained in Parliament, 
but a motion was introduced to import a further supply to relieve 
the existing distress. Although the landed interests were in the 
majority and although their profits had shrunk since the peace, they 
did not defeat the motion, partly because on the eve of a general elec- 
tion they were reluctant to defy public opinion, and partly because 
the measure was designed to meet a temporary emergency. Their 
opponents, however, interpreted their action to be a virtual admission 
that the protection which they enjoyed was at the cost of the consumer. 
Indeed, Canning and Huskisson were on the point of introducing an 
amendment to the existing Corn Laws when, 17 February, 1827, Lord 
Liverpool was suddenly striken with paralysis. 

Canning's Ministry, April-August, 1827. — The two factions in the 
Cabinet had nothing in common except opposition to parliamentary 
reform, and nothing but the tact of the Prime Minister had held them 
together. Now a split was inevitable. The progressive section led by 
Canning, which stood for national independence abroad, and for the 
extension of free trade and for Catholic emancipation at home, had a 
majority in the Commons. The chief strength of the old Eldonian 
Tories was in the House of Lords. Canning was the logical successor 
as Premier ; but he was broken in health, and bitterly opposed by the 
King. Wellington, who was offered the post, declared that he would 
be worse than mad to accept it. After the Government had been six 
weeks without a head, George finally gave in. Canning, during the 
few months that he survived, had to fight against tremendous odds. 
Six of the leading members of the Liverpool Cabinet, chief among 
them Wellington, Peel, and Eldon, refused to serve. Indeed, Huskis- 
son was the only man of parts who remained. Most of the new men, 
however, were destined to make their mark in later times. Lord 
Palmerston 1 and William Lamb (afterwards Lord Melbourne) subse- 
quently became Prime Ministers, while Lord Lyndhurst, the Chan- 
cellor, was destined to hold that office in two more cabinets and to 
decline a fourth term. Owing to a dearth of liberal Tories, Canning 
was obliged to admit several Whigs to minor positions. The chief 
event in his short-lived administration was the struggle over the new 
Corn Law which he had already introduced, 1 March, 1827, and which 
he carried easily through the Commons. It provided for the admission 
of foreign corn, after the price reached 60 shillings, on a sliding scale 
of duties which went down as the price went up, and vice versa. 
Wellington blocked it in the Lords by an amendment which, the Prime 
Minister declared, wrecked the whole principle. Though it was not 

1 In the Irish peerage. 



AFTER THE OVERTHROW OF NAPOLEON 879 

commented on at the time, the action of the Lords was unconstitu- 
tional ; for it had long been recognized that they could not amend 
a money bill. Canning died, 8 August, 1827, in the Duke of Devon- 
shire's villa at Chiswick in the very room where Charles James Fox 
had died twenty years before. 

The Goderich Ministry, August, 1827, to January, 1828. — Robin- 
son, recently created Viscount Goderich, who was chosen to succeed 
Canning, was a kindly man who had shown some ability as a financier ; 
but he was too weak and irresolute to manage a Cabinet. When a 
dispute arose over a chairmanship of a finance committee, all he could 
do was to burst into tears and resign. This " transient and em- 
barrassed phantom," or " Goody Goderich," as Cobbett named him, 
was the only Prime Minister who never faced a Parliament. 

Wellington becomes Prime Minister, 1828. The Roman Catholic 
Question. — The Duke of Wellington, backed by the landed interest 
and the rigid Protestants, next became Prime Minister on the under- 
standing that Roman Catholic relief was not to be made a Cabinet 
question. Nevertheless, before another year was over he had carried 
a Catholic Emancipation Bill, with the consequence that he sharply 
divided and ultimately wrecked his Government. Roman Catholics 
labored under serious political disabilities. By the acts of 1562 and 
1678 they were excluded from both Houses of Parliament ; by the Test 
Act all public offices, civil and military, were closed to them, and by an 
act of William and Mary they were even deprived of the right to vote. 
In addition, they were subject to penal laws so harsh, oppressive, and 
ingeniously cruel that they can hardly be justified by the circum- 
stances that called them forth, and which, if enforced, would have 
rendered their position wellnigh intolerable. It should be said, 
however, that as the danger from papal aggression and Jacobitism 
disappeared and as rationalism and religious indifference began to 
spread, they became practically a dead letter even before any of them 
were removed from the statute book. The act of 1778, and a subse- 
quent act of 1791, put an end to these " ferocious threats " ; but the 
political disabilities remained. The situation was much the same in 
Ireland, 1 although, there, five sevenths of the population were affected, 
whereas the English Roman Catholics did not number more than 
70,000. 

The Struggle for Catholic Emancipation. Daniel O'Connell. — 
Pitt, as has been seen, failed to secure further measures of Catholic 
relief in fulfillment of the pledges given to carry the Union. Grenville 
and Fox were equally unsuccessful in the measures which they advo- 
cated. Grattan, the Irish patriot, 2 led a vain struggle, year after year, 
in the English Parliament. On his death, in 1820, Plunket took 

1 The Irish, however, could vote after 1793. 

2 As a Protestant he was entitled to sit. Many of the Irish leaders, beginning 
with Burke, who was the pioneer in the Catholic cause from 1760 to 1793, were 
Protestants. 



88o A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

his place as champion of the Catholic claims. Although Canning 
together with a number of Whigs and liberal Tories, lent their support 
to the cause, the only fruit of years of struggle was the Military and 
Naval Officers' Oath Bill of 1S17, opening all ranks in the service 
to Roman Catholics. 1 At the same time, the agitation was being 
actively carried on in Ireland. The old agrarian difficulties — ab- 
senteeism, rack-renting, 2 and tithes — still lay at the root of the dis- 
content of the lesser folk ; but their leaders pushed to the front the 
question of the political disabilities — exclusion from office and 
Parliament. Their most skilful organizer and agitator was Daniel 
O'Connell (177 5-1847), a Roman Catholic barrister who had entered 
actively into politics in 1805. His gay and boisterous temperament, 
his wit, his eloquence, his knowledge of his countrymen, and his fervid 
enthusiasm made him a popular idol. Organized societies and mass 
meetings were molded by his masterly hand into perfect and respon- 
sive instruments, and no one did more than he to arouse a truly na- 
tional feeling. Although often coarse, unguarded, and violent in his 
language, he always opposed the use of force, declaring on one occa- 
sion that " no political change is worth a drop of human blood." 
In 1823, he founded the Catholic Association for peaceful and public 
agitation of grievances. In order to include even the poorest, the 
contribution was fixed at a penny a week or a shilling a year. The 
success of the Association was so great that the Government in alarm 
passed a bill aiming to declare illegal not only this, but all societies 
for similar objects. The resourceful O'Connell founded forthwith a 
new association which evaded the terms of the act. Indeed, more 
than once he was able to circumvent the English authorities by such 
ingenuity. 

The Repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts. The Clare Election, 
1828. — In 1828, Lord John Russell, a younger son of the Duke 
of Bedford, destined to become one of the Whig leaders, carried through 
Parliament a measure for repealing the provisions in the Test and Cor- 
poration Acts, requiring the taking of the sacrament according to the 
Anglican form, as a qualification for office. Thus the Protestant 
Dissenters were admitted to privileges which they had enjoyed hitherto 
only by an ungracious indemnity. Catholics were still excluded by 
the necessity of taking the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy and a 
declaration against transubstantiation, 3 but their victory was not far off . 
Owing to disagreements which culminated in a quarrel over the dis- 

1 In England military and naval officers who did not take the statutory oaths 
had been protected by an annual indemnity since 1745. 

2 The practice of setting tenants to bid against one another. Since land was 
scarce, a man, in order to win in the competition, often had to agree to a sum which 
it was beyond his power to pay. 

3 By the act of 1828 a new declaration for the protection of the Church of Eng- 
land was required from all holders of any office, employment, or place of trust. 
Since it had to be affirmed " upon the true faith of a Christian," Jews were excluded, 
not only from office but from Parliament. 



AFTER THE OVERTHROW OF NAPOLEON 88 1 

posal of the seats of two rotten boroughs disfranchised at this time, 
the Duke got rid of Huskisson. Palmerston, Lamb, and others resigned 
in quick succession until there was not a Canningite left in the Well- 
ington ministry. Vesey Fitzgerald, a popular landowner in the county 
of Clare, was chosen President of the Board of Trade and, in accordance 
with the Act of 1705, stood for reelection. O'Connell ran against him 
to the amazement of everybody; for, even if elected, he was dis- 
qualified from sitting. In a five days' contest, in which he and the 
priests took care that the proceedings should be absolutely peaceful, 
he won a complete triumph. It was clear that the forty-shilling 
freeholder could not longer be trusted to obey blindly the Govern- 
ment agents. The most significant result of the Clare election, 
however, was to convince Wellington that political equality could 
no longer be withheld from the Roman Catholics except at the risk 
of civil war. Ever since 1827 the majority of the Commons had 
favored the desired concessions ; but they could make no head against 
the Lords * and the King. The press and the mass of the English 
people were also stoutly opposed to any change. 

The Passage of the Roman Catholic Emancipation Bill, 1829. — Any 
other Prime Minister but Wellington would have resigned. By re- 
maining in office and bending all his energies to carry the measure he 
was pledged to oppose, he was furiously denounced by the old-line 
Tories as a betrayer of their principles. He was, no doubt, the fore- 
most man in England, and his courage and honesty were above ques- 
tion. However, he failed to understand the English party system. 
His political tactics were those of the general — to hold a position as 
long as possible and then to yield. Moreover, he had a sense of public 
duty that was superior to party allegiance. Convinced that delay 
was fatal, he realized that no one in the country was as likely as him- 
self to overcome the obstinacy of the King. Peel, who shared in 
the denunciation heaped upon his chief, hesitated for a time as to what 
course to pursue. He finally concluded to support the Duke. He 
did, however, feel it his duty to resign his seat as a member from 
Oxford. When that citadel of conservatism refused to reelect him, 
he was returned from Westbury. After notice had already been 
given that the Bill would be introduced, George sought to interpose 
an obstacle by declaring that he would consent to no alteration in 
the Oath of Supremacy. Wellington, Peel, and Lyndhurst at once re- 
signed ; and, finding it impossible to form another Ministry, he was 
obliged to give way. Poor old El don, though he shed tears and fore- 
told the ruin of the British Empire, failed to induce the majority of 
the Tory peers to vote against the Duke. As a last resource, he tried to 
induce the King to refuse his assent. George, who had once declared 
" that there was no person in the whole world that he hated so much," 
was so affected that he threw his arms around the neck of the 

1 George's brother, the Duke of York, who died in January, 1827, had (according 
to Eldon) done "more to quiet this matter than everything else put together." 

31 



882 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

aged ex-Chancellor. Indeed, the King's whole behavior was petty 
and childish. He threatened even to return to Hanover. While he 
eventually signed the measure, he vented his spite by treating its 
supporters with premeditated rudeness and by showering favors upon 
those who had opposed it. 

The Terms of the Act. — The Act, in its final form, conceded full 
political and civil rights to Roman Catholics, with specified exceptions 
and under certain conditions devised as safeguards. The Oaths of 
Allegiance, Supremacy, and Abjuration were done away with, as well as 
the renunciation of belief in transubstantiation, invocation of saints, 
and the sacrifice of the mass. Instead, members of Parliament and 
officeholders had to take a new oath swearing allegiance to the Sover- 
eign, renouncing the temporal supremacy of the Pope within the realm 
and pledging support to the Protestant settlement of Church and 
State. Roman Catholics were excluded from the offices of Sovereign, 
Lord Chancellor of England or Ireland, and Lord Lieutenant of Ire- 
land. Further, they could hold no positions in the ecclesiastical courts 
nor in the universities, and their priests could not sit in Parliament. 1 
Their bishops could not assume diocesan titles already held by bishops 
of the Church of England, a provision which was destined, a few years 
later, to cause serious trouble. A few disabilities still remained ; 
for example, marriages celebrated by Catholic priests were not recog- 
nized by law till 1838. The Act of 1829, a tardy measure of justice 
— carried, it should be borne in mind, by the unreformed Parliament 
against the prevailing popular sentiment — did not have the hoped- 
for effect in quieting the Irish discontent ; indeed, the opinion has 
been advanced that, had the consequences been foreseen, the majority 
of those who helped carry the Bill would have voted for its rejection. 
Wellington's frank admission in the House of Lords, that he had only 
acted from dread of civil war, encouraged the use of force in time to 
come. Two reasons help to explain the dissatisfaction of the Irish. 
In the first place, the forty-shilling freeholders were disfranchised, 
and the qualification for voting raised to ten pounds. O'Connell, 
who had " solemnly vowed to perish on the field or on the scaffold 
rather than submit," yielded without a protest. Far different was his 
attitude with regard to the other question. Apparently for the ex- 
press purpose of excluding him from taking the seat which he had 
recently secured from the county Clare, the Government had unwisely 
inserted a clause in the Relief Bill that its provisions should not be 
retroactive. O'Connell appeared at the bar of the House prepared to 
take the new oath ; but, though he argued his case with moderation 
and skill, was turned away. He was easily reelected ; but the sense- 
less and ungracious trick which had been practiced on him turned him 
into a fiery advocate of the repeal of the Union. 

1 Church of England clergymen had been excluded from the House of Commons 
since 1801, 



AFTER THE OVERTHROW OF NAPOLEON 883 

The Last Months of the Wellington Ministry, and the Death of 
George IV. — The last months of the Wellington Ministry were gloomy 
enough. Ireland was seething with disorder, while in England a bad 
harvest and a severe winter resulted in distress and disquiet. Indus- 
trial conditions were also affected and led to new outbursts of violence. 
Although they managed to cut down expenses and remit various taxes, 
the Duke and his supporters never recovered their popularity. The 
Tories regarded them as traitors, the King never forgave them for 
forcing his hand, while the Canningites were hopelessly alienated. 
Most of them, as a matter of fact, had gone over to the Whigs, who 
were strongly organized under a trusted leader, John Charles Spencer, 
Viscount Althorpe ' (1782-1845). Another factor which told against 
Wellington was that parliamentary reform, to which he was stoutly 
opposed, had now become an issue bound to prevail. George IV died, 
26 June, 1830, unloved and unregretted. With the accession of his 
brother William, who was friendly to the Whigs and reform, the Duke's 
Ministry was doomed. Events abroad, which reached a crisis in 1830, 
gave great impetus to the popular movement in England. 

Great Britain and the European Situation at the Close of the Great 
War. — The effect of the French Revolution and of the Napoleonic wars 
had been, on the one hand, to arouse a spirit of liberty and national 
independence among the peoples of many continental states ; on the 
other, to unite most of the European sovereigns in a policy of reaction 
and repression. The aim of the ruling powers was to maintain peace 
in accordance with the Congress of Vienna and the second Treaty of 
Paris. The chief engine for carrying through this work was the 
Quadruple Alliance which provided for frequent Congresses where all 
movements which threatened the tranquillity of Europe were dis- 
cussed and concerted action determined. Prince Metternich, the 
Austrian Minister, was the leading spirit of the despotic regime. The 
tenor of the Metternich system is admirably expressed in a circular of 
the Congress of Laibach, meeting in October, 182 1, which declared 
that : " Useful or necessary changes in legislation and in the adminis- 
tration of States ought only to emanate from the free will and intelli- 
gent and well-weighed conviction of those whom God has rendered 
responsible for power." While the Austrian Minister was opposed 
to any intervention which might disturb the balance of power, he 
induced the larger states of Germany to combine under Prussian 
leadership for the purpose of aiding the lesser to stifle the least signs of 
revolution ; he stood ready to crush out all evidences of unrest in 
Italy, where, through the possession of Lombardy and Venice, Aus- 

1 " Honest Jack," as he was fondly called, had in his youth been chiefly noted for 
his interest in sports, his debts, and his awkward manners. He was drawn into 
politics by his admiration for Charles James Fox. He had no political ambition 
and spoke unwillingly and badly ; but by devotion to duty, by his industry in the 
mastery of public questions, and by sheer force of character he came, in spite of 
himself, to lead his party in the Commons. 



884 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

trian interests were predominant ; and he was pledged to maintain 
the Bourbons of France. Castlereagh, who guided British foreign 
policy, was a far more decided advocate of non-intervention, while 
Alexander of Russia represented the opposite policy. 

The Revolutions of 1820. — The year 1820 witnessed a series of 
revolutions. The first occurred in Spain. Though Alexander was 
hot for joint intervention, Castlereagh, backed by Metternich, suc- 
ceeded in frustrating his designs. In the summer, revolts followed in 
Naples, Sicily, and Portugal. Castlereagh was quite willing to allow 
Austria to interfere in Italy on the ground that her possessions were 
endangered ; but he declared against proposals of joint intervention. 
For that reason, he protested against the Congresses summoned to con- 
sider the Spanish question and refused to send any official representa- 
tives when they met. He was really in sympathy with crushing revo- 
lutionary movements, and seems to have given the European Powers 
private assurances of support, though, to satisfy British public opinion, 
he played a double game by openly opposing their efforts. The 
upshot was that Austria sent an army to Naples which restored the 
Bourbon Ferdinand and likewise suppressed a revolt in Piedmont. 
Thus, with the help of Castlereagh, she carried out a policy of inter- 
vention when it suited her interests, and defeated the Russian projects 
for joint action, which she regarded with disfavor. 

The Spanish Situation, 1820-1823. — The Spanish revolutionists 
had forced their worthless King, Ferdinand VII, to restore a constitu- 
tion which he had accepted at his restoration in 181 2, and which he 
had afterwards ignored. The situation was complicated from the fact 
that the ultraroyalists, who had secured control in France, fearing 
the contagion of the Spanish revolutionary principles, insisted upon 
intervention. Their alarm was accentuated from the fact that the 
Portuguese King, John VI, on his return, in June, 182 1, from a fourteen 
years' absence in Brazil signed a liberal constitution which his subjects 
had recently adopted. It was understood that the Spanish question 
would come up for discussion in a Congress summoned to meet at 
Verona. A preliminary conference was arranged at Vienna. Cas- 
tlereagh, who was to represent Great Britain, shot himself 12 August, 
1822. However, he had already made up his mind to resist the French 
as he had previously resisted the Russian proposals of intervention ; 
and Canning, his successor as Foreign Secretary, adopted the same 
attitude. Furthermore, he continued Castlereagh's policy of opposi- 
tion to governing European affairs . by Congresses. Where he dif- 
fered from his predecessor was in his sincere belief that each nation 
should be left free to choose its own form of government. " Castle- 
reagh had been suspected of holding the continental doctrine that 
people exist only for their kings," whereas Canning " based his policy 
on the modern notion that kings exist only for their people." In 
spite of the efforts of Wellington, who was sent as plenipotentiary 
to Verona, the Congress adopted the project of French intervention 



AFTER THE OVERTHROW OF NAPOLEON 885 

Canning finally agreed not to interfere with the invaders so long as 
they observed certain conditions : that they should not destroy the 
independence of Spain ; that France should not possess herself of any 
Spanish colonies ; and that the occupation should not be permanent. 
A French army entered Spain in April, 1823. Before the close of the 
year, Ferdinand was restored and absolutism was again triumphant. 
Canning and the Recognition of the South American Republics, 
1823 1825. — In three directions, however, Canning contributed to 
check the designs of the reactionaries — in Portugal, in the Spanish 
colonies in South America, and in Greece. The Portuguese ultra- 
royalists, led by the army and joined by Miguel, second son of John VI, 
succeeded in overthrowing the constitution which the King had re- 
cently granted. By sending a British fleet to the Tagus, Canning 
managed to prevent the complete triumph of the reactionary party, 
although the constitution was not restored. Meantime, Pedro, eldest 
son of John VI, whom his father had left as ruler in Brazil, had, in 
October, 1822, proclaimed the independence of that country and as- 
sumed the title of Emperor. His father had authorized him to take 
this step in case of necessity, and Portugal, in July, 1825, recognized 
the independence of the new Empire. This was in accordance with 
the recommendation of a conference in London, composed of British, 
Austrian, Portuguese and Brazilian representatives. Already, in 1824, 
Great Britain, following the lead of the United States, had recog- 
nized the independence of Mexico and of two of the republics in South 
America, where revolutions against Spain had been going on since 1810. 
Recognition of others was not long delayed. The possibility of Eu- 
ropean intervention was deterred by the efforts of Canning and the 
United States. While the American Secretary of State, John Quincy 
Adams, declined the proposals of the British Foreign Minister for 
joint action, Monroe, in his famous presidential message of Decem- 
ber, 1823, declared, in substance, that interference on the part of any 
European power, with American governments, whose independence 
had been maintained and recognized by the United States, would be 
regarded in the light of an unfriendly act. 1 Thus supported, Canning 
was able to prevent France from calling in the other Powers to under- 
take the reconquest of the Spanish colonies. In phrases which have 
become famous, Canning declared in Parliament: " Contemplating 
Spain such as our ancesters had known her, I resolved that if France 
had Spain, it should not be Spain with the Indies. I called the New 
World into existence to redress the balance of the old." As a matter 
of fact, he called nothing into existence ; he merely recognized states 

1 The sentences in which this view was expressed, as well as those aimed against 
the designs of Russia on the northwest coast, which announced that : " The American 
continents ... are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future coloni- 
zation by any European power," were written by Adams. The doctrine which they 
embody has been rightly called the "Monroe Doctrine," in that Monroe assumed 
the responsibility. It was really the enunciation of a principle as old as Wash- 
ington. 



886 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

that had already accomplished their independence and took the step 
after the United States had led the way. Moreover, he was deter- 
mined rather by interests of trade than political equity. Nevertheless, 
in spite of his boastful exaggeration, the significance of his achievement 
must not be forgotten. In the face of a great European combination, 
and of the opposition of King George, backed by a strong party in the 
Cabinet, he had arrayed his country on the side of revolutionary 
governments against the forces of reaction. 

Canning and the Greek Revolution, 1823-1827. — In eastern Europe 
also, where a different problem had to be faced, Canning adopted 
the cause of an insurgent people. In 1821, the Greeks had risen in 
revolt against the Turks, to whom they had long been subject. Here, 
too, Russia was keen for intervention, but this time on the side of the 
oppressed nationality. Popular sentiment in Great Britain was 
naturally inclined to favor the Greeks, while Castlereagh opposed the 
Russian projects on two grounds. He feared the encouragement it 
might lend to the revolutionary spirit which was spreading through 
Europe, and he feared still more that defeat of the Turks by Russian 
arms would lead to Russian supremacy in the Black Sea and in Asia 
Minor, and to a consequent menace of the British power in the Medi- 
terranean and in India. While Canning had no sympathy with the 
first consideration, the question of Russian aggrandizement presented 
a serious problem in his eyes. He did not hesitate to recognize the 
Greeks as belligerents, 25 March, 1823 ; but, for some time, he stood 
out against acknowledging their independence or intervening by force 
of arms in their behalf, and sought to secure concessions from the Turks 
by mediation. He was only forced to decided action by the furious 
devastation and bloodshed of Ibrahim Pasha, son of Mehemet AH, 1 
ruler of Egypt, whom the Porte - called in to reduce the Morea. 3 Even 
yet Canning was opposed to coercing the Turks. Early in 1826, how- 
ever, he concluded a treaty with the new Tsar Nicholas I, 4 to which 
France became a party before the close of the year, providing for 
possible intervention. Popular enthusiasm for the Greek cause in 
England and elsewhere was tremendous. Volunteers 5 flocked to the 
scene of action, and money and supplies were joyfully contributed. 
Canning, who continued his policy of cautious restraint, signed, 6 July, 
1827, just before his final illness, the Treaty of London which aimed to 
secure autonomy for the Greeks, coupled with the payment of tribute 
to the Sultan. In the event of Turkey's refusal, the allied fleets were 
to combine in enforcing the terms. 

1 He was tributary to the Sultan. 

2 Abbreviated from "Sublime Porte," literally "high gate," from the entrance 
to the palace where justice was administered. The name thus came to be applied 
to the Turkish Government. 

J The southern part of the Greek peninsula, the ancient Peloponnesus. 
4 Alexander I died suddenly during the negotiations, 1 December, 1825. 
6 The most distinguished of them was Lord Byron, who died of fever at Misso- 
longhi, 19 April, 1824. 



AFTER THE OVERTHROW OF NAPOLEON 887 

The Course of the Struggle, 1827-1829. — The reply of the Porte • 
was to order a fleet from Egypt which took its station in the harbor of 
Navarino under the command of Ibrahim. Thence he landed troops, 
harried the land, and massacred the inhabitants at will. This was too 
much for Admiral Codrington, the commander of the allied squadron, 
who entered the harbor, 20 October, 1827, and inflicted a crushing 
defeat upon his adversaries. Canning, who might have supported 
him, was no more ; the feeble Goderich did nothing ; while Wellington, 
who soon succeeded him, was disinclined to break with Turkey in the 
interests of the Greeks. Hence Codrington's noble victory was de- 
scribed in the King's speech of 29 January, 1828, as " a collision wholly 
unexpected by his Majesty," and " an untoward event," which " his 
Majesty hoped would not be followed by further hostilities." This 
declaration, which raised a storm of protest on the part of the friends 
of Greek freedom, encouraged Turkey to demand satisfaction for the 
destruction of her fleet. When this insolent demand was refused, she 
proceeded to defy all Europe, and Russia, in particular, whom she 
denounced as the prime mover in the revolt of the Greeks. Russia, 
thereupon, declared war and moved her troops into the Danubian 
provinces. In vain she urged Great Britain and France to send their 
fleets through the Dardanelles. Wellington, instead, proposed to 
France that they should keep their hands off Turkey and confine their 
energies to preserving order and checking excesses in the area where 
the Greeks and the Egyptians were actually fighting. Lack of con- 
cert between the Powers enabled Ibrahim to hold the ports of the 
Morea for a time, but, at length, the Conference of London, which had 
resumed its sittings, agreed that the French should undertake his 
expulsion. Meanwhile, Codrington, who had been recalled, sailed to 
Alexandria before the order went into effect, and extorted an agree- 
ment from Mehemet Ali to withdraw the greater part of the Egyptian 
fleet. This greatly simplified the work of the French, who, by Novem- 
ber, 1828, succeeded in driving the invaders from the Morean coast. 
Capodistrias, whom the Greeks had elected President, 14 April, 1827, 
carried on the war with the greatest vigor, while the Russian General 
Diebitsch pressed down over the Balkans. It soon became clear, how- 
ever, that he had got himself into a dangerous position, although the 
Tsar hastened to make terms. 

Greek Independence, 1829. — Peace was signed at Adrianople, 
14 September, 1829. The virtual independence of the two Danubian 
provinces of Moldavia and Wallachia was acknowledged, and the 
powers friendly to Turkey were allowed to send ships through the 
Dardanelles and the Bosphorus. Turkey consented to submit to 
the terms of the Conference of London in the settlement of the Greek 
question. As a result, it was provided that Greece should be erected 
into an hereditary principality, independent of the Porte. Wellington, 
who had favored the restriction of the new state to the Morea as well 
as the payment of tribute, gave in on both points. The crown was 



888 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

1 first offered to Prince Leopold, husband of the late Princess Charlotte, 
who accepted, February, 1830 ; but Capodistrias, desiring to retain his 
presidency, suggested so many difficulties that he changed his mind. 
Capodistrias conducted a provisional administration which was cut 
short by his assassination in 1831. The Powers then selected a Bava- 
rian Prince, who ruled as Otto I from 1832 until he was driven out by a 
revolution in 1862. He was succeeded the next year by George of 
Denmark, who was murdered on the fiftieth anniversary of his acces- 
sion. 

The Portuguese Problem, 1826-1828. — While Turkey and Greece 
had been storm centers in European politics, the Portuguese and Span- 
ish questions were passing through acute stages. John VI of Portugal 
died, 10 March, 1826. The Absolutists, who had hoped that Peter of 
Brazil would again unite the two crowns, were doomed to grievous 
disappointment. He proceeded to confer a liberal constitution upon 
Portugal, providing, among other things, for religious toleration and 
the taxation of the nobility. Moreover, he signified his intention of 
abdicating the Portuguese throne in favor of his seven-year-old daugh- 
ter Mary as soon as two conditions had been fulfilled — the establish- 
ment of the constitution and the marriage of Mary to her uncle Miguel. 
The proclamation of the constitution in July drove the ultraroyalists 
to revolt. Making Spain their base of operations, they invaded their 
country with the aid of Spanish troops. The Constitutionalists at 
once applied to the British, who were bound by treaty to assist the 
Portuguese Government in case of invasion. Canning, while advocat- 
ing the execution of the treaty obligations, insisted that his purpose 
was not to interfere in domestic concerns, but simply to resist the 
Spanish aggression. The British forces arrived late in December, 1826. 
Although they engaged in little active fighting, their support enabled 
the Government to drive out the invaders. Fresh difficulties arose 
when Pedro decided to appoint Miguel regent. The Constitutionalists 
rose against him, while the Absolutists armed in his defense. When 
the British prematurely withdrew their forces, in March, 1828, Miguel 
summoned the ancient Cortez, which named him King. Although 
Pedro stoutly opposed this step, Wellington, now Prime Minister, 
declined to interfere. 

The Portuguese and Spanish Pretenders. — A new Cabinet, con- 
stituted in 1830 with Palmerston as Foreign Secretary, reversed this 
attitude of neutrality. One good reason was the fact that British 
subjects were shamefully treated under Miguel's regime. Early in 
May, 183 1, a fleet was sent to the Tagus, which extorted an indemnity 
and an apology from the usurper. Pedro, who, 6 April, had resigned 
the throne of Brazil in favor of his infant son, at once departed to 
defend the claims of his daughter to the throne of Portugal. He was 
allowed to raise troops in England and France, though neither Govern- 
ment granted him either money or men. Joined by a force recruited 
from the Azores, he landed in Portugal, in June, 1832. With the as- 



AFTER THE OVERTHROW OF NAPOLEON 889 

sistance of a British fleet he was able, in less than a year, to recover 
practically all of the country except the north, where Miguel continued 
to hold out. Such was the situation when Ferdinand VII of Spain 
died, 29 September, 1833. Influenced by his wife, Maria Christina, he 
disregarded the Salic law which hitherto had prevailed in Spain and 
left the throne by will to his daughter Isabella. His brother Don 
Carlos, thus excluded, at once combined forces with Miguel. In 
consequence, Great Britain, Pedro, and the Spanish Queen Dowager 
formed a triple alliance against the two Pretenders, which was extended 
to a quadruple alliance by the accession of France, in April, 1834. 
Miguel soon signed an agreement by which, in return for a pension, he 
renounced his claims and left Portugal. Carlos, however, refused to 
yield, and the war dragged on for years. He finally fled from Spain in 
1839 and, six years later, renounced his pretensions in favor of his son. 
Since then Spain has occasionally been troubled by insurrections to 
restore the Carlist line, a representative of which still survives. 

The Year of Revolutions, 1830. The Three Days' Rising in Paris, 
27-29 July. — Meanwhile, the year 1830 had been marked by a series 
of revolutionary movements in which France, for the second time, led 
the way. Louis XVIII died in 1824, and was succeeded by his brother 
Charles X, who, with his ministers, developed a policy of reaction which 
aroused intense opposition. Affairs reached a crisis when, in conse- 
quence of a liberal victory at the elections, the Government issued 
three ordinances 25 July. The first declared the recent elections 
illegal and dissolved the Assembly. The second arbitrarily changed 
the election laws in order to restrict the suffrage to the rich land- 
owners. The third curtailed the liberty of the press by requiring a 
royal license for the publication of pamphlets and newspapers. The 
result was a revolt which took the form of a three days' street fight in 
Paris, 27-29 July. Charles X was driven from the throne, and Louis 
Philippe was proclaimed King. He was the son of Philippe Egalite, 
a notorious figure in the French Revolution, and was descended from 
the Duke of Orleans, brother of Louis XIV. The consequences of the 
revolution and the change of dynasty, in addition to the example 
which it set for other European countries, was to transfer the balance 
of power from the nobles and clergy to the bourgeoisie. Wellington, 
convinced of the pacific policy of the new " Citizen King," secured his 
recognition and choked in its inception a hostile combination of Aus- 
tria, Russia, and Prussia. 

The Belgian Revolution, 1830. — The effect of the French revolu- 
tionary movement was first manifested in the neighboring Belgium, 
formerly the Austrian Netherlands. The Belgians had chafed sorely 
under the rule of the Dutch King William I, who had been set over 
them by the Congress of Vienna. The Kingdom of the Netherlands, 
created by the Congress, was composed of two elements hopelessly 
at variance. The Belgians were French in sympathy, they were 
Roman Catholics, and chiefly engaged in manufacturing pursuits. ' 



890 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

The Dutch, who were the dominant partners in the united Kingdom, 
were anti-French, stanch Protestants, and mainly commercial in 
their interests. Furthermore, they controlled the States-General and 
held a large share of the public offices. In addition, the King alienated 
his Belgian subjects and roused their resentment by a series of encroach- 
ments : he suspended the liberty of the press ; he appointed judges, 
who, by the Constitution, should have been elected ; he took control of 
education ; and proscribed the use of French in public business. 
Following the revolt in Paris, a popular rising took place in Brussels, 
25 August, 1830. Thence it spread through the provinces. At first 
the insurgents asked only for a separate administration, but national 
sentiment soon came to demand the abolition of the personal union. 
Prussia and Russia were insistent that the Powers should maintain 
King William by force of arms. This was opposed by France, where 
there was a strong popular demand for the reannexation of Belgium, 
which had been under French rule from 1794 to 18 14. Louis was forced 
to declare that, if the Powers interfered, he would send a French army 
to occupy the country. In order to avert a general war it was eventu- 
ally agreed to refer the question to the London Conference, which was 
still engaged in settling the affairs of Greece, and to invite Russia and 
Prussia to join in the deliberations. While the Powers were at work 
discussing boundaries, division of the debt, and the form of govern- 
ment which the Belgians should adopt, a National Congress had 
assembled. The Congress proclaimed the independence of Belgium, 
voted for a constitutional monarchy, and elected as King the Due de 
Nemours, second son of Louis Philippe. In deference to the other 
four Powers represented at London, the French King was obliged to 
decline the offer for his son. Thereupon, the crown was tendered to 
Leopold of Saxe-Coburg, who accepted in January, 1832. The Dutch, 
refusing to sanction the arrangement, proceeded to invade Belgium. 
The new King, with the joint support of France and Great Britain, 
put an end to the war with Holland before the close of 1833 ; but it 
was not till 1839 that the Dutch King finally accepted the terms of the 
London Conference. 

The Effect of the Revolutionary Movements on England. — From 
France and Belgium the revolutionary movement spread to various 
German states, to Switzerland, Italy, and Poland. The continental 
uprisings played an important part in precipitating the demand for 
reform in England. The restraint which had governed the July 
Revolution in Paris was of particular significance in demonstrating to 
the conservative middle classes that results could be accomplished 
without anarchy and destructive excesses. Accordingly, they led an 
attack on the aristocratic regime, in which they gained a notable vic- 
tory in a peaceful, parliamentary way. 



AFTER THE OVERTHROW OF NAPOLEON 891 

FOR ADDITIONAL READING 

Narrative. Brodrick and Fotheringham, Political History, chs. VIII-XII. 
J. A. R. Marriott, England since Waterloo (1913), bk. I (bibliography, pp. 541-545). 
Cambridge Modern History, X, chs. XVIII, XIX (bibliography, pp. 856-866). Sir H. 
Maxwell, Century of Empire, I, chs. IX-XIV. Sir Spencer Walpole, History of 
England, 1815-1856 (6 vols., cab. ed., 1907), I, chs. IV, V ; II; the most thorough 
history of the period, moderate Liberal standpoint. Bright, III, 1350-1416. 
Hariett Martineau, History of England during the Thirty Years' Peace, 1816-1846 
(4 vols., ed. 1877); practically a contemporary work. 

Parliament and parliamentary reform. See especially, May, Constitutional His- 
tory (ed. 1907), I, chs. V, VI, and E. Porritt, The Unreformed House of Commons 
(2 vols., 1902, new ed. 1909). 

Biographies and special works. For Wellington, Canning, and Sidmouth, see ch. 
XLVII below. C. M. Atkinson, Life of Jeremy Bentham (1905). E. I. Carlisle, 
Life of Wm. Cobbett (1904). A. Bain, Life of James Mill (1882). G. Wallas, 
Life of Francis Place (1891). S. Walpole, Life of Earl Russell (2 vols., 1898). There 
are brief lives of Peel by Lord Rosebery (1899), J- B. Thursfield (1891), Justin 
McCarthy (1892), F. C. Montague (1888), and G. Barnett Smith (1881). The 
fullest work on Peel is Sir Robert Peel, his Life from his Private Correspondence (3 
vols., 1891-1899, ed. C. S. Parker). 

Political parties. W. Harris, History of the Radical Party in Parliament (1895). 
C. B. R. Kent, The English Radicals (1899). T. E. Kebbel, History of Toryism 
(1886). J. A. Roebuck, History of the Whig Party (2 vols., 1852). W. L. Blease, A 
Short History of English Liberalism (1913). B. Ward, The Dawn of the Catholic 
Revival, 1781-1803 (1909), and The Eve of Catholic Emancipation, 1803-1829 (3 
vols., 1912). 

Contemporary. Brougham, Memoirs of his Own Times (1871); very biased. 
C. G. Greville, Journal of the Reigns of George IV and William IV (ed. Henry Reeve, 
1888) ; owing to his high family connections and his position as clerk of the Privy 
Council, Greville had exceptional means of information. 

Selections from the sources. Adams and Stephens, nos. 260-261. Robertson, 
Select Statutes, pt. I, nos. XLIV-XLVI; pt. II, nos. XXV-XXVI. 



CHAPTER XLIX 
ENGLAND ON THE EVE OF THE REFORM BILL 

General Features. — The period between the beginning of the 
Industrial Revolution and the first Reform Bill was marked by many 
evidences of progress. Manners and morals improved steadily. 
There was a growing humanitarian spirit, and, in spite of the preva- 
lence of laissez-faire, the legislative stagnation during the Great War 
and the greater part of the ensuing decade was followed by measures 
for bettering the condition of the subject. In literature, the romantic 
revolt reached a glorious climax. The results of the transformation in 
agriculture and industry came to be fully manifest. The bewildering 
fluctuations in the prices of foodstuffs, and the transition from old to 
new methods, caused acute suffering to the poor, but, throughout the 
War, the landlords, the manufacturers, and the merchants enlarged 
their activities and swelled their fortunes. 

Manufactures. — Some new processes were introduced — for exam- 
ple, Cartwright invented a wool-combing machine which did the work 
of more than a score of men ; and the introduction of chlorine bleach- 
ing resulted in a great saving of time as well as space. On the whole, 
however, this was an age of perfecting existing processes, of extending 
the factory system and organizing labor, rather than of new inventions 
in production. The cotton industry felt the effects of the Revolution 
much more swiftly and effectively than the wool industry. This was 
due to the fact that the former was less hampered by traditional restric- 
tion, and that it was concentrated largely in and about Lancashire, 
instead of being scattered throughout the rural districts of the country. 
The increased cheapness of processes is as striking as the growing 
production. In 1815, it cost only eight pence to spin a pound of cotton 
of a much finer quality than had cost forty-two in 1740. In 1740, 
about a million and a half pounds of raw cotton were imported for 
manufacture; in 1789, thirty-two; in 1830, two hundred and forty- 
seven. The total exports in 1740 were eight millions sterling; in 
181 5, they had increased to fifty-eight ; while, during the same interval, 
imports had gone up from six to thirty-two millions. 

British Shipping. — The tonnage of shipping of Great Britain was 
619,000 in 1780. With that of Ireland added, it had gone up to 
2,201,000 in 1830. The commercial expansion, which had contrib- 
uted largely to the Industrial Revolution, was in its turn stimulated 
by the consequent increase in production. The growing dependence 

892 



ENGLAND ON THE EVE OF THE REFORM BILL 893 

on world markets naturally increased the instability of trade. This 
was accentuated by the American and French wars, which increased 
the uncertainty and risk of business, caused violent fluctuations in 
prices, encouraged speculation, and led to unsteadiness of employment. 
The Continental System had the particular effect of cutting off some 
sources of food supply and giving an artificial stimulus to English 
tillage. But Great Britain, thanks to her command of the sea, and 
to her improved processes in textile and iron manufacture, was able to 
increase enormously her carrying trade, and to extend her markets. 
Napoleon himself was compelled, very reluctantly, to buy her goods: 
to encourage French and Italian agriculture, and in order to drain his 
rival of gold, he even allowed the export of foodstuffs to British ports 
in 181 1 . The most serious difficulties arose from the strained relations 
with the United States during the years preceding and including the 
War of 181 2, when, for a time, an important market for manufactured 
goods, as well as source of supply for food and raw cotton, was almost 
wholly cut off. As has been seen, the end of the Great War did not 
bring the prosperity which had been anticipated. Continental nations 
were too exhausted to buy much, and it was some years before the 
peace markets grew to equal those which the artificial demands of the 
war had created. 

Road Building. — This period marked an epoch in communication 
and transportation. Thomas Telford (1757-1834) did a notable work 
in road construction, in building canals and bridges, and in improving 
harbors. Among his achievements were : the carrying of roads around 
instead of over hills, the widening and draining of roadbeds and laying 
a solid substructure of crushed stone, and the substitution of bridges 
for fords. His bridge across the Menai Straits was the first of any 
magnitude to be constructed on the suspension principle in England. 
Much as Telford accomplished as a road builder, the man with whom 
the modern system is chiefly associated is John McAdam (1 756-1836), 
whose process, adopted throughout the civilized world, is known to-day 
as " macadamizing." The new roads supplemented the canals in 
facilitating transportation and gave a great impetus to traveling. 
The number of stage coaches, estimated at 1355 in 181 2, doubled in the 
next thirteen years. The old cumbersome vehicles drawn by strong, 
slow horses were replaced by a lighter type, and an average speed of 
ten to twelve miles an hour was attained. Remote, isolated towns 
awoke from their torpor and rubbed off their provincialism. Country 
gentlemen, who had hitherto traveled on horseback, began to make 
use of the public coaches, and, by mingling with men in other walks 
of life, began to discard their prejudices and self-sufficiency. But 
the real revolution in travel and transportation was wrought by 
steam. 

The Steamboat and Railroad. — The idea of steam navigation was 
very old ; but no practical results were obtained until after Watt's 
invention had proved workable. In 1807, Robert Fulton, provided 



894 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

with an engine manufactured at Soho, successfully operated his Cler- 
mont on the Hudson. Henry Bell's Comet began to run on the Clyde 
in 1813, and very soon steamboat travel became general. Already, 
tracks, or " trains," as the English called them, had been utilized for 
transporting coal from mines to canal barges and river vessels. The 
successful application of steam power to this traction was due to George 
Stephenson (1781-1848), who began life as a herder of cows, turned 
collier, and rose to be enginewright at the Killingworth colliery. His 
first locomotive, tried in 1814, ran at the rate of three miles an hour. 
Later he became engineer for the first steam railway — the Stockdale 
and Darlington — opened in 1825. When he was chosen to undertake 
the operation of a line from Manchester to Liverpool, he nearly 
wrecked the project by asserting that trains might be run at the rate of 
ten miles an hour. However, his Rocket, in competition for a prize 
which he won, attained a speed of thirty-five. The opening of the 
road, in 1830, marked the beginning of a new era, not only in trans- 
portation, but in opportunities for indefinitely increasing the employ- 
ment of labor and capital. 

Agriculture. — The revolution in agriculture, although it owed much 
to the factory system, was still further stimulated by the French wars. 
Up to the close of the eighteenth century the movement was largely 
confined to the Eastern Counties and to Leicestershire. As late as 
1795 there were in Great Britain over twenty-two million acres of 
waste land, more than six of which were in England. During the 
reign of George III between five and six millions of acres were enclosed, 
and more than half the total fell within the years between 1800 and 
1820. Special acts and agreements between parties were found too 
slow and cumbersome, so, beginning in 1801, a series of general acts 
were passed to facilitate the work. While his predecessors had pointed 
the way, Arthur Young (1741-1820) did more than any other single 
man to complete the transformation of agricultural methods. Cu- 
riously enough, he had himself failed as a practical farmer. In 1767, 
he began to make tours through Great Britain and France, and has 
left invaluable information in his graphic reports. Until 1810 he was 
constantly active in urging consolidation of holdings, reclamation of 
waste, granting long leases to large tenants, and the investment of 
capital in land. He spread the results of the latest experiments in 
tillage and stock breeding, advocated the use of machinery for mowing, 
reaping, and threshing, and fostered farmers' clubs and agricultural 
fairs. Aside from the extinction of the small cultivator, the only evil 
result of the new development was the fact that the war prices en- 
couraged many to sink money in unproductive lands which could only 
be farmed at a loss when prices fell to their normal level. The most 
striking figure among the capitalist farmers was Thomas Coke of 
Holkham (1752-1842), created Earl of Leicester in 1837, who, by his 
progressive methods, increased his rental from £2200 in 1776 to 
£20,000 in 1S16. 



ENGLAND ON THE EVE OF THE REFORM BILL 895 

Scientific Progress. — The modern era in science was heralded by 
the researches and discoveries of this period. Much of the notable 
work was done by continental scholars ; but Englishmen contributed 
a fair share. Henry Cavendish (1731-1810) succeeded in converting 
hydrogen and oxygen into water, and proved that it was a compound 
made up of these two gases. John Dalton (1 766-1844) was the first 
to show that chemical elements are made up of atoms, or ultimate par- 
ticles each of definite weight. This atomic theory placed the science 
on a new basis. Sir Humphrey Davy (1 778-1829), in addition to 
contributions on the mechanical theory of heat and important electro- 
chemical researches, conferred a priceless boon by his invention of the 
safety lamp (1815-1816) for miners. By covering the flame with gauze, 
one of the most dangerous causes of explosions was practically elim- 
inated. Scientific geology began with James Hutton (1726-1797), 
who originated the modern view of the earth's crust in his Theory of 
the Earth, 1795, while Sir Charles Lyell (1797-1875), in his Principles 
of Geology, showed that "the great geological changes of the past are 
not to be explained by catastrophes, followed by successive creations, 
but as the product of the continuous play of forces still at work." 
Thus a long step was taken toward the evolutionary theory which was 
soon to be established by Darwin. Edward Jenner (1 749-1823) made 
the momentous discovery, first published in 1798, that frequent vac- 
cination with the virus of cowpox rendered human beings practically 
immune from smallpox, and, in cases where it was contracted, greatly 
diminished the fatality. In 1853, England took the step, already 
adopted by many continental countries, of making vaccination com- 
pulsory. 

Philosophical and Economic Thinking. — ■ In philosophy, a reaction 
was led by Thomas Reid (1710-1796) and Dugald Stewart (1753- 
1828) against the doctrine that external objects had no existence except 
in man's ideas of them. They insisted that knowledge was intuitive 
and that the external world was real. William Paley (1 743-1 805), 
author of Principles of Moral and Political Philosophy, 1785, and 
Evidences of Christianity, 1794, was a stout opponent of the Deists and 
a forerunner of the later Utilitarians — whose guiding aim was the 
promotion of the general welfare — though they rejected the super- 
natural sanction which formed an essential element of Paley's system. 
In general, the period was more notable for its political and economic 
than for its purely philosophical thinking. The teachings of four men 
stand out preeminently. Adam Smith's free-trade principles began 
to gain increasing currency. Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) was a 
pioneer in the aim to secure the greatest happiness of the greatest 
number by scientific legislation. Thomas Malthus (1 766-1834), in 
his Essay on Population, 1798, argued that a chief source of misery 
was the natural tendency of population to increase more rapidly than 
means of subsistence, and advocated checking its growth. At the 
same time, he admitted that disease and poverty operated partially to 



896 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

modify his law. Nor was he simply a hard-hearted theorist ; for he 
enthusiastically supported the improvement of the lot of children by 
factory legislation. David Ricardo (1772-1823), who published his 
Principles of Political Economy in 181 7, drew his inspiration from 
Adam Smith. His chief contribution was his new doctrine of rent. 
Rent, he maintained, is merely the surplus profit which any land yields 
over the worst in cultivation. It is the produce of the earth paid to 
the landlord for the use of the soil, and is not to be confused with the 
interest and profit of capital invested. Thus it follows that the great 
owners are " monopolists appropriating the surplus products of the 
soil." The views of these four men profoundly influenced the whole 
law of thinking of their generation and of that which followed. 

Heralds of Romantic Revolt in Poetry. — The decline in poetry 
during the second part of the eighteenth century has been attributed to 
the blighting influence of Pope. A more important factor, however, 
was the essentially prosaic character of the age. Yet, as has been seen, 
there were evidences of tendencies to break away from convention, to 
search back into the romance and mystery of the past, to sound the 
depths of fundamental human problems, and to appreciate the beauties 
of external nature. George Crabbe (1754-1832), while he used the 
conventional couplet and told prosaic tales in verse, marked a sig- 
nificant departure from the artificial sentimentality " of the Popian 
tradition." This was clearly manifest in The Village, 1783, a bald 
picture of the " simple annals of the poor." After years of silence he 
published other long poems toward the end of his life ; but, in the 
meantime, the human character of his appeal had been voiced by 
younger and sweeter singers. William Cowper (1731-1800) uncon- 
sciously revealed a new attitude in his charming descriptions of rural 
life, notably in The Task, 1785. He was a gentle soul in whom occa- 
sional fits of gayety were darkened by long periods of religious melan- 
cholia. John Gilpin's Ride, 1783, was a product of one of his rollicking 
moods. The artist poet and " half-deranged mystic," William Blake 
(1 756-1827), though he exercised no influence in his lifetime, was more 
truly a harbinger of the coming revolt. His Songs of Innocence and 
Songs of Experience, which he illustrated himself, appeared succes- 
sively in 1789 and 1794. At his best, he produced passages of magical 
beauty, but his unrestrained imagination often led him into wild 
and meaningless grotesqueness. Robert Burns (1 759-1 796), a Scotch 
farmer boy, was a unique apparition in lyric poetry. During a stormy 
life, brought to a premature close by his own weakness and folly, he 
produced a body of verse, ranging from pathos to mirth, which touches 
the deepest springs of human experience, and which has the spon- 
taneous melody of the song bird. 

The Romantic Revolt. The " Lake School." — The really epoch- 
making event in the romantic reaction was the publication, in 1798, of 
the Lyrical Ballads, a little volume which was the joint work of William 
Wordsworth (1 770-1850) and Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1 772-1834). 






ENGLAND ON THE EVE OF THE REFORM BILL 897 

The collaboration was due to warm personal friendship and a common 
revulsion against the existing literary traditions. Yet the two were 
strikingly unlike, both as poets and men. Coleridge's mind was prone 
to soar away into the regions of the supernatural, of dreamland and 
mystery, though he never went to the lengths of inartistic unreality, 
and he clothed his weird fancies in exquisitely melodious verse. His 
finest achievement, the Ancient Mariner, — contributed to the Lyrical 
Ballads, — Kubla Khan, and Christabel were all written as early as 
1801, though Christabel was not published till 1816. In his later life 
he shone chiefly as a talker, as a critic, and as an interpreter of German 
transcendentalist philosophy. Owing to a growing infirmity of will, 
of which addiction to opium was at once a symptom and a cause, his 
projects, after early manhood, were greater than his achievements. 
As to Wordsworth, no poet has shown a greater love of nature, a more 
sensitive appreciation of her varied aspects and of her subtle influence 
on those who reverently contemplate her. Nor has any other nature 
poet reproduced with more fidelity what he has seen and felt. Yet, 
lacking in humor and desirous to avoid artificial pomp, he sometimes 
sank to dull and almost ludicrous commonplace. He was appointed 
Poet Laureate in 1843, though he had completed his best work thirty 
years before. The Excursion, his longest, but not his best poem, 
shows him at his best and worst, for it contains long arid stretches, 
relieved by oases of lofty beauty. Coleridge and Wordsworth are 
the leading representatives of the so-called " Lake School," a term, 
however, which is very misleading, since it meant no more than that 
a group of writers of widely different traits were drawn by the ties 
of friendship to take up their residence in the Cumberland Lake 
district. Robert Southey (1774-1843) was one of the number. Al- 
though he wrote some admirable verse, among which his little poem 
on the battle of Blenheim remains a classic, and though he preceded 
Wordsworth as Poet Laureate, his most distinctive work was in prose. 
His Life of Nelson, for example, is a model of lucid, straightforward 
English. 

Scott and Byron. — Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832), by his antiquarian 
researches into the history and legends of Scotland, as well as 
by his astonishing productivity in romantic prose and poetry, did 
more than any other single man to foster the reviving interest in the 
past. In 1802-1803 appeared three volumes of Border Minstrelsy, & 
collection of Scottish ballads. The manner and style of his splendid 
series of original poems, which followed, were suggested, it is said, by 
Christabel, which he read in manuscript. The Lay of the Last Minstrel, 
published in 1805, was followed by Marmion, 1S08, The Lady of the 
Lake, 1810, and the Lord of the Isles, 1815. Owing to the sudden 
vogue of a new figure in the poetic world — Lord Byron — he turned 
to prose. George Gordon (1788-1824), who, in 1798, succeeded to the 
title and encumbered estates of the barony of Byron, was destined to 
prove a tempestuous spirit in life and literature. Scott was a Tory 
3" 



898 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

by temperament and tradition. Coleridge, Wordsworth, and Southey, 
though they all began as enthusiasts for the French Revolution, were 
driven into the conservative ranks by the excesses which followed. 
Byron, on the other hand, was a persistent revolutionist against exist- 
ing institutions, and met his death as a volunteer in the war for Greek 
Independence. He first manifested his fiery temper in English Bards 
and Scotch Reviewers, 1809, a reply to a scathing criticism of his early 
poems. After a journey to Greece and the Orient he published the first 
two cantos of Childe Harold, 181 2, and the Giaour and the Corsair in 
1813 and 1814, respectively. Most of his verse in this period was 
struck off at a white heat. It is brilliant, but careless, stagey, and 
lacking in depth of feeling and sureness of imaginative range. His 
best verse came a little later — the remaining cantos of Childe Harold, 
i8i6~i8i8, and Don Juan, 1818-1824, to mention only the long works. 
Don Juan was a sardonic satire on the immorality and cant prevailing 
in the society of the day. Byron was a militant egotist, and taught 
the dangerous message of individual lawlessness ; but his personal 
beauty and his lameness, which gave it a touch of pathos, his pic- 
turesque temperament, his wild irregular career and tragic end, all 
contributed, together with his splendid power of rhetoric and the 
intensity of his passions, to gain for him a popularity which was 
followed by an equally strong reaction. This, in its turn, has been 
succeeded by a more discriminating appreciation of his enduring poetic 
qualities. 

Shelley and Keats. — There are many points of resemblance 
between Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-182 2). Both were 
poets of revolt against the religious, social, and political institutions 
of their time, and both led short and stormy lives. Shelley was 
drowned off the coast of Italy in the thirtieth year of his age. His 
earliest long poem, Queen Mab, appeared privately in 1813, a crude 
harbinger of what was to come — Alastor, 1816 ; the Revolt of Islam, 
1818; the Cenci, 1819 ; Prometheus Unbound, 1820. These, together 
with numerous . shorter poems, and a considerable body of prose, 
including translations, were all produced within ten years. He was a 
generous and impulsive visionary who had a real philosophy of revolu- 
tion, and who wrote with spiritual fervor and matchless melody. No 
poet ever surpassed him in his finest lyrical flights ; but the beauties 
of his thought and expression are unearthly and ethereal in character. 
John Keats (1795-1821) was a frankly human poet with a love of the 
beauty of the earth and its people, and, unlike either Byron or Shelley, 
he bore no message of revolt to mankind. Though dependent upon 
translations in the case of Greek, he saturated himself with the legends 
of antiquity, and, with the further aid of Spenser, of the Italian and 
some of the seventeenth-century poets, he reproduced the spirit of the 
classic times with wonderful imaginative power. His first volume of 
verses was published in 1817, Endymion followed in 1818, and, in 1820, 
came a collection of poems which marks the supreme fruition of his 



ENGLAND ON THE EVE OF THE REFORM BILL 899 

genius. Keats had to struggle against the lack of early advantages, 
and he succumbed to consumption at the age of twenty-five ; but in his 
brief interval of activity he prepared a heritage which has permanently 
enriched the English speech. Two other poets are now chiefly remem- 
bered for their patriotic verses. The fame of Thomas Moore (1779- 
1852) rests, not on his Lalla Rookh, 1817, but on his Irish Melodies 
which voice so beautifully the spirit of his native land. And so, in 
connection with Thomas Campbell (1777-1844), one thinks, not of the 
Pleasures of Hope, but of his stirring war songs: Ye Mariners of 
England, The Battle of the Baltic, and Hohenlinden. 

Novelists. — Novel writing showed a marked development as the 
century advanced. Beginning with realistic pictures of English life, 
chiefly on the external side, the scope of prose fiction gradually widened 
and deepened, as historical study and travel increased the knowledge 
of past times and other lands, and as men began to study more closely 
into the psychology of human conduct. William Godwin (1756- 
1836), a freethinker and pioneer among political radicals, published 
Caleb Williams in 1794, a protest against the injustice of the aristocracy 
toward the poor. Maria Edgeworth (1 767-1849) was an Irish woman 
who wrote a series of novels — ■ of which Castle Rackrent, 1800, is the 
best — to depict the wrongs which her country had to suffer from 
absentee landlords and other evils, and with the broader aim of 
preaching to her readers the gospel of simplicity and morality. Her 
work is chiefly valuable for her pictures of contemporary Irish life. 
According to Scott's own modest testimony her achievements in this 
particular suggested to him the plan of his famous Waverley Novels 
which tell us so much about seventeenth and eighteenth century Scot- 
land. The success they attained encouraged him to write his equally 
famous works relating to the Middle Ages. While his facts are not 
always strictly accurate and while his pictures of medieval life do not 
always correspond to actual historical conditions, his work is, never- 
theless, remarkable for its high and varied excellence. Jane Austen 
(1775-1817) had no moral lessons to expound, and she made no effort 
to deal with life outside the provincial society of southern England ; 
but she describes the folk in her own restricted circle with such pene- 
trating observation, rare humor, and artistic fidelity as to gain for 
her a place in the first rank of English artists. Pride and Prejudice is 
her best known, and, all told, her finest book. 

The Essayists. — This period was famous for its essayists, among 
whom De Quincey and Lamb stand foremost, with Hazlitt and Leigh 
Hunt not far behind. Thomas De Quincey (1 785-1859), the friend of 
Coleridge, Wordsworth, and Southey, is perhaps best known for his 
Confessions of an English Opium Eater, 182 1. His distinction as a 
stylist rests upon his " impassioned prose " — an attempt to revive 
the long, rhythmical sentences and gorgeous imagery of the pre- 
Restoration period. Charles Lamb (1 775-1834), who, jointly with 
his sister Mary, did the Tales from Shakespeare, produced his best 



900 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

work in the Essays of Elia, 1820-1822. He showed an inimitable art of 
transforming with literary grace the commonest incidents of London 
life and weaving about them the spell of romance. Walter Savage 
Landor (17 75-1864), beginning as a writer of romantic verse and 
drama, turned to the classics, both for his subjects and his form of 
expression. The qualities of his second period are manifested in the 
Imaginary Conversations and in Pericles and Aspasia. Leigh Hunt 
(1 784-1859), the original of Harold Skimpole in Bleak House, produced 
charming pieces of critical and miscellaneous prose, and excellent verses 
as well. His Abou Ben Adhem is a popular classic. William Hazlitt 
(1 778-1830) has been described as " the most accomplished dramatic 
critic England has produced." His best essays owe their engaging 
quality to the personal touches he has introduced. 

Periodical Literature. — One of the most notable features of the 
early nineteenth century was the appearance of two periodicals which 
contributed much to organize criticism as a distinct branch of English 
letters, which assumed the position of literary dictators, and became 
potent influences in politics as well. The Edinburgh Review was 
projected, in 1802, by Francis Jeffrey, Brougham, and Sidney Smith. 
Under the able editorship of Jeffrey it dominated the field until 1809, 
when Scott, an occasional contributor, becoming alienated by its Whig 
bias, joined Canning in founding the Quarterly Review. Although it 
attracted many gifted writers, it never attained quite the brilliancy 
of its older rival. Cobbett's Political Register was the organ of the 
Radicals. Lamb and De Quincey published their finest work in 
serial form in the London Magazine; and Blackwood 's was started in 
181 7. The growing importance of periodicals and the rise of women 
authors, which began with Fanny Burney, are among the most dis- 
tinctive facts of modern English letters. The Times, the greatest 
newspaper in the world, took its rise about the time that the daily 
press was beginning to really count as a factor in politics. It was 
founded by John Walter in 1785 ; but did not take the present name 
till three years later. For years it was seriously handicapped ; at the 
close of the Great War its circulation was only 8000 copies, a figure 
which could hardly be increased so long as hand presses were employed, 
while, at the same time, it paid £45,000 a year in stamp duties and an 
income tax of 10 per cent on its profits, as well as taxes on advertise- 
ments and the paper on which it was printed. With the introduction 
of a steam press, in 181 4, its possibilities for circulation were indefi- 
nitely expanded. 

Painting. — While portrait painters of reputation flourished during 
this period — ■ notably Copley, Thomas Lawrence, and Raeburn, the 
" Scottish Reynolds" — none of them ranks with their three famous 
predecessors. Sir David Wilkie (1785-1841) was a pioneer in picturing 
humble contemporary life, such as the Fair and the Village Festival; 
but the significant feature in the history of painting is the slow but 
steady development of landscape art, from the days when Wilson 



ENGLAND ON THE EVE OF THE REFORM BILL 901 

and Reynolds were so little appreciated, to the triumphant achieve- 
ments of Turner and Constable. Worthy of mention as they are, 
the intervening names must be passed by. Joseph Mallord William 
Turner (1775-1851) was the son of a London hairdresser, but, never- 
theless, had a long and thorough training in his art. Up to 1820 
he was mainly occupied in imitating the old masters. Then he 
struck out for himself, and, for about fifteen years, his chief aim was to 
produce ideal, poetic creations rather than actual reproductions from 
nature. The choicest fruit of this period was Ulysses deriding Poly- 
phemus, 1829, generally regarded as his masterpiece. In the third 
phase of his artistic career he devoted himself to depicting what he 
actually saw, though, even then, his gorgeous colorings, particularly 
his glowing sunsets, mark him as a romantic poet with the brush. 
This is evident in his famous Fighting Temeraire, 1839. Turner's 
genius attained its height in his second and third periods, for his later 
work is uneven and shows signs of decay. John Constable (1776-1837) 
was the great master of English landscape painting, of the prose as 
distinguished from the poetic type. It was he who completed the 
emancipation from all convention, and founded a school with the 
guiding aim of reproducing natural scenery with the utmost fidelity. 
While his own countrymen were slow in appreciating his art, the French 
welcomed it with promptness and enthusiasm, and he exercised a 
potent influence on Corot, Millet, and the other members of the famous 
coterie of Barbizon. The stirring times of the Great War naturally 
offered a great opportunity for caricaturists, of whom the best known 
are James Gillray (1757-1815) and Thomas Rowlandson (1756-1827), 
whose works are invaluable to the student of contemporary manners 
and politics. 

Social Effects of the French Revolution. — The effects of the French 
Revolution in checking the progress of reform have already been 
emphasized. The social effects were as striking as the political. 
Cut off from making the Grand Tour by reasons of safety and economy 
alike, people of fashion confined their holiday to trips to English water- 
ing places. Various causes continued to transform radically the pre- 
vailing style of costume. Improved processes of woolen and cotton 
manufacture resulted in a steadily decreasing use of silks, satins, and 
velvets by both sexes. Then Fox and his set, who had hitherto led 
the fashion in dandified dress, began to affect republican simplicity. 
Poverty as well as caprice induced many to follow his example, even 
to the extent of appearing in Parliament in greatcoats and top-boots, 
instead of the customary court dress and sword. In consequence 
of the tax on powder, women ceased to powder their hair. Wigs, 
except in the case of judges, professional men, and clergy, had been 
generally discarded early in the reign of George III, and now those of 
the extremer sort began to wear their hair short. All of which was 
lamented by Horace Walpole as a leveling of social distinctions. 
The Prince of Wales, while always elegant in dress, affected the Whig 



9 o2 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

colors of blue and buff. In the last decade of the century, buckled 
knee breeches began to give way to pantaloons and Hessian boots, 
swallow-tail coats became the fashion, and the cocked hat yielded 
to the top or " sugar-loaf " hat. These innovations, however, were 
taken up at first only by the upper classes. The ordinary citizen and 
the countryman still clung to knee breeches and wide-skirted coats. 
The French Revolution was also not without effect on morals. 
Social dissipation and extravagance gave place to greater simplicity 
and earnestness. Ranelagh was closed in 1803: the Pantheon ceased 
to hold its promenades, masquerades, and operas, and, in 181 2, the 
building was torn down. Moreover, there was a strong reaction 
against excessive gambling. In 1796 the Chief Justice threatened 
certain ladies of rank with the pillory for keeping faro banks in their 
houses, and, during the next year, three were actually fined. More 
important than repression, was the fact that stress of events offered 
food for conversation, and opened avenues of activity in military and 
political life more engrossing than idle frivolity. In 1800 Wilberforce 
founded a new Society for the Reformation of Manners ; a new asso- 
ciation arose for the better observance of the Sabbath; and the 
British and Foreign Bible Society was established in 1808. The 
philanthropic spirit aroused by the evangelical revival was stimulated 
by the misery engendered by the War and the introduction of ma- 
chinery. Heavy drinking was still a prevalent vice. Men were not 
ashamed to appear drunk, even in Parliament, and, unhappily, hada 
sorry example in the otherwise austere Pitt. However, except in 
the case of the Prince of Wales and his boon companions, a marked 
improvement was noticeable among the political leaders during the 
first' decades of the nineteenth century. Dueling was common, 
and generally approved by society throughout this period. Pitt 
fought with Tierney in 1798; Castlereagh with Canning in 1809; 
Daniel O'Connell fatally wounded a Dublin merchant in 1815, though, 
in consequence, he foreswore dueling for the future ; but Wellington 
challenged Lord Winchelsea in 1829. Owing, however, to increasing 
protests, earnest efforts were made to stamp out the practice. In 1830 
two judges declared the survivor in a duel guilty of murder. In 1843 
a motion was proposed in the House of Commons that dueling ought 
to be abolished. The following year the amended Articles of War pro- 
vided that officers should give and accept apologies, and should be 
cashiered if they fought. In 1845 a Radical member brought a chal- 
lenge before the House as a breach of privilege. These measures, 
backed by a gradual change in public opinion, proved effective. 

The Game Laws. — While the country gentry were increasing their 
rent rolls, the merchants and manufacturers were steadily encroaching 
upon their old social and political exclusiveness. The change in the 
game laws was one indication of the breaking down of the old aris- 
tocratic privileges. Since the seventeenth century no man had been 
allowed to kill game, even on his own land, unless he possessed a free- 



ENGLAND ON THE EVE OF THE REFORM BILL 903 

hold estate worth £100 a year or a £150 leasehold. The sale of 
game was altogether prohibited. The laws were evaded in ingenious 
ways. Landowners provided shooting for their younger sons or 
brothers by making them gamekeepers, while, in spite of heavy 
penalties, poaching and selling game were very common. The in- 
justice of the existing system was somewhat mitigated by a bill of 
Lord Al thorp's, in 1832, providing that the killing and selling of game 
be allowed to any one obtaining a license from the inland revenue 
department. 

Laws against Cruelty to Animals. — An increasing humanitarian 
spirit was seen in measures against cruelty to animals. Richard Martin 
( 1 754-1834), a wealthy Irish landowner, was a pioneer in this work, 
which earned him the name of " Humanity Martin." In 1823 he 
carried a bill to prevent the ill treatment of horses and cattle ; but he 
was not even allowed to introduce a measure to prohibit bull baiting 
and dog fighting on the ground that it would interfere with the sports 
of the poor ! Undaunted by this setback, he founded, in 1824, the 
Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and the fruit 
of his efforts was a law, passed ten years later, which did away with 
bull baiting, ox driving, and cockfighting. 

The Reform of the Criminal Law. — This period marks the first steps 
in the reform of the barbarous and unreasonable criminal code, which 
at the beginning of the century included nearly two hundred offenses 
involving capital punishment. For instance, picking a pocket to the 
value of twelve pence was punishable by death. To make matters 
worse there was a low class of informers who throve on rewards 
offered for convictions, while unscrupulous constables often neglected 
to bring to task those guilty of misdemeanors, in order that they 
might be encouraged to commit graver crimes involving a reward. 
It was estimated that £18,000 was paid in blood money in 181 5. 
What with misery, an ineffective police system, and a high percentage 
of acquittals, crime increased with startling rapidity. The courts 
were overcrowded. In 1825, for instance, the King's Bench had eight 
hundred and fifty untried cases. But signs of improvement were 
already evident. In 1815 the pillory was done away with for every 
offense except perjury, and twenty years later it was abolished for that 
offense as well. The flogging of women was declared illegal in 1817. 1 
Brougham did much to simplify procedure, while Peel, who prepared 
the way for a better enforcement of the laws by the establishment of 
the metropolitan police system in 1829, 2 greatly improved the criminal 
code. He abolished benefit of clergy in 1827, and, before he left office, 
he had reduced the capital penalties to about a dozen. While he 
deserves much credit, his work would have been impossible but for 
a change in public opinion to which the persistent efforts of Sir Samuel 

1 Public executions were not abolished till 1868. 

2 Hence London policemen are vulgarly called "Bobbies" and "Peelers," even 
to this day. The system was by 1856 adopted throughout the country. 



9 o 4 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

Romilly largely contributed. Peel also attacked the wastefully large 
number of courts and court officers and broke ground for the reform 
of Chancery, where costliness and delay in the prosecution of suits 
had become proverbial. 1 Furthermore, he undertook to unify and 
simplify the procedure in the courts of Common Law. This work, 
to which he contributed, has in our own day, after years of s-low and 
painful effort, been crowned with rich results. In 1832 Parliament 
went a step further in removing the death penalty for house breaking, 
cattle stealing, counterfeiting, and certain classes of forgery. 2 

Altogether, while the great epoch of reform came after 1832, not 
a little was done in the previous decade to break down old exclusive 
privileges, and to legislate with a view to promoting the greatest happi- 
ness of the greatest number. 

FOR ADDITIONAL READING 

General conditions. Traill, Social England, VI, ch. XXI. S. Walpole, History 
of England, I, chs. I— III. Brodrick and Fotheringham, ch. XX. 

Social and industrial. J. Ashton, Social 'Life under the Regency (1890). Cambridge 
Modern History, X, ch. XXIII (bibliography, pp. 883-889). Cunningham, English 
Industry and Commerce, " Modern Times," pt. II, "Laissez-faire." Porter, Progress 
of the Nation. Rogers, Six Centuries of Work and Wages and Agriculture and Prices. 
Wm. Cobbett, Rural Rides (new ed. 1886), and Tour in the Northern Counties (1833). 
R.M. Gamier , History of the English Landed Gentry (1893), and Annals of the British 
Peasantry (1895). J. L. and B. Hammond, The Village Labourer, 1760-1832 (191 1). 
Prothero, English Farming, chs. IX-XIV. S. and B. Webb, History of Trade 
Unionism (1902). 

Literature and scholarship. Cambridge Modem History, X. chs. XXII-XXIV 
(bibliographies, pp. 879-882, 890-892). Moody and Lovett, ch. XIII. Taine, III, 
bk. IV, ch. I ; IV, bk. IV, ch. II. Saintsbury, Nineteenth Century Literature (1896). 
O. Elton, A Survey of English Literature, 1780-1830 (2 vols., 1913). G. M. C. 
Brandes, Main Currents in Nineteenth Century Literature (Eng. tr., V, 1905). L. 
Stephen, Hours in a Library (3 vols., 1892). H. A. Beers, English Romanticism in 
the Nineteenth Century (1899). E. Dowden, The French Revolution and English 
Literature (1897). W. J. Courthope, A History of English Poetry (1905) V. 

1 The case of Jarndyce vs. Jarndyce, familiar to readers of Dickens' Bleak House, 
is not an exaggeration. 

2 By an Act of the Parliament which was in session when Victoria came to 
the throne the number of offenses involving the death penalty was reduced to six : 
high treason, murder, rape, piracy, arson, and robbery attended by murderous vio- 
lence. 



CHAPTER L 

THE EPOCH OF REFORM. WILLIAM IV (1830-1837) 

William IV, his Early History and Personal Traits. — William, Duke 
of Clarence, had nearly completed his sixty-fifth year when he came 
to the throne. Born 21 August, 1765, he was the third son of George 
III. He was educated for the navy ; he saw some service and even 
commanded a ship ; but he showed no great capacity for the higher 
duties of the profession and was retired in 1789 with the rank of Rear 
Admiral. Though he was not allowed to serve in the French and 
Napoleonic wars, he was steadily promoted till he became an Admiral 
of the Fleet. In 1818, after the death of Princess Charlotte, he 
married Adelaide of Saxe-Coburg Meiningen. By the death of his 
elder brother, the Duke of York, in 1827, he became heir apparent. 
For some months, in 1827-1828, he served as Lord High Admiral, 
and during his brief tenure of office he distinguished himself by 
meddling and by making long rambling and absurd speeches on the 
most inappropriate occasions. This latter habit clung to him through- 
out his life. While naturally kind-hearted, he was full of prejudices 
and liable to sudden fits of passion. Indeed, his conduct at times was 
eccentric to the point of insanity, which led to his nickname of " Silly 
Billy." x At his accession, however, these peculiarities were not gener- 
ally known, and he proved so good-natured, frank, and simple that he 
was received with a popular enthusiasm almost unheard of. His 
manners were the reverse of kingly. He walked about the streets of 
London with an umbrella under his arm, informally greeting acquaint- 
ances, and, on one occasion, he pressed a guest at Windsor to wait 
till the Queen's carriage was ready, saying that she would " drop " 
him at his home. In spite of his shortcomings and follies, he had right 
instincts and a rough common sense which proved a great help to his 
ministers in the first great crisis of his reign. 

The Causes of the Reform Movement. — Catholic Emancipation 
had been carried in Parliament against the popular will ; parliamentary 
reform, which was now coming to be the burning issue, owed its pas- 
sage to the demands of a majority of the English people. With 
political unions springing up all over the country, and now that the 
control of the movement had passed from riotous workmen and 
visionary radicals to the leaders of the sober, prosperous middle class, 

1 Greville, author of a famous series of Memoirs covering this period, remarks : 
"What could be expected from a man with a head shaped like a pineapple?" 

905 



9 o6 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

the motions introduced into the House of Commons could no longer 
be disposed of with the scant consideration accorded to them in the 
past. The revolution in public opinion which had recently begun to 
manifest itself was due to a combination of four causes. The first 
was the transference of the balance of wealth from the landed aris- 
tocracy to the great merchants and manufacturers. The second was 
the shifting of the centers of population from the south and east to 
the midlands and the north, which made the unequal distribution 
of representation between the two sections a crying grievance. The 
third was the fact that the horrors of the French Revolution and the 
Napoleonic aggression, and, indeed, of the domestic unrest which 
followed the Great War, were fading from the memory of Englishmen. 
In fact, a new generation was springing up which knew nothing of 
these from personal experience, while the recent course of events in 
Paris was such as to stimulate rather than to retard their ardor. 
The fourth, and perhaps the most significant cause of all, was the 
influence of the advanced thinkers and the zeal of the practical states- 
men who labored to prepare the way during the long and discourag- 
ing years of reaction. 

Jeremy Bentham and his Influence. — Foremost in influence was the 
pioneer of the Utilitarians, Jeremy Bentham (1748-183 2), to whom, 
it is perhaps not too much to say, " progressive and practical re- 
formers throughout the world owe more . . . than to any single man." 
While he ranged over vast fields of speculative thought, his guiding 
aim was to discover and formulate principles which might be applied 
to practical problems of reform. When he was about twenty years of 
age, he adopted as his maxim, " the greatest happiness of the greatest 
number." The means which he adopted for realizing his end was 
scientific legislation. Parliamentary reform, the improvement of 
the law and legal procedure, the amelioration of the criminal code, 
the increase of humanitarianism, and the remodeling of the colonial 
system, all felt the impulse of his master mind. In his Fragment 
on Government, published in 1776, he began his work with an attack on 
Blackstone's laudation, in the Commentaries, of the perfection of the 
British Constitution. At that time, however, and for years to come, 
he advocated moderate and gradual reform. The refusal of the states- 
men in power to listen to him was responsible for 'turning him into a 
Radical, though his conversion was somewhat delayed by his fear of 
the French Revolution. His Catechism of Parliamentary Reform, 
in which he outlined his political views, was written in 1809, but was 
not published till 181 7. Assuming that the aim of all government is 
utility — the good of the governed — he argued that the existing 
system was hopelessly at fault, since it was the instrument of the 
aristocratic minority for the promotion of class interests. Curiously 
enough, he had a low opinion of mankind. He believed that the 
governing motive of the individual was the furtherance of his own 
ends. For that very reason, however, he advocated the extension of 



THE EPOCH OF REFORM 907 

popular government, on the ground that control by the majority 
would make for the good of the greatest number. But there was a 
serious defect in his reasoning. It was too mechanical. He failed 
to realize that, even if all men were selfish, their individual interests 
were bound to conflict, and that the sum total would not be harmony, 
but discord. The good of the whole can only be secured by sacrifices 
on the part of the individual. Nevertheless, his arguments for in- 
creased parliamentary representation had great force and wide-reach- 
ing effect. Owing, however, to the diffuseness and obscurity of his 
style, his views were spread more through his disciples than by his 
own writings. Foremost of these disciples, who formed the school of 
philosophic Radicals, was James Mill (1 773-1836). Directly or in- 
directly, Bentham's influence flowed into the world about him through 
two main channels. On the one hand, he inspired practical statesmen 
like Brougham, Peel, and Durham, and, on the other, popular agitators 
like Cobbett, " Orator " Hunt, Francis Burdett, 1 and Francis Place. 2 
Movement for Parliamentary Reform. — While parliamentary 
reform did not become an issue in practical politics till the beginning 
of the reign of William IV, the subject had been discussed at intervals 
for nearly a century. The first motion is said to have been intro- 
duced by Sir Francis Dashwood, a profane roisterer, who began his 
parliamentary life in 1741. Chatham advocated unsuccessfully 
measures for disfranchising corrupt boroughs and adding their mem- 
bership to that of the counties. In 1776 John Wilkes "proposed a 
motion which contained all the leading principles of parliamentary re- 
form adopted during the next fifty years." During the interval from 
1782 to 1785, the younger Pitt brought forward no less than three 
measures, all of which were thrown out. In 1792 the Society of the 
Friends of the People was formed for promoting the movement ; 
but sober folk had now come to couple it with revolutionary designs. 
Burke and Pitt threw the weight of their influence against it, and mo- 
tions introduced by Charles Grey between 1793 and 1797 were defeated 
by crushing majorities. The cause was still further prejudiced when the 
Radical, Burdett, took it up in 1809 and proceeded, during the next 
few years, to demand, also, universal suffrage, annual parliaments, 
equal electoral districts, and vote by ballot. In 1819, however, Lord 
John Russell, third son of the Duke of Bedford, by introducing a 
motion for moderate reform, once more identified the question with 
the Whig party. Though he gained an increasing body of supporters, 
he fought an uphill fight for thirteen years. In 182 1 he managed to 
secure the disfranchisement of the corrupt borough of Grampound, 

1 Sir Francis Burdett (1 770-1844) was an ardent Radical who came to be a 
Conservative after the passage of the Reform Bill. 

2 Francis Place (1771-1854), who was a poor tailor, was a fanatical Radical and 
an acute political manager. He was the first to employ the electoral caucus in 
England, and he controlled the borough of Westminster, which Burdett represented 
for thirty years. 



9 o8 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

though his proposal to transfer the two members to Leeds was de- 
feated in the Upper House, and they went to Yorkshire instead. 

The Eve of Triumph. The Whigs and the General Election of 
1830. — The excitement which followed the defeat, early in 1830, 
of Russell's proposal to enfranchise Leeds, Birmingham, and Man- 
chester, served as indication of the strength which the sentiment for 
reform had gained. The Tories refused to yield an inch. Even the 
liberal remnant of the Canningites persisted in regarding the existing 
parliamentary system as the only breakwater against the rising tide of 
democracy. But the temperate attitude of the Whig leaders had won 
the confidence of the conservative middle classes. While Russell 
worked to counteract the influence of Burdett in the Commons, 
the historian Macaulay and others undertook to combat the political 
philosophy of the Radicals in the Edinburgh Review. They contended 
that, while universal suffrage was wild and dangerous, the enfranchise- 
ment of householders and the transfer of votes from small decayed 
boroughs to populous towns was not only safe and reasonable, but 
an imperative recognition of the growing importance of the commercial 
and industrial classes. There was no hope of change so long as the 
Wellington Cabinet survived; but its end was not far off. Parlia- 
ment was dissolved during the summer of 1830, and, in the general 
election which followed, the doom of the old Tory party was sounded. 
The growing enthusiasm for reform, stimulated by " the compara- 
tively bloodless victory of constitutional principles " in the July 
Revolution, was the decisive factor, though the result was somewhat 
influenced by the action of a number of borough owners who nominated 
anti-Ministerialists in order to revenge themselves against Wellington 
for his change of front in the question of Catholic Relief. 1 

The Advent of Grey's Reform Ministry, November, 1830. — The 
King's speech at the opening of Parliament contained no reference on 
the subject of reform. The disappointment of the Reformers was 
turned to fury when Wellington, in answering a speech of Earl 
Grey in the Lords, declared that the existing representative system 
" possessed the full and entire confidence of the country," and that its 
chief merit lay in the fact that it secured a " preponderating influence " 
to property, especially to the landed interest. Insisting further that 
" no better system could be devised by the wit of man," he announced 
that not only would he never introduce a Reform Bill himself, but that 
" he should always feel it his duty to resist such measures when pro- 
posed by others." While many defended the existing system on the 
ground that it worked well and that change would be dangerous, few 

1 Before Parliament met, death had taken from the Whigs a man whom they 
could ill spare. Huskisson was run over and killed by a train at the opening of 
the Liverpool and Manchester Railroad, 15 September. His loss was deeply felt 
in the department of finance, which he had made his own, and in which the Whigs 
proved deplorably weak. There is little doubt that, had he lived, free trade would 
have come much sooner than it did. 



THE EPOCH OF REFORM 909 

would have had the rashness to proclaim that it was theoretically 
perfect. The effect of the speech was momentous. " I have not said 
too much, have I? " asked Wellington as he sat down. " You have 
announced the fall of your Government, that's all," was the reply of 
a neighboring peer. Apparently the Duke spoke on his own authority ; 
but the Cabinet stood by him and resigned in November, on an adverse 
vote on the Civil List, without waiting to face the inevitable question. 
Thereupon, Earl Grey (1 764-1845) consented to form a Ministry on 
condition that parliamentary reform should be made a Cabinet ques- 
tion. He had grown old in the service of the Whig party during 
the period of its adversity. He had been a friend of Fox, he had been 
an opponent of the oppressive policy of Pitt, and had championed 
many liberal measures. Fear of radicalism had caused him for a time 
to hold aloof from reform ; but he had again taken up the work, and 
it was fitting that the Nestor of the cause should be chosen Prime 
Minister on the return of the Whigs to office. It was fortunate, too, 
that a man of his aristocratic traditions and cautious, unenthusiastic 
temperament should guide the party in the stormy months which 
followed. The ministers whom he selected were almost exclusively 
peers or men of titled connections. It was a remarkable group. 
Four — Melbourne, Palmerston, Stanley (later Lord Derby), and Lord 
John Russell, who was given a subordinate office without a seat in the 
Cabinet — subsequently became Prime Ministers. Among the other 
notable members were Brougham, Althorpe, Lord Durham, and Sir 
James Graham. The task confronting the new Ministry was a 
tremendous and complicated one. 

The Unreformed House of Commons. Inequalities of Representa- 
tion. — The existing representative system was both inadequate and 
corrupt. The franchise was restricted to a few and was unequally 
distributed. The ten southern counties of England, with a population 
of 2,900,000, returned 237 members, while the remaining thirty coun- 
ties in the midlands and the north, with a population of 8,350,000, were 
allowed only 252. In other words, about one fourth of the popula- 
tion had nearly half the representatives. Lancashire, with 1,000,000 
inhabitants, had 19 members, Cornwall, with a fourth of this popula- 
tion, had 44. It is easy to explain how these inequalities arose. The 
evil was manifest chiefly in the cities and boroughs. Originally such 
had been selected as would be most likely to vote supplies to the Crown. 
The burgesses and citizens, who looked upon representation as a 
burden so long as they had little share in legislation, usually, in the 
Middle Ages, sought to evade their obligations. In consequence, the 
sovereigns and sheriffs were accustomed to add to the list or omit from 
it at will. Gradually it came to be recognized that a town which had 
once sent members was entitled to do so ever after. Then, in the reign 
of Charles II, it was decided that no new boroughs could be created. 

The Abuses of the Existing Borough System. — While these pro- 
visions were some protection against despotic sovereigns, they were 



910 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

responsible for the fact that small decayed places continued to send 
representatives, while new and flourishing centers of industry got 
none. Old Sarum, for instance, was no longer anything but a greer 
mound with not more than one or two houses in the neighborhood ; 
Gatton was a gentleman's park; while Dunwich was gradually being 
covered by the North Sea, so that it was suggested that the voters 
would soon have to go out in boats to exercise their electoral privileges. 
Malmesbury contained thirteen electors, none of whom could write. 
Such deserted, or half-deserted constituencies fell an easy prey to terri- 
torial magnates, to the agents of the Crown, or to rich speculators who 
gained control in one way or another, sometimes by buying the borough 
outright, sometimes by bribing the scanty body of electors. Startling 
anomalies resulted. " Mr. Canning," said Bagehot, a great authority 
on the Constitution, " was an eloquent man, but even he could not say 
that a decaying tree stump was the people." It was estimated on the 
eve of reform that of 658 members of the House of Commons, 487 were 
returned by the nomination of 144 peers 1 and 123 commoners, while 
only 171 were representatives of independent constituencies. Although 
these figures are based to some extent on conjecture and may exagger- 
ate, it is probably safe to say that not more than a third of the House 
was freely chosen, and then only by a very limited body of electors. 

Types of Boroughs. Qualifications for Voting. — There were 
four types of boroughs : 1 . There were nomination or pocket boroughs, 
where the patron or proprietor had the absolute right of returning the 
candidates. Burke, Sheridan, Canning, and Brougham were among 
the members who got into Parliament in this way. Since they had 
patrons who required no pledges, it was argued that poor men of 
ability who had no money to pay election expenses benefited by the 
system. But it was very unwholesome for a parliamentary represen- 
tative to be thus beholden to any one, and few patrons showed the 
generosity of those in question. 2. Next there were the rotten 
boroughs, where the electors were controlled by bribery and influence. 
As late as 1829 the Duke of Newcastle ejected every one of his tenants 
in the borough of Newark, remarking by way of justification : " Have 
I not the right to do what I will with my own ? " 2 3. In still another 
type of borough the body of electors was numerous but restricted. 
4. Finally, there were a very few where the right of voting rested on 
a democratic basis. The qualifications for voting in boroughs were 
varied and curious. They, again, may be divided into four main 
groups. The first were based on tenure. In a few towns which had 
been made counties by charter the county qualification of ownership 
of a forty-shilling freehold prevailed. More common was the burgage 
holding, an ancient form of freehold tenement in towns which carried 
the right of voting. Secondly, there were a number of residence 

1 The Duke of Norfolk controlled eleven members, Lord Lonsdale, nine, Lord 
Darlington, seven, and three other peers six each. 

2 Later it was from this borough that Gladstone first entered Parliament. 



THE EPOCH OF REFORM 911 

qualifications. In some cases the "inhabitant householders" could 
vote. In others, it was those liable to scot and lot — certain ancient 
local taxes, together with local duties, such as serving in municipal 
offices. In still other cases, those who had a single room where they 
could cook their own food could vote. This class was known as pot- 
wallers or potwallopers — corruptions of the original term potboiler. 
In the third class of boroughs the franchise was confined to the freemen 
of the municipal corporation. This right could be acquired by inher- 
itance from the original freemen, by marriage to the heiress of a freeman, 
by admission to a trading company or guild, or by purchase. Finally, 
there were the close boroughs, where the right to vote was confined to 
the governing body of the municipality — the mayor, aldermen, and 
councilors. Most of the charters of the Tudors and Stuarts limited 
the electorate in this fashion. Even in boroughs where a democratic 
qualification existed, the number of electors was usually so small that 
they could be easily bribed. 1 

Bribery and Corruption in Elections. — Bribery first began to be 
systematic under Charles II and increased with the growing influence 
of the House of Commons. It reached its height in the reign of George 
III, when two causes especially fostered its growth. One was the firm 
determination of the King to reestablish the waning royal ascendancy. 
The other was the appearance of a class of men, known as nabobs, 
who, having made fortunes in the East and West Indies, spent their 
money lavishly to secure parliamentary seats, partly in order to get 
into society, and partly in the interest of the financial and commercial 
ventures with which they were identified. Their competition, and that 
of the steadily increasing class of opulent merchants and manufac- 
turers in England, sent the prices soaring. 2 Not only were individual 
electors bribed, but nomination and rotten boroughs were sold out- 
right ; indeed, seats were advertised openly and shamelessly. In 
the election of 1768, for example, the corporation of Oxford, which was 
a close borough, demanded of their two members, as the price of their 
reelection, that they advance a sum of more than £5000 to pay the 
bonded debt of the city. The members reported the matter to the 
Commons, whereupon the mayor and ten aldermen were lodged in 
Newgate. Undaunted, however, they negotiated in prison a bargain 
for transferring the seats to two great nobles. Bribery was an offense 
at Common Law ; an occasional act was passed to remedy the evil ; 
and a few of the more corrupt cases were exposed. It was all to little 
purpose, particularly so long as George III actively promoted the 
system. 3 Moreover, the penalties were light: disfranchisement of 

1 It is estimated that the majority of the House of Commons was elected by less 
than 15,000 voters. 

2 The average price for a borough went up from £2500 to £5000. One sold 
for £9000. 

3 In 1779, for instance, he wrote to Lord North : "If the Duke of Northumber- 
land requires some gold pills for the electors, it would be wrong not to satisfy him." 



9 i2 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

the guilty, or the merging of the constituency into one slightly larger. 
In 1809 an act imposing the penalties of fine and forfeiture of seat 
achieved little more at first than to make the practice less open. 
The purchase of seats was no worse than the bribing of electors, and 
was often the only way in which a man of advanced independent views 
could gain admission to Parliament. It was justified on -this latter 
ground by Sir Samuel Romilly. l 

The County Franchise. — In the counties, although conditions were 
better, the system was not free from anomalies and abuses. The 
forty-shilling freehold qualification, created in 1430, insured a fairly 
wide constituency. On the other hand, copyholders and men who 
rented broad lands on lease were excluded, while, owing to the im- 
mense change in money values, forty shillings had shrunk to a very 
small sum. Many freeholders were merely poor dependents of their 
great neighbors, and, thanks to the custom of open polling, they were 
peculiarly subject to corruption and intimidation. The evils were 
accentuated in county and borough alike by the long period allowed 
for voting as well as by the drunkenness and turmoil which prevailed 
during the elections. Some of the county magnates wielded tremendous 
influence ; for instance, so late as 1780, one of the Yorkshire members 
was, according to Fox, always elected in Rockingham's dining room. 
The contest for the other must have been keen ; for in one election 
£150,000 is said to have been expended. These county elections were 
often the arena where the political rivalry of the landed magnates 
was displayed. Yet the voters when aroused could act with independ- 
ence, as is proved from the fact that, in 1830, out of 82 county 
members only 20 Tories were returned. Each county was represented 
by two members, which meant an even distribution throughout the 
country ; but it put tiny shires like Rutland on the same basis as 
large and populous ones like Lancashire. 

Scotland and Ireland. — In Scotland conditions were even worse 
than in England. In a population of over 2,000,000 there were not 
more than 4000 voters. The borough franchise was vested in town 
councilors. Edinburgh and Glasgow had only thirty-three electors 
each. The right to vote in the counties was a peculiar privilege that 
depended neither upon property nor residence. Argyllshire, with 
100,000 inhabitants, had 115 electors, of whom only 31 owned any 
land in the county. 2 Naturally votes were put up for sale. The 
great landowners who secured control, instead of fighting on party 

1 "This buying of seats," he wrote, "is detestable, and yet it is the only way 
(almost) in which one in my situation who is resolved to be an independent man 
can get into Parliament. To come in by a popular election in the present state 
of the representation is quite impossible ; to be placed there by some great lord, 
and to vote as he should direct, is to be in a state of complete dependence; and 
nothing hardly remains but to owe a seat to the sacrifice of a part of one's fortune." 

2 The most notorious case is related of the county of Bute, where, in a popula- 
tion of 14,000, only one out of 21 electors was a resident. In the election of 1831 
he was the only person present except the sheriff and the returning officer. "He 



THE EPOCH OF REFORM 913 

lines, commonly agreed to support the Government in return for 
patronage and other rewards. One Scotch member declared that : 
" his invariable rule was never to be present at a debate or absent at a 
division ; and that he had only once in his long political life ventured to 
vote according to his conscience ; and that he found ... he had voted 
wrong." In Ireland the system of borough franchise was bad enough ; 
but that in the counties was, until 1829, worse. By Irish law forty- 
shilling freeholders could be created without grant of property. 
The landed potentates availed themselves eagerly of the opportunity 
— especially after the Union — until Daniel O'Connell and the priests 
managed to tear from their control the men whom they had regarded 
as their creatures. 

Bribery and Corruption in Parliament. — Until the partial remedy 
provided by the Grenville Election Act it was practically impossible 
to exclude candidates belonging to the dominant party, however 
great the irregularities employed in their election. A natural result 
of the faulty and corrupt electoral system was the venality and self- 
seeking of those who secured seats. Most of the members or their 
patrons expected to be compensated for their outlays to electors or 
borough-mongers. Inducements were offered to suit all tastes. The 
rich and ambitious were tempted with peerages, titles of honor, patron- 
age, and favor ; the poor and mercenary by places, pensions, and bribes. 
The Place Bill of 1705 had done something to diminish the number of 
placemen. The incapacity was later extended to pensioners; but 
grants were continued in secret. An Act of 1742 extended the dis- 
qualification to many minor places not included in the measure of 
1705; but a large number still remained untouched. The Rocking- 
ham Act of 1782 covered many more, and put an effective check on 
secret pensions. As a result of these and subsequent measures, the 
number of placemen sitting in the House of Commons was reduced 
from 271 in the time of George I to 89 under George IV. 1 Meantime, 
the practice of directly bribing members grew steadily from the 
Restoration to the American Revolution. William III resorted to it, 
though with great reluctance. While evidence is lacking, it is com- 
monly believed that Walpole reduced it to a system. So far as George 
III is concerned, the case is clear enough ; but this form of corruption 
did not survive the Ministry of North. Pitt, as has been seen, was 
not the man to continue the practice, though he created more peers 
than any minister before or since. Another and more wasteful means 
employed by George III to secure supporters in the years of his 
personal supremacy was through loans and lotteries. The King's 
" Friends " were accorded the preference in the distribution of shares 
and tickets. Half of the loan of £12,000,000 raised at the close of 

. . . took the chair, . . . called over the roll of freeholders, answered to his own 
name, ... he then moved and seconded his own nomination, put the question as 
to the vote, and was unanimously returned." 
1 That is, exclusive of army and navy officers. 

3N 



9 i4 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

the American war was subscribed by members of the House of Com- 
mons. It paid n per cent. Pitt was also responsible for removing 
this type of abuse. The Rockingham Act had already excluded con- 
tractors from the House of Commons in 1782. 

Counteracting Tendencies. — These long-continued abuses were 
not due solely to the unreformed parliamentary system. The ex- 
travagance and dissipation of the upper classes, the ignorance and 
apathy of the masses, and the moral and religious indifference of the 
age all played a part. Nevertheless, England progressed in many 
directions and achieved much in the eighteenth century, while her 
people were freer and her institutions far better than those of any other 
European country. Many reasons explain why this was so. In the 
first place, politics attracted the ablest and some of the best men of 
the age, who, while they advanced their own interests, labored to 
make their country the leading power in the world. At crises, too, 
they deferred to public opinion, an opinion in which the sound tradi- 
tions of the previous century survived, and which was being fed 
by the new and enlightened ideas of the growing commercial and in- 
dustrial classes. Moreover, after the Tories again became a factor in 
politics at the accession of George III, party rivalry played an im- 
portant role in checking the evils which had developed during the Whig 
ascendancy. The Whigs soon fell into eclipse for a time x ; but their 
leaders were active and courageous in denouncing the shortcomings 
of their political rivals. The press, too, became more and more a 
means of ventilating abuses and corruption. While many evils had 
been checked or done away with when the Grey Ministry came to 
power, the cumbersome, inadequate method of representation which 
did so much to foster them still remained. 2 

The First Reform Bill and its Defeat in the Commons, 19 April, 
1 83 1. — The two general objects in the work which the Grey Ministry 
now undertook were to redistribute parliamentary seats on a more 
equal basis, and to extend the right of voting. The first was carried 
out more completely than the second, and required far less change 
in years to come. The King was friendly at the start, the Tories 
were weak and divided, and the people showed their enthusiasm in 
public meetings, in political unions, and in floods of petitions. On 
the other hand, there were tremendous obstacles to overcome. The 
Whig Ministers were lacking in administrative experience. The King 
grew timid as the fight became hot. The borough interests, who had 
so much at stake, roused themselves and were backed by two thirds 
of the peers, a strong minority in the Commons, and by a not incon- 

1 Disraeli later insisted that the Whigs were anxious for reform because their 
Tory rivals had snatched from them the control of the existing electoral machinery. 

2 "Of all injurious instruments of despotism," wrote Sidney Smith, the famous 
wit of the period, "I most commend a popular assembly, where the majority are 
paid and hired, and a few bold and able men, by their brave speeches, make the 
people believe they are free." 



THE EPOCH OF REFORM 915 

siderable Tory sentiment throughout the country. Moreover, the 
very fervor of the Radicals was a source of embarrassment to the Whig 
leaders and to the moderate men on whom they counted for support. 
The chairman of the committee selected to draft the Reform Bill was 
Grey's son-in-law, Lord Durham, a man of rather extreme views. 
His share in the work has been somewhat obscured by that of Lord 
John Russell, who was very properly chosen to introduce the measure 
and to explain its terms. The second reading was carried by a ma- 
jority of one, amidst scenes of wildest joy on the part of the Whigs. 
Six hundred and three took part in the division, the largest on record 
up to that time. The Bill, however, was defeated in the committee 
stage, 19 April, 1 831, by an amendment against a provision for reducing 
the membership of the Commons from 658 to 596. 

The Lords defeat the Second Reform Bill. The Third Bill and its 
Final Passage, 1832. — The Government thereupon persuaded King 
William to appeal to the people in another general election, one of the 
most momentous in English history. The cry throughout the country 
was : " The Bill, the whole Bill, and nothing but the Bill." The 
reformers triumphed, and the second bill passed the new House of 
Commons, 21 September, 183 1, by a majority of 109. Lord John 
Russell had warned the Tories that " it was impossible for the whisper 
of a faction to prevail against the voice of a nation " ; but the Lords 
proved stubborn and threw out the measure on the second reading, 
8 October. 1 The leading newspapers appeared in mourning. The 
Chronicle assured its readers that " the triumph of the wicked cannot 
endure forever," and the Times declared that it turned from " the 
appalling sight of a wounded nation to the means already in action 
for recpvery." Since. the reverse was not unexpected, the Ministry, 
sustained by a vote of confidence in the Commons, merely prorogued 
Parliament and prepared a third bill. Among other changes the 
clause reducing the membership was dropped. The agitation outside, 
which, even though intense, had hitherto been peaceful, now became 
violent. Riots broke out in London and other cities, the most serious 
of which occurred in Bristol, in the last days of October, when the mob 
reigned supreme for two days. The political unions, too, became so 
active and aggressive that a proclamation was issued suppressing 
certain of them by name. Parliament met again, 6 December, and, 
23 March, the Commons sent the new Bill to the Upper House with 
an increased majority. Fearful of continuing to defy public opinion 
openly, the Lords voted for the second reading, 14 April, by a majority 
of 9 ; but in the- committee stage they insisted upon amendments 
which the Ministry could not accept. Popular excitement became 
furious in its intensity ; a clamor arose that the Peers be forced into 

1 Brougham made his most eloquent and theatrical speech on this occasion. 
He ended by throwing himself on his knees and remained so long that his friends, 
knowing the amount of mulled port he had drunk to stimulate himself, finally went 
and raised him to his feet. 



9 i6 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

line ; many political associations refused to pay taxes ; in London a 
run on the Bank of England was incited by placards which bore the 
words: " To stop the Duke, go for gold. " With the country trem- 
bling on the verge of a revolution, Grey was persuaded by his colleagues 
to advise the King to create a sufficient number of new peers to carry 
the Bill. Upon William's refusal the Cabinet resigned. Wellington 
undertook to form a ministry ; but, finding the task was as hopeless as 
it was dangerous, he counseled the King to recall Earl Grey. Grey 
resumed office with the assurance that he might carry his measure 
without altering its essential features. William even went so far 
as to consent to the creation of new peers, on condition that he 
might confine himself to the heirs of existing noblemen ; but by 
using his influence with the Tory Lords he managed in the end 
to avoid this extreme step. A hundred peers, led by Wellington, 
withdrew from the Upper House during the final voting. With the 
Tory opposition thus weakened, the Bill passed through the commit- 
tee stage and the third reading, and received the royal assent, 7 July, 
1832. 

The Terms of the Reform Act of 1832. — The Act in its final form 
disfranchised fifty-six nomination and ^otten boroughs, each of which 
had less than 2000 inhabitants and which together returned 1 1 1 mem- 
bers. Thirty boroughs where the population was less than 4000 were 
deprived of a single member each, while Weymouth and Melcombe 
Regis, a double borough, lost two of its four. There were thus 143 
seats for redistribution. Twenty-two large towns received two, and 
twenty-one a single member each. Furthermore, the county member- 
ship was increased from 94 to 159. The remaining 13 representatives 
were left for Scotland and Ireland. In addition to redistribution of 
seats, the Bill undertook a moderate extension and equalization of the 
franchise. In the boroughs the various, queer, and antiquated fran- 
chises were abolished, with one exception, 1 and the vote was given to all 
householders paying a rental of £10 a year. In the counties the forty- 
shilling freehold qualification was retained in the case of the voter 
who occupied his estate, or who had acquired it by inheritance, mar- 
riage, or other specified ways. In other cases, a £10 qualification was 
established for freeholders, copyholders, as well as leaseholders for 
terms of sixty years. A qualification of £50 was fixed for leaseholders 
for shorter terms and for tenants at will. The tenants at will were 
added by the so-called " Chandos clause," based on a motion of the 
Marquis of Chandos. While his aim was to increase the power of the 
landlords, the effect was to extend somewhat the area of enfranchise- 
ment. 

Scotland and Ireland. — Scotland and Ireland were dealt with in 
two separate bills. The Scotch representatives were increased from 

1 Resident freemen, created before March, 1831, were allowed to retain their 
vote. The qualification was designed to get rid of hosts of freemen who had been 
created to vote against the Reform Bill. 



THE EPOCH OF REFORM 917 

45 to 53, of which, in the redistribution, 30 went to the counties and 
23 to the cities and boroughs. In the former, all owners of property 
worth £10 a year and certain classes of leaseholders were given the 
right to vote ; in the latter, the £10 householders, and at the same time 
the old qualifications were abolished. Ireland was given five more 
representatives. 1 At the time of the Union a number of nomination 
and rotten boroughs had been swept away. While the remainder 
were left undisturbed by the Act of 1832, the right to return 
members of Parliament was taken from the municipal corporations 
and conferred upon the £10 householders. In 1850 the borough 
qualification was reduced to £8. 

The Results of the Reform Bill. — The Revolution of 1688 had 
transferred the chief power from the sovereign to the landed aristoc- 
racy. The Reform Bill shifted the balance to the commercial and 
industrial middle class. It was, so far as England was concerned, 
the " greatest act of the century." The system of Cabinet and party 
government now became something like a reality ; for the ministers 
henceforth represented a popular majority in the House of Commons, 
and not one depending upon the manipulation of the sovereign, the 
ministers, and the landowning magnates. The passage of the measure 
had demonstrated, too, that at a crisis the House of Lords could not 
defy the popular will. Furthermore, the triumph was an indication 
that the principle of change which had been struggling for expression 
during the past decade was going to prevail. Something had been 
accomplished by indirect pressure and other imperfect means ; but 
now a veritable era of reform was about to open. 2 The Reform Bill 
did not accomplish all that its advocates had predicted. It did not 
put an end, for instance, to bribery and corruption, though the 
widening of the electorate tended to further lessen these evils. More- 
over, while it took a long step in the direction of equality of representa- 
tion, it left the bulk of the lower classes — the majority of the popula- 
tion — without the vote. Nor had the secret ballot, which has proved 
one of the most effective means of purifying elections, been conceded. 
In one respect the Bill was reactionary ; for it swept away the demo- 
cratic franchises of certain boroughs, though the element thus deprived 
was largely corrupt. There was widespread discontent among the 
working classes, which, while it was to some extent stirred up by 
disappointed hopes, was due to real suffering. 

The First Reformed Parliament, 1832-1833. — The class of mem- 
bers elected to the first reformed House of Commons, in the winter 
of 1833, was not strikingly different from that of the parliaments 

1 Making a total of 105. Two seats were afterwards taken away because of 
corruption, leaving 103, the present number. 

2 Some reformers like Sidney Smith were alarmed at the feverish activity of 
Parliament during the next few years. "All gradation and caution have been 
banished," he complained, "since the Reform Bill; rapid high pressure wisdom 
is the only agent in public affairs." 






9 i 8 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

immediately preceding. 1 The counties returned numbers of the 
landed gentry, while the boroughs, as a rule, chose responsible men of 
property. Some extreme Tories were defeated ; but so were some of 
the advanced Radicals. Though Cobbett was elected, " Orator " 
Hunt was not. If the House ceased to be the " best club in London," 
it was no assembly of demagogues. Nevertheless, the Whigs and the 
other anti-Tory elements were in an overwhelming majority. It is 
estimated that they comprised 486 of the 658 members. They were 
far from being united, however ; the supporters of the Ministry, who 
were aristocratic in temper and fearful of democratic excesses, com- 
manded barely more than half the votes of the House. The remain- 
der of the party was made up of free lances, Radicals and Irish 
" Repealers." The Tory minority was also divided, though not so 
markedly. There was a considerable group of moderate men led by 
Peel, 2 who had discarded the old party name and who adopted that 
of " Conservatives." Indeed, it was not long before the terms Whig 
and Tory were completely superseded by those of Liberal and Con- 
servative, respectively. 

The Remedial Legislation of 1833. — The distinguishing feature of 
the new Parliament was its zeal for legislation. It has been said 
with truth that " no session has been more fruitful in legislative ac- 
tivity than that of 1833." Among the long list of remedial measures 
were : the Irish Church Temporalities Bill ; the abolition of slavery 
in the British colonies ; an epoch-making Factory Act ; the renewal 
of the charters of the East India Company, and of the Bank of Eng- 
land, in each case with important modifications; and the establish- 
ment of a permanent judicial committee of the Privy Council as the 
highest court of appeal for colonial and ecclesiastical causes. Another 
legal reform was the abolition of a number of obsolete and complicated 
actions relating to real property, and the introduction of new processes 
whereby land transfers and the barring of entails was greatly simpli- 
fied. Many cumbersome and worn-out methods still remained, and 
it required nearly a century of law reform before any considerable 
results were accomplished. The achievements of the year are all the 
more remarkable in view of the attention demanded by the troubled 
situation in Ireland. 

The Irish Tithe War, 1831-1833. — In that country a great " tithe 
war " had broken out in 1831. In a population of nearly 8,000,000 
souls less than 900,000 belonged to the Established Episcopal Church. 
The other eight ninths, largely agriculturists, whose tiny holdings 
yielded barely enough to keep them from starvation, and who had to 
support their own priests, bitterly resented the payment of tithes to 

1 Many timid folk, fearing a revolution, had sent their money to Denmark and 
the United States for investment. The panic of 1837 in the latter country caused 
numbers to regret the step they had taken. 

2 Peel and his followers accepted the results of the Reform Bill, and often voted 
with the Government against the extremists of their own party. 






THE EPOCH OF REFORM 919 

the hated representatives of an alien faith. Moreover, the method 
of assessment and collection was irritating and unfair. Grassland 
where the rich pastured great flocks was exempt, and the chief burden 
fell on the lesser folk who could ill spare their pigs and their poultry. 1 
Yet, pitiable as was the situation of the Irish peasantry, the ferocity 
with which they tortured and rr.urdered the tithe proctors and abused 
and intimidated those who obeyed the law was more deplorable. After 
the Government had safely carried the Reform Bill, it attempted, 
though with no great success, to relieve the Irish situation. Early 
in 1832 the Lord Lieutenant was authorized to advance money to the 
clergy who were suffering from failure to collect the chief source of 
their income. The Government officials then undertook, with the 
aid of the military, to collect the arrears ; but their efforts proved as 
futile as they were expensive. One case is recorded where three com- 
panies of soldiers and two pieces of artillery were called out for the 
sale of one cow. In 1833 the attempt was given up, a much larger 
sum was advanced to the clergy, and a project was set on foot — which 
failed in 1833 and again in 1834 — to substitute for the tithes a money 
land tax. 

The Coercion Bill and the Irish Church Temporalities Bill, 1833. — 
The use of military force had only aggravated the passions of the 
Irish. Murders, assaults, and destruction of property increased 
with alarming rapidity. Secret organizations multiplied, while the 
courts were hampered by the intimidation of jurors and witnesses. 
To meet the situation, Stanley, the Irish Secretary, whose policy was 
a " quick alternation of kicks and kindnesses," presented to the Cabi- 
net a Peace Preservation Bill and a Church Temporalities Bill. The 
conciliatory measure was introduced first. It imposed a gradual tax on 
clerical incomes to relieve the Irish rate payers from the burden of 
parish expenses, and provided for the reduction of the Irish Episcopate 
by abolishing two of the four archbishoprics and eight of the eighteen 
bishoprics, as vacancies should occur. An " appropriation clause," 
empowering Parliament to apply the money thus saved to such secular 
purposes as it saw fit, had to be sacrificed, owing to the opposition in 
the House of Lords. The bill, thus shorn of its most popular feature, 
became law. Something had been gained by the abolition of the 
parish cess, as the rates were called ; but, once more, Parliament 
had thrown away the chance of granting a free-handed concession. 
The bitterness of O'Connell and his followers was accentuated by the 
drastic character of the accompanying Coercion Bill. It gave the 
Lord Lieutenant unlimited power of suppressing public meetings, 
and of declaring any county in a state of disturbance. In such dis- 
tricts inhabitants were forbidden to be out of doors between sunset 

1 Tithes should be distinguished from church rates. The former were paid in 
kind for the support of the bishops and clergy. The latter were voted by the parish 
for the up-keep of the church fabric, and, in modern times at least, were paid in 
money. 



9 2o A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

and sunrise, trial by martial law was introduced, and the Habeas 
Corpus Act suspended. 

The Abolition of Slavery in the Colonies, 1833. — Stanley, in view 
of the hostility which he had excited in Ireland, 1 was transferred to 
the office of Colonial Secretary. In his new position he carried a 
measure for which the abolitionists had been struggling ever since 
the slave trade had been done away with in 1807. Encouraged by an 
admission of Huskisson that slave labor was more costly than free 
labor, Thomas Fowell Buxton, a wealthy brewer and philanthropist, 
had, 15 May, 1823, introduced a resolution for the gradual abolition 
of slavery throughout the British dominions. Canning succeeded in 
defeating the measure, but favored steps for improving the lot of 
those in bondage. In consequence, a circular letter was issued, 24 
May, 1824, forbidding the use of the whip in the field, and the flogging 
of women under any circumstances. In spite of growing popular 
sentiment, the West India interest was strong enough to prevent 
anything further from being done until after the reform of Parliament. 
The planters who were badly off — owing to the fall in prices after 
the Great War, and to their own extravagance and wasteful methods — 
were determined to fight to the last ditch. Notwithstanding their op- 
position, a bill was passed, 30 August, 1833, providing for a scheme of 
gradual emancipation. All children under six years of age and all 
born henceforth were declared free. Others were to serve an ap- 
prenticeship, giving three fourths of their time to their masters. The 
term first proposed was twelve years, but it was shortened to seven 
before the bill became law. Four years of trial proved the apprentice 
system unworkable, so it was done away with altogether. Originally, 
too, the planters were to be compensated with a loan of £15,000,000, 
but in the final act that was altered to a gift of £20,000,000. Happily, 
Wilberforce, the pioneer in the anti-slavery cause, lived to hear that 
the measure crowning his life work had passed the second reading. 

The Factory Act of 1833. — In this session a notable act was passed 
to improve the grievous lot of children employed in factories. Atten- 
tion had first been called to the question (in 1784) by Dr. Percival of 
Manchester who recommended shortening the hours of labor, improving 
sanitary conditions, and placing the mills under supervision and legis- 
lative control. The first Factory Act, passed in 1802, included the 
cotton and woolen industries, but applied, for the most part, only to 
" apprentices." Further investigations disclosed frightful condi- 
tions. Children as young as six years of age were worked for thirteen 
or fourteen hours a day in unhealthy, overheated rooms. Exhausted 
by long and exacting labor and without opportunities for play, sun- 
shine, or education, they grew old before their time; but remained 
stunted in body and mind. Sir Robert Peel, the elder, took up the 

1 O'Connell denounced him as "scorpion Stanley," and he was wittily described 
by another as the "Secretary at War with Ireland." 



THE EPOCH OF REFORM 921 

work, and by his recommendations an act was passed, in 18 16, which 
went a step further in remedying the existing evils. Peel's efforts 
were reenforced by those of Michael Sadler and Lord Ashley, later 
Earl of Shaftesbury. Sadler had already prepared a new bill when he 
was defeated in the general election of 1832, so it fell to Ashley to 
carry on the struggle. He was bitterly opposed by the bulk of manu- 
facturers, who were, in general, supported by both parties. The 
Tories were averse to change, and the Whigs were advocates of the 
laissez-faire policy which aimed to minimize the interference of the 
State in individual concerns. Nevertheless, he was able to carry, in 
a slightly modified form, a measure which he introduced in 1833. It 
prohibited the employment of children under nine years of age ; it 
restricted the labor of children between nine and thirteen to forty-eight 
hours in a week and to nine in a single day ; that of young persons 
between thirteen and eighteen to sixty-nine hours a week and to twelve 
in a single day. It provided for a system of inspection to enforce the 
provisions of the law, and enacted that children under thirteen should 
attend school for two hours a day. The regulations of 1833 applied 
only to the textile industries in factories, and left much to be desired 
in other respects ; but it was the happy forerunner of later remedial 
legislation relating to conditions of labor. 

The " New Poor Law," 1834. — In the following year, Parliament 
carried another measure of supreme importance — the Poor Law 
Amendment Act, popularly known as the " New Poor Law." The 
chief fault of the Elizabethan laws was that they imposed the care of 
the poor on the parish — a unit too small to bear the burden in districts 
where there was an excess of paupers. While no attempt had been 
made to deal with this obvious defect, another, and the wisest, per- 
haps, of the Elizabethan provisions — namely, that the able-bodied 
should be made to work in houses of correction, if necessary, and that 
the sick and helpless should be provided for in almshouses — had 
broken down. In 1795, the Berkshire magistrates began the practice 
of supplementing inadequate wages by money allowances. This prac- 
tice of " outdoor relief " soon became general and was sanctioned by 
Parliament in 1796. It tended to foster pauperism in more ways than 
one. It discouraged thrift, because many who would never have gone 
to the poorhouse were quite willing to receive aid in this way. It 
kept down wages ; for it tempted employers to spare their own pockets 
at the expense of the rates. Furthermore, it fostered immorality, 
since women might be given an allowance for every one of their children 
whether legitimate or not. To make matters worse, iniquitous laws of 
settlement, beginning with an act of Charles II in 1662, prohibited 
paupers from leaving the parishes where work was scarce to go to 
those where there was an abundance. The burden of the rates be- 
came crushing. In one parish the annual rate rose from £18 to £367 
in three years, causing farmers to leave their farms ; in another, there 
were one hundred and four paupers out of one hundred and thirty-nine 



922 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

inhabitants. At length, a seventh of the population came to be de- 
pendent upon the rates, which reached an annual total of £8,500,000. 
In the face of this intolerable situation a commission of investigation 
was appointed. Its report, February, 1834, based on experiments 
which had proved successful in a number of the districts, contained 
five recommendations : 1 . All outdoor relief, except medical aid, 
should be abolished. 2. Women should support their illegitimate 
children. 3. The Law of Settlement should be modified in order that 
the poor might be free to go wherever work was plentiful. 4. Parishes 
should be grouped into unions, so that the prosperous might help the 
poorer. 5. A central poor-law board of three commissioners should 
be created for the supervision and control of the whole local system. 
In spite of the bitter opposition of the Radicals, a bill based on those 
recommendations — Cobbett denounced it as the "poor man's rob- 
bery bill" — became law in August, 1834. The immediate result 
was no little suffering and intense discontent, leading even to riots ; 
but the measure, in the long run, proved to be very highly beneficial, 
even though outdoor relief was never wholly discontinued. The rates 
fell within a short time to £3,000,000, while the poor steadily improved 
in self-reliance and industry. 

The Resignation of Earl Grey, 1834. — Before the Poor Law Bill 
reached its second reading Earl Grey had resigned. For some time, 
his Government had been declining in popularity. It had offended 
various special interests by its reform measures, while at the same time 
it had not gone far enough to content the Radicals. Moreover, the 
budgets of Althorp failed to satisfy the conflicting claims of the landed 
and borough representatives. The growing weakness of the Adminis- 
tration was brought to a head by a hopeless split in the Cabinet over 
the Irish question. Russell, who was of " the opinion that the 
revenues of the Church of Ireland were larger " than sufficed for its 
own needs, sought to revive the recently abandoned " appropriation 
clause." " Johnny has upset the coach," declared Stanley who was 
opposed to turning over the surplus funds to secular purposes. 
He resigned soon after, followed by others of his way of thinking. 
For the moment, Grey consented very reluctantly to stay on. When, 
however, Althorp withdrew because the Cabinet refused to sanction 
an agreement with O'Connell, made without its knowledge, the Premier 
finally threw up his office, 9 July, 1834. 

The First Melbourne Ministry, July-November, 1834. — Grey 
was succeeded by Melbourne (1779-1848) who had been Home 
Secretary since 1830. Unconventional in manner and profane in 
speech, he was naturally of a serious disposition and scholarly in his 
tastes. He was an old-fashioned Liberal of the laissez-faire school who 
was opposed to the restless, innovating spirit of the Radicals. His 
favorite remark was: "Why can't you let it alone." From these 
political convictions and from his languid, indolent bearing, largely 
a pose, he got a reputation for aimlessness and lack of firmness that 






THE EPOCH OF REFORM 923 

was hardly deserved. 1 Contrary to the King's hopes, Melbourne 
and Peel would not form a coalition, so the Whig Ministry, somewhat 
reconstituted, was continued. Althorp consented to withdraw his 
resignation. The Administration was mainly occupied with the Irish 
difficulties until the autumn prorogation, when two events happened 
which made a change inevitable. Brougham, during a journey 
through Scotland, delivered a series of speeches which prompted the 
King to liken him to an " itinerant mountebank," and which hope- 
lessly alienated numbers of his party. Then, in November, 1834, 
Althorp, on the death of his father, Earl Spencer, went to the House of 
Lords, thus depriving the Whigs of the leader in the House of Com- 
mons, upon whose " personal weight and influence " they mainly 
depended. Thereupon, Melbourne wrote to William that it was for 
his Majesty to consider whether, under the circumstances, the resigna- 
tion of the Ministry might not be advisable. William eagerly seized 
this opportunity to form a new Government, because he wanted to get 
rid of Brougham and because Russell, who had been proposed as 
Althorp's successor in the leadership of the Commons, was unaccept- 
able to him on account of his attitude on the appropriation clause. 
There is no truth in the statement, commonly made, that he dis- 
missed the Melbourne Ministry, 14 November, 1834, without pre- 
vious consultation. The point is important; because if he had 
acted in the arbitrary fashion attributed to him, he would have 
assumed an authority which no sovereign, with the exception of 
George III, had ventured to assert for more than a century. 

The First Peel Ministry, November, 1834-April, 1835. — By the 
advice of Wellington, Peel was selected as Prime Minister. On the 
receipt of the news, the Conservative leader, who was in Italy, hastened 
home. He covered the journey from Rome to Dover in twelve days, 
which was regarded as a marvelous feat of traveling for those days. 
During the interval, the Duke carried on the Government, holding 
all the Secretaryships of State himself. Peel, on his arrival, took 
the office of Chancellor of the Exchequer, as well as that of First 
Lord of the Treasury, Wellington became Secretary for Foreign 
Affairs, and Lyndhurst, Lord Chancellor. The rest of the Cabinet 
was made up of new men, together with a few of Wellington's old 
followers. Stanley and Sir James Graham, who had broken with their 
Whig colleagues on the Irish question, refused Peel's offer to enter 
the Ministry, though they agreed to support him in the Commons. 
In the general election which followed, the Prime Minister issued an 
address to his constituents. This " Tamworth Manifesto " is notable 

1 He once remarked in a Cabinet meeting : "It does not much matter what we 
say; but we must all say the same thing." He would often sit blowing a feathei 
or fondling a sofa cushion while receiving an important deputation, when really 
he was all attention, and may have sat up all night studying the question to which 
he appeared so indifferent. His friend Sidney Smith, in a famous satiric passage, 
declared him an impostor, and "accused" him of "honesty and diligence." 



Q2 4 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

for outlining the principles of the new liberal Conservative party which 
Peel had been developing since 1832. In it, he announced his accept- 
ance of the Reform Act as " a final and irrevocable settlement of a 
great constitutional question," and declared that, with due regard for 
old constitutional principles, he was prepared to proceed with the 
removal of abuses and the initiation of " judicious reforms." This 
program, while it attracted the extremists of neither party, made a 
strong appeal to the moderates. 1 While the Conservatives had gained 
strength in the recent election, they were still outnumbered by the 
combined forces of the Whigs, Radicals, and Repealers. True to his 
promise, Peel introduced a number of reforms which drew upon him 
the charge of purloining the measures of his adversaries, and which, 
as a matter of fact, were carried by the next Liberal Ministry. He 
appointed an ecclesiastical commission to inquire into abuses and 
inequalities existing in the Established Church ; he introduced a bill 
to relieve Dissenters from the disabilities of the marriage laws then in 
force, and another to commute the English tithes into money pay- 
ments. In April, 1835, after an uphill fight, he resigned when Russell 
carried a motion to devote any surplus revenue from the Irish Church 
" to the general education of all the classes of the people without 
religious distinction." He was destined to defeat from the first, and 
he had further embittered the old-line Tories ; but he had established 
his reputation at home and abroad as a man of capacity bound in 
time to return to power. 

The Second Melbourne Ministry, 1835-1841. Brougham. — Since 
Grey refused to resume office, the King was forced to turn again to 
Melbourne and to accept Russell as the leader of the Commons. 
The membership of Melbourne's second Ministry was practically the 
same as his first, with one striking exception. Brougham was not 
included. Melbourne declared he would have nothing more to do 
with him for two reasons : "his whole character and his whole con- 
duct." Though the ex-Chancellor lived until 1868, to the advanced 
age of ninety years, his official career was ended. His faults of temper 
and his indiscretions made him an impossible colleague ; but by his 
remarkable abilities, and his devotion to the cause of political, social, 
and legal reform, he was one of the foremost contributors to the 
progress of the nineteenth century. 

The Municipal Reform Act, 1835. — The most notable achievement 
of the new Ministry was the reform of the municipal corporations. 
In 1833 a commission had been appointed to inquire into the state of 
the municipalities. Its report, presented early in 1835, revealed a 
situation crying for amendment. The Reform Bill had swept away 
many of the small rotten boroughs, and had improved the condition 

1 Parliament, when it met in February, 1835, was forced to hold its sessions in 
temporary quarters. On October 16, owing to carelessness in burning an accumula- 
tion of old Exchequer tallies, a fire had broken out and practically destroyed the 
old parliamentary buildings, with the exception of Westminster Hall. 



THE EPOCH OF REFORM 925 

of parliamentary representation and qualifications for voting in those 
that remained. Its scope, however, did not extend to internal organ- 
ization and administration. The government was very generally in 
the hands of councils, self-elected, irresponsible, and corrupt. The 
number of freemen, who in some cases formed the corporation, was 
usually limited ; in Portsmouth, for instance, there were 102 out of 
46,000 inhabitants, in Cambridge only 118 out of 20,000. Moreover, 
these freemen, usually descendants of the original ratepayers, and 
others arbitrarily added for political purposes, were often poor 
creatures — paupers, indeed, who shared in old charitable endowments 
and enjoyed exemptions from tolls, as well as from other burdens. 
The Municipal Corporations Bill, framed on the basis of the report 
of 1835 and introduced by Russell, provided for drastic changes. All 
boroughs and cities, with the exception of London, — and sixty-seven 
others omitted because of their small size, — were to adopt a uniform 
plan of government. This was to be vested in a town council, con- 
sisting of a mayor, aldermen, and councilors. The councilors were 
to be elected by the ratepayers, together with the freemen who had 
survived the Reform Bill, and were to hold office for three years. 
The mayor was to be chosen annually, and the aldermen every six 
years, by the councilors from their own body. Each borough, too, 
might, if it chose, have a recorder, nominated by the Crown, for the 
conduct of its judicial work. Exclusive trading privileges were 
broken up, and measures were devised to prevent jobbery and thieving. 
For example, much business, formerly in the hands of small com- 
mittees, was transferred to the whole council whose meetings were 
to be public and whose accounts were to be audited annually. The 
bill was supported by Peel ; but was bitterly opposed by the Tory 
peers. Newcastle, for example, denounced it as " the latest prod- 
uct of the arbitrary will of a tyrannical House of Commons." Never- 
theless, it became law, September, 1835. 

The Closing Years of William's Reign, 1836-1837. — In the fol- 
lowing year, 1836, a few other reforms were carried. Chief among 
them was an act converting English tithes in kind into an annual 
rent charge. 1 Another was a measure authorizing Dissenters to cele- 
brate marriages in their own chapels, with a system of registration in 
place of banns. Civil marriages were also allowed ; but the Church 
of England retained the practice of marrying members with banns or 
license. The Ecclesiastical Commission did away with many abuses, 
such as non-residence and pluralities, and performed a notable work 
in reducing the gross inequalities of episcopal and clerical incomes. 
Another step in advance was to allow to prisoners on trial for felony 
the full benefit of counsel. What with the difficulties in Ireland, the 
active obstructionist tactics of the Conservatives, and the claims of 
the Radicals for more progressive measures — for the ballot and house - 

1 Compulsory church rates were abolished in 1868, though voluntary payments 
still continue. 



926 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

hold suffrage, the repeal of the Septennial Act, the abolition of the 
property qualification of the House of Commons, and the reform of 
the House of Lords — the Ministry had stormy sailing. Such was 
the situation when William IV died, 20 June, 1837. He had come to 
the throne late in life, defective in education, and with abilities far 
from great. Yet, while he was erratic and opinionated and grew 
more and more timid of innovation, he was honest, well-meaning, and 
loyal in the support of his ministers. However much or little he con- 
tributed to the result, his reign was marked by a series of reforms 
unsurpassed for number and importance during any period of equal 
length in English history. 

FOR ADDITIONAL READING 

Narrative. Brodrick and Fotheringham, Political History, chs. XIII-XIX. 
Marriott, England since Waterloo, pt. II, chs. V, VI. Cambridge Modern History, 
X, chs. XVIII, XX (bibliography, pp. 856-859, 867-870). Maxwell, Century of 
Empire, I, ch. XIV ; II (1910), chs. I-IV; Bright, III, 1418-1472. Martineau, His- 
tory of England, bks. IV, V. Walpole, History of England, III, chs. XI, XIII ; IV, 
ch.XIV. 

For parliamentary reform see above, ch. XLVIII. Also G. L. Dickinson The 
Development of Parliament in the Nineteenth Century (1895). 

Biographies and special works. E. Ashley, Life of Lord Palmerston (1879), I. 
C. Buxton, Memoirs of Sir Thomas Fowcll Buxton (1898). Torrens, Memoirs of 
' Lord Melbourne (2 vols., 1878). Sir G. O. Trevelyan, Life and Letters of Lord Macau- 
lay (2 vols., 1876) ; a delightful book. E. Hodder, Life of the Seventh Earl of Shaftes- 
bury (1887). B. L. Hutchins, History of Factory Legislation (1903). Sir G. Nicholls 
and T. Mackay, History of the English Poor Law (3 vols., 1004). W. Bagehot, 
Biographical Studies (1880). 

Selections from the sources. Adams and Stephens, nos. 263-265. Robertson, pt. 
I, nos. XLVII-XLVIII ; pt. II, no. XXVI, appendix, pp. 430-438. 



CHAPTER LI 

THE EARLY YEARS OF VICTORIA'S REIGN AND THE TRIUMPH 
OF FREE TRADE (1837-1846) 

The Victorian Age. — When Victoria began her reign of sixty- four 
years, covering an era unique in the progress of civilization, nineteenth- 
century England had already witnessed a goodly number of reforms. 
The political and legal disabilities of the Protestant Dissenters and 
the Roman Catholics had been almost entirely removed ; the most 
glaring defects and inequalities of the representative system had been 
swept away ; the exclusive power of the aristocracy had been broken 
and the middle classes had been admitted to power ; and a new 
humanitarian spirit had manifested itself in measures for the better- 
ment of the lot, not only of men, but of dumb animals. The pros- 
perity of the Colonies had been fostered, and the British Empire had 
begun to extend in a new direction. Rusty shackles which hampered 
the growth of trade and industry had been struck off, and new inven- 
tions and processes were in operation which were to prove revolu- 
tionary in their results. There was still much misery and suffering 
among the lower classes ; but before the new reign was half over they 
began to share in an amazing advance in material prosperity. This 
was due largely to the adjustment of the masses to the new conditions 
of industry ; to the removal of the restrictive duties which still rested 
upon raw materials and foodstuffs ; to enlightened sanitary and 
labor regulations ; and to the wonders achieved by steam and elec- 
tricity. 

Domestic and Foreign Policy. — As the Government by the exten- 
sion of the franchise to the wage-earner came to voice more nearly the 
popular will, it became decidedly paternal in character — utilitarian 
still, but socialistic. Individualism gave way to collectivism. While 
distinctions of rank and wealth continued to exist, the State came to 
intervene for the interest of the masses in all sorts of activities from 
which it formerly held aloof — in popular education, postal savings 
banks, recognition of trade unions, purchase of lands for the tillers 
of the soil, regulation of all sorts of relations between the employer 
and the employed, old-age pensions, and workingmen's insurance. 
In a word, the Government, as it has grown more representative, has 
grown more absolute. Among continental countries the early Vic- 
torian period was marked by great strides in the direction of liberty 
and nationality. While the Queen and her Consort were generally 

927 



928 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

on the side of the established dynasties, the ministers who conducted 
the foreign policy of Great Britain were prevailingly in favor of popular 
and national aspirations, though disinclined to go to the length of armed 
intervention. The death, in 1865, of Palmerston, who had dominated 
British policy during the greater part of the period since 1830, marked 
an epoch. Colonial Empire came to be the absorbing ideal, and Great 
Britain sought to disentangle herself as much as possible from European 
affairs in order to devote her energies to Asia, Africa, and the Pacific. 
Imperial and European interests, however, proved to be too closely 
interwoven to enable her to hold aloof from the complications of the 
adjoining continent. Fear of Russian expansion in Asia forced her 
to take an active part in the affairs of Turkey and the near East, while 
the amazing development of Germany, particularly since the Franco- 
Prussian War, has produced a Power whose industrial, colonial, and 
maritime ambitions have caused Great Britain serious concern, a con- 
cern which has, of late, influenced profoundly her European policy. 

Victoria. Her Early Life and Accession. — Alexandrina Victoria — 
for such was her full name — was born 24 May, 1819. Her father, 
the Duke of Kent, who had spent most of his life in great pecuniary 
embarrassment, died when his daughter was only a year old. She 
was brought up by her mother — a princess of the House of Saxe- 
Coburg — in great simplicity and seclusion. Considering the pre- 
vailing tone of the Court under George IV, this was most fortunate. 
While the Duchess of Kent wisely resolved to educate the little Vic- 
toria in England, she surrounded her with German influences, seeking 
constant council from her brother Leopold, who became King of the 
Belgians in 1832. If life was dull at Kensington Palace, the training 
of the child was wholesome and calculated to develop both mind and 
body. In the gray dawn of a June morning, in 1837, Victoria was 
awakened from her slumbers, and came in slippers with her hair down 
her back and a shawl thrown over her dressing gown to learn from 
the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Lord Chamberlain that she was 
Queen of England. At eleven o'clock the same morning she appeared 
before the Privy Council, and read in a sweet, strong voice the speech 
which Melbourne had prepared for her. She was dressed plainly in 
black, and, though not five feet tall and in no sense a beauty, her dig- 
nity and graciousness, together with her high sense of the responsibili- 
ties of her position, made a profound impression on all those present. 
She was a striking contrast to her two uncles who had preceded her — 
one an effete voluptuary, the other a genial but gusty and prejudiced 
mediocrity. In view of her German connections, a reference in her 
speech to her English education and her love for her " native country ' ; 
was especially tactful. 

The Opening of the New Reign. — But the play of party politics 
weakened somewhat the enthusiasm evoked by her personal charm. 
Peel deplored the accession of an inexperienced maiden in such critical 
times, and there were unsubstantiated rumors of a Tory plot to put 



EARLY YEARS OF VICTORIA'S REIGN 929 

one of her uncles, the Duke of Cumberland, on the throne. The 
Whigs, on the other hand, looked to her to extend them the support 
which William had in his later years withdrawn. Lord John Russell 
expressed the hope that she would prove " an Elizabeth without her 
tyranny, an Anne without her weakness." Hanover, on account of 
the Salic Law which governed the succession, went to the Duke of 
Cumberland. 1 The separation of the German Kingdom contributed 
in a measure to detach Great Britain from European complications. 
Melbourne appointed himself Victoria's political instructor. To a 
man of the world, verging on sixty, immersed in public business, and 
fond of devoting his scant leisure to scholarly pursuits, the task must 
have been far from congenial. With even greater self-denial he as- 
sumed the office of private secretary when the two parties threatened 
to come into conflict over the appointment of a candidate. On the 
whole, he performed his duties cheerfully, and was rewarded with the 
devotion of the young Queen, though, on occasion, she showed startling 
evidences of imperiousness and self-will. While she later acquired 
more self-control, she never, to the end of her life, hesitated to express 
her views fully and frankly. She generally left her ministers to fol- 
low their own choice ; but if it went against her own, she was not slow 
at any time with " private rebuke." Melbourne's Whig influence, 
exerted for parliamentary sovereignty, ministerial responsibility, 
and limitation of the prerogative, was somewhat counterbalanced 
by that of Leopold's trusted friend and former secretary, Baron 
Stockmar, who warned her against becoming a mere "nodding man- 
darin." He advised her, wisely enough, to set herself above parties, 
but he went too far in asserting that she might act as her own minister 
if her abilities warranted it. 

The Civil List, 1837. — One of the earliest acts of the new Parliament, 
which assembled in the autumn, was to settle the Civil List. Recent 
sovereigns had gradually yielded their hereditary revenues, and, 
in return, various public expenses formerly paid out of the royal in- 
come had been transferred to the Consolidated Fund. According to 
the arrangement made by Melbourne, Victoria received an annual 
grant of £385,000, £10,000 more than her predecessor ; but the old 
pension and secret service funds amounting to £75,000 and £10,000, 
respectively, were done away with. The Queen, however, was al- 
lowed to create pensions to the amount of £1200 annually, over and 
above her royal income. These grants, which eventually accumulated 
to about £23,000 a year, were confined to rewards for contributions 
to art and literature or for other forms of public service not political ; 
also to assisting meritorious persons in need of help. Efforts on the 
part of Radicals to reduce the amount appropriated for the Civil List 
proved unavailing. The revenues from Lancaster and Cornwall, 2 

1 Hanover was annexed by Prussia after the Austro-Prussian War of 1866. 

2 The income of the Duchy of Cornwall went to the Prince of Wales, when there 
was one. 

30 



930 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

the only remaining hereditary revenues, which under William 
amounted to only £25,000, increased under his successor to £60,000 
and £66,000, respectively. The latter went to the Queen's eldest 
son when he came of age. In addition, the allowance of the 
Duchess of Kent was increased from £22,000 to £30,000. Subse- 
quently, more than £200,000 a year was granted in annuities to 
the Prince Consort and the royal children. Victoria very properly 
devoted part of her income to the payment of her father's debts, 
amounting to £50,000. 

The Canadian Problem, 1 791-1837. — Although Ireland was very 
unquiet, the first crisis which Victoria's ministers had to face arose in 
Canada. The population there consisted of two sharply distinct 
elements. One was the original French stock — Roman Catholic in 
faith and bound by ancient racial traditions — which, under the 
Quebec Act of 1774, enjoyed freedom of worship and the privilege of 
trial by French law in civil cases. The other element was made up of 
British emigrants — pushing, progressive, and chiefly Protestants. 
In 1 791 Pitt carried his Quebec Government Bill, which divided the 
country into the two provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, with the 
object of separating the British in the west from the French in the 
older eastern part. This policy was opposed unsuccessfully by Fox, 
who was in favor of uniting rather than dividing the races. The 
problem of government, grave enough under any circumstances, was 
accentuated by the constitution of 1791, which, regardless of French 
prejudices, set up the same form, on the English model, for each prov- 
ince. It was composed of a governor, an executive and legislative 
council of life members, all appointed by the Crown, together with a 
representative assembly, the members of which were elected every 
four years. Since the inert French occupied the more desirable situa- 
tion on the lower St. Lawrence and lay as a barrier between the 
'newer settlements and the sea, the British pressed in to Lower Canada, 
and succeeded in forcing a number of their candidates into the legisla- 
tive council. Many of these were professional politicians and agita- 
tors who fomented discontent. The French resented this intrusion ; 
moreover, they regarded as a particular grievance the fact that one 
seventh of all Canadian lands were set apart for the maintenance of 
the Anglican clergy. 1 The crisis began to develop when, in 1832, the 
Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada refused to grant money for the 
payment of the councilors whom they regarded as British agents. 

The Canadian Revolt, 1837. — • For five years they continued to 
hold up supplies, while the executive authorities seized, for their 
salaries and other expenses, such moneys as they could get their hands 
on. The Assembly insisted on their rights to control the revenue, 
and the public lands as well, and demanded, further, that the Legisla- 
tive Council should be made elective. Finally, under the lead of Louis 

1 These were the so-called "clergy reserves." In addition, the Crown reserved 
another seventh, and much more was appropriated by influential jobbers. 



EARLY YEARS OF VICTORIA'S REIGN 931 

Joseph Papineau, they refused to carry on public business, and were 
declared dissolved. Stormy meetings of protest followed, and an 
attempt to arrest the chief malcontents resulted in armed outbreak, 
in 1837, which was not put down without bloodshed. The disaffection 
spread to Upper Canada, which was influenced by republican sympa- 
thizers across the American border. The main causes of discontent 
in the Upper Province were four : (1) The fact that the Council was not 
responsible to the Legislature; (2) that the Government was in the 
hands of a few wealthy families ; (3) that lax administration resulted 
in a debt of £1,000,000; and (4) that their development was ham- 
pered by their unfavorable geographical position. The trouble here, 
however, did not attain serious dimensions. Major Head, the 
Governor-General, a Waterloo veteran, was daring enough to send 
his regular troops to the seat of fighting, and to rely on the militia 
and the loyal subjects to keep order in his province. The plan worked 
well ; but he was so severely criticized at home that he resigned. Sub- 
sequently, however, he was rewarded with a baronetcy. 

Lord Durham's Mission, 1838. — Russell, now Home Secretary, 
carried a bill, in 1838, to suspend the constitution of Lower Canada 
and to send out a Lord High Commissioner " with full powers to deal 
with the Rebellion, and to remodel the constitutions of both provinces." 
Lord Durham, chosen for the post, was an advanced reformer, and a 
man of abilities and energy, but of a fiery and masterful temper, 
and wholly devoid of tact. His mission saved Canada, but at the 
cost of his own career. On his arrival, in May, 1838, he at once 
assumed the position of a dictator. He issued a proclamation in which, 
while he threatened extreme punishment for the rebellious, he invited 
the Colonists to cooperate with him in devising a system of govern- 
ment suited to their needs. In spite of the fact that his original 
powers had been greatly reduced since his appointment, he next 
proceeded to launch a series of ordinances, proclaiming " a very liberal 
amnesty," with striking exceptions. He forbade certain leaders 
who had escaped, Papineau among the number, to return under 
pain of death ; furthermore, he exiled to Bermuda others who were in 
custody. While his method was high-handed, his aim was just and 
merciful. He wanted to carry on his work of reorganization free 
from hostile interference. He might have secured the conviction of 
the dangerous by packed juries, but he scorned to employ such a 
device. Moreover, trusting in the lighteousness of his intentions, 
he set aside the Council, and selected advisers, chiefly from his own 
secretaries and other officials. The event showed that he aimed to 
use his powers for the establishment of a liberal, constitutional govern- 
ment; but his dictatorial methods aroused a fury of opposition in 
Canada and in England. 1 Yielding to a bitter attack in the House of 

1 One of the many charges against him related to the gorgeous pomp in which 
he traveled through the provinces. As a matter of fact, he paid his own personal 
expenses. The mission cost him £10,000. 



932 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

Lords, the Cabinet, which at first had approved the Quebec Ordinances, 
decided to disallow them. When Durham learned of this action, he 
started for home, first issuing a remarkable proclamation in which he 
appealed to the Colonists against the Home Government. This 
led to his formal recall and earned for him the name, " Lord High 
Seditioner." 

Durham's Report and its Consequences. — Although his mission 
seemed a failure, it bore enduring fruit in his famous Report, printed 
in February, 1839, which " laid the foundations of the political 
success and social prosperity, not only of Canada, but of all other 
important colonies." Durham advised that, except in the matters 
affecting the relations between the Colonies and the Mother Country 
— such as foreign affairs and the regulation of trade — the making 
and execution of the laws should be in the hands of the Colonists 
themselves. All officials save the Governor and his secretary were 
to be responsible to the elected legislature. The " Clergy Reserves " 
were to be abolished. Upper and Lower Canada were to be again 
united with an assembly representing both provinces. Furthermore, 
the other British North American colonies might, with the consent 
of the Canadian Government, be admitted to the union. In short, 
the Durham report recommended self-government in internal affairs, 
reunion, and possible federation. In July, 1840, the Canada Govern- 
ment Bill, embodying the substance of Durham's suggestions, passed 
through Parliament and was carried into effect the following year. 
A few days after the measure became law, Durham died at the age of 
forty-eight. His end was doubtless hastened by the Canadian mission. 
The constitution which he suggested for Canada became a model for 
those granted within the next few years to such British possessions as 
were capable of exercising the privileges in every quarter of the globe. 
Truly the " individual withers, but the world grows more and more." 
In 1867, by the British North American Act, the four provinces of 
Quebec (Lower Canada), Ontario (Upper Canada), New Brunswick, 
and Nova Scotia were united into the Dominion of Canada. The 
executive was vested in the Governor- General appointed by the 
Crown, who was in turn to choose lieutenant governors for the feder- 
ated provinces. Also, a federal parliament was set up, consisting of a 
senate, composed of members appointed for life by the Governor- 
General, and a representative legislature. Each province was to have 
its own legislature for local concerns. 1 

The Irish Poor Law and Commutation of Tithes, 1838. — At the 
beginning of Victoria's reign O'Connell and his followers were, in 
general, supporting the Whig Ministry, which favored a conciliatory 
Irish policy, while the Conservative Opposition was inclined to main- 

1 In 1870 Manitoba (made up from the old Hudson Bay territory) joined the 
federation. British Columbia and Vancouver followed in 187 1, Prince Edward 
Island in 1873. The provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan were created in 1905. 
Newfoundland, alone, now remains outside the Canadian federation. 



EARLY YEARS OF VICTORIA'S REIGN 933 

tain the English ascendancy by force. Three questions were pending : 
poor relief, municipal reform, and the settlement of tithes. In 1838 a 
Poor Law Bill was passed extending to Ireland the chief features of 
the English measure. This was bitterly opposed by the Irish contin- 
gent in the House of Commons on the ground that their poor were too 
numerous to be provided for in the workhouses. In the same year a 
bill was passed converting the tithes into a fixed rent charge, amounting 
to 75 per cent of their nominal value and payable by the landlord. 
The Government waived its right to collect the advances it had made, 
and voted a quarter of a million pounds for the extinction of arrears. 
The measure was only carried through the Upper House by the aban- 
donment of the attempt to carry the " appropriation clause " (see 
above, p. 919) which had been a bone of contention since 1833. 
The Irish municipal corporations were under the control of self-ap- 
pointed Protestant councils. A measure was introduced, also in 
1838, conferring the right of election on persons paying a rental of 
£5 a year. The Lords amended the qualification to £10, which 
caused the Ministry to drop the bill. It was carried in 1840 in the 
form suggested by the Peers. The Irish policy of the Govern- 
ment was thus far from successful. The Poor Law was unpopular 
and ineffective, the two other measures were only carried by funda- 
mental concessions to the Opposition. The Irish executive was in 
the hands of liberal-minded men. They saw that the difficulties 
were social and economic rather than political — oppression by land- 
lords, overpopulation, lack of productive forms of employment. The 
Protestant landlords' interests, however, insisted that the discontent 
and disorders were due to the conciliatory attitude of the Administra- 
tion. A famous phrase of the permanent Under-Secretary Drummond 
— "property has its duties as well as its rights" — particularly 
roused their fury. 

The Suspension of the Jamaica Constitution, 1839. — The Mel- 
bourne Ministry in this period has been aptly compared to a water- 
logged wreck into which the enemies from all quarters were pouring 
broadsides. In the Lords it was exposed to the powerful attacks 
of Brougham and Lyndhurst. In the Commons it had to run the 
gauntlet of Peel on the one side and of the Radicals on the other. 1 
Outside, the middle classes, disturbed by the prevailing evidences of 
unrest and by the violent speeches of agitators, were moving toward 
the Conservative ranks, while the laboring classes were as far removed 
from the Whigs as ever. Weakened by the trend of events in Canada, 
in Ireland, and in England, the Cabinet was in no condition to resist a 

1 There was a small group of the latter, known as the "philosophical Radicals," 
who, in addition to demanding more political power for the masses, were contending 
for free trade, compulsory education, disestablishment of the Irish Church, re- 
vision of the game laws, abolition of flogging in the army, and many other reforms. 
Canning had once compared them to "firebrands, when they touch the floor of 
the House, hiss and expire," nor did they ever succeed in forming a strong permanent 
party. Nevertheless, most of their programme has since been enacted into law. 



934 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

West Indian crisis which centered in Jamaica. The planters had been 
hard hit by the emancipation of their slaves. The freedmen were 
disinclined to work and were often disorderly. It proved increasingly 
difficult to meet foreign competition. Within a few years the produc- 
tion of sugar fell off more than a third, and that of coffee nearly one 
half. On the other hand, the planters, now that the slaves were no 
longer their property, abused the apprenticeship system, as long as it 
lasted, by starving their hands, working them to death in the fields, 
and having them cruelly flogged in the houses of correction. This 
started a new wave of sentiment in favor of the blacks, and the Govern- 
ment was forced to frame measures for the regulation of their treat- 
ment in prison. The result was to produce such manifestations of dis- 
affection among the planters that a bill was introduced into Parliament, 
9 April, 1839, to suspend the Jamaica Constitution for five years. The 
bill, in spite of the provocation which prompted it, was so drastic and 
so fraught with dangerous possibilities that it only carried in the Com- 
mons by a majority of five. Melbourne, realizing that his situation 
was hopeless, resigned early in May, 1839. 

The Bedchamber Question, 1839. — He was brought back to 
office again by a curious episode known as the Bedchamber Question ; 
for which the Queen, Melbourne, and Peel must all share the 
blame. Victoria had a high sense of public duty ; however, she not 
only lacked experience, but she was still very much of a child both in 
her artlessness and her willfulness. 1 The loss of her beloved adviser 
brought her to tears ; but recovering herself she sent for Wellington. 
Upon his refusal to form a Ministry, she turned to Peel. Since most 
of her lady attendants were representatives of the Whig families, 
he felt the necessity of substituting a few associated with his own 
party. He had no intention of making a clean sweep ; but merely 
desired to remove the Mistress of the Robes and two or three of the 
ladies in waiting. Unfortunately — • and here was his blunder — he 
did not explain clearly what he wanted to do. Victoria became 
enraged and refused to make any changes among her lady attendants, 
declaring that such a step was " contrary to usage " and " repugnant 
to her feelings." They thought to treat her as a child, she wrote to 
Peel, but she would show them that she was Queen of England. Peel 
replied that there must be some misunderstanding, and stubbornly 
declined to form a Ministry. The Queen was much elated and turned 
again to Melbourne. With some reluctance — he is said to have re- 

1 (Tarlyle noted on the day of her coronation, 28 June, 1838 : "Poor little Queen ! 
she is at an age at which a girl can hardly be trusted to choose a bonnet for herself ; 
yet a task is laid upon her from which an archangel might shrink." After the solemn 
ceremony was over she went home, took off her gorgeous robes of State, and gave 
her pet spaniel its afternoon bath. Mendelssohn, visiting Buckingham Palace in 
1842, has a pretty story of how she got down on her hands and knees to help him 
pick up some music scattered by the wind, and how she later, after making a formal 
visit of State, attended by red-coated outriders, sang, with the' greatest bashful- 
ness, a little song for him. 



EARLY YEARS OF VICTORIA'S REIGN 935 

marked: "Nobody thinks I want to stay, do they?" — -he was 
induced to resume office. Whether he was moved by weak good 
nature or by chivalrous devotion toward his sovereign, he made a 
mistake. The Queen herself afterwards confessed that she had 
acted hastily. Peel was quite right in not forming an Administration 
so long as the wives and other relatives of his political opponents had 
the ear of a ruler so young and inexperienced, but his lack of tact 
and exaggerated suspicions alienated many who actually believed that 
the Ministry had crept back in " behind the petticoats of the ladies 
in waiting." 1 The Bedchamber Question never occurred again. 
The ladies of the household ceased to be drawn from one party ; 
it became the settled practice for the Mistress of the Robes to be 
changed with each new Government, but the other places were no 
longer considered political. The old Ministry continued for two years 
more, while the Tories grew so bitter that the Queen declared : " They 
do all in their power to make themselves odious to me." 

The Queen's Marriage, 10 February, 1840. — Early in 1840, Vic- 
toria contracted a marriage with a prince whose wise and sober coun- 
sels contributed greatly to curb her masterful and impetuous temper. 
Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha was her first cousin. Their Uncle 
Leopold looked forward to the match from their earliest youth ; 
but the final choice was really made by the Queen from a list of possible 
suitors. And the pair felt a devotion for one another almost unex- 
ampled in alliances of State. The marriage announcement, hailed 
with joy by many, was condemned by the Tory party leaders. Al- 
bert's German birth gave them a handle, and, although his family were 
all Lutheran, the rumor got afloat that he was a " Papist," and 
Wellington carried a motion in the Lords censuring the Ministers for 
having failed to make a public declaration of his Protestantism. 
The Queen intensified the opposition by the demands which she made 
on his behalf. In the first place she insisted that he be created King 
Consort. Melbourne ■ was finally driven to declare: "For God's 
sake, Madam, let's have no more of this ! " Albert was subsequently 
created Prince Consort by royal letters patent in 1857. A second 
difficulty arose when she prompted the Ministers to ask that his an- 
nuity be fixed at £50,000. Though it was no more than the queen con- 
sorts of recent kings had been receiving, both Tories and Radicals 
attacked the amount as extravagant and succeeded in reducing it to 
£30,000. A third cause of friction arose from the Queen's attempt to 
give him precedence next to herself. When Parliament refused to 
agree, she sought to accomplish her purpose by a royal warrant. Much 
to her chagrin, her action was never recognized by foreign Powers. 
The final difficulty came when he assumed the office of royal private 
secretary, which Melbourne turned over to him. Prejudice against 
foreigners and fear of his influence over the Queen enabled his op- 

1 The popular toast was : "The Queen would not let her belles be Peeled," 



936 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

ponents, for some time, to limit his activity. Gradually, however, 
as his prudence and capacity came to be appreciated, he gained an 
increasing share in public business, he assumed most of the responsi- 
bilities properly belonging to the Queen, and, in fact, if not in name, 
became with her the joint ruler of the nation. Yet it is questionable 
whether Albert became really popular. He had many admirable 
qualities : he was highly educated and accomplished ; he was public 
spirited and charitable; he was a patron of literature, science, and 
art ; but he had no fondness for English sports or for ordinary society, 
and was self-absorbed, cold, and formal. 

Stockdale vs. Hansard, 1839-1840. — Meantime, an important con- 
stitutional issue was being worked out. In 1835 reports and other 
papers published by Parliament were for the first time placed on sale 
for the public. In the following year, the inspectors of the prisons 
in their first report referred to a book, which they found in circulation 
at Newgate, as disgusting and indecent. Stockdale, the publisher, 
proceeded to bring a suit against Hansard, the printer of the report. 
Hansard pleaded, first, that the publication, being authorized by the 
House of Commons, was privileged, and, second, that the libel was 
true. The jury found for the defendant on the second issue ; but the 
Lord Chief Justice declared in his charge that an order of the House 
of Commons was not sufficient justification " for any bookseller who 
published a parliamentary report containing a libel against any man." 
The Commons at once took up the matter and passed a resolution 
challenging the decision as a breach of parliamentary privilege. This 
was in 1837. Stockdale, encouraged by the attitude of the court, bought 
four successive copies of the Prisons Report, and, during the year 
1839 and 1840, brought four successive actions against Hansard, re- 
covering damages in each case. The Commons, insisting on its privi- 
leges, committed to custody Stockdale, his attorney, the sheriff who col- 
lected the damages, as well as many others involved in the suit. The 
Ministry finally found it necessary to intervene, and Russell introduced 
a bill, which passed in April, 1840, providing that such actions as that of 
Stockdale vs. Hansard should be stayed on the production of a certifi- 
cate that matter complained of was printed by order of either House 
of Parliament. While the judges did not feel themselves bound by 
the resolutions of the Lower House, they had to yield to a statute. 

Penny Postage, 1839-1840. — The declining years of the second 
Melbourne Administration were notable for the introduction of the 
adhesive stamp and of a uniform penny postage for letters, under half 
an ounce in weight, sent to any point in the United Kingdom. This 
reform, which went into effect in January, 1840, revolutionized com- 
munication. It was due to Rowland Hill, who published a pamphlet 
on Post Office reform in 1837. Hitherto, rates had not only been 
exorbitant, but had varied according to the size, weight, and shape of 
the letter. It cost a shilling from London to Aberdeen or Belfast, 
and the average price was sixpence. By the abuse of franking, which 



EARLY YEARS OF VICTORIA'S REIGN 037 

had not been wholly done away with, many persons, who could best 
afford to pay, were exempt. To evade the extreme charges, an ex- 
tensive system of smuggling developed, and it is said that five sixths 
of the letters between London and Manchester were conveyed il- 
licitly. 1 Rowland Hill, when he set about investigating the subject, 
came to the conclusion that the cost of sending mail was trifling, 
that the distance made little difference, and the profit increased with 
the number of letters sent. One of the chief advantages of his system 
was the immense amount of labor saved in measuring every letter 
and calculating the distance it had come. In spite of -its merits it had 
to encounter a storm of opposition. Sidney Smith denounced it as 
the " nonsensical Penny Post scheme," calculated to fill " reasonable 
men with alarm." The Postmaster-General attacked it in the House 
of Lords as the " wildest and most extravagant " plan of which he had 
ever heard. The number of letters, he predicted, would so increase 
that : " the walls of the Post Office would burst, the whole area in 
which the building stands would not be large enough to receive the 
checks and letters." While the Post Office business has increased to 
an extent that this dismal prophet never dreamed of, the officials 
have readily handled it, and Rowland Hill is now recognized as one 
of the great practical reformers of the nineteenth century. 

Popular Discontent. — Meanwhile, the working classes, who had 
hoped much from the Reform Bill and the legislation which followed, 
were grievously disappointed when they realized that the chief result 
had been merely to shift the balance of power from the landed aristoc- 
racy to the merchant and manufacturing capitalist. Many causes 
contributed to accentuate their misery and discontent. A series of 
bad harvests, beginning in 1837, brought intense suffering, while the 
high protective tariff prevented any relief from the importation of 
foodstuffs. Moreover, the lesser folk had not yet adjusted themselves 
to the vast industrial changes following the introduction of machinery 
during the past half century. People flocked from the country 
to the towns, which grew too fast to absorb them. Poverty, over- 
crowding, and horrible unsanitary conditions prevailed. Families 
were huddled together in narrow, filthy streets, often in dark and ill- 
smelling cellars. No provision was made for drainage or ventilation. 
Men, women, and children worked long hours for the scantiest wages. 2 
The laissez-faire doctrines, which dominated political and economic 
philosophy, favored unrestricted competition, and stoutly opposed 
State intervention for regulating conditions of industry and helping 

1 One device, noted by the poet Coleridge, was very ingenious. He saw a post- 
man deliver a letter to a woman at a poor cottage. After looking at it, she declared 
she could not pay the shilling charged. Much against her will, Coleridge paid 
for it. When the postman had gone, she explained that, by an arrangement between 
her brother and herself, he sent her a blank sheet every three months to inform her 
that he was well. 

2 Graphic pictures may be found in Disraeli's Sybil, and Mrs. Gaskell's Mary 
Barton. 



938 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

the laborer. The Factory Act of 1833 had only made the barest 
beginning in this direction. Private charity had neither the organiza- 
tion nor the will to render much aid. The New Poor Law caused 
much immediate hardship, leaving to the destitute no alternative 
between starvation and the workhouse. In these institutions men 
were separated from their wives, and the inmates were subjected to 
injustice, deprivation, and cruelty of which Dickens's Oliver Twist 
presents a stirring picture. Conditions were in the making which were 
to lead to better things. As yet, however, none of them were realities 
and the prevailing bitterness and discontent were emphasized by the 
" belief that the young Queen was wholly under the influence of a 
frivolous and selfish Minister who occupied her with amusements while 
the people were starving." 

The Beginnings of the Socialistic Movement. — The revolt against 
the existing situation was manifested in three distinct movements 
— socialism and trade unionism ; chartism ; and the anti-corn law 
agitation. The pioneer of the socialists was Robert Owen (1771-1858) 
who from a shop assistant rose to be a rich cotton manufacturer. 
He established schools for the poor, he labored for improved factory 
conditions, he advocated cooperative production ; and even made an 
experiment in communism at New Harmony, Indiana in America. 
About 1834 the part of his programme which aimed at the control of 
production by the workingmen began to be enthusiastically agitated. 
The chief agencies for carrying on the propaganda were the trade 
unions which had begun to come into being in 1829. These organiza- 
tions aimed to limit the hours of work and to raise wages, 1 mainly by 
means of " strikes." The Grand National Consolidated Trades 
Union, which was started in 1834 and soon numbered half a million 
members, designed to group together the various local societies and 
was even extended to the agriculturalists. Owing to the energetic 
action of the employers, who dismissed their men belonging to the 
Union and to the hostile attitude of the Government which sentenced 
half a dozen of the members to transportation, 2 the movement col- 
lapsed. It was years before trades unionism became an effective 
force. 

Chartism. The First Phase, to 1839. — Chartism and socialism 
have sometimes been confused, but their methods were essentially 
different ; they had nothing in common except a desire to improve the 
condition of the laboring classes. The Chartist movement may be 
traced to a Workingman's Association, founded in London in 1836, 
which developed into an organization for extending the political powers 
of th.3 people. This was totally at variance with the aims of Owen 

1 They aimed, however, to keep them at an equal level, regardless of the apti- 
tude or industry of the individual workman. 

2 A procession of trade unionists, numbering, it has been estimated, about 
30,000, marched to Whitehall to protest against this sentence ; but Lord Melbourne 
refused to receive them. 



EARLY YEARS OF VICTORIA'S REIGN 939 

and his adherents who did not believe in political remedies. In 1837 
the Association embodied its demands in a petition containing six 
points: (1) manhood suffrage ; (2) vote by ballot ; (3) abolition of 
the property qualification for membership in Parliament ; (4) pay- 
ment of members ; (5) equal electoral districts ; and (6) annual 
parliaments. The movement got its name from this " Charter," as 
Daniel O'Connell called it. Most of the reforms it contained had 
been urged by the Radicals since the beginning of the century, and, 
with the exception of the last in the list, all of them have since been 
conceded. 1 The Chartist agitation, as such, however, after an inter- 
mittent and stormy history, collapsed. Yet for a time it was very 
active and soon reached a violent stage. Chief among its leaders 
was Feargus O'Connor (1794-1855) whose father and uncle had been 
involved in the Rebellion of 1798. Unbalanced from the first and 
extremely intemperate, he ultimately lost his mind altogether. Since 
1835 he had been busy in the northern and midland counties preach- 
ing Radical ideas and working for the repeal of the Poor Law. In 1837 
he founded at Leeds the Northern Star, which became the main organ 
of the party. Owing to his egotism and the incoherence of his ideas, 
he soon quarreled with the other leaders ; but he long retained his hold 
on the rank and file. The Charter was published in May, 1838. Organi- 
zations were formed in various parts of the country, and huge meetings 
were-held to further the work. The Birmingham Political Union, es- 
tablished in the days of the Reform Bill agitation, was revived by 
Attwood, its founder, who suggested a national convention and a 
national petition to Parliament. The Convention was organized 
and met in London in February, 1839. Unfortunately, the movement 
passed beyond the control of the Workingman's Association, which 
had framed the original programme. The moderates withdrew, and 
the violent or physical force party became supreme. For reasons 
of safety the Convention moved to Birmingham, where an attempt of 
the police to interfere with a meeting provoked a riot. This, and the 
rejection of the Chartist petition, which was presented to Parliament 
a few days later, led to a series of insurrections. In November an 
attempt to seize the town of Newport, in Wales, was frustrated by 
the military after considerable bloodshed. John Frost, the leader, 
with two companions, was convicted of high treason and sentenced 
to transportation for life. This put an end to the Chartist agitation 
for some years. The lack of any controlling mind was largely re- 
sponsible for what had happened. The division in the ranks between 
the peaceful and the violent elements proved fatal. Perhaps even 
more decisive was the fact that the leading Chartists opposed the 
Anti-Corn Law movement which was in the hands of.sober, earnest men 
of the middle classes. The majority preferred cheap bread to the 

1 A possible exception is the right to vote ; but Great Britain practically has uni- 
versal manhood suffrage. 



94 o A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 






vague possibilities of a political millennium promised by extremists 
and visionaries. 

The Anti-Corn Law Movement, 1838-1841. — The center of the 
agitation for free trade was the manufacturing district in and about 
Manchester. Although the movement against the Corn Laws actually 
began in London it made little progress there. The Manchester 
School of politicians saw that it was for their advantage to have not 
only cheap raw materials but also cheap food for those whom they 
employed. A period of stagnation, resulting in scarcity of work and 
reduction of wages, gave the impetus. In 1838 the Anti-Corn Law 
League was organized in Lancashire with Manchester as the head- 
quarters. 1 Large amounts of money were subscribed, hundreds of 
thousands of pamphlets were issued, and lecturers were sent all over 
the country to bring the question before the people. For years 
Charles Villiers (1 802-1 898), a member of one of the most aristocratic 
families in England, had been introducing into Parliament annual 
motions for the repeal of the Corn Laws, and is entitled to much credit. 
But the real leaders of the movement were Richard Cobden (1804- 
1865) and John Bright (1811-1889). In 1835 Cobden became ac- 
quainted with Bright, and later induced him to join in the work on 
which he had set his heart. Both were manufacturers sprung from 
middle-class stock. The older man by his gift of persuasive reasonable- 
ness and the younger by his powers of fervid oratory, unequaled in 
his generation, formed a combination that proved irresistible on the 
platform and in the House of Commons. But they had a long uphill 
struggle against vested interests and ingrained prejudice. 2 It was a 
tariff question which finally overthrew the decrepit Melbourne Ministry, 
which had been staggering along since 1839 with a steadily growing 
deficit. In 1841 the Chancellor of the Exchequer proposed to reduce 
the differential duty 3 on foreign sugar from 63 to 36 shillings the hun- 
dredweight, while Russell announced a plan to substitute a fixed duty 
of 8 shillings the quarter on wheat in place of the existing sliding scale. 
While the Ministry was mainly actuated by the hope of obtaining 
more revenue by encouraging consumption, it is not unlikely that they 
were influenced also by the growing agitation for cheaper food. The 
Chancellor's motion was defeated in the Commons, 7 May, 1841. 
Instead of resigning, the Government proceeded to introduce Russell's 
resolution and was again beaten. An appeal to the country resulted 
in a Tory victory at the polls. When, in the new Parliament, Peel, 

1 Free Trade Hall was built on the site of the Manchester Massacre of 1819. 

2 Melbourne declared in the course of a debate in 1839: "To leave the whole 
agricultural interest without protection, I declare before God that I think it the 
wildest and maddest scheme that has ever entered into the imagination of man- 
kind to conceive." Lord Essex said of the League that it was "the most cunning, 
unscrupulous, knavish, pestilent body of men that ever plagued this or any other 
country." 

3 This was a duty for the protection of the Colonies against foreign competition. 
Their duty of 245. was to remain unchanged. 



EARLY YEARS OF VICTORIA'S REIGN 941 

28 August, carried a vote of censure Lord Melbourne at length laid 
down his office. 

The Second Ministry of Peel, 1841-1846. The Budget of 1842. — 
Peel's Ministry contained many men of tried ability and a number of 
young men of promise. Chief among the latter was Gladstone, who 
was Vice-President of the Board of Trade. The deficit was the 
most pressing problem confronting the new Prime Minister. He pro- 
ceeded to deal with it in 1842. In the first place, he modified the slid- 
ing scale of 1828, aiming, by a slight readjustment and modification 
of duties, to encourage the importation of foreign corn. Secondly, 
out of 1200 dutiable articles he reduced the tariff on 750. The articles 
were grouped in three classes : raw materials which were to pay 5 per 
cent; partly manufactured goods, 12 per cent; and completed prod- 
ucts, 20 per cent. In addition, the duties were lowered on provisions 
and timber. Thirdly, in order to provide against possible loss of 
revenue and to meet the deficit, he revived the Income Tax, 1 abolished 
at the close of the Great War. In 1843 the import and export duties on 
wool were swept away entirely. Peel had been put into office pledged 
to protection, and while he had not yet abandoned protectionist prin- 
ciples, he had taken such a long step in the direction of free trade that 
his followers began to ask : " Whither will he lead us? " 2 

The Bank Charter Act of 1844. — Peel's Bank Charter Act of 1844, 
though it has not escaped criticism, was a notable achievement, de- 
signed to meet a real danger. From 1834 to 1836 joint stock banks 
had increased from fifty-five to a hundred, and went on growing, 
though less rapidly, as well as putting forth many branches. While 
they were issuing great quantities of paper money, vast amounts of 
gold were being shipped to the United States to meet the demands of 
an abnormal growth of business and speculation. During the three 
years from January, 1834, to January, 1837, the bullion in the Bank of 
England was reduced from £10,000,000 to £4,000,000, while, at the 
same time, £29,000,000 of notes were in circulation. Meantime, 
a financial reaction had set in. By the close of 1836 England was on 
the verge of a crisis. She passed it safely ; but at the expense of a 
shrinkage in business which led to misery and discontent, manifesting 
itself in riots, Chartism, and Anti-Corn Law agitation. In the United 
States the panic ran its full course : every bank in the country stopped 
payment, while 180 failed completely. Peel undertook a banking 
reform for two reasons. As a politician he was opposed to a policy 
which led to commercial depression and popular unrest. As a finan- 
cier he disapproved of a system which permitted an indefinite increase 
of paper money that did not rest on an adequate basis of bullion. 

1 7d. was imposed in every £100 on all incomes over £150. At varying rates, 
the income tax has proved a main source of British revenue ever since. 

2 They had before their eyes, as Lord Stanhope expressed it : "the strange and 
lamentable spectacle of the vessel of State, navigated by the Conservatives and 
bearing the Conservative flag, steering a Whig course." 



94 2 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

By the Act of 1844 he provided for a separation of the department of 
the Bank of England which issued notes, from that conducting or- 
dinary banking business. Henceforth, too, the issues of the Bank 
were to be covered by bullion, three fourths in gold, except for £14,- 
000,000 covered by Government securities. Peel wished also to pro- 
hibit the note issues of the country banks, but went no further than 
prohibiting the new ones from issuing notes, limiting the old ones to the 
existing amounts, and requiring weekly reports. 

The Second Free Trade Budget, 1845. — By retaining the Income 
Tax Peel was able in 1845 to abolish more duties and to further reduce 
others. Export duties were done away with altogether, likewise 
the duty on cotton, and the excise on glass. Stanley, who was now 
in the House of Lords, reported that " our men look sulky." In the 
Commons, the protectionist contingent found a champion in Benjamin 
Disraeli (1804-1881). He came of a Jewish family who had em- 
braced the Christian faith, and he had first come into prominence as 
a dandy and a writer of novels. In 1837 he entered Parliament as a 
radical Tory. His first speech, while in a way a failure, marked him 
to the discerning as an unusual man. Gradually he gathered about 
him a group known as the Young England party, which did not 
long survive. Its guiding aim was a union of the sovereign and the 
nobility with the masses against the middle-class capitalists. He soon 
began to dazzle the Commons by his brilliancy ; but it required persist- 
ent effort before he could win their confidence. When Peel formed his 
Ministry Disraeli asked him for office, a fact which he afterwards 
unscrupulously denied. However, he refrained from attacking his 
leader until the latter began to depart from protectionist principles. 
Then he turned on him all his marvelous powers of ready and biting 
invective. He denounced the Conservative Government as an 
" organized hypocrisy." The Prime Minister, he declared, had caught 
the Whigs bathing and had run away with their clothes. The analogy 
was more clever than correct. It was the liberal Tories, Huskisson 
and Canning, who had made the first move in the direction of free 
trade, while the Whigs as a party had not as yet shown any enthusiasm 
for the policy. Meantime, the Anti-Corn Law League had become a 
great fact. Subscriptions which had begun at £5000, in 1839, had in- 
creased, in 1844, to nearly £90,000. The growing conviction of 
Peel is significantly illustrated by the story that when, 13 March, 1845, 
Cobden had finished a convincing speech, the Prime Minister crumpled 
the notes he had been taking, and, turning to Sidney Herbert, one 
of his younger ministers, said : " You must answer this, for I cannot." 
The victory of free trade was not far off. Meantime, laudable steps 
were taken to improve conditions of labor in mines and factories. 

Regulation of Labor in Mines and Factories, 1842-1844. — The 
leader in this movement was Lord Ashley who had carried the Factory 
Act of 1833. His efforts met determined resistance from many 
quarters. The laissez-faire politicians and economists were opposed 



EARLY YEARS OF VICTORIA'S REIGN 943 

to any interference with free competition. Employers wanted long 
hours and cheap labor. Parents, failing to realize that employment of 
women and children kept down the level of wages, were desirous to 
have every possible member of the family at work. Peel expressed 
the opinion that further labor restrictions would drive capitalists out of 
England. The Manchester School took the same attitude. But the 
growing humanitarian sentiment prevailed. Ashley secured the 
appointment of a commission to inquire into conditions in mines and 
collieries. Its report, published in 1842, was an " awful document " 
which called forth a feeling of " shame, terror, and indignation." 
In some places children of four years were found at work. The mines 
were often stifling and dripping with wet. Women and children had 
to crawl on their hands and knees along passages from two to three 
feet high, dragging heavy carts by chains passing between their legs 
and fastened by girdles around their waists. Frequently, they 
were forced to toil on alternate days from sixteen to twenty hours out of 
the twenty-four. The moral effect of such degrading labor, without 
education or recreation, can be imagined. Ashley managed to 
carry a bill, in 1842, excluding women from the mines altogether. He 
proposed to exclude boys under thirteen as well, but had to submit 
to an amendment of the House of Lords admitting those over ten for 
three days a week. He then returned to the factory question, and 
with the help of Peel and the Home Secretary, Sir James Graham, a 
bill was passed in 1844 which limited the hours of women to twelve. 
The hours of children under thirteen were reduced from nine to six 
and a half. Peel, who had come to see the light, only secured the 
passage of the measure by threatening to resign. An attempt to cut 
down the hours of young persons between the ages of thirteen and 
eighteen from twelve hours to ten failed. The ten hour 1 day for 
women and young persons was not secured till 1850. 

O'Connell and Repeal. The Young Ireland Party. — The fall of 
the Whigs had thrown O'Connell into violent opposition. He began 
to form new Associations and to resume the agitation for repeal. 
Announcing that 1843 would be the repeal year, he went up and down 
Ireland addressing large assemblies. While he had no intention of 
resorting to force, he talked so violently and attracted such immense 
numbers to his cause, that the English Government became alarmed. 
Ships and troops were dispatched across the Channel and fortifica- 
tions were strengthened. A monster meeting, advertised to take place 
at Clontarf, 5 October, 1843, was forbidden. O'Connell acquiesced. 
Compelled to show his hand, he had made it clear that he was prepared 
to submit rather than to appeal to arms. As a result, the spell of his 
influence was broken. The bolder spirits among his followers lost 
all faith in him. A few days after the Clontarf fiasco he was arrested, 

1 Really the working day was from six to six, with an hour and a half for meals. 
That meant ten hours and a half ; but the result was reached by stopping work at 
two o'clock on Saturdays, 



944 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 






together with some of his leading adherents, on a charge of conspiracy. 
After a most unfair trial he was sentenced by a packed jury to be 
fined and imprisoned. 1 The sentence was reversed by the House of 
Lords on appeal. O'Connell, who was verging on seventy and in 
declining health, never recovered the ascendancy which he had lost. 
He died at Genoa in 1847. Meantime, the leadership had passed to 
the Young Ireland Party which began with a group of youthful 
journalists, chief among them Thomas Davis and Charles Gavan 
Duffy. They founded the Nation newspaper in 1842, in which they 
published prose and poetry breathing all the fervor of the patriots of 
antiquity. After disposing of O'Connell, Peel and his Cabinet tried 
conciliation. A measure of Stanley's for improving the conditions 
of the Irish tenantry was defeated. In spite of furious outcries, Peel 
did, however, increase and establish on a permanent basis the annual 
grant of Maynooth College, 2 which had dragged on an impoverished 
existence since its foundation in 1795. Moreover, another act was 
carried to establish three nonsectarian institutions, known as Queen's 
Colleges, at Belfast, Cork, and Galway, respectively. The Roman 
Catholics opposed this latter measure, and so did the extremists among 
the Protestants, one of whom denounced it as a " gigantic scheme of 
godless education." 

The Potato Famine and Peel's Conversion to Free Trade, 1845. — 
In the autumn of this year the failure of the potato crop brought about 
a crisis in English history. A disease first noticed in the Isle of Wight 
spread rapidly over England and Ireland. The Irish crop was ruined, 
and since potatoes constituted almost the sole food of the population, 
famine impended, unless prompt measures were taken for their relief. 
Peel, who was already inclining to the view of Cobden and Bright, 
was convinced by the necessity of supplying the Irish sufferers with 
cheap bread from abroad that the time had come for removing the 
duty on foreign corn. He had already gone so far as to admit the 
principle of free trade. He believed that prices should be low for the 
sake of the consumer rather than high for the sake of the producer: 
but he had clung to a moderate duty on corn in order to encourage its 
production, that Great Britain might be self-sufficing in time of war. 
Moreover, he was the Prime Minister of a party pledged to protect 
the agricultural interests. But his reduction of duties in 1842 had 
resulted in increased prosperity, and he had made up his mind that 
free trade was " in the interest of the country and politically inevi- 
table." The only question was whether he should undertake the task 
or leave it to the Whigs; for their leader, Russell, had also reached the 

1 Lord Denman, the Chief Justice, referred to the proceeding as "a mockery, 
a delusion, and a snare," apparently the origin of this well-known phrase. 

2 It was denounced as "high treason to Heaven to apply the revenue of a Prot- 
estant people to the education of a Popish priesthood." A few years later a well- 
known man declared the Irish famine of 1845-1846 to be "a dispensation of Provi- 
dence in return for the Maynooth grant." 



EARLY YEARS OF VICTORIA'S REIGN 945 

point of discarding the principles of protection. Peel discussed the 
question with his Cabinet in a series of meetings during October and 
November, but only three of his colleagues — Aberdeen, Graham, and 
Sidney Herbert — would support his views. A proposal which he 
made to suspend temporarily the restriction on the importation of corn 
and to call a parliament to consider the whole subject of repeal, 
was rejected. While the Cabinet was thus at odds, Russell, 22 Novem- 
ber, threw a bombshell by publishing a famous document, known to 
history as the " Edinburgh Letter " in which he declared for free 
trade. " Let us unite," he wrote, " to put an end to a system which 
has been provsd to be the blight of commerce, the bane of agriculture, 
the source of bitter divisions among classes, the cause of penury, 
fever, mortality, and crime among the people." He urged a concerted 
popular movement to furnish to the Government the only excuse 
which, in his opinion, they needed, for action. Bright assured the 
Whig leader that his letter had made " the total and immediate repeal 
of the Corn Laws inevitable." Peel, spurred on by Russell's pronounce- 
ment, strove to induce his Cabinet to forestall the Whigs by framing 
a repeal measure and summoning Parliament to vote upon it. 1 Meet- 
ing another refusal, he resigned, 5 December. Russell was called upon 
to form a Government. He soon gave up the task on the pretext 
that Palmerston would take nothing but the Foreign Office, an arrange- 
ment to which some of the party leaders whom he wanted would not 
consent. Apparently, however, he was not anxious to fish in the 
troubled waters which he had stirred up. 2 Accordingly Peel came 
back, 20 December. 

The Repeal of the Corn Laws, June, 1846. — Parliament met 
22 January, 1846. Peel began the fight by proposing a further re- 
duction of the duties provided for in the budgets of 1842 and 1845, 
from 20 to 10 per cent on manufactured goods, to 5 per cent on those 
partly manufactured, and for the total removal of all imposts on raw 
materials. This he followed by a proposal for modifying the existing 
sliding scale on corn, with duties ranging from 4 to 10 shillings. This 
was to remain in force three years. On the 1 February, 1849, the scale 
was to be abolished, leaving only a nominal duty of one shilling a 
quarter. Immediately a large section of the Conservatives arose in 
revolt. Their real leader was Disraeli. Realizing, however, the magic 
of a noble name and powerful family connections in managing the 
Tory aristocracy, he chose as nominal chief Lord George Bentinck, 
a son of the Duke of Portland. Hitherto, Bentinck had been known 

1 The proposal was published in the Times, 4 December, though Cabinet pro- 
ceedings were supposed to be secret. It was formerly believed that the informa- 
tion was extorted from Sidney Herbert by Mrs. Norton, granddaughter of Sheridan 
and a famous beauty, commonly regarded as the heroine of George Meredith's 
Diana of the Crossways. It is now known that the story was given out by Lord 
Aberdeen. 

2 Usually he had been ready, as Sidney Smith put it, to undertake anything from 
commanding the Channel fleet to operating for stone. 

3? 



94 6 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

only as a racing man ; his education had been defective and he spoke 
with " dignified diffidence " ; but he showed an unbending courage, 
a power of hard work, and a dogged persistence which made up for 
limitations and neglected opportunities. Disraeli delighted his sup- 
porters and confounded his opponents by his sarcasm, his brilliant 
rhetoric, and his audacious party tactics. He denounced Peel " as a 
man who never originates an idea ; a man who takes his observations, 
and when he finds the wind in a particular quarter trims his sails to 
suit it," as " a trader on other people's intelligence ; a political burglar 
of other men's ideas." He led in the furious outcry that the Prime 
Minister had betrayed the Conservative party, and sought to obstruct 
his measures at every stage of their progress. The Protectionists were 
willing to accept a temporary suspension of the corn duties which 
Peel had framed as a special measure for meeting the Irish distress; 
but they contended that there was no reason for a drastic free trade 
policy at the same time. " Never," asserted Bentinck, " was there 
a change of so extensive a character proposed on so slender a basis, 
and with so little cause shown." There was some hostility, on the part 
of special interests, to the proposals relating to raw materials and 
manufactures ; but Peel was able to show that every decrease of the 
duty had been followed by increase of business and employment. To 
the landed gentry, who were fighting so desperately against the 
repeal of the Corn Laws, his argument was that the welfare of the 
country and the very existence of the poor demanded cheap food and 
steady prices. After two months of struggle, both the Corn Bill and 
the Customs Bill passed the Commons, 15 May. Thanks to Welling- 
ton, who again showed his common sense in foreseeing the inevitable, 
the Lords yielded, 25 June. 

The Fall of Peel. Estimate of his Work. — On the very same day 
" the Ministry which had carried to success the greatest piece of legisla- 
tion . . . since Lord Grey's Reform Bill," was overthrown. The 
distress in Ireland had so accentuated the unrest that a new coercion 
bill — the eighteenth since the Union — was introduced into the House 
of Lords in March. It passed the Upper House, but Disraeli, with 
the help of the Irish and Radical members, succeeded in defeating it 
in the Commons. Peel, in the speech announcing his resignation, 
29 June, paid a generous tribute to Cobden 1 as the man to whom, more 
than any other, the removal of the duty on corn was due. The ex- 
tension of the free trade policy was fortunate in coming in on a wave 
of great material prosperity for England, and protection was soon 
abandoned as a political issue. A marvelous development followed. 
In addition to the recent legislation, many causes were operative, such 
as the final adjustment of the laborer to the factory system, wonderful 
improvements in machinery, and the phenomenal development of 

1 Cobden worked and voted against the Coercion Bill, thus, by a curious irony of 
fate, contributing to overthrow the Prime Minister who had made possible the 
triumph of the cause to which he had devoted his life, 



EARLY YEARS OF VICTORIA'S REIGN 947 

railway and steam traffic and the introduction of electricity. How- 
ever much Peel's measures may have contributed to the new era, 
he certainly understood and represented the commercial interests of 
the country better than any other Englishman of the century. He 
never came back to office ; but during the rest of his life headed an 
opposition band consisting of a few devoted followers known as the 
" Peelites." He died 2 July, 1850, as the result of a fall from his horse 
a few days before. 

For forty years he had been a member of the House of Com- 
mons, and for half that period he had led his party in office 
and in opposition. The son of a rich manufacturer, he had been 
educated in stanch Tory traditions at Harrow and at Oxford. He 
had an inexhaustible capacity for work. Though nervously or- 
ganized, fiery and sensitive by nature, he masked his natural disposi- 
tion under a cold reserve which made him seem artificial and pompous. 
While he could, with his few intimates, be humorous and genial, his 
power in the Cabinet and in Parliament was due to his mastery of 
detail and the weight of his reasoning rather than to any fervor of 
oratory. His public policy, if it exposed him at times to the charge 
of inconsistency, had a fundamental unity; namely, to preserve the 
existing Constitution so far as possible, yet, at the same time, to im- 
prove the condition of the country by progressive legislation. Bound 
by conservative tradition and lacking in imaginative foresight, he was 
open to new ideas, which on occasion led him to depart abruptly 
from his party allegiance, and resulted finally in producing a split 
in the Conservative ranks. But, both in 1829 and in 1845, he resigned, 
and only resumed office when the Opposition had failed to form a 
Government to carry the measures which he regarded as indispen- 
sable. He was always ready to sacrifice himself and his party to the 
public good. His monument endures in the revival of the specie pay- 
ments of 1819 ; the reform of the criminal code, 1823 ; Roman Catholic 
emancipation, 1829; the improvement of the banking system, 1844; 
the reduction of the tariff in 1842 and 1846, and the repeal of the 
Corn Laws. Judged both by his work and his character, he ranks as 
the foremost statesman of his generation. 

Foreign Affairs. The Opium War, 1840-1842. — Under Grey and 
Melbourne the control of foreign affairs was in the hands of Palmers- 
ton. His policy was marked by an aggressive sympathy with 
liberal and national movements against despotism. The more con- 
ciliatory Aberdeen, who succeeded to the Foreign Office under Peel, 
inherited wars with Afghanistan and China, disputes with the United 
States, and strained relations with France. The war with China is 
one of the most discreditable in British history; for, however great 
the provocation which led Great Britain to assume the offensive, the 
trouble really had its root in her attempt to force the opium trade 
upon the Chinese against the protestations of their Government 
and of such public opinion as there was in the Empire. Palmerston 



94 8 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

tried to obscure the moral issue by insisting that the question was one 
of protecting the native-grown poppy and of preventing the export 
of bullion. Whatever their motives, the Chinese had absolutely 
prohibited the importation of the drug. Their general policy at this 
time was to exclude all foreign commerce so far as possible. Certain 
foreign merchants, however, from their headquarters in the island of 
Hong-Kong had been allowed to engage in a very restricted business 
with the neighboring city of Canton. In addition to this licensed 
trade considerable smuggling of opium had developed. Up to 1834 
the monopoly of the China trade had been in the hands of the East 
India Company, which had kept both the recognized and the illicit 
trafhc under reasonable control. With the cessation of the Company's 
exclusive privileges conditions got so bad that the British Government 
appointed officials to supervise the licensed commerce and to check 
the smuggling. But the Chinese refused to recognize these superin- 
tendents and treated them in a very high-handed fashion. This dis- 
cord gave the smugglers increased opportunities, from which they were 
not slow to profit. The Chinese, taking matters into their own hands, 
seized and destroyed some 20,000 chests of opium in the Canton 
River. Other causes of friction followed, and a British fleet was sent 
to the scene of action in 1840. The Chinese were finally brought to 
terms. By the treaty of Nankin, 26 August, 1842: (1) five ports, in- 
cluding Canton and Shanghai, were opened to British trade; (2) Hong- 
Kong was ceded outright ; and (3) 21,000,000 dollars was paid for the 
opium destroyed, for debts due to British merchants, and for a war 
indemnity. The Chinese, however, still refused to legalize the opium 
trade. Unhappily, owing to the fact that the growth and sale of the 
drug formed a chief source of the Indian revenue, the British Govern- 
ment would take no steps to stop the traffic, which went on for years 
unchecked. In other respects the commercial results of the treaty 
proved an advantage for both sides. 

Boundary Disputes with the United States Adjusted, 1842 and 1846. 
— Chief among the outstanding disputes with the United States 
were those relating to the northeast and northwest boundaries. Lord 
Ashburton, sent on a special mission, was unable to settle the Oregon 
boundary, but managed to adjust the limits of northern Maine, which 
had been a subject of controversy since 1783. By the Ashburton 
Treaty a compromise was arranged. The United States accepted a 
line in northern Maine south of that which they had originally claimed ; 
but, by way of compensation, they received a clear title to Rouse's 
Point on Lake Champlain where they had built a fort, on the supposi- 
tion that it was within the limits of the United States, though a later 
and more accurate survey had shown that it was really in British 
territory. The question of the boundary west of the Rockies was 
not settled till 1846. Each country had conflicting claims based on 
discovery, exploration, and settlement. In 1 8 1 8, they agreed to occupy 
the disputed territory jointly, and the northern boundary of the United 



EARLY YEARS OF VICTORIA'S REIGN 949 

States was fixed at 49 , between the Lake of the Woods and the Stony 
(Rocky) Mountains. 1 By the Florida Treaty of 1819 the United States 
acquired such claims as the Spanish had north of 42 . In 1824, Russia 
gave up all claims south of 54 40'. The Anglo-American joint 
occupancy proved unsatisfactory, and by the Oregon Treaty as finally 
concluded, the boundary of 49 was extended from the Rockies as far 
as Vancouver Sound, and thence along the middle of the channel to the 
sea. The British thus secured the whole of Vancouver Island. The 
navigation of the Columbia River was to be free to both countries. 
Relations with France. The Spanish Marriages, 1846. — Aber- 
deen, Peel's conciliatory Foreign Secretary, made an earnest effort 
to reestablish cordial relations with France, which had been severely 
strained by the Palmerstonian policy. 2 Louis Philippe, Queen 
Victoria, and Prince Albert were all anxious to assist him. In spite of 
minor points of friction and hostile public feeling, which the press on 
both sides of the Channel strove to inflame, the two countries seemed 
on the road to a cordial understanding when the French King took 
a step which resulted in new and increased estrangement. It was well 
known that he was anxious to extend his influence over the Spanish 
peninsula, and the rumor arose that he was designing to marry his 
fourth son, the Due d'Aumale to the young Queen Isabella. In 1843 
he denied this, but admitted that his fifth son, the Due de Montpensier 
was to marry her sister. The British Government agreed to this 
plan, in view of his promise that the wedding should not take place 
until Isabella had been married and had produced an heir. The 
Spanish Queen Mother, Maria Christina, who acted as Regent, desired 
to have her elder daughter marry Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, 
a cousin of Prince Albert. After Leopold's family, not without some 
reluctance, had discountenanced the plan, Palmerston, who on the 
fall of Peel had returned to the Foreign Office, wrote a dispatch press- 
ing Isabella to marry without delay. Among the three suitors whom 
he mentioned was Leopold. This unauthorized proceeding alarmed 
Louis Philippe, who without more ado arranged a match between 
the Spanish Queen and her kinsman the Duke of Cadiz, and provided 
that the Due de Montpensier should marry her sister the very same 
day. This was announced to the British Government, 2 September, 
1846. In spite of all protests the Spanish marriages were celebrated 
10 October. The action of Louis Philippe, though not wholly without 
excuse, was contrary to his promise. The British loudly accused him 
of bad faith, and never trusted him again during the two years that he 
remained on the throne. 

FOR ADDITIONAL READING 
See ch. LIII below. 

x The boundary to the Mississippi had been fixed by the treaty of 1783. In 
the interval between that date and 1 818 the United States had acquired Louisiana. 

2 Especially in the adjustment of a treaty between the Sultan of Turkey and 
Mehemet Ali of Egypt who had recently been at war. 



CHAPTER LII 

THE REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENTS IN EUROPE AND THE BEGIN- 
NING OF A NEW PERIOD OF WAR (1846-1856) 

The First Russell Ministry, 1846-1852. Temporary Measures 
for Irish Relief. — Although Russell, who succeeded Peel, came to 
office with only a minority party at his back, the Conservatives were 
so divided between the Peelites and the Protectionists that he was 
able to get a footing and to hold on for nearly six years. His first 
pressing problem was to relieve the destitution and to deal with the 
disturbances in Ireland. The misery was accentuated by a second 
potato blight in 1846. Father Mathew records that, on a journey 
from Dublin to Cork early in August, he : " beheld with sorrow one 
wild waste of putrefying vegetation. Stupor and despair fell upon 
the people. In many places the wretched men were seated on the 
fences of their decaying gardens wringing their hands, and wailing 
bitterly at the destruction which had left them foodless." Peel had 
hurried a supply of Indian corn to the stricken country and had ad- 
vanced, on the part of the Government, a considerable sum for em- 
ploying the people on public works. The debt was to be assumed 
partly by the State and partly by the localities. The terms of the 
loan proved so easy that the landlords took advantage of them to 
improve their estates, and Peel's plan was soon abandoned. Russell 
started a new system of public works, providing that the money should 
be repaid by the localities within ten years at 3! per cent. His 
system, too, proved ineffective and extravagant. The employment 
selected was usually the building of roads which led nowhere : light 
work and certain wages attracted men from necessary employments, 
and the numbers, swelling from 100,000 in October, 1846, to 734,000 
in March, 1847, became so unmanageable that this system also had to 
be given up. Furthermore, in accordance with the prevailing laissez- 
faire policy of the Government, food depots were not opened while 
food could be sold at a reasonable price. Consequently, speculators 
throve and the people starved. After something had been done by 
volunteer committees, Russell, early in 1847, provided a system for the 
free dispensation of food, supplied partly from Government funds and 
partly from local rates. This system, which proved effective, was 
continued till the harvest season of 1847. I n addition the Corn Laws 
and the Navigation Laws were temporarily suspended, during 1846 
and 1847. 

9S° 






REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENTS IN EUROPE 951 

Permanent Measures. — - These devices, necessary as they were, 
tended to pauperize the Irish. Consequently, the Government under- 
took to frame more permanent measures for stimulating enterprise 
and developing the country as well as assisting the needy. The evils 
resulting from unrestricted competition in rents, tenure-at-will, 
and arbitrary evictions were left untouched. Also, a proposal for 
reclaiming waste lands and selling them in small lots was defeated. 
Bentinck proposed a Government appropriation of £16,000,000 
for railways, from which companies were to receive an advance of 
£200 for every £100 expended. It was questionable, however, 
whether such a large sum could be employed to the best advantage 
in this way in a country that was mainly agricultural rather than 
commercial. However that may be, only £620,000 was appropriated. 
Considerable sums, however, were advanced for draining and improv- 
ing estates. Also, the Poor Law was altered by a provision that, 
when the poorhouses were full, outside relief should be given and paid 
for from a rate levied on the landlords and tenants. The Lords re- 
jected one essential clause providing that, when the rates exceeded 
2S. 6d. in any district, the excess would be charged to the union in 
which the districts were grouped. The evil result followed that the 
needy in the overburdened areas were evicted to get rid of them. 
The Encumbered Estates Act of 1848, equally well meant, was equally 
unfortunate in its results. The object was to enable impoverished 
landlords to sell out to those who were financially able to work the 
estates. As a rule, the tenants suffered from the change ; since most 
of the new proprietors were greedy capitalists seeking to wring 
the* utmost farthing from their investment. While the progress of 
starvation was gradually checked, the effects of the famine ran their 
course. The mortality due to fever and suffering was dreadful. 
Murder and violence increased so alarmingly that the Liberals, who 
in opposition had helped to defeat Peel's Coercion Bill, were reduced 
to passing one of their own, December, 1847. Conditions were ripe 
for revolt when a series of revolutions on the Continent precipitated 
an abortive Irish rising. 

A Year of European Revolutions, 1848. — As in 1789 and in 1830 
the movement started in Paris. It resulted in the expulsion of Louis 
Philippe from the throne and the establishment of a short-lived 
republic. Revolutions followed in Germany, in Italy, and in Austro- 
Hungary. Liberalism or nationality, in some cases both, furnished 
the guiding aim. The Pope, driven from Rome, was restored by 
French troops who remained in occupation of the city from 1849 to 
1870. The object was to counteract the Austrians, who possessed 
Lombardy and Venetia and dominated Italy. The northern Italians 
made a vain effort to drive out their masters, and had to struggle for 
nearly a quarter of a century before they attained their hope of a 
united and independent country. Nor were the attempts in the 
direction of German unity successful at this time, although constitu- 



952 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

tional gains were made in some of the separate states. Palmers ton 
favored the Italians in their struggle to recover Lombardy and Venetia 
from the Austrians. It was largely through his advice that the 
Austrian Emperor, Ferdinand, abdicated, 2 December, 1848, in favor 
of his eighteen year old nephew, Francis Joseph. 

The Young Ireland Rising, 1848. — The French example and the 
hope of French assistance converted the Young Ireland party into a 
body of rebellious conspirators. They had chosen as their leader 
William Smith O'Brien, a Protestant of wealth and ancient lineage, 
who originally supported O'Connell's policy of peaceful agitation. He 
was honest, courageous, and patriotic, but lacked the decision and the 
personal magnetism necessary to head a successful revolt. He failed 
in a mission to Paris where he went for aid, and in the spring of 1848 
was arrested, together with several other conspirators, including 
Meagher and Mitchell. In the trial that followed, Mitchell, editor 
of The United Irishmen, and the most violent of the Young Ireland 
party, was sentenced to fourteen years' transportation. O'Brien and 
Meagher were acquitted. Thereupon, they and the other leaders 
planned a rising in August. Before they had completely organized 
their forces they were scattered by the police, 29 July, in an engagement 
known as the " Widow McCormack's potato patch." After a period 
of hiding, O'Brien reappeared. Together with Meagher and a few of 
the other ringleaders he was sentenced to death for high treason, a 
sentence afterwards committed to exile. Danger of revolution ceased 
for the time being ; but the misery and discontent which had fo- 
mented it remained. 

The Collapse of the Chartists, 1848. — Aside from the abortive 
Irish rising, the only other effect of the rebellions of 1848 which the 
British Government had to face was a revival of Chartism, and 
that was to some extent due to a threatened financial crisis of the pre- 
vious year which drove many out of employment. The movement 
had been moribund for many years, in spite of the busy agitation of 
Feargus O'Connor. Early in 1848, meetings began to be held in the 
large towns, and a petition was circulated which received thousands 
of signatures. On 4 April, a convention was opened in London. A 
plan was adopted to assemble at Kennington Common on the 10th, 
to march in procession to Parliament, and present the monster petition. 
The Duke of Wellington, commissioned by the Government to guard 
against insurrection, caused 170,000 constables 1 to be sworn in and 
held the regular troops in readiness. In view of these preparations, 
O'Connor, losing his courage, gave up the procession and urged his 
followers to disperse. The petition was sent in three cabs. Pur- 
porting to contain 5,000,000 names, less than half that number were 
found by actual count. Many, too, were fictitious ; among the most 

1 Among those who volunteered was the nephew of Bonaparte, Louis Napoleon, 
then in exile, who was destined soon to become President and later Emperor of 
the French. 



REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENTS IN EUROPE 953 

numerous were those of Victoria and Wellington, while the names of 
characters in popular novels appeared frequently. Led by visionaries, 
distracted by conflicting aims, discredited by the violence of the 
extremists, and rendered ridiculous by a final futile demonstration, 
the Chartist movement at length collapsed. Nevertheless, it was fos- 
tered by real distress, it was joined by many honest workmen, and most 
of its demands have since become the law of the land. 

The " Papal Aggression," 1850. — Owing to the generally prosper- 
ous condition of the country and the divisions in the opposing ranks, 
the Russell Ministry had comparatively smooth sailing until 1850. 
Then crises began to develop, and though the Ministry hung on for 
two more years, the latter end of its term was but labor and heaviness. 
The trouble started with the so-called " Papal Aggression." Im- 
pressed by the fact that a few men of note had gone over to Rome in 
consequence of the Oxford Movement, 1 the Pope and the Vatican had 
hopes that the time was ripe for the conversion of England. To that 
end, a papal bull was issued, in 1850, setting up a hierarchy of bishops 
in England who should derive their titles from English sees created 
by the bull. Hitherto, Roman Catholic bishops sent to that country 
had been known as bishops in partibus infidelium. Deriving their 
titles from extinct dioceses in Asia Minor, they had been regarded 
as missionaries dwelling in a land of unbelievers. Cardinal Wiseman 
was made head of the new hierarchy, which was to consist of twelve 
associates or suffragans. While to many it was a matter of indiffer- 
ence whether the new prelates had English or Asiatic titles, numbers 
of good people, who had viewed with apprehension the Romeward 
tendency of the high Anglican party, were convinced that Pius IX was 
seizing the opportunity to attempt to extend the spiritual arm of the 
Church of Rome over the whole of Great Britain. Wiseman fed the 
excitement by an injudicious pastoral letter addressed to the English 
people, 7 October, 1850, in which he said, among other things, that: 
" Catholic England has been restored to its orbit in the ecclesiastical 
firmament from which its light had long vanished." Then Russell 
added fuel to the flames by a famous letter to the Bishop of Durham 
denouncing the Pope's assumption of authority as " inconsistent 
with the Queen's supremacy, with the rights of our bishops and clergy, 
and with the spiritual independence of the nation as asserted even in 
the Roman Catholic times." He declared, further, that " the danger 
within the gates from unworthy sons of the Church of England 
herself " was more alarming than anything to be apprehended from 
Rome. He scored what he was pleased to call their " mummeries of 
superstition," which, he declared, the mass of the people looked on with 
contempt, " scorning the laborious endeavors which are now making 
to confine the intellect and enslave the soul." In spite of his assur- 
ances that he was referring to the extreme Anglicans, the Roman 

1 For the Oxford Movement, see below, p. 1040. 



9 54 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

Catholics resented this denunciation as directed against their own 
faith and ceremonial. The day after the letter appeared was Guy 
Fawkes's Day, which furnished the occasion for parading effigies of 
the Pope and Wiseman, for bonfires and other wild demonstrations in 
London and elsewhere. Resolutions from tumultuous meetings and 
floods of petitions addressed to the Queen and the Ministers called 
for urgent action. 

The Ecclesiastical Titles Bill, 1851. — Curiously enough, the Prime 
Minister who had done so much to stir the popular prejudice was 
one of the leading advocates of religious freedom in his generation. 
After all, neither he nor his colleagues after calling attention to the 
threatened danger, wanted to undertake repressive legislation. In 
order, however, to allay the excitement and possibly to discourage 
further papal activity in England, Russell, early in 1851, introduced 
the Ecclesiastical Titles Bill. 1 It forbade, under penalty, the assump- 
tion by Roman Catholics of titles taken from any territory or place within 
the United Kingdom, and pronounced void anything done under such 
titles. This measure was denounced by both parties, by the one be- 
cause it went too far, by the other because it did not go far enough. A 
prominent Radical described it as : " one of the meanest, pettiest, 
and most futile measures that ever disgraced bigotry itself." Owing 
to the difficulty of applying it to Ireland, 2 and finding it impossible 
to carry a bill which treated that country differently from England, 
the Ministry was obliged to modify the original measure until it 
amounted to no more than a " mere declaration against the assumption 
of unlawful titles." During the discussion, the Government was 
defeated by a snap vote on a motion relating to an extension of the 
borough franchise to the counties. Russell resigned, but returned to 
office after both the Conservatives and the Peelites proved unable to 
form a Cabinet. After the secession of some seventy Irish members 
he introduced certain clauses into the Ecclesiastical Titles Bill that 
were more stringent than those he had just withdrawn. So it finally 
passed, but it remained a dead letter, and was repealed in 187 1, after 
all interest in the matter had ceased. 

The Great Exhibition, 1851. — During the year 1851 attention 
was drawn from politics toward a remarkable undertaking for which 
Prince Albert was chiefly responsible. This was an exhibition of the 
industries of all nations — the first of along series to follow, which have 
done so much to bring peoples of different nations together, to widen 
their horizon by travel and mutual acquaintance, 3 and to further in- 
dustrial and artistic progress. The Great Exhibition was held in 

1 Punch had a cartoon representing Russell as a small boy chalking "No Popery" 
on the wall of a public building, and running away. 

2 There the Roman Catholic prelates had native titles. 

3 One of the many curious objections urged against the plan was that it would 
bring an influx of foreigners who would inundate the country with "Popery" and 
immorality. 






REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENTS IN EUROPE 955 

Hyde Park from May 1 to 15 October, during which period it was 
attended by over 6,000,000 visitors. One of the most picturesque 
features was the Crystal Palace, designed by Sir Joseph Paxton, which 
is still standing at Sydenham, whither it was subsequently removed. 
Contrary to expectation, considerable profits accrued from the venture, 
and the funds were employed in building the South Kensington Mu- 
seum. In one respect hopes aroused were disappointed. Victoria 
referred to the Exhibition as " the greatest triumph of peace the world 
has ever seen," and it was predicted confidently that it would mark an 
era in the cause of international peace. Nevertheless, the first con- 
tinental war in forty years soon broke out, and was followed by a long 
and frequent series of European conflicts. 

The Palmerstonian Policy. — The irrepressible Palmerston had a 
remarkable gift for sensing and voicing English public opinion in 
foreign affairs ; but by his jaunty aggressiveness, his habit of scolding 
other governments and meddling in their affairs and by his ten- 
dency to follow his own bent, he was constantly stirring up trouble 
abroad and embarrassing the Queen and the Cabinet. The situation 
was complicated from the fact that Prince Albert was peculiarly 
interested in foreign policy to which he devoted much attention, 
while Palmerston treated his views with open contempt when he did 
not ignore them altogether. The Prince and the Queen, though they 
accepted the constitutional system in England and would not have 
objected to seeing it adopted voluntarily by European sovereigns, 
were firm supporters of existing dynasties — particularly those of 
Germany with which they had close family connections — and shud- 
dered at violent attacks on them. Palmerston's attitude was hope- 
lessly at variance with theirs. He was a strenuous advocate of liberal 
and national movements abroad and went to the point of encouraging, 
or at least condoning revolution. He favored Italian unity and had 
little sympathy for the reigning Houses, either of Austria or Germany. 
Not only his policy but his manner of proceeding was intolerable to 
his sovereign and her consort. In 1848, without consulting them, he 
sent a mandate to the Spanish Government to liberalize its institu- 
tions, a proceeding which led to the recall of the British ambassador. 

The Don Pacifico Case, 1847-1850. — His action in the celebrated 
Don Pacifico case brought Great Britain for the third time since the 
beginning of the reign to the verge of war with France, and for a mo- 
ment even threatened a general European conflict. 1 A keen party 
struggle resulted in England from which Palmerston emerged trium- 
phant and with the reputation of being one of the most effective de- 
baters in the House of Commons. Don Pacifico was a Jew of Portu- 

1 The first danger arose in 1840-1841 when Great Britain was supporting Tur- 
key in a struggle with Mehemet Ali of Egypt who was backed by France. Palm- 
erston concluded an alliance with Austria, Russia, and Prussia to the exclusion 
of France. The latter country was forced to submit and to desert the Viceroy of 
Egypt. The second difficulty was that relating to the Spanish Marriages. 



956 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

guese extraction who had moved to Athens from Gibraltar where he 
had lived as a British subject. In an Easter demonstration, in 1847, 
his house had been sacked by an Athenian mob. Instead of appealing 
to the Greek law courts, he claimed the protection of the British 
Government. Palmerston had a feeling that Russia and France, who 
were joined by treaty with Great Britain for guarding the independence 
of Greece, were in league, through their ambassadors, against British 
interests. Certainly, in more than one instance, the Greeks had dis- 
regarded the rights of British subjects. So, without consulting his 
allies, he sent a fleet to the Piraeus which seized such Greek vessels 
as came within reach. Nevertheless, the French Government pro- 
ceeded to friendly intervention ; but, while the French and British 
representatives were arranging one set of terms in London, the British 
minister at Athens forced another upon the Greeks, extorting much 
harder concessions. In the House of Lords, the Opposition led by 
Stanley introduced a resolution which amounted to a vote of censure. 
This was followed by a counter-resolution in the Commons asserting 
that the principles of the Government's foreign policy were " such as 
were calculated to maintain the honor and dignity of the country." 
Palmerston's speech on the motion was a general defense of his whole 
foreign policy. Occupying five hours and delivered without a single 
note, it was a remarkable achievement. With regard to Don Pacifico, 
he declared that he had acted on the principle that any one who bore 
the name of Englishman was entitled to protection. Working up to 
a passionate climax, he left the House to decide " whether, as the 
Roman in days of old held himself free from indignity when he 
could say civis Romanus sum, so also a British subject, in whatever 
land he may be, shall feel confident that the watchful eye and strong 
arm of England will protect him against injustice and wrong." It 
was a telling appeal to British pride. It mattered little that Don 
Pacifico claimed damages that were ridiculously exorbitant. He did 
not get all he asked, though he recovered probably more than he had 
lost. 

The Queen's Memorandum to Palmerston, 12 August, 1850. — 
Another source of friction in the British foreign relations was due to 
the fact that many continental sovereigns, thinking that the Queen 
was all-powerful, addressed their correspondence directly to her. 
When she conscientiously referred such communications as were of 
importance to Palmerston she usually received advice so inconsiderate 
and unconciliatory as to cause her pain. When Russell remonstrated 
with him for this, and for his tendency to act without consultation, 
he answered that the Queen showed " groundless uneasiness." The 
Prime Minister could not press him too far, since Palmerston's 
popularity was the main support of the Government. After some 
delay and hesitation, Victoria, 12 August, 1850, sent the Foreign Secre- 
tary a memorial which should govern his conduct in the future. 
" She requires," it stated, " First, that the Foreign Secretary will dis- 



REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENTS IN EUROPE 957 

tinctly state what he proposes in a given case, in order that the Queen 
may know as distinctly to what she has given her royal sanction. 
Second, having once given her sanction to a measure, that it be not 
arbitrarily altered or modified by the Minister. Such an act she must 
consider as failure in sincerity toward the Crown, and justly to be 
visited by the exercise of her constitutional right of dismissing that 
Minister. She expects to be kept informed of what passes between him 
and the foreign ministers before important decisions are taken, based 
upon that intercourse ; to receive foreign dispatches in good time, and 
to have the drafts for her approval sent to her in sufficient time to make 
herself acquainted with the contents before they must be sent oft." 
This request was reenforced by a further expression of the royal 
grievances and commands in an interview which Prince Albert held 
with Palmerston. The latter expressed seeming surprise that he 
had offended, made assuring promises for the future, but went on in 
his old way. It was not long before he gave the Queen an opportunity 
to dismiss him. 

His Resignation, 19 December, 1851. The Fall of the Russell 
Ministry, 21 February, 1852. — On the 2 December, 1851, Louis 
Napoleon, the President of the French Republic, by a celebrated 
coup (Petal overthrew his opponents and made himself absolute 
head of the State. Although Palmerston was in general opposed to 
despotism, he hated the late Orleanist dynasty and had great confi- 
dence in Louis Napoleon. So, without consulting the Queen or his 
colleagues, he first expressed in a private conversation with Count 
Walewski, the French ambassador in London, his approval of what 
had been done and, 16 December, repeated his approval in an official 
dispatch to the British ambassador at Paris. Russell, on the other 
hand, announced a policy of neutrality, and asked for Palmerston's 
resignation. The joy of Victoria and Albert proved as premature as 
it was unbounded. Russell practically killed his Ministry by the 
dismissal of Palmerston ; for the public believed with the latter that 
it was a " weak truckling to the hostile intrigues of the Orleanist 
family " and its supporters on the Continent. Indeed, unbearable 
as his conduct had been, it is at least an open question whether the 
demands of the Queen were not an encroachment on the recognized 
doctrine of ministerial responsibility. Within two months Palmers- 
.ton succeeded in defeating the Government on the details of a militia 
bill. Writing to his brother he announced gleefully : "I have had my 
tit for tat with John Russell, and I turned him out on Friday last." 
Beyond throwing open the markets to foreign as well as colonial sugar 
and repealing the Navigation Acts, in 1849, the Russell Ministry had 
achieved little or nothing. 

The First Derby Ministry, February to December, 1852. — Stanley, 
who on his father's death, in 1851, had become Earl of Derby, suc- 
ceeded to power for a few months. Since the Peelites refused to join 
him, he was obliged to pick mostly new men for his ministers. Disraeli 



958 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

was rewarded with the Chancellorship of the Exchequer and the leader- 
ship of the Commons. As a party leader he was unsurpassed, as a 
financial administrator he was brilliant and picturesque rather than 
solid. However, he was shrewd enough to realize that the country 
was too prosperous under freedom of trade to admit of the further re- 
tention of the doctrine of protection. So he abandoned it as a political 
issue. 1 In his budget, however-, he sought to placate the farmers 
by reducing the assessment on their rentals and by cutting down the 
malt tax. At the same time, in the interests of the consumer, he 
proposed to lower the duty on tea, making good the deficit by an 
increase of the income tax. But his budget was defeated and the 
Government was forced to resign in December. On 14 September, 
1852, the death of Wellington, at the age of eighty- three, removed 
from public life Great Britain's foremost subject, and broke one of 
the few remaining links with the past century. Except for the brief 
storm of opposition directed against him for his share in Catholic 
emancipation and his attitude on the Reform Bill, his popularity and 
influence with the Crown 2 and people alike were unique, in English 
history. 

The Aberdeen or Coalition Ministry, 1852-1855. — Russell was am- 
bitious to resume office as Prime Minister ; but was persuaded to see 
that it was impossible. At length, a combination of Whigs and 
Peelites was patched together under the leadership of Aberdeen. 
While the Peelites commanded only thirty votes in the Commons, 
the eminence and the ability of their leaders secured for them places 
in the Ministry out of all proportion to their numbers. Besides Aber- 
deen himself, Graham, Gladstone, the Duke of Newcastle, and Sidney 
Herbert were all Peelites. The leading Whigs in the Ministry were 
Palmerston, Home Secretary, and Russell who became Foreign 
Secretary, 3 and leader of the House of Commons. Disraeli on the eve 
of his resignation had declared : " This I know, that England does not 
love coalitions." He proved a true prophet, but before the crisis 
came which manifested once more the weakness of such a galaxy of 
stars from different parties, the Aberdeen Ministry carried several 
good measures. Among them was the provision, 1853, that, except in 
cases where the sentence was fourteen years and over, penal servitude 
should be substituted for transportation. The practice had begun 
in 1717, and came to be regarded as a great grievance by the American 
Colonies. In 1787, criminals were first shipped to Botany Bay in New 

1 Brougham wrote a little later: "We have lived to see the day when a real, 
genuine, uncompromising Protectionist could only find his proper place in one of 
our museums, among the relics of the ancient world or the specimens of extinct 
animals." 

2 The Queen wrote in her diary: "One cannot think of this country without 
' the Duke,' our immortal hero. The Crown never possessed — and I fear never 
will — so devoted, loyal, and faithful a subject, so stanch a supporter. To us . . . 
his loss is irreparable, for his readiness to aid and advise." 

8 He was soon succeeded in this office by Lord Clarendon. 



REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENTS IN EUROPE 959 

South Wales, afterwards many other parts of Australia and other 
islands in the South Pacific were also employed as penal settlements. 
They, too, protested, and an inquiry into the system proved that it 
was bad from almost every point of view. It was finally done away 
with altogether in 1857. Another step forward was the opening of 
the civil service to public competition. More important still, Glad- 
stone, as Chancellor of the Exchequer, introduced the first of a series 
of marvellous budgets which established his reputation as perhaps the 
ablest financier of the century. 1 He abolished duties on 124 articles 
and reduced those on 133 more, including tea. He extended the 
legacy duties ; but proposed to reduce the income tax as a preliminary 
step toward its total abolition. Before many months, however, Great 
Britain was plunged into a European war which ruined all his calcula- 
tions. 

The Causes of the Crimean War. — The Crimean War, which 
broke out in the spring of 1854, may be traced to three main causes : 
(1) the ambition of Louis Napoleon, who aimed to unite the French 
people in some great foreign enterprise ; (2) the designs of Nicholas I, 
who wanted to extend the Russian protectorate over the Greek 
Christians in the Ottoman Empire, and to secure the outlet from 
the Black Sea to the Mediterranean, which was under Turkish con- 
trol; and (3) the necessity felt by Great Britain to maintain 
the integrity of Turkey as a means of checking the Russian 
advance toward India. The trouble began with a quarrel over the 
question as to whether the Greek or the Latin churches should control 
the Holy Places in Palestine. By a treaty made with the Porte, in 
1740, France had obtained for the Latin Church possession of all the 
sacred places then in Turkish hands. 2 Owing to the negligence of 
the French the Greek Christians, who were assiduous in pilgrimages 
and in the maintenance of the sacred shrines, gradually usurped the 
protectorate and secured their position by special permits from the 
Ottoman Government. The religious revival of the nineteenth century 
which followed the indifference and skepticism of the eighteenth, ■ 
resulted in a desire on the part of many Frenchmen to enforce their 
treaty rights and to recover what they had lost. Louis Napoleon, 
in order to secure the support of this class, composed mostly of his 
political opponents, took up their cause. The Sultan in his desire to 
satisfy France without estranging Russia, who stood back of the 
Greek Christians, proceeded to define the powers of the two Churches 
in a different way to each of the States involved. The friction thus 
generated was increased by the contempt and aversion which Nicholas 
manifested for Louis's new title of Emperor of the French, assumed 

l It was said that "he brought to his budget speeches an eloquence that 
brightened the driest details, and made the wilderness of figures to blossom like 
the rose." 

2 They included the Great Church in Bethlehem, the Sanctuary of the Nativity, 
and portions of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. 



9 6o A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

in December, 1852. Instead of addressing him in the accustomed form, 
Monster mon frere, he referred to him always as M on cker ami. Such 
was the situation when Nicholas began to unveil his views about the 
future of Turkey. Already in June, 1844, he had, in a conversation 
with Aberdeen, referred to the Porte as a dying man and suggested 
that, in case of a break-up, Great Britain and Russia should be in 
agreement as to what policy to pursue. Now, in January, 1853, he 
renewed the subject with the British ambassador at St. Petersburg; 
but received no encouragement whatsoever. 

Great Britain Drawn into the War. — Thus far Great Britain had 
not become involved in the quarrel, and Aberdeen was anxious to 
preserve peace. Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, sent as British repre- 
sentative to Constantinople, was chiefly responsible for dragging his 
country into the war as a principal. He was a veteran in eastern di- 
plomacy, but such a declared opponent of Russian ambition that the 
Emperor had once refused to receive him as ambassador. Prince 
Menshikov, whom Nicholas chose as his agent in the Turkish nego- 
tiations, was a rough soldier who was equally uncompromising. He 
not only required a satisfactory settlement of the question of the cus- 
tody of the Holy Places, but demanded also that Russia should have 
a protectorate over all the Greek Christians in the Turkish dominions. 
Lord Stratford succeeded in separating the two questions ; and the 
first, which was the original point at issue, was quickly and successfully 
adjusted. The second demand Menshikov finally presented in the 
form of an ultimatum. In a sense it was very natural and reasonable ; 
the difficulty arose from the fact that the Greek Christians numbered 
fourteen millions, or a majority of the Sultan's subjects. As their 
protector the Tsar might easily become the dominant factor in Otto- 
man affairs. For that reason Turkey, acting under the advice of 
Lord Stratford, rejected the demand. Nicholas thereupon withdrew 
his ambassador, and though he did not at once declare war, he sent 
his troops to occupy the Danubian Principalities. The intervention 
of the British representative at Constantinople had brought matters 
to this acute stage. Aberdeen was still bent on conciliating Russia, 
though a powerful element in his Cabinet, headed by Russell, Palmers- 
ton and Newcastle, were in favor of forcing concessions, even by war 
if necessary. An attempt on the part of Great Britain, France, Austria, 
and Prussia to mediate proved unavailing. Russia insisted on the 
protectorate which could not be arranged in a way to satisfy the 
Turkish ideas of independence. At length, 24 October, 1853, the 
Turkish commander on the Danube threatened the Russians with 
war unless they evacuated the Principalities within fifteen days. 
Receiving an unsatisfactory reply, the Turks crossed the river and 
fighting began. On 30 November, the Russian fleet from Sebastopol 
attacked and destroyed a Turkish fleet at Sinope. Although hostili- 
ties had already opened, this sb-called " massacre of Sinope " aroused 
great indignation among the majority of Englishmen. Events 



REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENTS IN EUROPE 961 

moved rapidly. The French and British fleets entered the Black Sea. 
The Russian squadron refused to return to Sebastopol, and Nicholas 
replied to a letter from Louis Napoleon with the proud boast : " Russia 
will prove herself in 1854 what she was in 181 2." An alliance was 
signed between Great Britain and France, 12 March, 1854, which was 
followed by a declaration of war on the 28th. Just as in 1739, a genera- 
tion ignorant of the horrors of war began with rejoicing in a combat 
which a pacific Prime Minister had striven to avert. 

The Opening of the Conflict. — Gladstone, who had denounced 
Pitt's policy of providing for war by loans, 1 at once doubled the in- 
come tax and increased the duties on spirits, sugar, and malt. A 
joint French and British fleet was dispatched to the Baltic under Sir 
Charles Napier; but, in view of his boastful promises, the results 
were lamentably small. Neither he, nor his successor, Admiral Dundas, 
in the following year, succeeded in capturing their objective point, 
Cronstadt, the port of St. Petersburg and the great Russian naval sta- 
tion on the Baltic. An expedition sent, in August, 1854, against the 
seaport of Kamschatka in the north Pacific was equally unsuccessful. 
All this was most humiliating for England, the acknowledged sea power 
of the age. In this same month of August, 1854, Russia, owing to 
the effective resistance of the Turks and to the fact that Austria had 
moved a large force to the frontier, was obliged to withdraw her troops 
from the Principalities. It was an earlier refusal to do this which had 
brought on the war. Peace might now have been arranged ; but the 
British public would not hear of it until they had gained some notable 
victory over their adversary. Moreover, they feared that until Russia 
had been taught her lesson she was likely at any time to renew her 
demands against Turkey. 

The Opening of the Siege of Sebastopol, October, 1854. — The 
great objective was Sebastopol, situated near the southwestern end 
of the Crimean peninsula. As the chief naval station and arsenal 
of the Russians, it was regarded as a dangerous menace to Turkey. 
The suggestion to attack it with a joint Anglo-French force may have 
come from Louis Napoleon, but it was enthusiastically welcomed by 
the British and approved by the Cabinet, 28 June, 1854. 2 The in- 
vading army, which had been supporting the Turks on the northern 
frontier since May, did not land in the Crimea till 14 September. 
Already weakened by cholera, they were sent against a strong fortress 
at the verge of the winter season without adequate supplies and with an 
insufficient siege train. Proceeding southward toward Sebastopol they 
were confronted by a Russian force under Menshikov drawn up along 

1 "The system of raising funds necessary for wars by loans," he declared, " prac- 
tices wholesale, systematic, and continued deception on the people. The people 
do not really know what they are doing. The consequences are adjourned into a 
far future." 

2 Kinglake, the great authority on the war, says that most of the Ministers were 
asleep when the final decision was taken ; but the question had been under discus- 
sion for some weeks. 

3Q 



962 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

the southern bank of the river Alma across their line of march. They 
succeeded in forcing a passage on the 20th, and in brushing aside their 
adversaries. Instead of pressing directly on Sebastopol they made the 
mistake of veering off toward the southeast. Thus the defenders had 
time to block the harbor with sunken men-of-war and to strengthen 
the town with new earthworks. The British established their base 
at Balaclava Bay, while the French took a position not far off. The 
siege opened 17 October. On the 25th, Menshikov was defeated in an 
attempt to secure control of the bay. The battle of Balaclava is fa- 
mous for the charge of the Light Brigade, 1 an heroic but fruitless under- 
taking based on a confusion of orders. Again, 5 November, the Rus- 
sians were defeated in an attack on Mount Inkerman. 

The Sufferings in the Crimea and the Fall of Aberdeen, 1854-1855. 
— The British commander, Lord Raglan, decided to winter in the 
Crimea. On 14 November a heavy storm wrecked the transports 
which were bringing medicine, clothing, and food for the men, with 
hay for the horses as well. The roads from the bay to the camp were 
rendered impassable by snow and mud. The horses died from starva- 
tion, and transportation became impossible. Owing to these adverse 
conditions and to the clumsy and short-sighted policy of the British 
Administration, the troops dragged through a winter of misery and 
suffering. It was no new thing for armies to be subjected to such pri- 
vations ; but for the first time in history the horrible conditions 
were promptly reported to a sympathizing and indignant public at 
home. Sir William Howard Russell (1821-1907) of the London 
Times was the first of the special correspondents who have come to 
play such a part in modern warfare. Also, the conditions of the hos- 
pitals at Scutari, opposite Constantinople, were deplorable. Much 
of the blame has been laid at the door of the medical staff which would 
not inform the British representative of its needs. The dawn of 
happier times began with the arrival of Florence Nightingale (1820- 
1910) as a hospital nurse. She was soon put in full charge of affairs. 
Although handicapped for some time by delays in transporting medi- 
cine and supplies, she introduced notable reforms. In March, 1855, 
the establishment of a new Sanitary Commission did wonders. The 
death rate fell from 31 to 14 per cent in two weeks, and by June was 
no more than 2} Meantime, on the opening of Parliament in January, 
the Aberdeen Ministry was sharply attacked, and a motion was carried 
for the appointment of a committee : "to inquire into the condition 
of our army before Sebastopol, and into the conduct of those depart- 
ments of the Government whose duty it has been to minister to the 

1 "C'est magnifique, mais ce n'est pas la guerre," was the comment of the French 
General Bosquet. Tennyson has immortalized the incident in his famous poem. 

2 Miss Nightingale during her long life rendered incomparable service in hospital 
management, in the training of nurses, and improving conditions of camp life. 
Another notable advance was the foundation of the Red Cross Society to carry 
out the ideals of the Geneva Convention of 1864. 



REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENTS IN EUROPE 963 

wants of that army." This led first to the retirement of Russell, 
and, shortly after, to that of the whole Cabinet. Aberdeen was too 
kindly a soul for such stirring times, and lacked the force necessary 
to make his divided colleagues act in harmony. After trying all 
other possibilities in vain, the Queen was at length obliged to turn 
to her old enemy Palmerston. 

The First Palmerston Ministry, February, 1855, to February, 1858. — 
The findings of the commission of inquiry did not constitute a very 
serious indictment against the late Administration. The worst it 
could say was that " no provision had been made for a winter cam- 
paign," and that the Crimean expedition had been " planned and 
undertaken without sufficient information and conducted without suffi- 
cient care or foresight." It was felt that the existing system was too 
cumbersome ; in consequence, the Secretary at War and the Board of 
Ordnance were abolished, while the civil and military administra- 
tion were concentrated in the Secretary for War 1 and the Commander- 
in-Chief, respectively. In January the Franco-British alliance was 
strengthened by the adhesion of Piedmont. The end of the war was 
hastened by the death of Nicholas I, 2 March, 1855. He had counted 
much on the hardships of a Russian winter — or, as he expressed it, 
on the two generals " January and February " — to fight for him. 
The failure of his hopes apparently broke his heart. Shortly after 
the accession of his son, Alexander II, the Russians agreed to join in a 
congress with France, Great Britain, and Austria, which was opened 
at Vienna, 15 March. It came to nothing, owing to Russia's refusal to 
give up her preponderance in the Black Sea, and to renounce her claim 
to a protectorate over the Greek Christians. There was nothing for 
it but to reduce her to a conformable attitude. 

The Fall of Sebastopol, n September, 1855. — Great Britain's ex- 
penditures swelled so enormously — she had to join France in con- 
tributing a subsidy to Piedmont and in guaranteeing a loan to Turkey 
— that she had to resort to a loan and to exchequer bills. Operations 
before Sebastopol were pushed with vigor, but for a time with no great 
success. The British, in an attack on the defense known as the Redan, 
were thrown back, June, 1855. Lord Raglan, who had borne with 
stoical calm the fire of criticism directed against the blunders and 
mishaps of his army as well as the sufferings to which it had been sub- 
jected, was greatly cast down by this reverse, and succumbed to cholera 
on the 28th. He was succeeded by General Simpson. Shortly before, 
the French got their first capable commander — General Pelissier. 
After investing Sebastopol all summer the Allies made a supreme 
effort, 8 September. In an assault that was preceded by a three days' 
cannonade the British captured the Redan only to lose it again. 
The French, however, were successful in securing the Malakoff Tower 

1 The Secretary at War was not one of the principal Secretaries of State. He 
was a sort of superfluous official who acted as a channel of communication between 
the War Office and the Ministry. 



9 6 4 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

which commanded all the surrounding works. Realizing that further 
resistance was hopeless, the Russian commander destroyed the re- 
maining fortifications and retreated. Sebastopol had held out for 
nearly a year. In spite of the draining of their resources and the loss 
of their chief arsenal, the Russians were still able to maintain armies in 
the field, while they even gained a slight compensating advantage 
when the fortress of Kars in Asia Minor surrendered to their arms after 
a sustained and heroic defense. Moreover, Napoleon III, realizing 
that his subjects were regarding with growing disfavor a war 
waged in alliance with the British, once more lent an ear to Austria 
who was anxious to arrange terms of peace. The British public were 
anxious to continue fighting in the hope of gaining a signal victory 
that would wipe out the memory of the bungling and reverses of 
their troops. Nevertheless, the Government agreed to participate 
in a peace congress which met at Paris in February, 1856. 

The Peace of Paris, 30 March, 1856. — Lord Clarendon, Great 
Britain's leading representative, was disgusted with Napoleon's 
pliant attitude. " The Emperor of Russia," he declared, " must 
be overflowing with generosity and self-abnegation if he offers good 
terms to a people so ready to take bad ones as the French." But he 
struggled hard, and, backed by Austria, he secured better terms for 
the Allies than Napoleon would have stood out for. On 30 March, 
1856, the Treaty was signed by Russia, France, Piedmont, Great Brit- 
ain, Turkey, Austria, and Prussia, the latter power having been ad- 
mitted to the Conference after it was already under way. The chief 
terms were : (1) Russia and Turkey agreed to a mutual restoration of 
territories. (2) The independence and integrity of Turkey were 
guaranteed, together with her recognized place among European 
powers. (3) A charter recently issued by the Sultan providing for 
the protection of his Christian subjects, with the proviso that European 
nations should not interfere, was confirmed. (4) The Black Sea and 
the Dardanelles were neutralized and closed to ships of war, while 
both Russia and Turkey were prohibited from maintaining arsenals 
along the coast. (5) The navigation of the Danube was placed under 
an international commission and the Russian boundaries were read- 
justed to exclude her from its banks. (6) The Principalities of Wal- 
lachia, Moldavia, 1 and Servia were to have an independent adminis- 
tration under the suzerainty of the Sultan, guaranteed by the Powers 
collectively. The Conference also subscribed to the " Declaration 
of Paris " which marks an epoch in the progress of international law. 
It provided that : (1) privateering should be abolished ; (2) a neutral 
flag should cover an enemy's goods except contraband of war; (3) 
neutral goods, except contraband of war, even under an enemy's flag, 
should be exempt from capture ; (4) blockades to be binding must be 
effective. The United States did not come into this agreement because 

1 Later united to form the Kingdom of Rumania. 



REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENTS IN EUROPE 965 

they refused to abolish privateering, unless all private property, other 
than contraband of war, should be free from capture. As to the Peace 
itself, there was, according to one of the French negotiators, " nothing 
to show which was the conqueror and which the conquered." Lord 
Derby stated that he accepted it " without opposition and without 
enthusiasm." The immediate occasion of the war, the custody of the 
Holy Places, had been settled before the outbreak of hostilities. While 
the designs of Russia on the integrity of Turkey were checked for some 
years to come, Great Britain got very little for all the lives she had 
sacrificed ' and for the £77,000,000 which she had spent. 

FOR ADDITIONAL READING 

See ch. LIII below. 

1 It is estimated that the war cost at least 600,000 lives, to which the British 
contributed 20,000 at the lowest estimate. The Queen in June, 1856, instituted the 
Victoria Cross to be given to soldiers and sailors of conspicuous valor. In 1896 
she founded the Royal Victorian Order to be conferred on those who had rendered 
signal public services to her and her heirs. 



CHAPTER LIII 

THE PALMERSTONIAN REGIME AND THE END OF AN EPOCH 

(1857-1865) 

British Relations with India. Wellesley's Annexations, 1798-1805. 
— The Peace of Paris was followed by difficulties with the United 
States over the enlistment of American citizens in the British army 
during the Crimean War, but timely concessions prevented a rupture. 
Also, Great Britain had to face a Persian advance against Afghanistan. 
This movement, which was regarded as a part of Russian intrigue, 
with India as the ultimate goal, was successfully repulsed in the spring 
of 1857. A war with China which began in the same year was not 
concluded until i860, 1 largely owing to mutiny in India, which threat- 
ened the very existence of the British Indian Empire. Since the pas- 
sage of Pitt's India Bill, in 1784, the British rule had been extended 
throughout the whole peninsula. Many reforms had been effected,- 
though consequent encroachments upon native independence and 
native prejudice had been bitterly resented. Ill feeling was accen- 
tuated by various causes. Having once intervened, Great Britain 
and the East India Company were constantly obliged, often against 
their will, to conquer new territories in order to secure those which they 
already held. Moreover, the British administrators, while in general 
men of the best intentions, were often overbearing and maladroit. 
Lord Mornington, later Marquis of Wellesley, who went out as 
Governor-General in 1798, has been called the " second father of the 
Indian Empire." 2 By his orders, Mysore was divided up and placed 

1 It was occasioned by the fact that the Chinese authorities had, in October, 
1856, seized for piracy the lorcha Arrow sailing under a British flag. While the 
vessel had no claim to British protection, Palmerston took the matter up and 
forced the Chinese to yield. Then a new complication arose, owing to the refusal 
of the Chinese Governor of Canton to admit British merchants to that port, ac- 
cording to the terms of the Treaty of 1842. The British, aided by the French, 
bombarded and captured the city, but the authorities at Peking remained blandly 
indifferent. It was necessary to capture twice the forts guarding the Peiho River, 
which leads to the Imperial capital, and to pillage and burn the Emperor's wonder- 
ful summer palace before the Allies obtained the ratification of the Treaty of Peking, 
24 October, i860. While the Chinese were not to blame in the first instance, they 
were guilty of wrong-headedness and treachery in the conflict that followed. They 
were forced to pay an indemnity of 300,000 taels, to admit British consuls to the 
treaty ports, as well as a British representative at Peking. Also, the emigration 
of Chinese coolies was placed on a recognized footing, a proceeding which opened 
up grave problems for the future. 

2 Clive is known as the father of the Indian Empire. 

966 



THE PALMERSTONIAN REGIME 967 

under a British protectorate, and he annexed the Carnatic and other 
districts, thus extending the British rule practically over the whole coast 
from the southeast to the southwest. He forced the Nizam of Haida- 
rabad to cede vast territories and he secured from the Nawab Wazir 
of Oudh the whole frontier of that state as the price of protection from 
the Afghans and the Marathas. Next, he took up the cause of the Peshwa 
of Poonah, who was at feud with various Maratha chieftains who were 
the terror of central India. In the course of the struggle the British 
took Delhi and assumed the guardianship of the Mogul Empire, as well 
as obtaining large cessions of territory at the close of the war. Welles- 
ley resigned in 1805, when the Home Government ceased to support 
him against the Company. 

The Reforms of Bentinck, 1828-1835. — Neither the Government 
nor the Company were in favor of further territorial expansion ; but 
the logic of events and the ambition of governors resulted in annexa- 
tions, protectorates, and subsidiary treaties at more or less regular inter- 
vals. Following Wellesley's example, Lord Moira (1813-1823) 1 was 
particularly active in this work. Though he disregarded the rights of 
native rulers, his acquisitions have been justified on the ground that 
they were aimed to check disorder and oppression. Under his suc- 
cessor, Amherst, occurred the first Burmese war (1824-1826), with the 
consequent annexation of a considerable district east of Bengal. 
The rule of Lord William Bentinck 2 (1828-1835) was marked by great 
reforms. He abolished the sati (suttee), or the practice of burning 
Hindu widows on the funeral piles of their husbands. Also, he sup- 
pressed the Thagi, or thugs, a secret society of robbers and murderers. 
In addition, he greatly increased the Indian revenue, chiefly by a 
reassessment of rent in the northwest provinces and by a license duty 
on opium growers, while at the same time reducing the expenses of 
the administration. He made English the official language of the 
country and sought to foster the education of the natives in English 
ways. The Anglo-Indians resented his revision of the " batta," or 
official allowances, as well as his extension of the recently established 
custom of employing natives in the public service. On the whole, 
however, his rule was peaceful and prosperous. Meantime, the func- 
tions of the Company had been greatly curtailed. In 1813 its trading 
monopoly was confined to China, and in 1833 even that was taken 
away. All that remained to the Company was such political and admin- 
istrative powers as had been provided for in the act of 1784. About 
this time the ease of communication with Great Britain was greatly 
facilitated by substituting in place of the old sea route around the Cape 
of Good Hope a new one by way of the Mediterranean to Alexandria, 
thence overland to Suez and thence by the Red Sea. Steamships were 
introduced in 1845, and the Suez Canal was cut in 1869. These various 
changes have shortened the trip from four months to three weeks. 

1 Created Marquis of Hastings in 181 6. 2 Uncle of the protectionist leader. 



968 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

Auckland's Fatal Expedition to Afghanistan, 1838-1842. — Under 
Lord Auckland (1835-1841) the British met with a great humiliation. 
Russia was thus early seeking to extend her influence in Afghanistan, 
and Persia was assisting her advance. Auckland suspected Dost 
Muhammad, the Afghan emir at Kabul, of complicity. So, in Octo- 
ber, 1838, he proclaimed his deposition and set up in his place the repre- 
sentative of a rival line whom he supported by a British army. The 
natives submitted for a time ; but late in 1841 they rose in revolt. 
General Elphinstone, in January, 1842, signed a humiliating treaty and 
agreed to evacuate Kabul. The retreat proved one of the most 
disastrous in British annals. Subjected to increasing attacks, only 
one man survived out of a force of 4500 fighting men and 10,000 fol- 
lowers. Auckland was recalled, and when, in November, 1841, Lord 
Ellenborough started to India as his successor, only three garrisons — 
one of which subsequently surrendered — were holding out in Afghan- 
istan. Sir George Pollock succeeded in relieving them. Then, having 
persuaded Ellenborough, who had ordered him to withdraw, to allow 
him full discretion, he marched on Kabul. He took the city, 16 Sep- 
tember, 1842, recovered the surviving women and children, and mar- 
ried officers who by special exemption had not joined in the retreat, 
and returned to India in triumph. The rule of the boastful and 
irrepressible Ellenborough was also notable for the annexation in 
1843 of Sind — the country in the valley of the lower Indus. This 
was an act of aggression due to victories of General Napier, who 
described it as a " very advantageous, useful, and humane piece of 
rascality." 

The Sikh Wars and the Aggressive Policy of Dalhousie. — Under 
Ellenborough's successor, Sir Henry (later Viscount) Hardinge (1844- 
1848), occurred the first war with the Sikhs, a military and religious 
sect — the Puritans among the Hindus — who had developed a great 
confederacy in the Upper Punjab, northeast of Sind. The Sikhs 
proved to be the most redoubtable foes which Great Britain ever 
encountered in India. As a result of the first war (1 845-1 846), 
although they were by no means conquered, they agreed " to modify 
their warlike organization " and to receive a British resident in their 
capital of Lahore. In the second war, which came during the adminis- 
tration of the Earl (later Marquis) of Dalhousie (1848-1856), the Sikhs 
were crushed after making a strong fight, and the Punjab was annexed. 
Curiously enough, these warlike enthusiasts soon grew to be Great Brit- 
ain's most loyal and devoted subjects. Dalhousie vastly extended the 
area of British rule by a series of notable annexations. An able, ener- 
getic ruler, his only defect was lack of imagination. Convinced that 
the British system was infinitely more enlightened and efficient than 
that of the natives, he failed to realize how it might run counter to 
their sentiments and prejudices. In 1852, as a result of the second 
Burmese war, he incorporated Lower Burma. Perhaps his most mo- 
mentous step was the annexation of Oudh, in February, 1856. Here, it 




INDIA IN 1857 

British Dominions I I Protected States I I 

Independent States I I French I 1 Portuguese I I 

t EN GLISH MIJ.ES j , 

100 -JijO M +h» iuO 



THE PALMERSTONIAN REGIME 969 

should be said, he followed the Company's wishes rather than his own. 
The native government was ineffective, oppressive, and corrupt. On 
the other hand, the transaction was not only badly managed, but in- 
volved the revocation of Wellesley's treaty of 1801 with a wazir whose 
successors had always been loyal to Great Britain. It aroused an 
apprehension among the other native princes which was increased by 
the Governor-General's announcement that the British would take 
possession of all states where the ruler was without natural heirs. 
This was a new policy, quite at odds with a well-established Indian law 
and practice of adopting successors. Following the proclamation 
several of the Maratha states were taken over, and Nana Sahib, the 
adopted son of the ex-Peshwa, was deprived of his pension, a proceed- 
ing for which he later took a fiendish revenge. Also, the Mogul at 
Delhi was informed that he could not hand on the titles and revenues 
which his degenerate line had long enjoyed. All this contributed 
to prepare the way for the Indian Mutiny, which came as a sudden 
shock to the British people just after they had finished celebrating 
the centenary of Plassey, 23 June, 1857. 

The Causes of the Indian Mutiny, 1857. — The causes of the 
Mutiny were many and complex — "a combination of military griev- 
ances, national hatred, and religious fanaticism " — which culminated 
suddenly against the English occupation of India. There were all 
sorts of elements of discontent inflamed by busy agents of sedition. 
The exiled ruler of Oudh was at Calcutta, and more than two thirds 
of the Sepoys, or native soldiers, who made up the Bengal army were of 
his province. The claimant of the Peshwa was nursing his grievances 
at Bithoor. The innovations, reforms, and inventions of more than 
two decades had aroused the superstitious fears of the people, es- 
pecially of the Brahmins, who cherished their caste system and their 
other traditions with peculiar jealousy. Owing to the activity of the 
missionaries, and the sympathy accorded them, perhaps too zealously, 
by many of the officials and soldiers, the belief got abroad that Chris- 
tianity was to be imposed by force or trickery on the reluctant country. 
Then the time seemed peculiarly ripe. The miscarriages in Afghanis- 
tan had encouraged the disaffected to believe that their masters were 
not invulnerable. Moreover, the Crimean War had been a heavy 
drain on British resources, while the conflict with China began to draw 
to a head before terms of peace had been concluded with Persia, whose 
Shah was united in a close religious bond with the Mohammedan 
Mogul at Delhi. Owing to these various wars successive contingents 
had been withdrawn till only 45,000 Europeans remained in the Indian 
army, while the native troops aggregated nearly 300,000, a dispropor- 
tion of numbers well calculated to encourage disaffection. Neverthe- 
less, it has never been determined whether the Sepoy revolt, which 
began the outbreak, was a spontaneous movement or whether it was 
the result of a long and carefully organized conspiracy. 

In February, 1856, the masterful Dalhousie was succeeded by Viscount 



97 o * A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

Canning, 1 a man of a most conciliatory attitude. His arrival, however, 
instead of averting the trouble, was followed by a series of measures 
which brought it to a head. The land system in Oudh was approximated 
to the English model, and many of the native Zamindars, who farmed 
the taxes of whole villages, were removed. Sepoy recruits from the 
province spread the disquieting news. The army was a hot-bed of 
discontent. More and more the natives had been excluded from the 
chance of promotion. The discontent was greatest in the Bengal 
army, where the privates, who were Brahmins or other high-caste 
Hindus, hated to render obedience to officers whom they regarded as 
inferiors. Formerly, they had been privileged over the Bombay 
and Madras armies — made up of more miscellaneous elements — by 
exemption from service beyond the seas. Canning, however, i Sep- 
tember, 1856, issued a " general service order " which deprived them of 
this exemption. Since the Brahmins might not cook upon the " black 
water," this meant, if they were sent across to Burma, they would 
have to subsist on parched grain. The order was further resented as 
another blow at the caste system. But the spark which finally caused 
the explosion resulted from the introduction of the Enfield rifle in 
place of the old musket. The new weapon was loaded with greased 
cartridges which had to be torn with the teeth before they were in- 
serted in the gun barrel. Rumor declared that the grease was com- 
posed of cow's fat and pig's lard. This infuriated both the Moham- 
medans, to whom the pig was an unclean beast, and the Hindus, who 
worshiped the cow as sacred. In vain the Government offered 
assurances that the rumor was untrue. Many, however, have re- 
garded the greased cartridges as a godsend, because they precipi- 
tated a revolt which might have been better organized if it had been 
given more time to ripen. Early in 1857 chupattis, or flat cakes of 
flour, were sent from village to village in northern India, some think 
merely as a sign of general discontent, according to others, as a signal 
of revolt. 

The Outbreak of the Mutiny, 10 May, 1857. — In spite of mutinous 
outbreaks in more than one station during the spring of 1857, the 
authorities, from the Governor-General to the officers of the native 
troops, were slow to take alarm or to prepare for a crisis. A little more 
activity at the start might have prevented the mutiny from gaining 
dangerous headway. Unfortunately, most of the officers in command 
were elderly men, incapable of prompt decision. -The first serious 
rising occurred at Meerut, about forty miles northeast of Delhi, 
where on Sunday, 10 May, 1857, a body of Sepoys forcibly rescued a 
group of their comrades who had been locked up for refusing to use 
the greased cartridges. After a night of slaughter they marched off 
to Delhi. The ancient imperial capital became the center to which 
body after body of Sepoys flocked after they had risen in arms. The 

1 He was the third son of the former Prime Minister. 



THE PALMERSTONIAN REGIME 971 

rebels proclaimed the Mogul, a man over eighty years old, as Emperor, 
and proceeded to massacre all the English, men, women, and children, 
within their reach. The Mutiny had become a revolution. The 
disaffected regions were Oudh, Bengal, the northwest provinces, and 
parts of central India. Southern India was not disturbed. The Pun- 
jab, which occupied a very important strategic position in relation 
to the northwest provinces, was saved by the energy of two remarkable 
men, Robert Montgomery and John Lawrence. The breathless in- 
terest of the Mutiny centered about Delhi, Cawnpore, and Lucknow ; 
but the fighting ranged over a vast area from the lower Ganges to the 
Punjab, not to speak of central India. Canning, once the danger was 
fully manifest, acted with the greatest promptness and energy. He 
caused troops to be hurried to the scene of action from every available 
point, from England, from the Persian frontier, and he even inter- 
cepted a force on its way to China. However, he declared that he 
would not " govern in anger," and showed such mercy to the muti- 
neers as to earn him the name of " Clemency " Canning. 

The Massacre at Cawnpore, and the Siege of Lucknow. — The first 
efforts were directed toward the relief of Delhi. The approach from 
Calcutta was slow, because there was only one short piece of railway, 
one hundred and twenty miles in length, running from the city, while 
the roads were bad besides. One general sent from Ambola, somewhat 
to the north of Delhi, died on the way. Another had to fight a force 
of 30,000 rebels before he reached the danger center. Since it was 
defended by Sepoys trained in English fighting methods, who had a 
number of heavy cannon and were protected by strong thick walls, 
the brave little army, too weak to attempt an attack, encamped out- 
side to wait for reinforcements and were besieged in their turn by 
another native force. Meanwhile, the danger was spreading rapidly. 
At Cawnpore, General Wheeler, an old man of seventy-four years, 
had been forced to take refuge in the English residency. It was in an 
untenable position, and after holding out as long as he could in the 
withering heat against the shot of his assailants, he made a treaty, 
27 June, 1857, with Nana Sahib, who had arrived on the scene of action. 
Though he posed as the friend of the English, he had been nursing his 
grievances secretly and betrayed the English confidence by ferocious 
treachery. Having granted the garrison a safe-conduct to proceed 
down the Ganges to a place of security, he ordered them to be fired 
on just as they were setting off in boats. The men who survived this 
cold-blooded slaughter, except four who escaped, were taken back 
to Cawnpore and shot. The women were thrust into a small building 
where they endured frightful suffering for two weeks ; when, on the 
night of 15 July, a relief force appeared, the infuriated Nana sent in a 
body of men who butchered all they could and threw all the rest, some 
of whom were still alive, into an adjoining well. Another storm center 
was Lucknow, the capital of the recently annexed province of Oudh. 
The commandant, Sir Henry Lawrence, brother of John, had fore- 



972 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 






seen the danger and prepared for it. He conducted an heroic defense ; 
but, about a month after the beginning of the attack, he was hit by a 
shell and survived only a few days. He had " tried to do his duty " 
was the only record of his achievement that he asked. For nearly 
three months, less than iooo Europeans and 700 faithful natives held 
out against a body of assailants estimated at 60,000. 

The First Relief of Lucknow, September, 1857. — The force which 
had arrived at Cawnpore in July consisted of some 1500 men, of whom 
not more than 1200 were Europeans. It was led by Henry Havelock, 
who, after forty-two years of faithful service, had been intrusted with 
his first independent command. Leaving Calcutta in June, he pressed 
on in spite of the burning heat. While unable to forestall the massacre, 
he defeated the rebels and put some of their number to death, though 
Nana Sahib escaped. On 20 July Havelock started for Lucknow, 
less than a hundred miles away. His little band, however, was so 
weakened by sunstroke, cholera, and dysentery, that he made slow 
progress, and about the beginning of September he was obliged to 
send a message to the besieged that he could not bring them the assist- 
ance he had promised. Two weeks after, Sir James Outram, the 
general who had brought the Persian war to a victorious conclusion, 
arrived with reinforcements. He had been appointed chief commis- 
sioner of Oudh in succession to Henry Lawrence and also had orders 
to supersede Havelock, whose heroism had been quite ignored by the 
authorities. Outram, however, with uncommon generosity, insisted 
that Havelock should remain in command until the relief of Lucknow 
was accomplished, and served under him as a volunteer. On 23 Sep- 
tember the combined forces reached the outskirts of Lucknow, and 
after two days of hard fighting forced their way in. They were not 
strong enough to raise the siege, but, thanks to their welcome re- 
enforcements, the garrison was able to hold out until Sir Colin Camp- 
bell finally drove off the enemy in November. 

The Recovery of Delhi, September, 1857. — Meantime, Delhi, 
which the contingent from Ambola had not been strong enough to 
assault, was recovered, largely through the efforts of forces sent by 
John Lawrence, Governor of the Punjab. Risking the possible dangers 
of a Sikh rising or an Afghan invasion, he had sent a relief expedition 
three ckays after the outbreak at Meerut. Marching at the rate of 
twenty-five miles a day for three weeks, it reached the beleaguered 
city, 9 June. Another reenforcement, which arrived 14 August under 
General Nicholson, celebrated for prodigies of valor in the Sikh wars, 
brought the numbers up to 8,000 men in condition to fight, less than 
half of them Europeans. A general assault began 14 September ; 
but it required days of hard fighting before the last gate of Delhi was 
taken. More than 1 100 men and officers, including the gallant Nichol- 
son, had fallen. The Emperor was spared to drag on the five re- 
maining years of his existence in exile. His sons were put to death to 
save them, so it was alleged, from being recovered by a Mohammedan 



THE PALMERSTONIAN REGIME 973 

mob. The month of September, notable for the relief of Lucknow 
and the taking of Delhi, marked the flood tide of the Indian Mutiny. 
Nevertheless, it took months before the rebels were driven from 
Lucknow and before the various disaffected districts were finally re- 
duced. Sir Colin Campbell, a veteran, who had served in the Crimean 
War, had arrived, 17 August, as Commander-in-Chief. Henceforth, 
he directed the military operations of the reenf or cements, which by 
autumn had begun to pour rapidly into the country. Havelock sur- 
vived just long enough to witness Sir Colin's completion of the relief 
of Lucknow. 

Final Suppression of the Mutiny, 1858. — Partly owing to the 
overcaution of Sir Colin, 1 the conquest of Oudh occupied nearly all 
the year 1858. His method was by means of converging columns to 
drive the rebels to the northern frontier, where they were obliged to 
surrender or else flee to the mountains and jungles. In the other 
disaffected areas the most serious resistance came from a Maratha 
princess, the Rani of Jhansi, " the best man on the Indian side." 
After the armies of Bombay and Madras had cleared the rebels out 
of central India, this valiant amazon was finally defeated and slain, 
17 June, 1858. Before the beginning of 1859 the last vestiges of the 
Mutiny had been stamped out. 

The Powers of the East India Company Transferred to the Crown, 
1858. — Meantime, more than a year earlier, the remaining powers 
of the East India, or " John Company," as it was popularly called, 
had been transferred to the Crown. Early in 1858 the question of 
the government of India had come up for discussion in Parliament. 
The existing system was loudly criticized on two grounds : divided 
authority, and the anomaly of allowing a mercantile company to share 
in the control of the Empire. The directors framed a petition against 
taking away the remaining powers and patronage of the Company. 
The document, written by John Stuart Mill, then in the India office, 
\yas a remarkable defense. It declared that the acts of aggression 
which contributed to the Mutiny were a contradiction to the Com- 
pany's traditional policy, and argued that if the Government took over 
the patronage as well as the remaining political powers of the Company, 
the whole administration of India would become the football of poli- 
tics. However, the dual system of control was needlessly complicated, 
and Palmerston framed a measure for putting an end to it, but was 
driven out of office before his bill became law. Under his successor, 
Lord Derby, " India Bill No. 2 " was introduced. Many of its 

1 In spite of his cautious methods order might have been sooner restored in the 
province but for the unfortunate wording of a proclamation of Canning's, issued 20 
March, 1858. It declared that, with certain exceptions, "the whole proprietory 
right in the soil of the province" was confiscated by the British Government, al- 
though the lives and honor of those who had submitted at once should be safe. 
Although the Governor-General had no intention of depriving any innocent men 
of their property, he unfortunately failed to make his meaning clear, with the re- 
sult that many landholders were driven into revolt. 



974 



A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 



provisions, due to the whimsical notions of Ellenborough, were so 
fantastic as to preclude all hope of its passage. Since it was impera- 
tive that the government of India should be settled at once, and since 
it was inadvisable to defeat a Ministry which had just come in, Russell 
proposed that the Commons should, in a series of resolutions, formulate 
the principles for governing India on which the majority agreed. 
A bill based on these nonpartisan resolutions was passed 3 August 
and was proclaimed in India in November. The sovereignty of the 
Queen was to be represented in England by a Secretary of State for 
India assisted by a Council of fifteen, seven of whom were to be elected 
by the directors from their own body, and eight nominated by the 
Crown. Vacancies were to be filled alternately by the Crown and the 
Council. By a later alteration of the law the Crown was empowered 
to fill all vacancies. Appointments to the civil service and to the 
engineer and artillery corps were thrown open to competitive exami- 
nation. The title of the Governor-General, who resided in India, was 
changed to that of Viceroy. By the India Act of 1858 a population of 
200,000,000 souls and a territory of 800,000 square miles were added 
to the British dominions. 

The Divorce Bill of 1857. — Meantime, the previous year, an impor- 
tant act had been passed regulating the law of divorce. Hitherto, 
jurisdiction over matrimonial causes had been vested to a large degree 
in the ecclesiastical courts, which could only grant separation without 
the right to marry again. Those desiring an absolute divorce had to 
apply for a private act of Parliament — a very costly proceeding. By 
a measure carried by Palmerston in the face of determined opposition, 
a new court was constituted which curiously combined the functions 
of probate, divorce, and admiralty. It was empowered to grant 
divorces in certain cases upon due cause shown, and to allow even the 
guilty parties to marry again. In spite of the law, the Anglican clergy, 
as a rule, refused to marry divorced persons. 

The Fall of Palmerston, February, 1858. — Early in February, 1858, 
Palmerston was overthrown, strangely enough on the ground of truck- 
ling to the demands of a foreign power. On 14 January, a band of 
conspirators led by an Italian, Orsini, had attempted to assassinate 
the French Emperor and Empress in Paris. The intended victims 
escaped, though ten persons were killed and one hundred and fifty 
wounded by the bombs thrown at the Imperial carriage. Orsini was 
tried and put to death. In the. course of the investigation it came out 
that the plot had been hatched in London, and that the bombs had 
been manufactured in Birmingham. Walewski, now French Minister 
of Foreign Affairs, demanded, in a peremptory dispatch, that England 
should cease to offer any asylum for political refugees and should 
make her law of conspiracy more effective. Moreover, . the French 
officers filled their addresses congratulating the Emperor on his escape 
with insulting reflections and menaces against England. In con- 
sequence, Palmerston introduced a Conspiracies to Murder Bill which 



THE PALMERSTONIAN REGIME 975 

made the crime, hitherto a misdemeanor, a felony punishable with 
penal servitude for life. His action created a furious outcry, his bill 
was defeated, and he resigned. 

The Second Derby Ministry, February, 1858, to June, 1859. Jewish 
Relief. — Derby came in for another brief ad interim ministry. The 
French difficulty was speedily adjusted. Walewski disavowed the 
language of the officers and apologized for his own curtness. In the 
session of 1858 Derby, with a minority in the Commons, not only 
carried the India Bill but succeeded in practically putting an end to 
the disabilities excluding Jews from Parliament. Baron Rothschild, 
the head of a famous English banking firm, and Alderman Salomans, 
elected from the City of London within an interval of a few years, had 
both made vain efforts to take their seats in spite of the restrictions 
of 1828, requiring them to take a qualifying oath on the true faith of a 
Christian. In 1858 the Lords, after they had rejected a bill which 
Russell had carried through the Commons to do away with the dis- 
abling oath, agreed to a compromise allowing each House to frame its 
own test. Thereupon, the Commons drew up an oath which Jews 
could take and perpetuated it by a standing order. In 1866 an act, 
intended primarily to relieve Roman Catholics from pledging them- 
selves that they had no intention of subverting the Church of England 
by law established, resulted in a new oath which Jews could conscien- 
tiously take. Only atheists remained disabled from sitting in Parlia- 
ment, and they won admission after a hard fight some years later. The 
year 1858 was also notable for the abolition of the property qualifica- 
tion of members, a restriction which' had long been evaded by trans- 
parent fictions. Payment of members, which had ceased since Eliza- 
beth's time, was not restored till 1911. 

The Franco-Austrian War, 1859, and the Achievement of Italian 
Unity, 1861-1870. — The Derby Ministry was defeated in June, 1859, 
by the passage of an amendment to an address from the Throne. The 
amendment was directed chiefly against the Government's alleged 
friendliness to Austria in a war which had just arisen over the situation 
in northern Italy. The Orsini Conspiracy had contributed indirectly to 
revive aspirations, which Napoleon III had once cherished, of liberat- 
ing Italy from Austrian control. The conspirators had begged him 
to undertake the task. Either because he feared that a refusal might 
lead to new attempts upon his life, or because they had succeeded 
in arousing ideals which had long slumbered in his bosom, he set to 
work. Cavour, who years before had begun to shape plans and who 
had raised the Italian question at the recent Congress of Paris, was 
just the man to lead him along the road on which he had once started. 
On the invitation of Napoleon the two held a momentous interview 
at Plombieres, a watering place in the Vosges district. Much beyond 
Cavour's hopes, the French Emperor agreed to assist the Kingdom of 
Sardinia in the expulsion of Austria from Lombardy and Venetia if a 
just cause for war could be found. Cavour, in his turn, promised 



97 6 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

to hand over Savoy and Nice to France. Napoleon counted on the 
help of Russia, who had been alienated by the Austrian attitude 
toward her in the Crimean War, on the neutrality of Prussia, who was 
Austria's rival in Germany, and on the good will of the English people, 
inclined to sympathize with liberal and national aspirations. He 
brought the matter to a head in a manner worthy of his famous uncle. 
At his New Year's reception in 1859, with great abruptness, he 
expressed his regret to the Austrian ambassador that the relations 
between the two countries were not so good as they had once been. 
Austria, foreseeing the approach of a crisis, sent an ultimatum to Sar- 
dinia, ordering her to disarm. Meeting with a refusal, the war began. 
Queen Victoria and the Derby ministry, who favored the Austrians, 
made a vain attempt to mediate. When the time came to take a 
decisive step, Napoleon hesitated ; but finding events had gone 
beyond his control, he finally led a French army in person to the aid 
of the Sardinian King, Victor Emmanuel. On 4 and 24 June, the 
Austrians were successively defeated at the two decisive battles of 
Magenta and Solferino. On 11 July, Francis Joseph accepted the 
preliminaries of Villafranca, which formed the basis for the Peace of 
Zurich, 10 November, 1859. It provided that : Austria should cede 
the bulk of Lombardy to Napoleon III, who was to hand it over to 
Victor Emmanuel ; Italy was to form a confederacy under the head- 
ship of the Pope ; and Tuscany, Modena, and other states which had 
expelled their absolutist sovereigns were to reinstate them. But the 
Treaty was unable to check the inevitable logic of events. The 
various states of central Italy, refusing to submit to their old rulers, 
were united to the monarchy of Victor Emmanuel. In the spring and 
summer of i860 Garibaldi in a dashing campaign secured Sicily and 
Naples. With the help of the royal Sardinian army other conquests 
followed, and, 17 March, 1861, Victor Emmanuel was crowned King 
of a united Italy, which included the whole of the peninsula, except 
Venice and the city of Rome. They were incorporated in 1866 and 
1870 respectively. 

The Beginning of the Second Palmerston Ministry, June, 1859. — 
Meantime, at the very opening of the Franco-Austrian War, Palmer- 
ston, whose sympathies were altogether with the Italians, had again 
come to power. Gladstone joined the Ministry, thus putting an end 
to the last hope which the Conservatives had cherished of recovering 
the Peelites. Yet, so far as home politics were concerned, Palmerston 
was far from being a Liberal. The chief interest of his Ministry 
centered in foreign politics, and while the period was not absolutely 
barren of progress in domestic affairs, such steps in advance were 
usually carried in spite of him rather than by his aid. When, in i860, 
Cobden, through a private audience with Napoleon III, negotiated 
a commercial treaty with France by which some duties were reduced 
and others abolished altogether, it was Gladstone who warmly backed 
the plan, while Palmerston only grudgingly acquiesced. Indeed, 



THE PALMERSTONIAN REGIME 977 

Gladstone's whole financial policy was far more liberal than that of 
his chief. He proposed in his budget of i860 to reduce the number of 
articles on the tariff from 419 to 48, and, what aroused the stoutest 
opposition, to repeal the paper duty. This meant cheaper news- 
papers, and was in line with the policy by which the stamp duties 
had been reduced from \d. to id. in 1836, and taken off altogether in 
1855. Palmers ton, who shared in the view that the result would be 
the spread of popular and social discontent, stood out against the meas- 
ure in the Cabinet, after which he wrote to the Queen that if the House 
of Lords should be encouraged by his attitude to assert itself, it would 
" perform a good public service." This was a distinct breach of the 
principle of Cabinet solidarity, and all that can be said for the Prime 
Minister is that he made no attempt to conceal his action. The Lords 
rejected the bill in which the proposed repeal was embodied. Glad- 
stone declared that such action in reference to a money bill was a 
" gigantic innovation." It was well recognized that the Lords could 
not amend a money bill ; but their right of rejection, though not often 
exercised, could not be questioned. Gladstone and the Commons carried 
their point in 1861 by making the Paper Duty Repeal Bill a part of 
the budget. Confronted with the two possibilities of passing or re- 
jecting all the appropriations for the year, the Lords chose the former. 
The Outbreak of Civil War in the United States, 1861. — The Civil 
War in the United States, which broke out in the spring of 1861, 
brought Great Britain face to face with serious problems, both foreign 
and domestic. There was a twofold issue involved, the question 
of the extension of slavery and that of secession. This twofold 
aspect of the conflict contributed to confuse the attitude of British 
public sentiment. While the nation as a whole was opposed to the 
institution of slavery, the general tendency was to minimize that 
issue and to look for the chief cause of the war in the attempt of the 
North to hold the South in the Union against her will. Differences of 
opinion in England were based on social rather than on party lines. 
The upper classes supported the land-owning gentry of the South as 
against the merchants, traders, and small farmers of the North. 
Many of them argued that the slaves were kindly treated, and that 
there were not enough abuses in the system to justify interference with 
vested property interests and the " sovereign rights of States." The 
-middle and lower classes in the midlands stood by the North. This 
was much to their credit, since the mills which furnished, directly or 
indirectly, the livelihood of vast numbers of them depended on the 
cotton supplies of the Southern States. The leading ministers of the 
Liberal party, then in power, Palmerston, Russell, and Gladstone, 
were at one with the Conservative aristocracy as against those who 
furnished their main constituency. Gladstone went so far as to de- 
clare in a public speech : Jefferson Davis " had made an army, had 
made a navy, and, what is more, had made a nation." Yet, in spite of 
its manifest sympathies, the Government decided to assume a posi- 
3* 



978 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

tion of strict neutrality. On 14 May, 1861, a proclamation to that 
effect was issued. Englishmen were prohibited from enlisting, from 
supplying privateers, and from lending any other form of aid to either 
party. Great Britain thus went to the point of recognizing the 
Confederate States as a belligerent, though she never acknowledged 
the independence of the Confederacy. Relations, however, were 
strained during the whole period of the war. The South was 
aggrieved that the British would not espouse her cause more ac- 
tively, while the North resented the unfriendly attitude of the 
Government, and also the fact that the policy of neutrality was not 
enforced. 

The Trent Affair, 1861. — - Almost at the start, an unfortunate inci- 
dent brought Great Britain and the United States to the brink of 
war. In November, 1861, Mason and Slidell, two commissioners 
of the Confederacy, embarked at Havana in the British mail steamer 
Trent to seek aid from Great Britain and France. The vessel was 
boarded on the high seas by Captain Wilkes, of the United States ship 
San Jacinto, and Mason and Slidell were taken off as prisoners. The 
news aroused a storm of indignation in England. Palmerston and 
Russell started to handle the question in their customary precipitate 
and arrogant manner. Fortunately the Queen, acting under the sage 
advice of the Prince Consort, was able to find a way out of the diffi- 
culty. In place of the apology at first demanded, the British Govern- 
ment expressed itself satisfied with the release of the prisoners and the 
assurance that Captain Wilkes had acted without instructions. 
This was the last important work of Prince Albert, who died of typhoid 
fever, 14 December. The loss was serious enough for the nation ; 
for Victoria, whose life centered about her husband, it was a blow from 
which she never recovered. While she devoted herself with increasing 
conscientiousness to business of State, she practically withdrew from 
all social activities for twenty years. 

Blockade Runners and Privateers. — While the sealing up of the 
Southern ports crippled the cotton industry in Lancashire to an alarm- 
ing extent, the operatives did not waver in their allegiance to the 
Unionist cause, and the Government insisted on recognizing the efficacy 
of the blockade. Nevertheless, British speculators made enormous 
profits from blockade running. Much as the United States resented 
this, its chief grievance was the active share which British ship- 
builders took in fitting out privateers for the Confederacy to prey on 
neutral commerce. Of the seven cruisers which were really formidable 
five were British built. Of these, the Alabama was the most notorious 
and destructive. She was constructed at Liverpool, and, although 
the attention of the British Government was repeatedly called to the 
purpose for which she was designed, no steps were taken to detain 
her until it was too late. For two years she continued her dreaded 
course until she was sunk by the Kearsarge under Captain Winslow, 
19 June, 1864. Her favorite device was to lure unsuspecting merchant- 



THE PALMERSTONIAN REGIME 979 

men by flying the British flag, only hoisting the Confederate colors 
when they got within range. Generally, too, she burned her prizes, 
often, in this way, securing other captures from vessels which came to 
the rescue. 

The Cotton Famine in Great Britain. — The final surrender of the 
Confederacy in April, 1865, put an end to a situation which was 
growing steadily more embarrassing for Great Britain. The operatives 
in the western midlands maintained their loyalty to the Northern 
cause in spite of the severest deprivation. In i860 British manufac- 
turers had imported 1,500,000,000 pounds of cotton from the Southern 
States. By July, 1862, the supply had fallen to 500,000,000. Un- 
happily, the shortage was accentuated by the greed of some of the 
Lancashire owners, who sold their reserve stocks for high prices abroad. 
Palmerston sought to relieve the situation by importations from India 
and Africa ; but it required time to develop the new traffic, and the 
fiber of the oriental cotton was not adapted to the British machinery. 
The distress became so acute that the Government had to devise 
special measures of poor relief. Great assistance was rendered by 
voluntary subscriptions of food, clothing, and money. The colonies 
contributed as well, and, all together, about £2,000,000 was raised. 
Those who could get any sort of work proudly refused charity, while 
many who had savings-bank accounts exhausted them before they 
would seek aid. In spite of the intense suffering, only a single riot is 
recorded. Conditions were at their worst during the autumn and 
winter of 1862 ; then they began to improve, owing to the increasing 
supply of cotton from the East, to the absorption of the unemployed in 
other industries, and by emigration. In some ways Great Britain prof- 
ited from the war. The destruction of Northern commerce by the 
Confederate cruisers worked in favor of British carrying trade and 
opened the way to new markets, while the high price of cotton was a 
source of profit to certain speculators. Gladstone's remarkable 
administration of the Exchequer contributed to steady the financial 
situation. 

The Mexican Schemes of Napoleon III. — Far more serious to the 
United States than the unfriendly attitude of Great Britain were the 
designs of Napoleon III. In 1862 he suggested to Russell that Eng- 
land combine with Russia and France in a joint attempt at mediation, 
a proposal which the British Foreign Minister rejected forthwith. It 
is rumored, even, that in private conversation he urged the British 
to unite with him in recognizing Southern independence. He had 
another wild scheme from which Great Britain also held aloof. In the 
autumn of i860 she had joined with France and Spain in sending an 
expedition to Mexico, also plunged in civil war. The original object 
was to protect European subjects, and to enforce payment on loans 
advanced to the Mexicans. Great Britain and Spain, having obtained 
satisfaction on these points, withdrew their forces, refusing to support 
Napoleon in a vast plan which he unfolded of occupying the Mexican 



980 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

capital and setting up a new empire in the Latin-American world. In 
May, 1862, he succeeded in inducing Maximilian, brother of Francis 
Joseph of Austria, to accept the imperial title. After considerable 
fighting, the Mexicans again restored a stable republic, and the un- 
fortunate Maximilian was court-martialed and shot, 20 June, 1867. 

The Schleswig-Holstein Question, 1863-1864. — The temperate 
counsels of the Prince Consort were missed sorely enough in the 
troubled Anglo-American relations from 1861 to 1865, but even more 
in the complicated Schleswig-Holstein question, in which Great Britain 
became involved in 1863. Indeed, as the Prime Minister once re- 
marked, Prince Albert was one of the three men who had ever under- 
stood it, another was a Danish statesman who had lost his mind, 
and the third was Palmerston himself, who had forgotten it. The 
trouble arose over the conflicting claims advanced by Denmark and 
the Germanic Confederation to the Duchies of Schleswig and Hol- 
stein, which lay at the base of the Danish Peninsula. In 1852 a 
conference at London had arranged a compromise, according to which 
they were held by Denmark, subject to the supervision of the Confeder- 
ation. In 1863 the Danish King, Frederick VII, died. On the eve of 
his death he had just begun to assert certain claims on the Duchies, 
which were taken up with vigor by his successor, Christian IX. Aside 
from the possible effect on the European balance of power, the British 
were interested on dynastic grounds. Alexandra, the daughter of 
Christian IX, had just married the Prince of Wales, while Victoria, 
the Queen's eldest daughter, had, in 1858, become the wife of Frederick, 
heir to the throne of Prussia, the country which, under the energetic 
minister Bismarck, led the aggressive wing of the German party. 
Owing to Bismarck, the Prussian Government had recently entered 
into an agreement with Austria to drive the Danes out of the Duchies 
and hold them jointly. On the other hand, the smaller German states, 
supported by a liberal minority in Prussia, .aimed to make the terri- 
tories an independent member of the German Confederation ; for 
they feared their absorption by the growing power of Prussia. So they 
backed Duke Frederick of Augustenburg, who had an hereditary claim 
on the Duchies. His father had been bought off by the Danes in 1852, 
but he declined to be bound by the agreement. Here was another 
family complication for poor Victoria, since Frederick was the hus- 
band of her half sister. 

The sympathies of the British Queen were with the Germans as 
against the Danes, and with the Prussians as against the Augustenburg 
party. Not only did she feel that Great Britain was bound by the 
treaty of 1852, in which the Augustenburg claim had been annulled, 
but she wanted to see Prussia grow strong in Germany. Her Cabinet 
and her people, on the contrary, were strong for the Danes. This 
was due to the popularity of Princess Alexandra and to the feeling that 
Denmark was a weak state oppressed by a strong and bullying com- 
bination. Palmerston and Russell talked loudly of intervention in 



THE PALMERSTONIAN REGIME 981 

the Danish behalf. While Queen Victoria took no pains to conceal 
her strong German sympathies, she strove, though in vain, to avert 
a war. After the Danes had been defeated by the joint forces of the 
Prussians and Austrians, she arranged, in 1864, a conference at London, 
which, however, came to nothing. When Palmerston and Russell 
continued to talk of intervention in behalf of the Danes, she insisted 
upon neutrality, and even threatened to dissolve Parliament and 
appeal to the people if the Ministers continued their belligerent course. 
She had her way, and Great Britain kept her hands off when Prussia 
and Austria, after the failure of the conference, proceeded to secure 
their hold on the Duchies. Palmerston had led on the Danes in their 
futile resistance by holding out hopes which he could not realize, and 
he and the Foreign Secretary had made themselves ridiculous in 
Europe by what Derby very effectively termed their policy of " meddle 
and muddle." Yet it was not their fault that they had to back down. 
It was due to the Queen and to the French Emperor, on whose support 
they had counted. Napoleon III, however, owing to the fact that 
Great Britain had refused to give him anything more than moral 
support, had recently been forced to submit to a contemptuous rebuff 
from the Russians when he had ventured to remonstrate with them for 
their treatment of the Poles, who had been driven to rebellion in 
January, 1863. Consequently, he declined to take any decided step 
unless the British Government bound itself to go to war if necessary. 
The Lords succeeded in carrying a vote of censure against the Adminis- 
tration. A like measure was only defeated in the Commons by Palm- 
erston's personal popularity, which he had to bolster up by telling 
references to Gladstone's splendid achievements, to the commercial 
treaty with France, and to other measures which he had either op- 
posed, or to which he had given a reluctant consent. 

The Death of Palmerston and the End of an Epoch, 1865. — The 
death of Palmerston, 18 October, 1865, when he was within two days 
of eighty-one, ended an epoch. In domestic politics he was an old- 
fashioned Whig who with his tremendous prestige succeeded, so long 
as he lived, in blocking grave problems of social and political reform 
that were pressing for solution. He would hear of no further exten- 
sion of the franchise, and his attitude toward the suffering peasantry 
in Ireland may be summed up in his famous phrase: " Tenant right 
is landlord's wrong." Conservative as he was in home politics, 1 
he was hated by European governments asa" patron of revolution " 
and a " disturber of the relations between subjects and their sover- 
eigns." In some oft-quoted lines it was declared : " If the Devil 
had a son he must be surely Palmerston." In his handling of foreign 

1 Disraeli aptly characterized him as "the Tory chief of a Radical Cabinet . . . 
with no domestic policy, he is obliged to divert the attention of the people from the 
consideration of their own affairs to the distraction of foreign politics ... his 
external system is turbulent and aggressive that his rule at home may be tranquil 
and unassailed." 



9 82 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

questions he had often embarrassed the Queen, he had made many 
blunders, and he was too prone to consider more the " honor of Great 
Britain than the merits of the question involved." His political integ- 
rity was not always beyond reproach, he was wanting in the qualities 
of constructive statesmanship, he was irrepressible, overbearing, and 
flippant. Nevertheless, he was the friend of national, liberal aspiration, 
he was courageous, industrious, witty and good natured, and very 
popular because he was the embodiment of ideals which the average 
Englishman could understand. The country, however, was now 
ready for new men and new measures. 

FOR ADDITIONAL READING 

Narrative. S. Low and L. C. Sanders, Political History of England (1907), list of 
authorities, pp. 491-508. Marriott, England Since Waterloo, bk. II, chs. V-XVII. 
Cambridge Modem History, X, ch. XX ; XI, chs. XI, XII (bibliography, pp. 867-873). 
Maxwell, Century of Empire, II. Bright, History of England, IV, pp. 1-410. Wal- 
pole, History of England, IV- VI, chs. XV ft", and The History of Twenty-five Years 
(1904), I. Martineau, History of England, bks. V ff. (to 1846). J. McCarthy, 
History of Our Own Times (vols. I— III, 1880), is a "popular" work and a very read- 
able account. Herbert Paul, History of Modern England (5 vols., 1904-1906), I, II, 
journalistic and partisan, Liberal standpoint. 

Biography. S. Lee, Queen Victoria, a Biography (1902), chs. I-XXXI, an excellent 
brief sketch. Sir T. Martin, Life of the Prince Consort (5 vols., 1875-1880). J. 
Morley, The Life of W. E. Gladstone (3 vols., 1903), the standard life of Gladstone. 
Monypenny, Life of Disraeli (not complete, promises to be the standard work, vols. 
I and II go to 1846). T. P. O'Connor, Lord Bcaconsfield (6th ed. 1884), hostile 
estimate. G. Brandes (Eng. tr. 1880), "an elaborate sketch," very favorable. 
J. Hitchman, Public Life of the Earl of Bcaconsfield (2 vols., 1875). T. E. Kebble, 
Lord Bcaconsfield and other Tory Memoirs (1907). G. B. Hill, Life of Rowland Hill 
(2 vols., 1880). J. Morley, Richard Cobdcn (2 vols., 1881) and G. N. Trevelyan, 
John Bright (1913), the standard biographies of Cobden and Bright. W. M. Torrens, 
Memoirs of Lord Melbourne (2 vols., 1878). G. Saintsbury, Life of the Earl of Derby 
(1892). S. J. Reid, Life of Lord John Russell (1886). J. B. Atlay, Victorian Chancel- 
lors (2 vols., 1908). For Russell, Peel, and Palmerston, see above chs. XLVIII, L. 

Special Works. T. Carlyle, Chartism (1839). R. G. Gammage, History of 
Chartism (1854, revised in expanded form 1894). W. Lovett and J. Collins, Chartism 
(1840). E. C. K. Gonner, "Early History of Chartism," English Historical Review, 
October, 1889. 

For the Crimean War. Cambridge Modern History, XI, pp. 869-870. The most 
exhaustive work is that of A. W. Kinglake, The Invasion of Crimea (8 vols., 1863-1887). 

For Canada. Cambridge Modern History, ch. XX (bibliography, pp. 871-878). 

Ireland, ibid., XI (bibliography, pp. 868, 871). Low and Sanders, p. 497. 

India, ibid., XI, ch. XXVI (bibliography, pp. 965-967). Low and Sanders, pp. 497 
-499. The Colonies in general. Ibid., XI r ch. XXVII (bibliography, pp. 968-980). 
Low and Sanders, pp 499-502. 

Contemporary. The Grevillc Memoirs, pt. II (3 vols., 1885), pt. Ill (2 vols., 1887). 
B. Disraeli, Bentinck, a Political Biography (1852). Papers of Lord Melbourne, 
(ed. L. C. Sanders, 1889). Baron Stockmar, Memoirs (tr. M. Miiller, 2 vols., 1872). 
Queen Victoria Letters (eds. A. C. Benson and Viscount Esher, 3 vols., 1907) to 1861, 
throw a flood of light on early Victorian statesmen and politics. Esher, The Girl- 
hood of Queen Victoria, 1836-1840 (191 2), selections from her diary. John, Earl 
Russell, Recollections and Suggestions (1875). 

Selections from the sources. Adams and Stephens, nos. 266-267 5 Robertson, pt. 
II, nos. XXVII-XXVIII, app., p. 438. 



• CHAPTER LIV 

A NEW ERA IN DEMOCRACY. THE POLITICAL RIVALRY OF 
GLADSTONE AND DISRAELI (1865-1880) 

The Second Russell Ministry, November, 1865- June, 1866. — 

While the death of Palmerston removed the chief obstacle to progress 
in domestic legislation, some years were yet to elapse before either 
of the two men who were to dominate the political situation for the 
next generation came to head a Cabinet. Lord John Russell (created 
Earl Russell in 1861) succeeded Palmerston, with whom, except for 
occasional intervals of rivalry, he had worked for more than thirty 
years. But Russell was seventy-three years old, and Gladstone, who 
became leader of the House of Commons, was already recognized as 
the future chief of the Liberal party. Disraeli, who for some years 
had led the Conservatives in the Commons, was in the same way looked 
upon as Lord Derby's successor. The Russell Administration was 
confronted with many acute problems. On the Continent a war, 
involving tremendous issues, was brewing between Prussia and Austria. 
Home politics were gravely troubled by a devastating cattle plague, 
by a sharp commercial crisis, and by an insurrection in Jamaica. 
The commercial crisis, though it involved many failures and much 
suffering, was safely tided over, thanks to the flourishing condition of 
trade and the authority granted to the Bank of England to exceed 
the limitation of its note issue imposed by the charter of 1844. The 
cattle scourge was stayed by the slaughter of great numbers of infected 
animals, with compensation to the owners. The calamity did not prove 
an unmixed evil, for it served to call attention to the unsanitary con- 
ditions in the cattle and dairy industries and resulted in new and 
improved methods. The Jamaica insurrection was suppressed by 
the Governor, John Eyre, with energy and promptness; but the 
cruel punishments which he allowed to continue long after the danger 
was passed, as well as the callousness of the officers engaged in the 
work, aroused a fury of indignation in England. After an official 
inquiry the Governor was retired on a pension, but no attempt was 
made to punish either him or the officers concerned. Thereupon, a 
committee was organized by John Stuart Mill, Herbert Spencer, 
Huxley, and other eminent men to prosecute them in the courts. 
Not only did they fail to secure any convictions, but Parliament, in 
1872, voted Eyre a grant to help pay the expenses of his trial. His 
most notable champion was Thomas Carlyle. 

983 



9 8 4 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

The State of the Franchise in 1865-1866. — In addition to these 
various difficulties, new disorders had broken out in Ireland ; but the 
chief energies of Parliament, which opened in February, 1866, were 
devoted to the question of a further extension of the franchise. Since 
the passage of the celebrated Act of 1832, numerous reform bills had 
been introduced ; but none of them had even succeeded in passing 
the Commons. In 1859, during the second Derby Administration, 
Disraeli, as a means of forestalling the Liberals, had introduced a bill 
for equalizing the county and borough qualification, giving the vote 
to those who possessed a specified amount of personal property, to 
graduates of universities, clergymen, lawyers, doctors, and school- 
masters. These latter concessions, contemptuously labeled " fancy 
franchises " by John Bright, would have done little to extend the 
electorate. The measure was defeated in the second reading, the 
Government appealed to the country in a general election, but was 
overthrown at the very opening of the new Parliament. In 1852, in 
1854, and again in i860 Russell, because of pledges which he had 
given, had, in a perfunctory way, introduced reform bills, all of which 
he had subsequently withdrawn. 1 By 1866, however, he had come to 
realize that a further extension of the franchise and a further redis- 
tribution of seats was inevitable. The right of voting was still much 
restricted and the representation unevenly distributed. In 1865, 
out of 5,300,000 adult males, there were only 900,000 voters. Thus 
only one man in six was entitled to vote, and the working classes were 
practically excluded. Many anomalies in the representation, left 
untouched in 1832, had been greatly accentuated by the amazing 
growth of the industrial population during the past thirty-five years. 
The borough of Totnes, with 4000 inhabitants, returned as many 
members as Liverpool with a population of 443,000, and the thinly 
populated county of Cornwall, containing only 350,000 souls, had a 
larger representation than the populous Middlesex. 

The Awakening of Democracy. Russell's Reform Bill of 1866 and 
its Defeat. — While the majority of both Houses was still opposed 
to change and the public seemed indifferent — according to the Prince 
Consort the abortive Act of i860 excited scarcely " as much interest 
as a Turnpike Trust Bill " ■ — such inequalities could not go on forever. 
Moreover, the country was on the eve of a great democratic awakening. 
The old laissez-faire principles were destined to give way to a new spirit 
of collectivism. The people were going to insist more and more that 
it was the proper function of the State to educate them, to provide for 
the public health, and to regulate their relations with their employers. 
Yet if the powers of the Government were to be thus enlarged, it fol- 
lowed that those whose interests were at stake should have a larger 
voice in public affairs. This progress toward democracy was greatly 
stimulated by the outcome of the American Civil War. The victory 

1 He was sometimes known as "Finality Jack," because he had once declared 
that the terms of the bill of 1832 were to be final. 



A NEW ERA IN DEMOCRACY 985 

of the North was a triumph for democracy over an aristocratic oli- 
garchy. It added greatly to the prestige of the midland operatives 
that they had been wiser than the conservative upper classes in fore- 
seeing the outcome, while the patience with which they had suffered 
for their principles gained for them not only sympathy but great 
respect throughout the country. Thus strength was given to an ar- 
gument which began to be advanced, that they could not be denied 
the vote which was to be conceded to the negroes in the United States. 
Nevertheless, the bill which Russell introduced in 1866 was defeated. 
The primary cause was a revolt of a section of the Liberal party which 
came to be known as the " Adullamites " from John Bright's com- 
parison of them to Saul's discontented subjects who took refuge with 
David in the cave of Adullam. Moreover, the measure was not 
calculated to arouse great popular enthusiasm, since its provisions 
would not have increased the electorate by more than 400,000, while 
the question of the redistribution of seats was postponed altogether 
for the moment. The victory of the Opposition drove Russell from 
office in June. 1 Curiously enough, it was now the fate of the Conserv- 
atives to carry a bill so radical as virtually to transfer the balance of 
power from the middle classes to the workingman. 

The Third Derby Ministry, June, 1866, February, 1868. The 
Awakening of the People. — For the third time Lord Derby became 
Prime Minister with the support of only a minority of the House of 
Commons. After overtures to the Adullamites had failed he was 
obliged to form a purely Conservative Government. The most 
notable of the new men in the Cabinet was Robert Cecil, Viscount 
Cranborne (1830-1903), who succeeded to the title of Marquis of 
Salisbury in 1868. Noted at the beginning of his career mainly for 
audacious sarcasm and his uncompromising Toryism, his forceful 
personality, his profound knowledge, his grasp of domestic and foreign 
politics, his brilliancy and courage, won for him a steadily increasing 
weight in the councils of his party. During the interval between the 
resignation of Russell and the meeting of Parliament, in February 
of 1867, a sentiment for reform, as irresistible as it was sudden, de- 
veloped among the working classes. The rejection of Russell's 
bill had furnished the impulse. The discontent aroused by the finan- 

1 Though he lived till 1878, his public life came practically to an end with his resig- 
nation in 1866. He had made many blunders in his long career, notably in the Bed- 
chamber Question when he supported Melbourne, the Ecclesiastical Titles Bill, and 
the Schleswig-Holstein question, and many regarded his resignation in 1855 as 
a desertion of his colleagues, though he had this justification, that his views had not 
been carried out. In public he had a freezing manner that diminished his influence, 
and in his speeches it was only rarely that " languid Johnny turned to glorious John." 
He had, too, an over-weening self-confidence. After all has been said, however, 
"his existence flowed at a very high level of thought and feeling," he spent his life 
in the public service and was a stanch advocate of measures making for progress 
and the good of the people. The repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts and the 
Reform Bill of 1832 owe much to his persistent efforts, and he gave a great impulse 
to the repeal of the Corn Laws. 



986 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

cial crisis, together with stirring speeches by Bright and Gladstone, 
did the rest. The latter had revealed to them in his telling way, as 
early as the previous Easter, that with five twelfths of the aggregate 
income of the country they had only a seventh of the electoral power. 
On 23 July, after the authorities had forbidden a meeting in Hyde 
Park and closed the gates, the mob tore up the iron railings and 
streamed in through the breach. This demonstration made a pro- 
found impression. Even more significant, perhaps, were the organiza-* 
tions which were formed to advance the cause, the street processions,, 
the crowded meetings, and the eloquent arguments of the chief speakers, 
Disraeli, once more leader of the House of Commons, was just the 
man to take advantage of the situation, and to do what he had de- 
nounced Peel for doing twenty years before. 

The Reform Bill of 1867. — Declaring that " parliamentary reform 
should no longer be a question which should decide the fate of minis- 
tries " and that his aim was to " work for the public good, instead 
of bringing forward mock measures to be defeated by the spirit of 
party," Disraeli at first sought to secure the support of both Liberals 
and Conservatives for a series of resolutions on the subject. They 
contained a number of commonplaces ; but their main purport was 
to take away with one hand what they gave with the other by checking 
the concessions made to the laboring classes with a complicated 
system of" fancy franchises " and dual voting. These resolutions 
aroused the combined opposition of both factions of the Liberal party 
and were withdrawn. In devising further measures, Disraeli was 
opposed by members of his own Cabinet, and it was only after three, 
including Lord Cranborne, had resigned that he introduced the scheme 
which formed the basis of the bill that subsequently became law. It 
conceded so much to the Liberal leaders that Cranborne described 
it as an adoption of the " principles of Bright at the dictation of Glad- 
stone." Indeed, Disraeli and his colleagues admitted that " if the 
country would have reform," they " might as well keep in office and 
give it to them." All the securities designed to comfort the Tories 
had to be thrown overboard, for example, " fancy franchises," based 
on educational qualifications or the holding of a certain amount of 
personal property, which would entitle a man to cast a vote in addi- 
tion to the one which he might have as a householder. 1 Another con- 
cession, which involved a hard fight, related to the so-called " com- 
pound householders." Certain small householders, instead of paying 
the public rates directly, " compounded " with the landlords, or in- 
cluded their share in their rents. The Derby Ministry intended to 
exclude this class altogether by making the franchise dependent upon 
a personal payment of the rates. Even Gladstone did not desire to 
go so far as to admit all the compound householders. But both he 

1 This did not affect a form of plural voting already existing, and which still 
continues, whereby a man can vote in more than one place, provided that he pos- 
sesses the requisite borough and county qualifications. 



A NEW ERA IN DEMOCRACY 987 

and the Conservatives had to give way to a determined section of 
Liberals known as the Tea Room Party. 1 As a result, the compounding 
system was temporarily abolished, 2 and even small householders were 
assessed directly. John Stuart Mill roused the ire of some and the 
amusement of others by proposing " votes for women," a question 
which has since become a burning issue. The qualifications for voting, 
as finally fixed in the bill of 1867, were : in boroughs, all householders 
who paid the poor rates and all lodgers of one year's residence whose 
annual rent was £10 ; in the counties, all owners of land of £5 annual 
value and all occupying tenants whose rental was £12. With regard 
to redistribution of seats, certain readjustments were made without 
altering the size of the House of Commons. The right of sending 
two members was taken from all boroughs of less than 10,000 inhab- 
itants, while four large towns — Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool, 
and Leeds — were given a third member, two others received a second 
member ; nine new boroughs were created, and twenty-five additional 
members went to the counties. Scotland gained a few seats also ; 
but the Irish membership was left unchanged. 

The Significance of the Act of 1867. — A long step had been taken 
in the direction of democracy. Following the example of Wellington 
and Peel, a Tory leader had once again out-liberaled the Liberals. 
Derby and Disraeli had carried through a much needed measure of 
reform, and they had " dished the Whigs " ; but they had done it by 
shamelessly violating their pledges and sacrificing the principles of 
the Conservatives who had put them into office. " It is not a party 
they have destroyed," wrote an anonymous contributor to the Times, 
" it is a creed they have annihilated." Cranborne called it a " politi- 
cal betrayal which has no parallel in our annals." It should be said, 
however, that it was in line with Disraeli's political philosophy to 
combine the nobility and the working man against the great middle 
class. He declared boldly that he was " educating his party." 
Lowe's grim comment was: " We must now educate our masters." 
To Derby, though the phrase was not original, the momentous step 
was a " leap in the dark," while, in more picturesque words, Carlyle 
described it as " shooting Niagara." The results, however, were far 
from cataclysmic. The Conservative party, instead of being rent 
in twain, grew to be stronger than it had ever been since 1832. More- 
over, while a new era of progressive legislation followed, the newly 
enfranchised class proved far from revolutionary in its demands. 

The Austro-Prussian War, 1866. — While England was involved 
in the struggle over the extension of the franchise, Prussia had over- 
whelmed the Austrians in a seven weeks' war which broke out in June, 
1866. The battle of Koniggratz or Sadowa, fought 3 July, decided 
the issue. By the Peace of Prague, 23 August, Prussia realized two 
great ambitions which had guided her policy for years. One was the 

1 So called from the fact that they held their meetings in the tea room of the 
House of Commons. 2 Restored in 1869. 



oSS A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

organization of the North German Confederation under Prussian 
presidency ; the other was the rounding out of her dominions and the 
welding together of her scattered territories by the incorporation of 
Schleswig-Holstein, Hanover, Electoral Hesse, and other states. By 
the Treaty of Vienna, 3 October, the Austrians were forced to cede 
Venice to Victor Emmanuel, who had fought on the Prussian side, 
and to recognize the Kingdom of Italy. The North German Con- 
federation held its first diet in 1867, Bismarck was made Chancellor of 
the Confederation, and a long step was taken in the unification of Ger- 
many, completed four years later. In March of 1866, the Queen had 
sought to avert the conflict by mediation ; but her offers had been 
brusquely repulsed by Bismarck. The British Government was in no 
position to insist ; for the policy of Palmerston had left the country in a 
position of isolation, estranged from the United States, from Russia, 
and from France. Thenceforth, Great Britain held aloof and sought 
to maintain a policy of the strictest neutrality. Her attitude was 
explained by Disraeli in a speech notable from the fact that it fore- 
shadows the new idea of Imperialism which was soon to gain such a 
hold on the popular imagination and to become the dominant factor 
in British foreign policy. " England," he declared, " had outgrown 
the European continent . . . her position is no longer that of a mere 
European Power. England is the metropolis of a great maritime 
Empire extending to the boundaries of the farthest ocean . . . she is 
as ready, and as willing as ever, to interfere as in the old days when 
the necessity of her position requires it. There is no power indeed 
which interferes more than England. She interferes in Asia because 
she is really more of an Asiatic than a European power." Although 
circumstances prevented Great Britain from holding absolutely aloof 
from European affairs, her interest in colonial problems became steadily 
more marked. 

The Abyssinian Expedition, 1867-1868. — An evidence of the 
assertion of the British power even in remote countries was the Abys- 
sinian expedition sent in the winter of 1 867-1 868 under Sir Robert 
Napier to demand from Theodore — King of the fabled land of Prester 
John l — satisfaction for the treatment of British residents and mis- 
sionaries. When, in April, the punitive force reached the stronghold 
of Magdala after an admirably timed march through the mountains, 
Theodore was found to be dead. The British had reached out their 
arms to protect their mistreated subjects at the cost of £8,000,000. 
However, Disraeli's ornate commentary that : " the standard of St. 
George had been hoisted on the mountains of Rasselas " became the 
joke of the day. 

The End of the Derby Ministry, February, 1868. — In February, 
1868, Lord Derby, who had accepted office reluctantly, resigned 

Really "presbyter," or priest, a fabulous Christian monarch of the twelfth 
century, supposed to have been ordained in Egypt, and who, according to some 
accounts, is said to have conquered Abyssinia. 



A NEW ERA IN DEMOCRACY 989 

the Premiership on account of failing health. He lived just long 
enough to oppose unsuccessfully the abolition of compulsory church 
rates and the disestablishment of the Irish Church. He died, 23 Octo- 
ber, 1 869, at the age of seventy. Starting as a Liberal he had gone over 
to the Conservative party in the struggle over the appropriation of 
the surplus revenues of the Irish Church. He split with Peel on the 
repeal of the Corn Laws, and became the nominal head of the Protec- 
tionist party. He was an able man of business, a classical scholar, 
and a sportsman. In politics he was brilliant rather than constructive, 
a good fighter, who fell short of being a great statesman and party 
leader, partly because of his lack of settled convictions. Creville, 
a keen though caustic observer, complained that he went into politics 
as he went into racing, for the excitement and the chance of winning. 
He was known as the " Prince Rupert of debate," and was regarded 
as one of the most effective debaters of his day, though he often gave 
offense by his levity and by his aloofness from those below him in 
social rank. His great achievements were his abolition of colonial 
slavery and his work as head of the relief committee at the time of 
the cotton famine. 

The First Disraeli Ministry, February to November, 1868. — Derby 
was succeeded by Disraeli, who was now sixty-four years of age. 
For thirty years he had been a member of the House of Commons, and 
for half that period had been the recognized leader of his party, 
posing all the while as a man of fashion, and at intervals publishing 
novels. At the very entrance of his public life he had expressed to 
Lord Melbourne a " wild ambition " to become some day Prime Minis- 
ter. He started with a theory of the Constitution which should em- 
phasize the power of the monarchy and the masses as against the Whig 
commercial aristocracy, in other words, as a sort of democratic Tory, 1 
and, for a time, led a band of youthful followers known as the Young 
England party. He ended as an Imperialist of the most pronounced 
type. Surveying his political life as a whole, many inconsistencies 
may be noted, but that is a peculiarity which he shares with the great- 
est English statesmen from the two Pitts to Peel and Gladstone. 
Throughout his career he was prone to utterances that were sparkling 
and sonorous rather than definite and specific. He first established 
his position by his brilliant and merciless onslaughts on Peel at the 
time of the Corn Law agitation. As Chancellor of the Exchequer 
and leader of the Commons during the three Derby administrations, 
while he showed little capacity as a framer of budgets or as a routine 
administrator, he proved unsurpassed as a party leader, formidable 
and courageous, resourceful, audacious, and imaginative. He was 
a remarkable judge of men, and succeeded in gaining the favor and con- 
fidence of the Queen to a higher degree than perhaps any statesman 
of the reign. This was due to his enthusiasm for the monarchical 

1 According to his latest biographer, Monypenny, he began his public life as a 
'political adventurer with unintelligible opinions." 



99o A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

principle of government, to his growing faith in the Imperial destiny 
of England, and, above all, to his courtesy and considerateness and his 
power of flattery. As he himself boasted, " Gladstone treats the 
Queen like a public department, I treat her like a woman." One 
looks in vain for any great measures of progressive legislation which 
he initiated, with the exception of the purchase of the Suez Canal 
shares ; but the rescue of the Tory party from the decline which fol- 
lowed the Peelite schism, and the popularization of the modern Im- 
perialistic idea are peculiarly his work. 

Gladstone, His Character and Policy. — The Opposition leader, 
Gladstone (i 809-1 898), though five years younger than Disraeli, 
had already been in Parliament five years longer. While Disraeli 
had never been even to public school, Gladstone had been educated 
in the strongholds of aristocratic conservatism — Eton and Christ 
Church, Oxford. The son of a rich Liverpool merchant of Scotch 
birth, he had the " audacious shrewdness of Lancashire married 
to the polished grace of Oxford," he was " Oxford on the surface, 
Liverpool at bottom." His intellectual curiosity, his energy and 
versatility were prodigious. An old-fashioned Churchman, he was in- 
tensely devout ; and read, thought, and wrote much on theological 
questions. His knowledge of the classics, especially of Homer, was 
at once extensive and minute. It was said that he could talk shop 
like a tenth muse, though his published work has no enduring value 
either as literature or for the scholar. He spent enough effort in 
putting on a sound basis the involved estate of his wife's family to have 
fully occupied an ordinary man a lifetime. All this was aside from his 
life-long activity in politics. He began as a Tory, seceded with the Peel- 
ites, and ended his career as a Liberal. His budget of 1853 established 
his reputation as a financier entitled to rank with Walpole, Pitt, and Peel. 
His measures of constructive statesmanship cannot be even touched 
upon except by outlining the last half century of English history. 
Great as was his superiority to Disraeli in domestic legislation, his 
rival far outshone him as a foreign minister. Gladstone always 
raised his voice in behalf of oppressed nationalities, but he was op- 
posed to the aggressiveness of the extreme Imperialists and to expensive 
fleets and armies, he gave no continuous attention to external concerns, 
and left too much to his colleague, Lord Granville. Under the Glad- 
stone administrations it was generally felt that England suffered 
abroad both in dignity and power because of vacillating and dilatory 
methods. His success as a legislator and administrator was enhanced 
by his fascinating power of expounding the measures which he framed. 
He was, to be sure, overcapricious and subtle, and surpassed by many 
in the finest gifts of literary grace ; but, thanks to his telling phrases, 
his magical, sonorous voice, .his flashing eye, his wondrous vitality and 
earnestness, no orator of his generation, except John Bright, was his 
superior. Gladstone was never congenial to the Queen. His seces- 
sion from the Peelites toward democratic liberalism offended her, and 



A NEW ERA IN DEMOCRACY 991 

his reforming zeal with its ruthless disregard of established institu- 
tions and vested interests excited her apprehension. He never spared 
her, as, for example, when he sent her twelve closely filled pages on the 
complicated details of his Irish Church bill. Then the ease with 
which he changed his mind, and " oiled the joints " of his sudden 
transitions with words, bewildered her as it did many another. More- 
over, while naturally considerate, he came, because of his tremendous 
moral enthusiasm, to regard himself as a chosen vessel, and impressed 
his opponents and many of his followers, as dictatorial. While Dis- 
raeli achieved little in the way of tangible reform and re-created the 
Conservatives, Gladstone accomplished much and broke up the 
Liberal party. 

Gladstone's First Ministry, 1868-1874. — Disraeli held his first 
premiership less than a year. The Conservatives, with a minority 
in the Commons, had only managed to hold on because of the split 
in the Liberal ranks over the question of parliamentary reform. That 
was no longer an issue, and Gladstone, owing to grave disturbances 
in Ireland, managed to reunite his party on the question of dis- 
establishing the Irish Church. In April, he succeeded in carrying a 
resolution on the subject against the Government. Disraeli offered 
his resignation, 1 May, 1868; but since the Queen was reluctant to 
accept it, and since the Liberals objected to appealing to the country 
until the recent electoral reforms had been carried into effect, he re- 
mained in office till the conclusion of the autumn elections. The 
result was a complete Liberal victory at the polls. Thereupon, 
Disraeli took the wise but novel step of resigning without waiting to 
face the new Parliament. On 4 December, Gladstone, at the age of 
fifty-nine, was entrusted with the task of forming the first of his four 
ministries. For the first time in years there were two united parties 
confronting one another, each led by a dominant personality. There 
were pressing problems to be dealt with — abolition of privilege, re- 
duction of expenditure, readjustment of taxation, constructive social 
legislation, and the perennial Irish question. During his tenure of 
office, from 1868 to 1874, the new Prime Minister and his Cabinet 
carried a series of notable measures of which a half a dozen stand out 
with special prominence; the Irish Church Disestablishment, 1869; 
the Irish Land Act and the Elementary Education Act of 1870; the 
Army Regulation Act of 1871 ; the Ballot Act of 1872 ; and the 
Supreme Court of Judicature Act of 1873. The Irish problem claimed 
the first attention ; for the disturbances which Disraeli once tersely 
attributed to " a starving people, absentee landlords, and an alien 
Church " had broken out in a new and acute form. 

The Fenian Movement, 1858-1865. — The disturbances were due 
to the activity of the Fenians. 1 Early in the fifties, Phcenix clubs had 

1 The name "Fenians" is derived from an old Irish word meaning "champions 
of Ireland" and was originally applied to certain tribes who served as the militia 
of the ancient kings of Erin. 



992 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

begun to spring up in Dublin in which young men enrolled for the pur- 
pose of achieving Irish independence ; but little was accomplished 
till after the foundation of the Fenian Brotherhood in New York in 
1858. The organization spread rapidly through the United States 
where the immigrants who, since the potato famine, had nocked 
across the ocean in steadily growing numbers, had accumulated money 
and political training which made them more capable than their 
countrymen at home of initiating a serious rebellion. Fenianism had 
no design of bettering agrarian conditions, it had no great hold on 
the peasantry, and it was frowned upon by the Roman Catholic 
priesthood. Its aim was to throw off the British rule by intimidation 
and force. 1 The movement received a great impetus from the Ameri- 
can Civil War which furnished a military training for thousands 
of Irishmen and aroused their martial spirit. Moreover, they were 
allowed to retain their guns when they were mustered out. Finally, 
the ill feeling which developed between Great Britain and the United 
States led them to count on the alliance of the Americans. Many of 
the Irish Americans began to make their way home, and to extend 
their organization and to stir up disaffection in England and Ireland. 
There were active plotters enough, but, in contrast to 1798, no 
leaders of position and ability. 

The Fenian Plots and their Suppression, 1865-1866. — The out- 
spokenness of the conspirators and the reports of spies stirred the 
Government to action. The Brotherhood was shrewdly organized. 
The chief power and control of plans converged toward an inner ring 
or center, and the rank and file in the outer circle had little to disclose. 
However, as the result of treachery, O'Donovan Rossa, the proprietor 
of the Irish People, was taken prisoner, 15 September, 1865, and 
various supplies of arms were disclosed and captured. James Stephens, 
the Head Center, arrested in November, managed to escape, but he 
made for New York and never attempted to return. In February, 
1865, the Russell Ministry passed an act suspending the Habeas Corpus 
in Ireland and empowering the Lord Lieutenant to arrest and detain 
suspected persons. One reverse after another followed. On 31 May, 
an attempted Fenian invasion of Canada failed, largely on account of 
the determined attitude of the United States. A general rising, pro- 
jected in Ireland in March, 1867, proved abortive. England wit- 
nessed at least three disquieting manifestations of Fenian activity. 
In February, 1867, an attempt to capture Chester Castle, to seize 
the arms there and to convey them to Ireland was only frustrated 
by prompt measures on the part of the Government. Later in the 
same year, at Manchester, two Fenian prisoners were rescued from a 
prison van, and the sergeant who guarded them was shot through the 

1 The aim was declared in the chief Fenian organ, Irish People, in February, 
1865 : "The overthrow of the British Empire, that would be grand indeed. The 
day Irishmen humble the haughty crest of England, they chain forever the glory 
of Ireland to the stars; they strike a blow that resounds through eternity." 



A NEW ERA IN DEMOCRACY 993 

keyhole of the locked door. Twenty-six men were tried for this 
reckless enterprise, of whom five were convicted and three were exe- 
cuted. These " Manchester martyrs," and those concerned with them 
in the rescue, at least showed courage, however misguided. An at- 
tempt to free two other prisoners from Clerkenwell in London, 13 
December, by blowing up a portion of the prison wall, was nothing 
less than a stupid and cowardly outrage. It caused the death of 
twelve persons, the injury of one hundred and twenty more, as well 
as forty premature childbirths, of which twenty resulted fatally. Had 
the prisoners themselves been in the yard at the time, they, too, 
would have been killed. While such performances as this inevitably 
cast discredit upon the whole movement for Irish independence, never- 
theless, leading British statesmen became convinced that violence 
was nothing but the logical outcome of political repression, and that 
the only way to restore peace and quiet was to offer thoroughgoing 
measures of conciliation. 

The Disestablishment of the Irish Church, 1869. — Gladstone, 
who, when called upon to form a Cabinet, had declared : " My mission 
is to pacify Ireland," thus found his hand greatly strengthened. 
Neither the disestablishment of the Irish Church, to which he was 
pledged, nor the improvement of the land tenure, which he regarded 
as almost equally pressing, had been demanded by the Fenians, but 
the Prime Minister and his supporters felt that, if these grievances 
were once removed, the movement springing up from discontent would 
wither at the roots. Gladstone's plan, laid before the Commons in 
March, 1869, provided that the Irish Church should cease to be a 
legal establishment after 1 January, 187 1. Its ecclesiastical juris- 
diction was to be abolished, and the four Irish bishops were no longer to 
sit in the House of Lords. The Church's endowments were also to be 
taken away with compensation for vested interests, while church 
buildings, episcopal residences, and parsonages were reserved to a new 
voluntary organization which was to take the place of the old Establish- 
ment. The Regium Donum which the Government had allotted to 
the Presbyterians since the time of William of Orange, as well as the 
Maynooth Grant, were discontinued, but also with compensation. 
Private endowments made since the Restoration of 1660 were to be 
left untouched. The tithe rent charge was to be bought in by the 
landlords for a sum estimated at about £9,000,000. The remaining 
property of the Irish Church, consisting mainly of land and land 
rents, was computed to be worth some £6,000,000 or £7,000,000 more. 
According to Gladstone's plan, almost half this total of £16,000,000 
would be employed in providing for the clergy. They were to have 
the option of continuing in their offices and drawing their revenues 
for life, or of settling for a lump sum. The surplus remaining was 
to be devoted to charity. Although the Episcopal clergy in Ireland 
denounced the bill as " highly offensive to Almighty God " and as 
" the greatest national sin ever committed," and although they were 
3s 



994 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

strongly backed by the English Conservatives, who regarded it as a 
menace to Protestantism and property, it passed the Lower House 
with little difficulty. The great struggle came in the House of Lords, 
though the Peers, instead of rejecting it forthwith, strove to defeat its 
main provisions by hostile amendments. Their attitude set rumors 
afloat that the creation of new peers might be proposed, and led Bright 
to remark that by throwing themselves athwart the path of the national 
will they might " meet with accidents not pleasant for them to think 
about." All they accomplished, however, was to secure an increased 
compensation of about £850,000, and an agreement that the disposal of 
the surplus should be left to Parliament. The Queen was largely re- 
sponsible for the compromise. Much as she disliked the measure, 
she feared the consequences in case the Upper House persisted in its 
obstruction. 

The Irish Land Act of 1870. — Having disestablished the alien 
Church which had for over three centuries been a grievance to the 
Irish, Gladstone, in 1870, undertook to deal with the land system. 
The difficulties were many and complex. In the first place, with 
comparatively few large industries or thickly populated cities the bulk 
of the Irish were dependent upon the land. This excess of culti- 
vators led to keen competition. Moreover, the Encumbered Estates 
Act of 1848 had transferred nearly one sixth of the soil to a class of 
land jobbers who were more greedy and exacting than the old absen- 
tees. Leases and contracts were the exception rather than the rule, 
so that, in the majority of cases, the tenant could be arbitrarily evicted 
at six months' notice. The case of the tenant was all the worse since 
he commonly made the improvements, 1 and after he had thus rendered 
the holding more valuable, he was liable to an increase of rent and to 
eviction if he could not pay. It should be borne in mind that some 
evictions were defensible, to get rid of the thriftless and to consolidate 
holdings that were too small. In Ulster a better custom — known as 
the Ulster Tenant Right — prevailed. There, rents were fixed by 
a fair valuation instead of by competition ; they were not raised in 
consequence of improvements made by the tenant, who was entitled 
to compensation for unexhausted improvements when he left the 
estate. A tenant might remain in undisturbed occupancy so long as 
he paid his rent, though he might sell his good will and transfer to 
any occupant of whom the landlord should approve. Gladstone's 
bill legalized, in the districts where it already prevailed, so much of the 
custom as provided compensation for arbitrary disturbance and the 
right of tenants, whether disturbed or not, to sell their unexhausted 
improvements. The Bill provided a similar arrangement for the 
other parts of Ireland where the custom did not exist. By the so- 
called " Bright Clauses " subsequently added, loans were to be 
advanced by the Government to tenants w^ho . wished to buy their 

1 In England the reverse was true. The landlords usually made the improve- 
ments. 



A NEW ERA IN DEMOCRACY 995 

Jands. The Act of 1870 failed to give satisfaction. For one thing, 
it failed to touch the evil of competitive rents which were in most cases 
too high. Moreover, while it hampered the landlord's power of evic- 
tion, it did not seriously check his exercise of that power. Frequently 
he found it more profitable — when he wanted to raise the rent, for 
example — to pay the compensation than to retain a tenant whom he 
regarded as undesirable. In a word, while the Irish desired many 
things, including fair rents and fixity of tenure, they got compensa- 
tion for disturbance 1 and unexhausted improvements. In spite of 
Gladstone's well-meant efforts the discontent was so great that a 
Peace Preservation Act had to be passed, in 1871, giving the author- 
ities wide powers of dealing with the disturbed districts and with sus- 
pected persons. Disraeli was exultant over the unfortunate results of 
his rival's policy which he declared had : " legalized confiscation, con- 
secrated sacrilege, and condoned high treason." 2 

The Education Question. — In the year 1870, after the Irish Land 
Act had been carried, W. E. Forster, the Vice-President of the Privy 
Council, pressed forward an epoch-making education bill. The sub- 
ject needed attention sadly. The English system, so far as it could be 
called a system, was incomparably below those prevailing in the 
United States, in Prussia, and in Switzerland. There were nearly four 
million children of school age of whom nearly one half were unprovided 
for. About one million attended schools attached for the most part 
to the Church of England. They were supported by voluntary sub- 
scriptions, supplemented by fees and small Government grants, and 
were under Government inspection. Another million went to schools 
which received no government grant, were uninspected, and often in a 
very unsatisfactory state. The grammar schools founded, after the 
dissolution of the monasteries, by the Crown and by men who profited 
from the spoil of the monastic lands were largely under Church con- 
trol and were practically monopolized by the upper and middle classes. 
Moreover, they did not furnish primary instruction, which was gener- 
ally provided by private schools and tutors. 3 The working classes 
were mainly dependent on apprenticeship. When apprenticeship 
came to be superseded by the factory system, toward the end of 
the eighteenth century, two men who represented opposing policies 
undertook to supply the lack of primary instruction. One, Joseph 
Lancaster, a Quaker, who believed in non-sectarian education, 
was supported by the British and Foreign School Society founded in 
1808. The other was Andrew Bell, who advocated a form of instruc- 
tion based on Church principles. The National Society was founded 

1 As a matter of detail, the scale of compensation was far from satisfactory. 

2 The two latter charges related to the disestablishment of the Irish Church as a 
concession to Fenianism. 

3 The so-called "public schools" like Eton, Rugby, and Harrow, which prepared 
for the universities, were not free, and were practically beyond the reach of the poorer 
classes. 



99 6 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

in 1811 to carry out his policy. In 1833 Parliament made its first 
grant of £20,000, the bulk of which went to the National Society. In 
1839 the grant was increased to £30,000 1 and a Committee of the 
Privy Council on Education was created. Inspectors of schools were 
appointed who had to receive the approval of the two Archbishops. 
Parliamentary grants increased slowly but steadily from this time, 
and in 1856 a Vice-President of the Committee on Education was 
created who was made eligible to sit in the House of Commons, and 
thus a responsible minister. In 1862 a modified system of " payment 
by results " was established which provided grants to managers of 
schools for each child on the basis of a fair average of attendance and 
ability to pass an examination in reading, writing, and arithmetic. 
The framers of the act of 1870 were confronted by two main difficulties : 
the disinclination of many to pay rates for the education of other men's 
children, and the question of religious education. 

The Education Bill of 1870. — There were sharply conflicting views 
among those who agreed that the existing situation should be reformed. 
Some were for free, compulsory education, divorced altogether from 
religious control ; others were opposed to free education ; others, 
again, insisted on some form of religious teaching, either denomina- 
tional or undenominational. Forster's plan was to retain the volun- 
tary schools where they were doing good work, and, in districts where 
they failed to meet the need, to set up schools under the charge of 
locally elected boards. These Board Schools, as they were called, were 
to be maintained partly by Government grant, partly by parents' 
fees, and partly from local rates. Attendance was not to be generally 
compulsory, the question being left to the discretion of each school 
board. The question of religious instruction was eventually settled 
by a compromise which satisfied neither of the extreme parties. The 
voluntary schools were allowed to continue their religious instruction, 
but while the Government grants were to be increased, they were to 
receive no aid from the local rates. 2 In the Board Schools, all de- 
nominational religious instruction was prohibited. Reading and ex- 
plaining the Bible was allowed ; but even that had to come at hours 
when parents who so desired might withdraw their children. Although 
the Act was very unpopular, especially among the Nonconformists, 
it marked a long step in the direction of providing instruction free 
of cost for all the children of the kingdom. Within twenty years the 
number of schools had increased from 9,000 to 20,000, accommodating 
5,500,000 pupils, and attended on the average by nearly 4,000,000. 3 

1 Brougham pointed out that this same year in which £30,000 was reluctantly 
granted for the education of the people £70,000 was devoted to building the stables 
of the Queen. 

2 Even this aid, however, was allowed in an indirect way. School boards were 
permitted to pay fees in the denominational schools for the children of parents who, 
though not paupers, were unable to meet the expense. 

3 In 1902 a Conservative Government under Lord Salisbury abolished the 
special school boards provided for by the Act of 1870, and placed both the Board 



A NEW ERA IN DEMOCRACY 997 

The Civil Service Reform, 1870. — Another far-reaching reform in 
this notable year 1870 was an Order in Council providing that candi- 
dates for the Civil Service should, at the discretion of the heads of 
departments, be subjected to competitive examinations. The quali- 
fication was a concession to the opposition of Lord Clarendon, head of 
the Foreign Office. For seventeen years, posts in the Indian Civil 
Service had been filled by competitive examination, while, since 1855, 
a Civil Service Commission had selected candidates for the Home 
Service by examination, but only in the case of those nominated to 
competition. 

The University Tests Act, 1871. — An Act of 1871 opened to all 
students at Oxford and Cambridge the right to obtain university de- 
grees, with all the privileges which they conferred, and the right 
to hold lay offices, both in universities and the colleges without the 
obligation of subscribing to any religious tests. The progressive 
legislation following the great Reform Bill of 1832 had left this problem 
untouched ; although many bills dealing with it had been introduced 
from time to time. At Oxford, a student was obliged at matriculation 
to subscribe to the Thirty-nine articles, and again on taking the B.A. 
and the M.A. At Cambridge no such test was required, though, on 
taking a degree, a man had to declare that he was a bona fide member 
of the Church of England, and, since it rested with the college authori- 
ties to receive him in residence, Nonconformists were for years prac- 
tically excluded from entrance. In 1854, the university test for matric- 
ulation was abolished at Oxford, while, in 1856, Cambridge went 
a step further by throwing open to Nonconformists all ordinary bach- 
elors' degrees and the nominal title of the M.A. without the privileges 
attached to it. Even after the Act of 187 1 none but members of 
the Church of England were eligible for clerical fellowships, degrees 
in divinity, and divinity professorships. 

Army Reform, 1871. — Cardwell, Secretary for War, and Childers, 
First Lord of the Admiralty, were not behindhand in reforms relating 
to their respective departments, both in reduction of expenses and 
increase of efficiency. The reduction in the number of the laborers 
and artisans employed in the dockyards made many enemies for the 
Ministry. Cardwell cut down the number of British troops in the 
Colonies from 49,000 in 1868 to less than 21,000 in 1870, thus marking 
an important step in the application of a principle already recognized, 
that the oversea possessions should provide for their own defense in 
time of peace. Then, by an Act of 1871, he made the Commander- 

and the Church schools under the supervision of the County and Borough Councils, 
and provided that, both types should be supported by Government grants supple- 
mented by local taxes. At the same time, the actual control of the Church schools 
was vested in a committee of six, two from the Council and four from the denomina- 
tion to which the school belongs. Since most of the schools were of the Anglican 
communion, the Dissenters made vigorous protests, but, owing to the opposition 
of the Lords, a measure framed by the Liberal Government, in 1906, with a view 
to taking pubUc education out of denominational hands failed to pass. 



998 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

in-Chief more subordinate to the Secretary for War than he had been 
hitherto. By other far-reaching measures, among them shortening 
the term of enlistment, he practically reorganized the whole British 
army. The only serious struggle arose over the abolition of the pur- 
chase of army officers' commissions. It was a grave defect in the 
existing system that capable men of training could be jumped by 
mere youths of wealth and influence. On the other hand, it was 
argued that discipline would suffer if men of inferior station were put 
in command of their social superiors. Naturally, too, those who had 
expended large sums in the purchase of commissions were bitterly 
opposed to the change. As a concession to the latter, it was provided 
that officers who had paid for their positions might retain them, and 
£7,000,000 was appropriated to compensate those who wished to 
withdraw. The bill passed the Commons with some difficulty ; but 
the Lords, while they did not venture to reject it, sought to shelve it 
by delaying the second reading till the whole plan of army reorganiza- 
tion was before them. In consequence, Gladstone induced the Queen 
to declare the abolition of purchase by royal warrant. While this 
was perfectly constitutional, the Prime Minister was loudly criticized. 
Many Liberals deprecated his resorting to the royal prerogative, while 
Conservatives resented his inducing the Queen to introduce a change 
with which she was not in sympathy, and, more particularly, his dis- 
regarding the will of the Peers after he had already submitted the 
measure to them. Disraeli denounced the step as a " shameful and 
avowed conspiracy against the Upper House," which was now 
obliged to pass the Compensation Bill. The Lords took their revenge 
in 1 87 1 by rejecting a bill providing vote by ballot and more effective 
checks against corrupt practices in elections ; but they had to give 
their assent the following year. 

The Growing Unpopularity of the Gladstone Ministry, 1871. — The 
Ministry, though it survived three years longer, had already drawn 
upon its head a varied and powerful opposition that was, in the end, 
to prove overwhelming. The Education Act had alienated the Non- 
conformists as well as the stanch High Churchmen, the reductions 
in the dockyards had aroused the workingmen, the abolition of pur- 
chase had stirred the wrath of the upper classes. A number of bills 
had to be withdrawn in 1871. Chief among them was a tax on 
matches, proposed by Lowe, who suggested with an unfortunate 
play of wit, that each box should bear the inscription ex lace lucellum — 
a little profit out of light. The manufacturers succeeded in arousing 
both the workmen in the factories as well as the poor peddlers in the 
streets and enlisting popular sympathy in their cause. Moreover, 
the conciliatory attitude of the Government in foreign policy was 
scornfully branded as too tame and submissive. While the Liberal 
party was growing steadily weaker, Disraeli was aiming to popularize 
the Conservatives by exploiting the Imperial idea. The Mother 
Country and her colonies, he declared, ought to be united in close 



A NEW ERA IN DEMOCRACY 999 

Imperial bonds; there should be an Imperial protective tariff; the 
ties of mutual military defense should be drawn together, and some 
form of a representative institution should be set up in London in 
which the colonies might voice their aspirations and their needs. Of 
the three features of the Conservative program which he framed — 
" the maintenance of our institutions, the preservation of our Empire, 
and the improvement of the condition of our people " — Imperialism 
proved the most tangible. In a famous speech at Manchester in 
1872 he compared the Ministers to a " range of exhausted volcanoes." 

The Supreme Court of Judicature Act, 1873. — Such was the situa- 
tion when, in February, 1873, Gladstone introduced a bill to unite the 
various colleges of Ireland into a single university to which both 
Roman Catholics and Protestants should be freely admitted without 
religious tests. The defeat of the measure by three votes caused the 
Prime Minister to resign. Since, however, Disraeli did not feel that 
his party was yet strong enough to take office, the old Government 
came back. Although in a sadly crippled state, it was able to under- 
take, during the last few months of its career, one more notable reform 
— a fundamental reorganization of the Law Courts and their procedure 
which was largelv completed within two years. By the Judicature 
Act of 1873, and the supplementary acts which followed, the three 
Common Law Courts, together with Chancery and various other 
tribunals were consolidated into one Supreme Court of Judicature. 
This was to consist of two primary divisions: (1) the High Court of 
Justice, made of three subdivisions, (a) Queen's Bench, 1 (b) Chancery, 
(c) Probate, Divorce, and Admiralty ; (2) the Court of Appeal. From 
the Court of Appeal the cases went, as a last resort, to the House of 
Lords, which was strengthened in 1876 by the addition of three Law 
Lords who held their title for life. A fourth was subsequently added. 

The End of the First Gladstone Ministry, 1874. — In 1874, Glad- 
stone suddenly appealed to the country in a general election which 
resulted in an overwhelming victory for the Conservatives. By pro- 
posing a tax on spirits the vanquished Prime Minister had added to 
his list a new enemy — the liquor dealers — who worked so actively 
against him that he wrote to his brother : " we have been borne down 
in a torrent of gin and beer," doubtless an exaggeration of the in- 
fluence of this particular factor. Disraeli, in a recent attack, had 
accused him of having " harassed every trade, worried every profession, 
and assailed every class institution and species of property in the 
country." " It would have been better for us all," he declared on 
another occasion, " if there had been a little more energy in our 
foreign policy, and a little less in our domestic legislation." The 
Ministry had committed some blunders, it had made many enemies, 
and alienated some of its friends. Aside, however, from those who 
were actuated by strong religious convictions or insistent upon a more 

1 This consolidation was not completed until 1880. 



iooo A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

aggressive policy abroad, most of its opponents were those whose class 
privileges and vested interests had suffered. It had come to power 
pledged to carry out a vast programme of reform, and its achievements 
in constructive, progressive legislation had been surpassed by few 
ministries of the century. Not only that, but it had also reduced 
expenses materially and left the treasury in a flourishing condition. 

England and the Franco-Prussian War, 1870-1871. — • The two 
most important features in British foreign relations during the Glad- 
stonian regime were the attitude of the Government toward the 
Franco-Prussian War and the adjustment of the Alabama claims. 
Clarendon, appointed to the Foreign Office at the beginning of the 
Ministry, died in 1870. His death was a serious loss; for he was a 
finished diplomat whose name carried great weight in the councils 
of Europe. Lord Granville, who had succeeded him, was a man of 
tact and personal charm but dilatory and yielding. On 19 July, 1870, 
war broke out between France and Prussia. The causes were many 
and complicated. The French were jealous of the rising power of 
Prussia ; they burned to recover the old Frankish territories on the 
left bank of the Rhine, their " natural frontier," while Napoleon III 
was anxious to unite his discontented subjects in a great war of con- 
quest. Led on by the adroit diplomacy of Bismarck, who was striving 
to complete the unification of Germany under Prussian domination, 
the French rushed headlong and unprepared into the conflict. The 
result was a Prussian triumph. On 1 September, 1870, the Emperor, 
with an entire French army, was surrounded and captured at Sedan. 
On 19 September the siege of Paris began, and after heroic suffering 
the city yielded, 28 January, 1871. Ten days before, William, 
King of Prussia, was crowned German Emperor at Versailles, and by 
the peace, concluded 3 March, France ceded Alsace and Lorraine and 
agreed to pay a war indemnity of five milliards of francs. The or- 
ganization of the new German Empire was completed in 1871. After 
vain offers of mediation the British Government remained neutral. 
By his ruthless methods Bismarck was able to prevent English popular 
sympathy for France from going too far. His most telling stroke was 
to publish, 25 July, 1870, the draft of a treaty which he had induced 
the Emperor to submit to him, looking toward a French occupation of 
Belgium. The Queen, naturally inclined to favor the German cause, 
nevertheless, in the interests of humanity, tried to prevent the bom- 
bardment of Paris. This Bismarck resented as " petticoat sentimen- 
tality," hindering German designs. In order to prevent any possi- 
bility of Great Britain and Russia combining to intervene in behalf 
of France, he sought to set the two Powers by the ears. To that end, 
he prompted Russia to seize the opportunity offered by the disturbed 
condition of Europe to abrogate the clause in the Treaty of 1856 which 
excluded Russian warships from the Black Sea. Russia decided to take 
the step and suddenly announced her intention in a circular letter, 
issued 31 October, 1870. Great Britain protested stoutly against her 



A NEW ERA IN DEMOCRACY iooi 

proceeding independently of the other parties to the Treaty. Although 
a conference was assembled at London in December, the result was a 
foregone conclusion. Russia had her way. 

The Alabama Claims. — The settlement of the Alabama claims was 
regarded by many as another diplomatic defeat for the Gladstone 
Ministry. Undoubtedly, however, Russell had been at fault in allow- 
ing the Alabama to sail. In 1865, he admitted to Gladstone that 
" paying twenty millions down would be far preferable to submitting 
the case to arbitration." The question was complicated by the resent- 
ment aroused in the United States against the British recognition of 
the belligerent rights of the South, and by the setting forth of indirect 
claims amounting to £400,000,000. These were based on the grounds 
that Great Britain's encouragement prolonged the war, that her 
attitude was responsible for a large share of the Northern losses at 
sea, and on the expense incurred by the United States Government in 
pursuing the various cruisers which had sailed from British ports. 
After long and arduous negotiations had failed to accomplish anything, 
the two Governments finally agreed to appoint a joint commission 
to discuss the questions at issue and decide upon a plan of settlement. 
By the Treaty of Washington, where the meetings were held in the 
spring of 1 87 1, it was agreed, among other things, that Great Britain 
should express her regret at the escape of the Alabama and the other 
Confederate cruisers, and that the assessment of damages should be 
referred to an international tribunal. This body, which was to meet 
at Geneva, was to consist of five members chosen by the rulers of 
Great Britain, the United States, Italy, Switzerland, and Brazil. As 
the result of its findings, announced in September, 1872, the United 
States was awarded £3,250,000. This Geneva Award marked the 
first step in international arbitration, and hence a notable advance in 
the progress of civilization, though the majority of the British people 
looked upon it in the light of a national humiliation. By the Foreign 
Enlistment Act of 1870, making it " an offense to build a ship in 
circumstances which gave reasonable cause for belief that it would be 
used against a friendly state engaged in war," Great Britain pro- 
vided for the future against any difficulties of this nature. 

The Second Disraeli Ministry, 1874-1880. — For the first time since 
the Peelite schism the Conservatives, in 1874, came to office with a 
decided majority. Their ranks were greatly strengthened by the 
accession of numbers from the commercial classes who were alienated 
from the Liberal party because it was attracting the increasing support 
of the trade unions and the artisans. A Jew who had achieved his 
earliest fame as a fop and a novelist, and who had entered public 
life advocating a union of the nobility and the masses against the 
capitalistic class, was the leader of a new combination of aristocracy 
and conservative commercialism. After the mass of legislation pro- 
duced by the late Ministry, Disraeli's Government proposed to give 
the country a comparative rest. However, a few bills of note passed. 



ioo2 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

In the teeth of determined obstruction from the Irish representatives, 
Assheton Cross, the Home Secretary, was able to carry various measures 
dealing with the welfare of the working classes — notably a Public 
Health Act and an Artisans' Dwelling Act. In 1876 the persistent 
efforts of Samuel Plimsoll, the " sailors' friend," were rewarded by 
the passage of the Merchant Shipping Act aiming to prevent the 
overloading of ships or sending them on voyages in an unseaworthy 
condition. 1 Early in January, 1875, Gladstone withdrew from the 
leadership of the Liberal party, though, as it proved, only temporarily. 
The Marquis of Hartington took his place in the Commons, while 
Granville continued as leader in the House of Lords. 

The Purchase of the Suez Canal Shares, 1875. — While the Con- 
servative Ministry passed a few measures which indicate that they 
too were not indifferent to the welfare of the working classes and sought 
their support, Disraeli's most notable achievements were in the field 
of foreign affairs. Perhaps his greatest stroke was the purchase, 
in November, 1875, of the Egyptian Khedive's shares in the Suez 
Canal Company. For £5,000,000 he secured nearly half the total 
stock. The step was made possible by the bankruptcy of the Khedive, 
Ismail, a colossal spendthrift, who in less than, thirteen years had 
increased the Egyptian debt from £3,000,000 to £91,000,000. Be- 
cause of its position relative to India, the British interest in Egypt had 
always been great ; with the building of the Canal, which shortened 
it nearly six thousand miles, this interest became vital. In 1856, the 
French engineer Ferdinand de Lesseps had taken up the project which 
Napoleon had abandoned. In spite of the opposition of Palmerston, 
he succeeded in launching a company with a capital of £8,000,000, 
about half of which was subscribed by French capitalists. The 
Egyptian Government, which took up the remainder, ultimately sank 
more than £16,000,000 in the undertaking. The Canal, begun in 
1859, was opened 17 November, 1869, with great festivities. 2 It was 
not till 1872 that the receipts began to exceed expenses, though, from 
that time, the profits increased by leaps and bounds, although the 
Egyptians, who had contributed so much, received nothing except the 
£5,000,000, which was sunk in the yawning gulf of the Khedive's 
expenses. Prompted by a suggestion from Frederick Greenwood, an 
English journalist, Disraeli, when he found that Ismail was trying 
to mortgage his shares in Paris, negotiated the purchase on his own re- 
sponsibility and got Parliament to ratify the Act. In 1876, owing to 
the involved condition of Egyptian finances, the European Powers 
were obliged to step in, and an Anglo-French dual control was es- 

1 The abuses of sending ships to sea in an unsafe condition in order to gain the 
insurance is graphically pictured in Conan Doyle's The Firm of Girdlestone. 

2 When the Khedive learned, six weeks before the event, that the French Empress 
Eugenie desired to visit the pyramids at Giza, he ordered a road seven miles long 
to be built. It was done in the intense heat by 10,000 peasants who were forced 
under the lash. 



A NEW ERA IN DEMOCRACY 1003 

tablished. In the following year Major Evelyn Baring (later and 
better known as Lord Cromer) began, as British Commissioner to 
the Public Debt, his long and wonderful career in Egypt. Ismail, 
after regaining his authority for a brief period, was finally deposed, 
in 1879, by the Sultan, at the instance of Great Britain and France. 
He died in exile in 1895. He was succeeded as nominal Khedive by his 
young and inexperienced son, Tewfik Pasha, who fell heir to "a bank- 
rupt state, an undisciplined army, and a discontented people." A 
crisis was inevitable, which came to a head in 1881. 

Victoria, Empress of India, 1876. — Another evidence of Disraeli's 
Imperial imagination was manifested in the Royal Titles Bill of 1876 
by which the Queen was declared Empress of India. He sought to 
allay the opposition — based to a large degree on the discredit which 
the Imperial title had suffered from the blasted careers of Napoleon III 
and Maximilian — by a promise that Victoria would never use it in 
England. This led to Lord Rosebery's witty comment : " labeled for 
external use only." The natives of India received the innovation 
with such enthusiasm that the feeling against it in England soon died 
away. In August, 1876, Disraeli, now in his seventy-second year, 
went to the House of Lords as Earl of Beaconsfield. 

A new Crisis in the Near East, 1875. — Meantime, the old prob- 
lem of Turkey in Europe had again assumed an acute form. The 
trouble began in 1875 with a revolt in the provinces of Bosnia and 
Herzegovina. Though egged on by Russia and Austria, they had suf- 
fered real grievances at the hands of Turkish officials : religious oppres- 
sion, and financial extortion as well. The provisions of the Treaty of 
1856 had been violated in almost every conceivable way: the Porte 
had not kept its promise of ameliorating the lot of the Christians under 
its rule, Russia had not been excluded from the Black Sea, and endless 
other causes of friction existed to invite trouble. The three Powers, of 
Austria, Russia, and Prussia, were insistent that Turkey should be 
made to reform her administration by force of arms if necessary. 
The British Ministers would go no further, however, than to urge 
reform upon the Sultan. They still believed in the possibility of the 
regeneration of Turkey, a delusion which their jealousy of Russia 
contributed to nourish. Depending upon Disraeli's support, the 
Turks pursued a policy of suave evasion. On 5 May, 1876, a body of 
Mohammedan fanatics rose at Salonika, and among their victims 
were the French and German consuls. Although British, French, 
and German fleets were hurried to the scene of action, the disorders 
continued. At Constantinople, two sultans were deposed within two 
months. During the summer of 1876, Servia and Montenegro joined 
in the war. About the same time an insurrection broke out in Bul- 
garia, and was suppressed by the Turks with such atrocities as to 
arouse a fury of indignation in England, especially among the Liberals. 
Gladstone, emerging from his retirement, published, in September, a 
pamphlet on the Bulgarian Horrors and the Question of the East, and 



ioo 4 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

made speeches of fiery eloquence in behalf of the oppressed. Beacons- 
field, who had little sympathy for the Christians in the Turkish prov- 
inces and a consuming dread of Russia, accused his rival of making 
political capital out of the situation, referring to him as a " designing 
politician," seeking " to further his own sinister ends." The more 
conservative Liberals were offended by the extreme utterances of the 
historian Freeman at a meeting where Gladstone also appeared. 
" Perish the interests of England," he cried, " perish our dominion in 
India, rather than she should strike one blow in behalf of Turkey, in 
behalf of the wrong against the right." A split in the party seemed 
imminent. The Marquis of Hartington, for example, who carried 
great weight, was by no means of Gladstone's way of thinking, much 
less of Freeman's. 

The Russo-Turkish War, 1877-1878. — But Beaconsfield dominated 
the Cabinet, and it was only the opposition of the British Government 
to the use of force that held Russia back. At length a conference 
of the Powers was arranged at Constantinople. Lord Salisbury, the 
British representative at Constantinople, solemnly informed the 
Sultan that if he failed to observe the warning of the Powers and al- 
lowed maladministration to continue, the responsibility would rest with 
the Porte. The effect of these weighty words was counterbalanced 
by a speech of Beaconsfield's at the Guildhall, 9 November, 1876, 
in which he declared that : " In a righteous cause — and he trusted 
that England would never embark in war except in a righteous cause — 
England was not a country that would have to inquire whether she 
would have to enter into a second or third campaign." r The Turks, 
thus encouraged to count on British support, rejected a protocol 
framed by the Conference voicing the demands of the Powers. As a 
consequence, Russia declared war on Turkey, 24 April, 1877. For 
months the conflict was waged with varying fortunes until, in Decem- 
ber, the power of the Turkish resistance was broken. In January, 
1878, the Russian troops occupied Adrianople ; but, though they were 
within striking distance of Constantinople, their energies were, for the 
moment, wellnigh exhausted. There were three parties in England. 
At one extreme were those who regarded the welfare of the Christian 
subjects of the Porte as a matter of secondary importance, and in- 
sisted upon the maintenance of the integrity of Turkey as a necessary 
barrier against Russian aggrandizement. Opposed to them was the 
party which felt that the maintenance of the Ottoman Empire in Europe 
was a disgrace to Christendom and that it must be destroyed at all 
hazards. Between these extremes was the great mass of men who were 
ashamed of the Turkish atrocities ; but who, nevertheless, could not 

1 The aggressive party who supported him in these views came to be known as 
the " Jingoists," from a music-hall song of the autumn of 1878 which ran : 

"We don't want to fight, but by jingo if we do, 
We've got the ships, we've got the men, 
We've got the money too." 



A NEW ERA IN DEMOCRACY 1005 

bring themselves to support the armed intervention of Russia. There 
were sharp differences of opinion in the Cabinet as well. The policy 
of Lord Derby, 1 the Foreign Minister, was to hold aloof without 
coercing or assisting Turkey, so long as the British interests in the 
Suez, in Egypt, in the Persian Gulf, or anywhere along the route to 
India, were not affected. With some difficulty he maintained this 
policy until the Russians advanced on Constantinople, when, as a 
counterpoise, a British fleet was sent to the iEgean. It sailed through 
the Dardanelles, and took up a position near the Turkish capital. On 
3 March, the Russians extorted from their vanquished enemy the 
Treaty of San Stefano. 

The Treaty of San Stefano, 1878. — The Treaty provided for : 
(1) the creation of the autonomous vassal principality of Bulgaria 
extending from the Danube on the north and the Black Sea on the east 
to the ^Egean on the south, and so big as not only to menace the 
integrity of Turkey, but practically to swallow up Macedonia, which 
the Greeks burned to recover ; (2) the independence of Servia, Mon- 
tenegro, and Rumania 2 with considerable additions of territory, 
though Russia designed to extend her boundaries at the expense of 
Rumania ; (3) the demolition of the Danubian fortresses ; (4) the 
autonomy of Bosnia and Herzegovina under Christian governors ; 
(5) the guarantee of reforms and protection in the provinces inhabited 
by the Armenians ; (6) the payment of a war indemnity by Turkey. 
The plan of a " big Bulgaria " was opposed strenuously both by the 
Mussulmans and by the Greeks. Great Britain favored their protest, 
on the ground that it would practically amount to the creation of a 
Russian province dominating the Balkan peninsula. The British 
only later came to recognize that the formation of strong and inde- 
pendent buffer states in the Balkans might prove just as effective a 
check on the expansion of Russia as would the preservation of the in- 
tegrity of Turkey. 3 Austria who had received a promise that she 
might occupy the provinces of Bosnia and Herzegovina was also 
dissatisfied. As a result, the Congress of Berlin was arranged, where, 
owing mainly to the insistence of Great Britain, the whole treaty was 
reviewed. Although it was unprecedented for a Prime Minister to 
take such a step, Beaconsfield went in person to Berlin. 

The Congress of Berlin, 1878. — The Congress, which sat from 13 
June to 13 July, under the presidency of Bismarck, was a brilliant 
assemblage of diplomats representing the leading European powers. 
Its chief work was to alter two provisions of the Treaty of San Stefano. 
Austria was allowed to occupy and administer Bosnia and Herze- 
govina. 4 Also the " big Bulgaria " was cut down to a district north 

1 The son of the late Prime Minister. 

2 Formed by the union of the ancient provinces of Moldavia and Wallachia 
in 1859. 

3 Lord Salisbury declared very bluntly, some time after, that Great Britain had 
"backed the wrong horse." 4 Austria annexed the provinces in 1908. 



1006 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

■jf the Balkans. South of the mountains was formed the province 
of Eastern Rumelia, under the control of the Sultan, but adminis- 
tered by a Christian Governor- General named by the Porte with the 
assent of the Powers. Macedonia, too, was excluded from the Bul- 
garia contemplated by the Russian arrangement, and, in spite of prom- 
ised reforms, remained groaning under Turkish oppression and con- 
stantly in revolt until the Balkan War of 191 2. Meantime, 4 June, Great 
Britain, nine days before the opening of the Berlin Congress, had con- 
cluded a convention with Turkey by which she received the island of 
Cyprus in return for an agreement to protect the Asiatic provinces of 
the Porte from Russian attack, on condition that the Sultan " intro- 
duce necessary reforms therein." Beaconsfield on his return to Eng- 
land was received with tremendous enthusiasm, and declared compla- 
cently that he had obtained " peace with honor." But his achieve- 
ments at Berlin were hardly worth the trouble they cost, and that on 
which he prided himself most was not destined to survive a decade. He 
was unable to keep northern and southern Bulgaria apart by giving 
the latter a new name, and in 1885 his pet creation of Eastern Rume- 
lia quietly proclaimed its union with Bulgaria, an arrangement which 
was sanctioned by Salisbury, the successor of Beaconsfield as head of 
the Conservative party. Great Britain, however, had accomplished 
something by strengthening the Austrian power in the Balkan States, 
and by showing the Russians that they could not presume to adjust 
the affairs of the near East unopposed ; but even the heirs of Beacons- 
field's policy came to recognize that there was a more effectual way of 
holding the Muscovite power in check than by a futile attempt to 
sustain the integrity of Turkey in Europe. 

The Situation in India and Afghanistan, 1874-1878. — Among 
the problems facing the Beaconsfield Administration when it came to 
power was a famine in Bengal ; but concerted measures of relief 
helped to tide over the crisis until an abundant rainfall and a fruitful 
harvest brought plenty in the following year. The loyalty of the im- 
aginative Indians was stimulated by a visit of the Prince of Wales 
during the winter of 187 5-1 876 ; by Victoria's assumption of the Im- 
perial title, together with the creation of " native councillors of the 
Empress " and the Order of the Indian Empire. Early in 1876, Lord 
Lytton, son of the famous novelist and himself a minor poet who had 
served as a diplomatist, hitherto without distinction, went out as 
Viceroy. Like so many of Beaconsfield's appointees, he showed un- 
expected qualities for the work before him. In devising measures to 
meet another famine — this time in southern and western India — as 
well as in the whole field of internal administration his regime was 
marked by vigor and capacity. Unhappily, however, he soon became 
involved with the Amir of Afghanistan in what was regarded as a 
necessary policy of intervention for the purpose of checking the for- 
ward policy of Russia, a policy in which that country was strengthened 
by the attitude of Great Britain toward the treaty of San Stefano. In 



A NEW ERA IN DEMOCRACY 1007 

the summer of 1878 it developed that the Russians were treating with 
the Afghan ruler, and had induced him to accept a Russian mission 
at Kabul. Instead of trying to force the Russians to withdraw, the 
British Cabinet followed the advice of Lytton and determined to 
coerce the Amir into accepting a British resident as well. He had 
desired British support in money and arms ; but he was stoutly op- 
posed to a resident British mission on the ground that it would weaken 
his authority, and that " in the event of an outbreak he would be 
unable to protect it." Events proved him right. Lord Lawrence, an 
ex- Viceroy and one of the most notable of Indian administrators, pro- 
tested against the policy ; but Beaconsfield was insistent, and even 
went so far as to declare in his speech at the Guildhall banquet, in 
November, 1878, that the object was to establish a " scientific fron- 
tier " in the northwest, that is, nothing less than territorial aggression 
for the defense of India. 

The Afghan War, 1878 1879. — The Government had to send 
a great invading army to enforce its demands. Gladstone uttered 
a prophetic prayer : " May heaven avert a repetition of the calamity 
which befell the army in 1841." Sher Ali fled and his son and successor, 
Yakub Khan, negotiated a treaty providing for a readjustment of the 
frontier and the admission of a British resident. While the wise fore- 
saw that the situation was full of danger, the Government nourished 
the delusion that they had secured a " friendly, and independent 
and a strong Afghanistan." In September, the British envoy, together 
with the little force which had been left with him on the withdrawal 
of the invading army, less than six weeks after his arrival at Kabul, 
was killed in a vain attempt to defend the Embassy. Yakub Khan, 
who had all along been encouraging disaffection among his subjects, if 
he had not instigated the actual rising, at least took no steps to put 
it down. General Roberts was at once dispatched to Kabul, and oc- 
cupied the city, 10 October. Yakub Khan abdicated and went into 
exile. A commission of inquiry sentenced eighty-seven persons to 
death for participation in the murderous outbreak and the disturbance 
which followed. Reinforcements were hurried to the assistance of 
Roberts ; but Lytton, who contemplated a complete subjugation of 
northern Afghanistan, was superseded on a change of Ministry in 1880. 
Abdur Rahman Khan, a cousin of the late Sher Ali, was made Amir 
at Kabul, while Kandahar was placed under a separate ruler. The 
aggressive policy of Beaconsfield and Lytton had resulted in a tragedy 
which had been signally avenged. The new arrangements, however, 
left the situation fraught with uncertainty. Various difficulties have 
arisen in subsequent years owing to native risings and boundary dis- 
putes with Russia. At present, however, the storm center of Russian 
and British rivalry is rather in Persia than in Afghanistan. Elsewhere, 
the Conservative government showed the same forward policy, notably 
in South Africa, where, as one consequence, the British were plunged 
into a serious war with the Zulus, lasting from January to July, 1879. 



1008 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

The Fall of the Beaconsfield Ministry, 1880. — The Beaconsfield 
Ministry had already reached the highwater mark of its popularity 
at the time of the Prime Minister's return from Berlin in 1878. Agri- 
cultural depression, 1 decline in trade, strikes, the Afghan and Zulu 
wars, unsatisfactory budgets, dearth of remedial legislation, together 
with the policy of systematic obstruction initiated by the new Irish 
Home Rule party in the Commons, all contributed to prepare the way 
for its overthrow. In November, 1879, Gladstone, now a veteran of 
three score and ten, denounced the Government in a remarkable 
series of speeches delivered to his constituency of Midlothian. He 
scored the foreign policy, including the burden of expense which it 
involved, and he scored the domestic administration. Many, however, 
even of his own party regarded his campaigning with apprehension as a 
" precedent tending in its results to the degradation of British politics 
by bringing in a system of perpetual canvass, and removing the politi- 
cal center of gravity from Parliament to the platform." On 8 March, 
1880, Beaconsfield appealed to the country in a general election. 
The cause of the Liberals was much assisted by the superiority of their 
political organization based on the model which Mr. Joseph Chamber- 
lain, destined to become one of the dominant figures of the generation, 
had introduced from the United States into Birmingham, whence it 
spread through the country. Another factor in the election was the 
support which the Irish gave to the Liberals ; " but the main cause of 
a change of fortune, more startling than any of the party managers 
had anticipated, was Gladstone's missionary fervor, playing upon 
popular discontent, the reaction against Imperialism as exemplified 
in the Zulu and Afghan misadventures, the dislike of the Noncon- 
formists to Disraeli, and the desire for something fresh." When he 
learned of the defeat of his party at the polls, Beaconsfield resigned, 
18 April, 1880, without waiting to face Parliament. 

FOR ADDITIONAL READING 

See Chapter LV below. 

1 In 1879 occurred the worst harvest of the century. 



CHAPTER LV 

THE TWO LAST DECADES OF VICTORIA'S REIGN (1880-1901) 

The Second Gladstone Ministry, April, 1880- July, 1885. — While 
Granville in the House of Lords and Hartington in the House of Com- 
mons were still the leaders of the Liberal party, it was Gladstone who 
had defeated the Conservatives by his Midlothian campaign speeches. 
When they found that their old chief would accept no subordinate 
office, they persuaded the Queen, much against her will, to make him 
Prime Minister. It was the last Cabinet in which John Bright ever 
sat, and the first in which Mr. Joseph Chamberlain held office. 
The latter, together with many of his colleagues, were destined to 
break from their party on the question of Irish Home Rule. 

The Bradlaugh Case, 1880 1886. — At the opening of the new 
session, Charles Bradlaugh, elected from Northampton, raised an 
issue which culminated, after some years of struggle, in the removal 
of the last religious disability for membership in the House of Com- 
mons. As an atheist Bradlaugh objected to the required oath which 
contained the words: " So help me God," and insisted on taking an 
affirmation instead. After conflicting motions and decisions, an 
Affirmation Bill was introduced and dropped in 1881, while another 
was defeated by three votes in 1883. Meantime, Bradlaugh changed 
his mind and offered to take the oath. Indeed, he produced a New 
Testament from his pocket and administered it himself. There were, 
no doubt, a number of members whose unbelief was as strong as his 
own ; but, since he was a professed freethinker who had openly 
declared that the prescribed test meant nothing to him, the House of 
Commons and the courts denied him the right to do what many who 
concealed their opinions did without question. The persistent 
Bradlaugh was involved in no less than eight lawsuits, he was un- 
seated and reelected many times, and he was even expelled from 
the House by force. At length, in January, 1886, the Speaker ruled 
that he should be allowed to take the oath, and he held his seat till 
his death in 189 1. In 1888 he secured the passage of a bill legalizing 
the substitution of an affirmation for an oath, both in the Commons 
and in the Law Courts. Thus the question was settled once and for all. 
Although his case occupied so much of the session of 1880, various 
progressive measures were passed. Chief among them was a Burial 
Act allowing interment in churchyards without religious services, 
and an Employer's Liability Act, which greatly assisted workmen to 
3 t 1009 



ioio A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

obtain compensation for injuries received while engaged in their 
occupation. Ireland, however, was again demanding serious atten- 
tion. 

The Origin and Rise of the Home Rule Party. — In 1871, Isaac 
Butt, who entered Parliament in that year, launched a new policy 
for which he invented the name " Home Rule." In contrast to the 
Fenians, who aimed at'an independent republic, it was the purpose of 
his party to secure a separate legislature for Ireland by peaceful, politi- 
cal methods. Owing to his genial temper and lack of aggressiveness, 
the movement made little progress under his direction. The force 
which he lacked was supplied by Charles Stewart Parnell (1846-1891) 
who entered Parliament in 1875, and who, two years later, deliberately 
adopted and systematized a policy already resorted to on occasion. 
This policy consisted in obstructing, in every way possible, the legis- 
lative policy of the House of Commons until the demands of the 
Irish Home Rulers were considered. At first sight it would seem that 
he was the very last person to lead the Nationalist cause. He had 
not a drop of Irish blood in his veins, for his ancestors were Englishmen 
who had settled in the county of Wicklow. Moreover, he was a 
landowner, a graduate of Cambridge, and a Protestant. However, 
he had inherited from his mother — a daughter of the American 
Admiral, Charles Stewart, who had fought in the war of 181 2 — an 
intense hatred of the English, a hatred still further inflamed when the 
authorities searched the family home, not sparing even his mother's 
bedroom, because of her supposed sympathy with Fenianism. The 
attainment of Home Rule for Ireland grew rapidly to be his consuming 
ambition. He was a cold, undemonstrative man ; but his force and 
energy were tremendous, and by sheer will power, with little or no 
literary training, he grew to be a powerful, incisive speaker. In 1877, 
he was elected president of the Home Rule Federation of Great Britain. 
Though he was opposed to force, he gradually allied himself with the 
Fenians of various countries, notably with the Clan-na-Gael, which had 
its center in America and differed from the old Fenians who would have 
nothing to do with parliamentary agitation. His aim was to unite all 
organizations, whether constitutional or revolutionary, in the cause 
to which he devoted his life. However, he repudiated all connection 
with the dynamiters. In the autumn of 1879, he was elected to the 
presidency of the National Land League of Ireland, founded for the 
reduction of unjust rents and for the ultimate transfer of the ownership 
of land to the occupiers. Late in the same year he embarked for the 
United States, where he made a short tour, with the twofold design 
of raising funds and of extending his influence. 

The Land Act of 1881. — Soon after Gladstone came to power, a 
Peace Preservation Act expired by limitation, and the Government 
undertook to maintain order by ordinary law. This proved futile, 
violence continued, Parnell persevered in his obstructionist tactics 
and became more and more outspoken. He declared that if a tenant 



TWO LAST DECADES OF VICTORIA'S REIGN ion 

took a farm from which another had been evicted he " should be 
isolated from his kind as if he had been a leper of old." Such treat- 
ment accorded to one Captain Boycott who was overzealous in en- 
forcing the rights of a Mayo landlord, added a new word to our lan- 
guage. The situation in Ireland became so disturbing that, in the 
session of 1881, the Liberals forced through a new series of coercive 
measures in the teeth of determined opposition from the Irish National- 
ists. By way of conciliation, however, Gladstone introduced a Land 
Act designed to remedy the defects of his measure of 1870, by providing 
the " three F's " demanded by the Irish — fair rents, fixity of tenure, 
and free sale of his interests by the tenant. The Act was to be enforced 
by a Land Court, which, however, took no action unless voluntarily 
resorted to by one of the parties, either landlord or tenant. It might 
fix a " judicial rent " which was to remain in force for fifteen years, 
during which period the tenant could not be evicted except for non- 
payment of rent and certain other specified reasons. At the end 
of the fifteen years the landlord might resume possession with the 
Court's consent. Meanwhile, if at any time the occupier wished to 
part with his tenant right, he was allowed, subject to certain restric- 
tions, to sell it for the best price he could get, though the landlord was 
to have the first option. In case the tenant wished to buy his holding, 
the Government was to loan three fourths of the purchase money. 
Advances were also made for emigration, and for improvements, in- 
cluding reclamation of waste lands. In spite of its well-meant pro- 
visions, the Bill found favor with neither the landlords nor the tenants, 
though Gladstone with his wondrous skill and eloquence was able 
to secure its enactment. 

The Kilmainham Treaty and the Phoenix Park Murders, 1882. — 
Once more coercion and conciliation alike proved ineffective. Before 
the close of the year, Parnell and half a dozen of his followers were 
sent to Kilmainham prison for inciting Irishmen to defeat the Land 
Act by intimidating tenants inclined to take advantage of its pro- 
visions. In the spring of 1882, they were released in accordance 
with the terms of the " Kilmainham Treaty " arranged with Glad- 
stone and Mr. Chamberlain, by which they agreed to put an end to 
boycotting and to cooperate with the Liberal party. The treaty 
had scarcely been concluded when all England was shocked by the 
news that, 6 May, Lord Frederick Cavendish, the new Chief Secretary 
for Ireland, and Thomas Henry Burke, the Permanent Under-Secre- 
tary, had been murdered by a band of Fenians in broad daylight in 
Phoenix Park, Dublin. The murderers escaped ; but they were 
finally discovered and sent to the gallows in 1883. Parnell gained 
great credit with Gladstone by repudiating all connection with the 
outrage and offering to resign from the leadership of the Home Rule 
party ; but the Government passed a Prevention of Crimes Bill which 
was regarded as one of the strongest coercive measures of the century. 
In October of 1882, a National League was formed in place of the 



1012 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

Land League which had been suppressed in the previous autumn. The 
year was marked by a series of murders in Ireland ; but Parnell 
brushed aside with cold contempt the charge that he was in any way 
privy to them. Meantime, he had broken off all connection with 
the Clan-na-Gael, which, under O'Donovan Rossa, Patrick Ford, and 
other extremists, was seeking to terrorize the English by dynamiting 
their public buildings, including the Houses of Parliament and the 
Tower of London. From 1881 to 1884 they spent £100,000 in at- 
tempts of this sort, all of which ended in failure. In the House of 
Commons new rules of procedure were adopted against the obstruc- 
tionists and some notable measures were carried. 

The Corrupt Practices Act, 1883. — One of these was a Corrupt 
Practices Bill which reduced the cost of general elections from £2,500,- 
000, to £800,000. No candidate, or his agent, might henceforth 
spend more than a fixed sum for election expenses. Any candidate 
found guilty of evading in person the terms of the Act, might, varying 
with the gravity of his offense, be excluded from Parliament alto- 
gether ; from sitting in the constituency where he secured his election ; 
or from voting or holding office for seven years. Even if the fault was 
committed by an agent, the candidate might be prohibited from rep- 
resenting the constituency in question for seven years. Bribery, 
treating, and kindred offenses were made punishable by a year's 
imprisonment and by a fine of £200. 

The Franchise Bill of 1884. — In February, 1884, Gladstone 
introduced a new franchise bill with the object of extending 
to the rural classes the same rights of voting as were enjoyed 
in the boroughs, and for establishing a substantially uniform fran- 
chise throughout the United Kingdom. The household, rating and 
lodger franchises were extended to the counties, and a new 
" service " franchise was added which conferred the franchise 
on men " not owners or tenants, but who occupy by virtue of an 
office, service, or employment, a dwelling house in which the employer 
himself does not reside," and the £10 franchise was applied to land, 
whether there were buildings on it or not. At the same time, other 
qualifications, provided for in the acts of 1832 and 1867, were left un- 
touched. In short, the measure went almost to the length of manhood 
suffrage ; since domestic servants, bachelors living with their parents, 
and those who had no fixed abode l were the only classes excluded. 
The Prime Minister's measure provided for an addition of some 2,000,- 
000 voters, nearly four times the number added in 1832, and nearly 
twice the number added in 1867. Not only the Conservatives as a 
whole, but many Liberals, even in the Cabinet, insisted that it was 
dangerous to go to such lengths. While the opposition in general felt 

1 These latter were excluded by various residence qualifications. On the other 
hand, a man who owns land in a county may not only vote by virtue of that fact; 
but may cast votes, in addition to that to which he may be entitled on account of 
a household or other qualification in a borough. 



TWO LAST DECADES OF VICTORIA'S REIGN 1013 

that the agricultural laborer was too ignorant to vote, the Conserva- 
tives laid chief emphasis on the fact that Gladstone refused to provide 
for a redistribution of seats together with extension of the franchise. 
The Bill passed the House of Commons, with some difficulty, but 
was rejected in the Lords. 

Its Passage. The Redistribution Act, 1885. — The Queen, " who 
regarded a working harmony between the two Houses of Parliament as 
essential to the due stability of monarchy," strove, as she had in 1869, 
to avoid a breach. Before she had gone very far, influential members 
of the Conservative party had independently come to the conclusion 
that the measure might safely pass if joined to a satisfactory redis- 
tribution bill. Gladstone, while he demurred at first, finally yielded, 
though one of his followers, Mr. (now Viscount) Morley launched a 
jingle, which became very popular about " mending or ending " 
the House of Lords. The question was settled by the leaders of the 
two parties over sundry cups of afternoon tea, in private conference, 
and the Conservatives were informed of the terms of the redistribution 
bill which the Prime Minister was prepared to introduce. As a result 
of these "delicate and novel communications," as Gladstone de- 
scribed them, the Franchise Bill passed easily during the autumn 
session of 1884. The Redistribution Bill, which followed close upon 
its heels, did away with 160 seats, though, by substitutions and 
the increase of new constituencies, the membership of the House 
of Commons was increased from 658 to 670. All boroughs with a 
population of 15,000 and under were merged into the counties, 
which were divided into one-member constituencies on a basis 
of population. Those between 15,000 and 50,000, together with 
the two little counties of Rutland and Hereford, were reduced to single- 
member constituencies. London was given 37 additional members, 
though the City proper lost 2 of its 4, Liverpool gained 6, Birmingham 
and Glasgow 4 each, Yorkshire 16, and Lancashire 15. Except in 
the City of London, and in boroughs and cities with a population of 
between 50,000 and 165,000, one-member constituencies became the 
rule. The bill became law in June, 1885. 
The Egyptian Problem and the Beginning of the British Occupation, 
1881-1882. — The foreign policy of the first Gladstone Ministry had 
aroused widespread dissatisfaction, that of the second stirred the 
opposition to fury. The Cabinet was criticized for withdrawing from 
Afghanistan and leaving the Amir to deal unassisted with his native 
opponents and with the Russians ; it was also denounced for making 
concessions to the Boers in South Africa after the British forces had 
received a humiliating defeat at their hands. However, it was events 
in Egypt that aroused the greatest storm and contributed more than 
any other cause to drive the Liberals out of office. On the accession 
of Tewfik Pasha the Anglo-French dual control was revived, and the 
financial administration seemed established on a satisfactory basis, 
with due regard for Egyptian creditors. A crisis came in 1881, when 



1014 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

the Khedive was obliged to dismiss, first his War Minister, and then his 
whole Cabinet at the demand of a faction of the army who represented, 
or professed to represent, the anti-Turkish or patriotic Egyptian in- 
terests. What had begun as a " national " movement degenerated, 
under their guidance, into an anarchistic outburst against progressive 
administration, and an anti-Christian crusade. They were led by 
Arabi, " a colonel of peasant origin," who became War Minister, 
5 February, 1882. In spite of a joint note from Great Britain and 
France, the Khedive was obliged to admit him to office and was threat- 
ened with death if he removed him. A grievous evidence of what 
might be expected under the new regime was a Mohammedan massacre 
of Christians at Alexandria, 11 June. The European Powers were 
for intervention through the Porte ; but nothing seemed likely to be 
done; indeed Arabi, though he had begun with an anti-Turkish prop- 
aganda, was evidently receiving secret support from Constantinople. 
So the British, when they found he was erecting batteries, determined, 
July n, to bombard Alexandria. The French fleet already there 
refused to participate and sailed away. Arabi was forced to abandon 
the city. On 13 September he was defeated at Tel-el-Kebir and put 
to flight by a British army. The native forces had shown, as Sir 
Evelyn Baring pithily declared, that they would mutiny but would 
not fight. Numbers were tried, and Arabi, together with a few others, 
was exiled to Ceylon. Lord Dufferin, who was sent, in November, from 
Constantinople, framed and submitted to the British Cabinet a scheme 
for the reorganization of the Egyptian administration. At the re- 
quest of the Egyptian Government the dual control came to end, in 
spite of French protests. Gladstone and his Cabinet disdained all 
thought of a British protectorate, and proposed to withdraw as soon as 
conditions warranted the step. But Great Britain, assuming the posi- 
tion of adviser, with Baring as Agent and Consul-General, acted as pro- 
tector in fact if not in name, and remains in occupation to this day. 
The Sudan and Gordon at Khartum, 1884. — The next crisis 
in Egyptian affairs was due to the situation in the Sudan (" the 
country of the blacks "), lying in the upper Nile valley to the south of 
Egypt. This district had first come under Egyptian control in 1819 
during the time of Mehemet Ali. In 1874, General Gordon was sent 
there by the Khedive with the design of developing a great Central 
African Empire. In 1877 he was given the title Governor-General of 
the Egyptian Sudan with a territory 1300 miles square under his con- 
trol. Gordon was a religious and moral enthusiast and made dire 
war on the powerful slave dealers, who speedily resumed their traffic 
when he withdrew in 1879. In 1881, a man rose up who proclaimed 
himself the Mahdi — the spiritual and temporal ruler to whose com- 
ing in the last days, Mohammedans looked forward. He declared it 
his mission to drive the hated Egyptian power from the Sudan, to con- 
quer their country, to overthrow their Turkish suzerain, and to 
convert the whole world to his faith, which not only was opposed to 



TWO LAST DECADES OF VICTORIA'S REIGN 1015 

Christianity, but to orthodox Mohammedanism as well. He gathered 
about him a body of fanatical enthusiasts against whom the English 
commander of the Egyptian army was unable to make headway, 
because of the disorganized state of the Egyptian Government and 
because the British Foreign Minister, Lord Granville, refused to 
assume any responsibility in the Sudan. When Baring protested 
that (since the Sudan was a dependency of the Khedive) it was im- 
possible to separate Egyptian and Sudanese affairs, the Cabinet de- 
cided to abandon the country. After vain attempts had been made 
to relieve and withdraw the loyal garrisons posted there, General 
Gordon, whose offer to undertake the task had been twice refused by 
Baring and the Egyptian ministers, was sent out by the British Gov- 
ernment, and at Cairo appointed Governor-General. Considering that 
the mission was intended to be a peaceful one, the choice was most 
unhappy ; for the class that Gordon had bitterly antagonized were 
among the Mahdi's stanchest followers. Arriving at Khartum, 
in February, 1884, his communications with the north were entirely 
cut off by May. 

The Failure to Relieve Him, 1885. The Final Conquest of the 
Sudan, 1898. — After months of delay the British Government finally 
sent a force to relieve him. Against the advice of men on the ground 
General Wolseley, the commander, chose the long river route instead 
of the shorter road across the desert. He did at length consent to 
dispatch a column by way of the desert ; but it was too late to pro- 
cure camels, or adequate equipment and supplies. When the relieving 
force arrived within striking distance of Khartum, 27 January, 1885, 
the Mahdi was in possession and Gordon was dead. In the face of 
starvation and treachery within, as well as attacks from without, 
he had held on magnificently for three hundred and seventeen days. 
The tardy arrival of the relieving force roused a storm of fury in 
England and proved the " death blow of the Ministry," while the 
name of Gordon was cherished as that of a martyred hero. Neverthe- 
less, the Sudan was abandoned. While the Mahdi only survived the. 
taking of Khartum five months, the country was ruled for some 
years by his successor, an ex-slave dealer, who committed sad havoc 
and almost depopulated it. Meantime, under the remarkable ad- 
ministration of Baring, who became Lord Cromer in 1901, Egypt 
was absolutely transformed. Finances were put on a sound 
footing, roads were built, irrigation was revolutionized by the 
Assuan dam begun in 1898. The army, too, was reformed. Its 
most notable achievement was the recovery of the Sudan in a cam- 
paign which lasted from 1896 to 1898. Sir Herbert Kitchener, the 
commander, was also assisted by British forces. The critical engage- 
ment leading to the recovery of Khartum was fought at Omdurman, 
2 September, 1898. About the same time, Major Marchand, entering 
from the west, occupied Fashoda for the French; but after delicate 
diplomatic negotiations he was induced to withdraw. By an agree- 



1016 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

ment, concluded in January, 1899, the government of the Sudan was 
placed under the sovereignty of Great Britain and the Khedive of 
Egypt. Military and civil control was vested in a Governor-General 
recommended by the British and appointed by the Khedive. Under 
the new regime the Sudan appears to be recovering from Mahdism 
and to be on the road to civilization and prosperity. 

Cromer and Modern Egypt. — In addition to the financial and 
army reforms already enumerated, much has been done in Egypt 
toward improving the administration of justice, the condition of 
prisons, the state of public health, and the advancement of education. 
At first, progress in the latter field was painfully slow. According to 
the census of 1897, no less than 88 per cent of the males and 99^ per 
cent of the females were unable to read or write. Since then, however, 
the gain has been rapid. With the improvement of material condi- 
tions and the spread of education there has been an increasing demand 
for self-government. This new nationalism first became manifest 
about 1892 upon the death of Tewfik Pasha. Stimulated by the 
strained relations between the British agency and the new Khedive 
and greatly fostered by the press, it was taken up by many young men 
of the better class, though only among the Mohammedans. While 
much can be said for the movement from the standpoint of sentiment, 
unquestionably the country is better off under British than it could 
hope to be under native rule. As a matter of fact, only one per cent 
of the natives show enough interest to vote on those questions in which 
they have a voice. Yet, as they grow ready for it, more and more of 
the government should be placed in their hands. The French, as 
they saw their Egyptian investments steadily increasing in value, 
gradually became reconciled to an indefinite British occupation, and, 
in 1904, formally agreed to demand no limit to its continuance. In 
1907 Lord Cromer resigned, after nearly a quarter of a century of 
labors, crowned by unique achievement. 

The Fall of the Second Gladstone Ministry, 12 June, 1885. — In 
1884-1885, while the Gladstone Ministry was unwillingly involved in 
the Sudanese difficulties, Russian encroachments on the frontier of 
Afghanistan nearly brought on a war. In April, 1885, the Opposition 
joined loyally in a vote of supply to meet the situation. But Granville, 
the Foreign Minister, proved so anxious for peace that he was accused 
by the Conservatives of truckling to Russia, and Salisbury was moved 
to declare in a public speech that: " the Government go into every 
danger with a light heart and then they make up for it by escaping with 
a light foot." It remained for him as Prime Minister to settle the 
question of the disputed frontier in 1887. Not only was the policy of 
the second Gladstone Ministry unsuccessful abroad, but its well-meant 
efforts to deal with the Irish problem had antagonized both the Home 
Rulers and the Conservatives. Gladstone's peculiar strength was in 
financial administration and progressive legislation voicing the needs of 
middle-class Liberalism. His first Administration was notable for 



TWO LAST DECADES OF VICTORIA'S REIGN 1017 

marked achievement in his peculiar field. In his second, when he was 
confronted with a different class of problems his prestige suffered dis- 
tinctly. Finally, he resigned, 12 June, 1885, on the passage of a 
hostile amendment to his budget. 

The First Salisbury Ministry, July, 1885, to February, 1886. — 
Salisbury, who had succeeded to the headship of the Conservative 
party on the death of Beaconsfield, 19 April, 1881, became Prime 
Minister in place of Gladstone. The Conservatives had always 
stood for coercion in Ireland ; but on the advent of the Salisbury 
Ministry some of the party leaders entered into an understanding with 
Parnell that their policy would be reversed in return for the support 
of the Irish Nationalists. By the Ashbourne Act x of 1885 the Govern- 
ment advanced £5,000,000 to Irish tenants, who, with loans from this 
fund, might purchase their holdings and repay the debt by annual 
instalments of 4 per cent for forty-nine years. The policy of creating 
a body of peasant proprietors as a cure for Irish discontent, which was 
initiated by John Bright in 1870, and which formed a feature of the 
act of 1881, was thus adopted and extended by the Conservatives. 
Subsequent Land Purchase Acts were passed in 1887, 1891, 1896, 
and 1903. 2 This form of assistance to the Irish tenantry, together with 
the concession of increased powers of self-government in local affairs, 
came to be the main substitutes which the Conservatives offered in 
place of the Home Rule demanded by the Nationalists. On the other 
hand, early in 1886, the Liberals identified themselves with the cause 
of the Home Rulers. 

Home Rule Adopted by Gladstone, December, 1885. — In the 
general election which took place in December, 1885, Gladstone 
had evaded committing himself on his future Irish policy. " What- 
ever demands," he said, " may be made on the part of Ireland, if they 
are to be entertained they must be subject to the condition that the 
unity of the Empire must be preserved." In consequence of this 
cryptic attitude, worthy of Queen Elizabeth, the Irish refused to sup- 
port the Liberal party, who, nevertheless, secured 335 members in the 
new Parliament to 249 Conservatives and 86 Nationalists. Scarcely 
were the elections over when, 17 December, a newspaper report 
announced that Gladstone was prepared to support, subject to certain 
conditions, a Home Rule proposition. While he declared that the 
statement had been published without his knowledge or authority, 
it represented his views with substantial accuracy. At any rate, 
it soon became generally known he was for " a plan of duly guarded 
Home Rule." Conditions were so disturbed in Ireland that the 
Government felt obliged to introduce a new coercion bill. On its 
defeat the Salisbury Ministry resigned, 28 January, 1886. 

1 The Act was named from its author, Lord Ashbourne, the Irish Lord Chan- 
cellor. 

2 In 1891, a sum of £30,000,000 was appropriated for this purpose, and in 1903, 
£100,000,000, of which £5,000 000 was to be advanced annually. 



1018 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

The Third Gladstone Ministry, February to August, 1886. The 
First Home Rule Bill. — In constructing his third Ministry, Gladstone 
informed each man whom he asked to take office that it would be the 
aim of the Government to determine whether or no Ireland should 
be given an independent legislature. As a result, many of his old 
associates, including Hartington and Bright, refused to join. Mr. 
Chamberlain took office only on conditions, and resigned before the 
end of March. Lord Randolph Churchill achieved the result, which 
proved big with consequences, of stirring up Ulster to oppose the 
impending project, 1 and at a meeting in Manchester, 3 March, em- 
ployed two terms which soon became generally current — " Unionist 
and Separatist." On 8 April, 1886, Gladstone moved for leave to 
bring in an Irish Government Bill, with the • understanding that a 
new Land Purchase Bill was to follow. His plan aimed at the estab- 
lishment of a legislative body to sit in Dublin for the purpose of making 
the laws and controlling the administration of Ireland. It was to be 
made up of two orders. The first was to consist of 28 representative 
life peers, together with 75 other members with a property qualifica- 
tion of £200 a year, elected for ten years by voters qualified with 
an annual income of £25. The other was to consist of the 103 
members already provided for, plus 101 more elected by the 
existing constituencies. The two orders were to deliberate together, 
though they might vote separately. In case of a disagreement, a bill 
might be held up for three years or until the next dissolution. The 
Prime Minister purposed, however, to secure the unity of the Empire, 
and the rights of the minority, with possibly a separate arrangement 
for Ulster. Irish members were not to sit in the Parliament at West- 
minster. While the Irish legislature was to have the power of im- 
posing taxes, they were not to include customs, or certain excises, 
which were reserved to the Imperial body, though, after Ireland's 
share of the common expenses had been provided for, any surplus 
remaining was to be handed over to the Irish Exchequer. Moreover, 
certain areas of legislation, relating chiefly to the Crown, the army 
and the navy, navigation and trade, were also to be dealt with by 
the British Parliament exclusively. The Lord Lieutenant was still 
to be appointed by the Crown, but existing religious disabilities were 
to be removed. It was estimated that Ireland should contribute 

1 In the past Ulstermen had been among the leaders in the endeavor to secure 
an independent government for Ireland. But there was a strong Protestant ele- 
ment in the district, and there were vast industrial interests centering chiefly in 
Belfast, and their change of front was due to the fear that their religion and their 
wealth might be exploited by the poor Roman Catholic element who would dominate 
the Irish legislature. The argument that the grant of Home Rule would be a 
betrayal of the Ulster loyalists appealed strongly to the Queen, who, however, 
opposed the step on other grounds as well. It appeared to her as a breach of her 
coronation oath and as a concession to the forces of disorder. Moreover, she com- 
plained that Gladstone had "sprung it" on her and on the country without ade- 
quate notice. 



TWO LAST DECADES OF VICTORIA'S REIGN 1019 

one fifteenth of the Imperial expenses. Parnell insisted that one 
twentieth would be a fairer proportion ; but guaranteed, nevertheless, 
that the Nationalists would support the Bill. Its main defect, 
however, and the one most criticized, was the exclusion of the Irish 
members from Westminster. Gladstone himself admitted that 
this was an open question. Whatever chances the measure may 
have had in the House of Commons were ruined by a schism in the 
Liberal party. The secession movement, known as Liberal Unionism, 
is said to have come to birth at a meeting held in Her Majesty's 
Theatre, 14 April. Among the leaders of the revolt were Hartington 
and Mr. Chamberlain. 

The Defeat of the First Home Rule Bill, 1886. — During the 
Easter recess the champions of the opposing parties made speeches 
throughout the country. Salisbury was particularly bitter in his 
utterances. Instead of concession he advocated an even stricter 
government for Ireland. " Apply that recipe, honestly, consistently, 
and resolutely for twenty years," he declared, " and at the end of that 
time you will find that Ireland will be fit to receive any gifts in the way 
of local government or repeal of coercion laws that you may wish 
to give her." He implied that the Irish were as incapable of self- 
government as the Hottentots and the Hindus. He even pronounced 
against appropriating money for the further purchase of tenant hold- 
ings, insisting that it would be preferable to pay the expenses of 
1,000,000 Irish emigrants. In spite of a noble and eloquent speech by 
Gladstone, the Home Rule Bill was defeated on the second reading 
by 343 to 313, with 93 Liberals voting on the opposition side. The 
session ended 25 June, " the shortest, and so far as regards legislation, 
the most barren Parliament of the reign." Another general election 
followed. In Ireland it was marked by intense violence, at Belfast 
even with loss of life, and an inquiry showed that the Orangemen were 
responsible for beginning the trouble. In England the strife was con- 
fined to words, though they were heated enough. Randolph Churchill 
referred to the recent bill as a " farrago of superlative nonsense ... to 
gratify an old man in a hurry." John Bright had, from the' start, 
actively opposed the Home Rule policy of his close friend and 
former leader. In writing him on the subject he had stated that, 
while he would do much to " clear the rebel party from Westminster," 
he could not give his assent to a measure which he regarded as 
unjust to Protestant loyal Ulster. His letters during the campaign 
carried great weight. On the other hand, such was the magic of 
Gladstone's presence, that, even though he was puzzling and per- 
suasive rather than convincing, he won converts wherever he went. 
In the end, however, he was completely defeated. 

The Second Salisbury Ministry, August, 1886, to August, 1892. — 
Salisbury, who became a second time Prime Minister, offered Harting- 
ton the leadership of the combined Conservatives and Liberal Unionists 
in the Commons ; but he refused for two reasons — because the Con- 



1020 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

servatives, as the larger group, were entitled to a leader from their own 
ranks, and because he objected to fusing the two parties. The leader- 
ship of the House and the Chancellorship of the Exchequer was 
finally offered to the brilliant but audacious and erratic Randolph 
Churchill, a younger son of the Duke of Marlborough. Contrary 
to expectation, he filled both offices most acceptably ; but suddenly 
resigned, 23 December, 1886. Against the idea of his chief and his 
colleagues he was opposed to huge armaments and to the " spirited 
foreign policy " inherited from Disraeli, believing, according to his 
principles of " Tory democracy," that the public money and the 
energy of the Government should be devoted mainly to improved 
administration and the popular welfare. He took the final step in 
the question in the army and navy estimates. In common with many, 
he thought that Salisbury would have to come round to his way of 
thinking if he wished to maintain his Government. However, the 
Prime Minister refused to yield an inch, and, as a matter of fact, 
Churchill continued to support his party after he left office. Goschen, 
a Liberal Unionist of tried financial ability, succeeded as Chancellor of 
the Exchequer, and W. H. Smith took the leadership of the Commons. 
" Parnellism and Crime," 1887. — The Irish problem continued to 
be the storm center of politics. Parnell introduced a Tenant Relief 
Bill which was rejected ; but he refused to be responsible for the " plan 
of campaign," printed in the United Irishmen, 21 October, 1886, 
according to which tenants who thought they were overcharged 
should offer their landlords what they regarded as a fair rent, which, if 
it were refused, should be turned into the funds of the National League. 
Early in March, 1887, Salisbury's nephew, Mr. Arthur Balfour, 
became Chief Secretary for Ireland. Hitherto known chiefly as a 
young man of languid, elegant tastes and as a writer on deep philo- 
sophical subjects, he proved to be a vigorous and effective, if somewhat 
ruthless, administrator. On 28 March, in a striking speech, in which 
he declared with reference to the National League: "We cannot 
forget that the League leans in part upon those dark, secret societies 
who work by dynamite and the dagger, whose object is assassina- 
tion," he introduced a new Crimes Bill which contained the novel 
feature that its provisions should be permanent. While it was being 
enacted into law, intense excitement was aroused by a series of articles 
in the Times, entitled " Parnellism and Crime," charging the Irish 
leader and his followers with the employment of violence and intimi- 
dation to gain their ends, and even with sanctioning murder. On 
18 April, appeared the facsimile of a letter, purporting to be signed by 
Parnell and dated 15 May, 1882, in which he was made to declare 
that he had only condemned the Phoenix Park murders as a matter 
of policy. Though Parnell forthwith denounced the letter as a forgery, 
its publication had the effect of facilitating the passage of the Crimes 
\ct. Even at that, the Opposition fought so stoutly that a new 
method of cutting off discussion had to be adopted — the " guillo- 



TWO LAST DECADES OF VICTORIA'S REIGN 102 1 

tine " — by which clauses which had not been reached after an 
allotted period were put without amendment or debate. In July, 
1888, Mr. Frank Hugh O'Donnell, one of those against whom charges 
had been directed in the recent articles, brought suit against the 
Times for libel. At the trial, the counsel for the newspaper produced 
new letters alleged to have been written by Parnell. 

Parnell's Temporary Triumph, 1889. — The Irish chieftain was 
at length roused from the indifference which he had displayed 
hitherto. On 6 July, he issued in the House of Commons a formal 
denial of any connection with the letters. Feeling that he would 
be unlikely to obtain justice from a Middlesex jury, he asked for 
a select committee to investigate the question of their origin. 
The Government, refusing his request, took the unprecedented 
action of appointing a special commission of three judges to inquire 
into the whole subject of the charges made by the articles on " Par- 
nellism and Crime." The sessions of the Commission extended over 
more than a year, from September, 1888, to November, 1889; but 
before its work was half completed, the author of the letters attributed 
to Parnell was discovered. He proved to be one Richard Piggott, a 
broken-down Irish journalist, who had sold them to the Times. 
Confessing the forgery, he fled across the Channel, and, 1 March, 1889, 
he shot himself in Madrid to escape the officers on their way to arrest 
him. Thus ended the most dramatic feature of the inquiry. The 
Commission issued its report, 13 February, 1890. Though many of 
the charges in the Times against the other Irish leaders were sustained, 
Parnell was acquitted of all complicity. The proprietors of the news- 
paper had to pay him £5000 damages and to assume all the costs 
of the investigation, amounting to £250,000. 

Final Ruin and Death, 1891. — Scarcely had the Irish chieftain 
won his triumph, which promised much for Home Rule, when he and 
the cause were overtaken by a crushing reverse. In November, 
he was involved as co-respondent in a divorce suit brought by 
Captain O'Shea who had been one of his most devoted followers. 
The result was to destroy Parnell's credit with the morally strict, 
and to furnish others with a pretext for repudiating him. Gladstone 
at first declined to be " a censor and a judge of faith and morals " ; but, 
owing to the decided attitude of the strong Nonconformist element 
in his party and to the unmistakable trend of public opinion, 1 he 
decided, after some hesitation, to throw Parnell over. " The English 
wolves howl for my destruction " was the bitter comment of the 
discredited chieftain, who defiantly resisted all efforts to induce him 
to resign. The result was to produce a schism among his followers. 
After a long, hard struggle, forty-four of the Nationalists chose Justin 
McCarthy as their leader, while a minority of twenty-six stuck to 
Parnell. During the few remaining months of his life he fought an 

1 The Roman Catholic clergy also declared against him. 



1022 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

uphill but hopeless fight to regain his lost ascendancy. He came to 
advocate separation, he bitterly denounced those of the opposing camp 
who had repudiated him, and had in his turn to submit to scathing 
personal abuse. 1 He died 6 October, 1891, at the age of forty-six. 
" The strongest and the strangest of the Irish political leaders ... he 
had brought Home Rule from the clouds and made it the leading issue 
in the party conflict." Mr. John Redmond took his place as head of 
the minority. 

The Queen's Jubilee and the Growth of Imperialism, 1887. — These 
years, during which the Irish problem was passing through such acute 
stages, were marked by a striking revival of the popularity of the 
monarchy, due to the Queen's emergence from the seclusion in which 
she had remained since the Prince Consort's death and to the growing 
strength of the Imperialistic sentiment which Disraeli had done so 
much to promote. In 1886, an Indian and Colonial exhibition had 
brought home to Englishmen the extent, the wealth, the resources, 
and the possibilities of their over-sea possessions. The Jubilee of 1887, 
marking the fiftieth anniversary of Victoria's accession, was at once 
a mighty manifestation, and a potent factor in the revival of the royal 
popularity and of the Imperialistic sentiment which had such an effect 
in fostering it. The pomp and circumstance, the crowds and 
pageantry which attended the celebration, together with the simul- 
taneous outbursts of enthusiasm which the event called forth in the 
Colonies and in India, were no mere vaporings. " Thenceforth the 
sovereign was definitely regarded as the living symbol of the unity 
not merely of the British Nation but of the British Empire." 2 In 
July was laid the foundation stone of the Imperial Institute, designed 
as a meeting place for visitors from India and the Colonies, and for 
the exhibit of the products of the various parts of the Empire. More 
important still, representatives of the Mother Country and the Colonies 
held, during April and May, the first of a series of meetings for the dis- 
cussion of matters of common concern, such as colonial defense and 
Imperial penny postage. 

The Last if ears of the Second Salisbury Ministry. — In 1888, 
an important act was passed creating elective County Councils 
for England and Wales which took over many of the adminis- 
trative functions of the justices of the peace. 3 London was made a 

1 One of them, for example, branded him as "an unapproachable trickster, not 
only a libertine and a liar, but a cowardly sneak," and declared that "any person 
attempting to patch up the present difference by a compromise on the basis of his 
leadership should be hunted out of the country with a kettle tied to his tail." 

2 The Queen wrote that she was "loth to part with the year in which she had met 
so much affection and kindness," and, as an indication of her widening interests, 
she began lessons in Hindustani. 

3 The so-called County Courts of 1846 had already deprived them of many of 
their judicial functions and acted as a link between the Quarter Sessions and the 
Assizes. Even less than the County Councils did the area of their activity follow 
the old county lines. There were many more courts than there were counties. 



TWO LAST DECADES OF VICTORIA'S REIGN 1023 

separate administrative county, though the ancient rights and privi- 
leges of the City were left undisturbed. On the death of William 
Henry Smith, 6 October, 1891, Mr. Arthur Balfour succeeded him as 
leader of the Commons. During the five years of his secretaryship, 
while he had governed with a firm hand, he had framed various meas- 
ures to relieve Ireland's poverty which had been responsible for so 
much of the discontent and disorder. His last and most important 
step in this direction was the Land Purchase Act of 1891. The 
chief weakness of the scheme was that it availed little in the congested 
districts where the tenants were too poor to purchase their holdings, 
even with the liberal aid of the Government. In 1892, Parliament 
was nearing the end of its septennial term, and the two rival parties 
appealed to the country in a general election. The Conservative 
Government had a good record behind it. Its financial administra- 
tion had been effective, and, taking advantage of a surplus in 1891, it 
had relieved from fees those attending the public elementary schools, 
thus carrying out the principles of the Act of 1870. Also in 1891, 
it had passed an act further improving conditions in factories and an 
act making the landlord responsible for the payment of tithes. These 
measures were followed, in 1892, by an Act to assist tenants and agri- 
cultural laborers to purchase small farms. Tendencies toward State 
socialism and protection were becoming more and more marked. As 
yet, however, the Liberals were less ready to accept the new situation. 
They still based their policy mainly upon " the extension of political 
equality and the abolition of privilege." The Conservatives, on 
the other hand, just because they were the guardians of privilege and 
vested interests, preferred to assist the masses rather than to increase 
their powers. With regard to foreign affairs, the Salisbury Ministry 
was occupied in various negotiations involving much friction with 
Germany, France, and Portugal. Since most of their diplomatic 
business had to do with Africa, it can best be considered in connection 
with a crisis which developed later on in that country. Both there 
and elsewhere, however, the Government asserted the claims of the 
British with dignity and force. 

The General Election of 1892. — While Gladstone made Home Rule 
the main issue in the campaign of 1892, he aimed to combine the 
liberal and radical members of his party by advocating a series of 
reforms known as the Newcastle Programme, from the fact that it 
was adopted at a convention at Newcastle, in October, 1891. Among 
the proposals were : the disestablishment of the Church of England 
in Wales, and of the Church of Scotland ; local veto on the sale of 
liquor ; the abolition of plural voting ; extension of the Employers' 
Liability Act, and restriction of the hours of labor. This programme 
alienated a greater number than it attracted. Stanch Churchmen 
shuddered at the thought of disestablishment, a strong element op- 
posed any further concessions to labor, and the liquor interests were 
up in arms at the prospect of local option. The Conservatives, as a 



io2 4 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

substitute for Home Rule, proposed to extend the peasant proprietary 
by further appropriations for land purchase and to grant the Irish a 
limited amount of local government by establishing, with some modifi- 
cations, the English system of County Councils. In England, Gladstone 
was beaten, but he got enough votes in Wales and Scotland to give him, 
with the aid of eighty-one Irish Nationalists, a majority of forty for 
Home Rule. Salisbury remained in office to face the new Parliament, 
and only resigned when a vote of no confidence was carried, 15 August. 

The Fourth Gladstone Ministry (August, 1892, to March, 1894) and 
the Second Home Rule Bill. — Though many of his own party desired 
to avoid the issue, Gladstone, 13 February, 1893, introduced his second 
Home Rule Bill. It differed from the first chiefly in the provision that 
eighty Irish representatives were to sit in the Parliament at West- 
minster, but with the privilege of voting only on matters of Irish 
concern. The chief objection to this provision was that it would make 
the existing system of Cabinet Government practically impossible, 
since the tenure of the Government depends upon a majority in the 
Commons. As was the case in this very Parliament, it might not 
have a majority without them. In spite, however, of this considera- 
tion, and in spite of brilliant speeches and determined resistance from 
the Opposition, the Bill passed the Lower House, 1 September, by a 
majority of thirty-four. The " in and out " clause was omitted, which 
raised the new objection that Ireland was given a decided advantage 
over Wales and Scotland ; since the Irish members would have a voice 
in Welsh and Scotch internal concerns as well as an independent 
control over their own. In order to prevent obstruction against the 
passage of the Bill it was again necessary to resort to the " guillotine." 
The excitement and bitterness was intense ; 27 July, some of the mem- 
bers went so far as to resort to personal violence, for the first time, it 
is said, in parliamentary history. It was all in vain, however, for 
the measure was rejected in the House of Lords on the second reading, 
by a vote of 419 to 41. Indeed, many members of the Lower House 
had only voted for the measure because they foresaw this result. 

Ireland in the Last Decade of Victoria's Reign. — It was nearly 
twenty years after the defeat of Gladstone's Bill of 1893 before a 
measure of Home Rule again succeeded in passing the Commons. 
During the interval there was a period of comparative peace in Ireland, 
and the issue played a relatively small part in practical politics. Many 
reasons contribute to explain this. For one thing, Mr. John Morley, 
who was Irish Secretary from 1892 to 1895, ruled with wisdom and 
sympathy. Then the Conservatives, who were in power from 1895 to 
1905, continued their policy of trying to " kill Home Rule by kind- 
ness." In 1896 and 1903, new Land Purchase Acts were passed, 
and, in 1893, a Local Government Act extended to Ireland the same 
degree of local government which the English enjoyed. 1 In the 

1 In 1894 a Local Government Bill had been carried in England which supple- 
mented the Act of 1888 by establishing throughout England and Wales elective 
district and parish councils. 



TWO LAST DECADES OF VICTORIA'S REIGN 1025 

previous year, largely through the efforts of Mr. (later Sir) Horace 
Plunkett, the Irish Agricultural Organization Society was founded, 
and contributed much to the prosperity of the country by fostering co- 
operative farming and the development of the dairy and poultry 
industry ; x at the same time, some forty credit banks had been es- 
tablished to assist the farmers with loans. In 1899 the work was made 
more effective by the creation of a new Department for Agriculture, 
Industries and Technical Instruction, with Mr. Plunkett as Vice-Presi- 
dent. Although there has been friction with the Government and 
evictions have not wholly ceased, Ireland has been growing steadily 
better off, and, during the first ten years of the present century, the de- 
crease of population has been less than in any decade since the potato 
famine. Another factor which tended for a number of years to weaken 
the force of the Home Rule movement was the split in their ranks re- 
sulting from the disgrace of Parnell. It was not till 1899 that the two 
sections of the Nationalists were reunited under Mr. John Redmond. 2 
The Home Rule Problem. — Many factors have contributed to 
render the Irish problem so difficult as to be almost insoluble. In the 
first place, there is the difference of racial temperament which has 
made it well-nigh impossible for the two peoples to understand one 
another. Then, too, religious antagonism was for centuries an element 
of discord, though, since the Disestablishment Act of 1869, that has 
not been so acute as formerly. Furthermore, the Irish were embittered 
by their poverty ; although this was, to a large degree, due to the 
unfortunate physical features of the country and to a certain lack of 
industrial aptitude, it was greatly fostered by misgovernment as 
well as by absenteeism, middlemen, and rack-renting. While, of late 
years, the Government has done its best to improve the situation, 
it has always been handicapped by party differences, by the long tradi- 
tion of political oppression in the past, and the natural desire of the 
Irish for independence. How far Home Rule would solve the question 
it is difficult to predict. Certainly the Irish were far from successful 
during the years when they had an independent parliament from 1782 
to 1800 ; but they did not have a fair chance during that period, since 
the control of affairs was in the hands of a small Protestant clique. 
The Irish Nationalists argue that the Union was brought about by 
fraud and hence should be repealed; that Ireland best understands 
her own needs and hence should govern herself; and that, though 
they have a representation in Parliament, their members accomplish 

1 This was a happy departure, for the soil of Ireland was in general too wet for 
tillage, and the improved methods of transportation had made it practically impos- 
sible for the Irish to withstand American competition in the supply of meat. While 
poultry and dairy products are more perishable, parts of Ireland suffer still from 
insufficient railway facilities, giving Denmark an advantage in supplying the Lon- 
don market. 

2 About 1905 the Independent Nationalists became prominent. Their policy 
is complete abstention from parliamentary activity, a total ignoring of the English, 
and the development of Irish nationality. 

3U 



1026 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

little except by obstruction, save at times when the two great parties 
are so evenly balanced as to give them the balance of power. These 
arguments have appealed to some Englishmen, others have contended 
that, right or wrong, the Irish should be listened to, while to others, 
again, the strongest argument in favor of Home Rule is that a legisla- 
tive body at Dublin would relieve the pressure on the Imperial Parlia- 
ment, which is sadly overworked. On the other hand, much has 
been urged against Home Rule. For one thing, it has been argued 
that the Irish are unfit to govern themselves. Secondly, that it 
would not only destroy the integrity of the British Empire but, 
owing to the position of Ireland, it would be strategically dan- 
gerous to give her an independent government. Thirdly, since 
Ireland is not self-sufficing, it would be an impossible task to 
adjust the financial burdens. Fourthly, it would be unfair to the 
Ulster Protestants. Finally, none of the schemes yet suggested 
would be workable — either the admission or the exclusion of 
Irish members at Westminster or the " in and out " arrangement. 
Apparently, the best solution would be a scheme of " devolution " 
corresponding to the system in vogue in the United States and Canada, 
with a federal parliament at Westminster for the whole United 
Kingdom, and separate bodies for England, Wales, and Scotland, 
and northern and southern Ireland. Even this, however, would 
not be wholly without objection, since there is a strong Roman Catholic 
element in most of the counties of Ulster. 

The Resignation of Gladstone, March, 1894. — Gladstone's patience 
with the House of Lords was almost exhausted when they defeated 
his Home Rule Bill. When they suggested various amendments to 
the Local Government Bill of 1894 he was provoked to declare that: 
" the differences between the two Chambers disclosed a state of things 
of which we are compelled to say that, in our judgment, it cannot con- 
tinue." This hint, thrown out more than once during recent years, 
that the veto power of the House of Lords must in some way be cur- 
tailed, later came to be a fundamental principle of the Liberal party, 
and was finally realized by the Parliament Bill of 191 1. Gladstone 
made it in what proved to be his last speech in the House of Commons. 
He might have urged various reasons for his resignation — his ad- 
vanced age, his failing eyesight and hearing. Moreover, he had not 
only failed in his supreme effort to carry Home Rule, but had shattered 
his party as well. The immediate occasion, however, of his retire- 
ment, although he made no mention of it in his letter of resignation, 
was his objection to the increased naval estimates and his inability to 
bring the majority of the Cabinet to his way of thinking. His final 
interview with the Queen was cold and formal. She was so opposed 
to his policy, and so estranged from him personally, that she was 
relieved to see him go, and did not even consult him as to his successor. 

The Rosebery Ministry, March, 1894, to June, 1895. — The selection 
of a Premier to conduct the Liberal Government which remained in 



TWO LAST DECADES OF VICTORIA'S REIGN 1027 

office was a matter of some perplexity. Sir William Harcourt, the 
natural choice of the majority, was unpopular with certain men of in- 
fluence because of his anti-imperialistic views. The office was finally 
given to Lord Rosebery. He is a man of personal charm and of 
varied interests and attainments. He has an exquisite taste in art, 
he is widely read, he writes with distinction, and, as an orator, has 
been exceeded by no one of his generation in grace and felicity of ex- 
pression. On the other hand, never having sat in the House of Com- 
mons, he lacked the experience which can only be gained in that body, 
he was wanting in energy and in the strength of conviction that makes 
such an appeal to the rank and file of a political party. With regard 
to Home Rule, for example, to which the followers of Gladstone were 
committed, he declared that he agreed with Salisbury in holding that 
before it was granted : " England as the predominant member of the 
partnership of the three Kingdoms, will have to be convinced of its 
justice." The most notable piece of legislation of his Ministry was 
a measure of Harcourt, now leader of the Lower House, which added 
£4,000,000 to the budget by equalizing the death duties on real and 
personal property and imposing a graduated assessment of from one to 
eight per cent, depending upon the value of the estate. At the same 
time the income tax was decreased. This attempt to relieve the poor 
at the expense of the rich caused much grumbling, and it was freely 
predicted that great estates would sink under the burden and ulti- 
mately be broken up. During the session of 1895, the Government 
was defeated by a snap vote on an amendment to the army estimates 
calling attention to " the insufficient provision of small arm ammuni- 
tion," especially cordite. The Cabinet, which was not making much 
headway, seized this opportunity to resign, 21 June. Salisbury re- 
turned to head his third and last Ministry, a Ministry which survived 
the nineteenth century and the reign of Victoria. 

The Third Salisbury Ministry, June, 1895, to July, 1902. — Salisbury 
took the post of Foreign Secretary, while his nephew, Mr. Balfour, 
led the House of Commons as First Lord of the Treasury. Some of 
the chief Liberal Unionists took office in the new Government, among 
them Hartington, since 1891 Duke of Devonshire, and Mr. Chamber- 
lain. The latter had entered public life as a Radical, but in his new 
position as Colonial Secretary he devoted himself to a zealous ex- 
ploitation of the policy of Imperialism which he had recently adopted. 
Regarding the colonies and the dependencies as the real source of Great 
Britain's wealth and strength, he determined that it should be her 
guiding aim to develop and consolidate the Empire. The celebration 
of the Queen's " diamond jubilee," marking the completion of the six- 
tieth year of her reign, contributed to strengthen the sentiment mani- 
fested so strikingly ten years before. 1 The Premiers of the self- 

1 "The passion of loyalty," says Sir Sidney Lee, Victoria's biographer, "which 
the Jubilee of 1887 had called forth, reached, at the close of the next decade, a degree 
of intensity which had no historical precedent." A further reason for tightening 



1028 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

governing colonies and the representatives of India and the Crown colo- 
nies came to join in the festival, and another conference of colonial 
delegates was held, with especial reference to trade and defense. Al- 
though no general agreement was reached on either point, the question 
of colonial preferential tariffs was raised for the first time. A few 
years later, Mr. Chamberlain made a vain attempt to commit his party 
to this form of protectionist policy. In 1898 a penny postage was 
established between England and the greater part of the Empire. 
Among the most important domestic measures of the Ministry during 
its first years was the Irish Local Government Act (1898) and an act es- 
tablishing borough councils in London, 1899. Gladstone died, 19 
May, 1898, and, 30 July, Bismarck, the creator of German unity 
and the most commanding figure in Europe, followed him to the grave. 

The Venezuela Boundary Dispute, 1895-1899. — Toward the close 
of 1895, Grover Cleveland, President of the United States, had nearly 
brought on a war with Great Britain by a belligerent message sent to 
Congress, 17 December. He declared that Salisbury's refusal to sub- 
mit to arbitration her territorial claims in a boundary dispute with 
Venezuela was a violation of the Monroe Doctrine. He asked Con- 
gress to authorize him to appoint a boundary commission whose 
findings should be " imposed upon Great Britain by all the resources 
of the United States." Salisbury's calm and courteous attitude alone 
averted war. Convinced of the justice of his cause, he submitted it to 
the commission appointed by Cleveland, and the proposal to enforce 
its findings was dropped. The commission was made up of two 
American and two British judges with a Russian jurist as president. 
In October, 1899, it rendered a unanimous opinion conceding to 
Great Britain practically all she had claimed. Meantime, Salisbury's 
good offices in preventing an anti-American coalition of the European 
Powers when the Spanish War broke out in the spring of 1898, contrib- 
uted to bring about a friendlier feeling between his country and the 
United States. 

Great Britain and Turkey, 1894- 1897. — Terrible massacres of 
the Armenians, in which it was estimated that ten thousand perished 
during the years from 1894 to 1896, again brought the Turkish problem 
to the center of the European stage. Early in 1895, the Powers 
presented a joint note to the Porte demanding reforms, but this time it 
was Russia who stood out against coercing Turkey. Gladstone, from 
the retirement in which he was spending his declining years, raised 
his voice for independent intervention on the part of Great Britain. 
While the Armenians had to wait till the autumn of 1899 before any 
reforms were undertaken, Salisbury had long since come to believe that 
Great Britain had made a mistake in seeking to maintain the integrity 
of Turkey. In a speech of 19 January, 1897, he made his famous 

the bonds of colonial union was due to the fact that relations with Germany, France, 
and the United States had tended to put Great Britain in a state of "splendid 
isolation." 



TWO LAST DECADES OF VICTORIA'S REIGN 1029 

declaration with reference to Great Britain's part in the Crimean War : 
" We put all our money on the wrong horse." In the Greco-Turkish 
War of 1897 he put his new views into practice. The trouble began 
with a civil war which broke out between the Christian and Moham- 
medan inhabitants of the island of Crete in June, 1896. In view of 
the prevailing sentiment among the Cretans in favor of a union with 
the Greeks, the Government of the latter country stepped in ; as a 
result, Turkey declared war and drove the Greek troops from the 
Island in May, 1897. Thereupon, the Powers, led by Great Britain, 
intervened and arranged terms by which Crete was accorded an 
autonomous government with Prince George of Greece as High Com- 
missioner. 

Great Britain and China, 1898. — In the far East, Great Britain 
was trying to maintain the policy of the " open door," while Russia, 
Germany, and France were striving to enrich themselves at the 
expense of China, though they sought to preserve her integrity against 
Japanese encroachment. 1 In November, 1897, Germany, having the 
murder of two missionaries as a pretext, seized the port of Kiao Chau. 
Following this step, a German fleet was sent to China under Prince 
Henry, and, in March, 1898, Kiao Chau was " leased " to Germany, 
Russia secured Port Arthur after her fleet had wintered there, and 
France, somewhat later, obtained Kwang-Chau Lung. In order to 
counteract these acquisitions, Great Britain, in May, 1898, secured a 
lease of the island of Wei-hai-Wei, together with some territory on 
the mainland opposite Hong Kong. 

The Hague Conference of 1899. — In May, 1899, Great Britain 
sent representatives to an international conference at the Hague, 
assembled at the suggestion of the Emperor of Russia " for the dis- 
cussion of schemes of arbitration, disarmament, and the amelioration 
of the customs of war." While no agreement was reached as to dis- 
armament, a permanent court of arbitration was established, " largely 
through the efforts of the British delegate Sir Julian Pauncefote." 
Before the conference closed Great Britain had reached the verge of 
war with the Boers in South Africa, a war of which the embers still 
smoldered at the close of Victoria's reign. 

The British Advance in Africa. — For some time the British advance 
in Africa, north and south, had been steady. She was firmly intrenched 
in Egypt, with no intention of withdrawing, and, early in 1899, she 
had extended her sway over the Egyptian Sudan. Already, in June, 
1894, in consequence of the financial straits of the British East Africa 
Company, founded in 1888, she had proclaimed a protectorate over 
Uganda which commanded the Nile basin and which Rosebery re- 
garded as " the key, perhaps, of central Africa." In 1899 the Niger 
Company was bought out for £865,000, thus adding to the Empire a 
territory about one third the size of India. She had secured a foothold 

1 In a war with China, 1894-1895, Japan had secured Korea and Formosa, to- 
gether with other concessions. 



1030 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

in South Africa nearly a century before, when she conquered Cape 
Colony from the Dutch during the Napoleonic Wars. The country 
was granted a constitution in 1850 and became self-governing in 1872. 
Natal, settled by the Boers, or descendants of the original Dutch 
immigrants, was taken over as a British possession and annexed 
to the Cape Colony in 1843, of which it was made independent in 1856. 
Directly west of Natal was the Orange Free State, originally settled 
by immigrants from Cape Colony, annexed by Great Britain in 1848 
and recognized as independent in 1854. Meantime, in 1836, Boers 
from the Cape Colony had made new homes for themselves in the dis- 
trict known as the Transvaal. After being recognized as independent 
in 1852 it was later annexed by Great Britain in 1877. 

The Zulu War, 1879. — Sir Bartle Frere, sent out in 1877 to the 
Cape Colony as Governor and Lord High Commissioner, was in- 
structed to work for the federation of the various South African states, 
but a bill to unite the Transvaal, Natal, the Orange River Free State, 
and Cape Colony in a voluntary federation, although it passed the 
Lords, was defeated in the Commons, largely by the Radicals and the 
Irish Nationalists. The Radicals took the ground that the annexa- 
tion of the Transvaal, completed about the time of Frere's arrival, 
had aroused discontent in that state, while the Irish were ready for any 
obstruction. Discontent and disorder were rife enough in South 
Africa. There were risings of the Kaffirs and other natives, and, worst 
of all, a formidable war with the Zulus broke out in 1879. The real 
cause of the latter was the resentment of the Zulu chieftain Cetewayo 
against the British for taking the Boers, his enemies, under their pro- 
tection. Among the occasions, however, were the demands of Frere 
that he surrender certain of his Zulu subjects, who had crossed the 
border and slain some refugees, and that he accept a British resident. 
The High Commissioner was responsible for invading Zululand before 
the Home authorities, occupied with the war in Afghanistan, had de- 
cided to send reinforcements. This, together with the fact that the 
commanders on the spot undervalued the fighting qualities of the 
natives, led to hard fighting from January to July and to a series of 
British reverses before the Zulus were finally overcome. Frere was 
censured for his precipitation, but justified himself on the ground of 
pressing danger, and the colonists supported him with the greatest en- 
thusiasm and confidence. Cetewayo was captured and taken prisoner 
to England, while Zululand was divided among a number of chieftains. 
Owing to the resulting confusion and strife, Cetewayo was reinstated 
in 1883, but was driven out and died in the following year. Part of 
his lands were later taken over by the Transvaal, and the remainder 
came under the British protection in 1897. Meantime, events had 
developed in the Transvaal leading to a great British humiliation dur- 
ing Gladstone's second ministry. 

The Revolt in the Transvaal, 1880-1881. — The Conservatives 
had already selected a successor for Sir Bartle Frere as High Com- 



TWO LAST DECADES OF VICTORIA'S REIGN 103 1 

missioner, and though the new Government planned to retain him 
as Governor with the hope of carrying through the South African 
Federation, he was soon removed. Gladstone had encouraged the 
Boers by his language during the Midlothian campaign ; * but when 
they found that there was no hope that independence would be granted 
them they prepared for rebellion. By the end of December, 1880, 
British detachments had been forced to surrender, and a troop of 
Boers had invaded Natal. Sir George Colley, the British commander, 
was hampered by the fact that the Home Office desired to Continue 
negotiations, by the inadequacy of his forces, and by the old British 
delusion that farmers would not fight. Hence, in an attempt to seize 
Majuba Hill, 27 February, 1881, he was attacked by the Boers, he 
lost his life, and his little army was cut to pieces. In the teeth of this 
disaster, so momentous in spite of the fact that it cost the British no 
more than three hundred men in killed, wounded, and prisoners, 
Gladstone insisted on resuming the negotiations as if nothing had 
happened, and self-government was restored in the Transvaal. Al- 
though the arrangement continued for nearly a score of years, it 
satisfied almost no one. The opponents of the Ministry declared 
that the British had humiliated themselves by making terms with the 
victorious insurgents, the British supporters in South Africa com- 
plained that they had been deserted, while the Dutch chafed at the 
fact that any suzerainty had been reserved to the Queen. Two 
factors ultimately combined to precipitate a crisis in South Africa. 
One was the ambition of a very remarkable man to make Great Britain 
predominant in Africa, the other was the discovery of gold in the 
Transvaal. 

The Designs of Cecil Rhodes and the Discovery of Gold in the 
Transvaal. — Cecil Rhodes (1853-1902), who was the son of a clergy- 
man, was educated at Oxford ; but as a young man went for his health 
to South Africa, where he made a huge fortune, mainly out of the 
Kimberley diamond mines and the Transvaal gold fields, and rose 
to be Prime Minister of Cape Colony in 1890. In October, 1888, 
he secured the mining rights in Matabeleland for the British South 
Africa Company, which received its charter 29 October, 1899. Under 
the chairmanship of Rhodes it extended its exploitations into Mashona- 
land. The territories over which it ruled came to be known as Rho- 
desia. While Rhodes lacked scruple in the pursuit of his aims, he was 
not a mere money maker. His dream was to make his country su- 
preme in Africa, north and south, and to unite the two by a railroad 
from Cairo to the Cape. Salisbury enthusiastically supported a 
strong policy in Africa. He refused to recognize the Portuguese 

1 For example, in a speech of 25 November, 1879, he declared, the Transvaal 
"is a country where we have chosen, most unwisely, I am tempted to say insanely, 
to place ourselves in the strange predicament of the free subjects of a monarchy 
going to coerce the free subjects of a republic, and to compel them to accept a citi- 
zenship which they decline and refuse." 



io 3 2 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

claim to Matabeleland and Mashonaland, which lay to the west of Por- 
tuguese West Africa. In 1890, in return for the cession of Heligoland 
in the North Sea, he induced the Germans to abandon their claims to 
Uganda and the Upper Nile, and to recognize the British protectorate 
over Zanzibar. France also agreed to this, in return for the British 
recognition of the French protectorate over Madagascar. The dis- 
covery of gold in the Transvaal brought in a flood of foreigners, or 
" Uitlanders," who were bent on developing the country, and on 
securing a voice in its affairs proportional to their wealth and influence. 
The Boers, who were mainly an agricultural people, wanted to keep 
the country to themselves, they had little desire to develop it, and were 
determined to exclude the Uitlanders from the franchise and from all 
share in the government. 

The Jameson Raid, 1895. — In the midst of the struggle, the world 
was startled to learn that, 29 December, 1895, Dr. Leander Jameson, 
the administrator of Rhodesia, had ridden into the Transvaal with a 
body of the Chartered Company's troops. It developed from a sub- 
sequent parliamentary inquiry that Rhodes had, as early as June, 
formed an agreement with the foreigners interested in the South Africa 
gold fields to promote a revolution in the city of Johannesburg. He 
told his story quite frankly before the committee. He pointed out that 
the position of the Uitlanders, who owned more than half the land, 
nine tenths of the wealth, and paid nineteen twentieths of the taxes, 
was intolerable; that the attitude of the Transvaal was notoriously 
unfriendly to Cape Colony ; and stated that his aim was to secure 
control of the country in order to incorporate it in a projected South 
African Republic under Great Britain. His design was to assist the 
insurgents, or " reformers," with the Company's forces, whereupon the 
British Government was to intervene and annex the country. The 
rising came to nothing, owing to dissension among the " reformers," 
for one faction was opposed to Rhodes's plan of British rule and 
favored an independent republic. It was after the failure of this 
projected rising that Jameson undertook his raid, in spite of the 
efforts of Rhodes and the " reformers." He was met by a force of 
the Boers, and, after a slight engagement, was overcome, and sur- 
rendered. Together with the other leading raiders, he was handed 
over to the British High Commissioner, Sir Hercules Robinson, who 
sent them to England for trial. Jameson was sentenced to fifteen 
months' imprisonment, and some of the others to shorter terms. Four 
of the reform leaders at Johannesburg were sentenced to death ; but 
the sentence was commuted to a fine of £25,000 each. Forty-two 
other members of the reform committee had to pay £2000 each. 

Drifting into War, 1896-1899. — In January, 1896, Rhodes resigned 
as Premier of Cape Colony, and, in June, as managing director of 
the Chartered Company. He was never tried for his share in the 
conspiracy and raid, though he returned to England, in 1897, to give 
his testimony before the parliamentary committee. While the com- 



TWO LAST DECADES OF VICTORIA'S REIGN 1033 

mittee reported that " whatever justification there may have been for 
action on the part of the people of Johannesburg, there was none for 
a person in Mr. Rhodes's position," he was warmly defended in debate 
by Mr. Chamberlain and other men of influence. The Boers, es- 
pecially President Kruger of the South African Republic, always 
suspected that the British Government was privy to Rhodes's scheme. 
These suspicions were no doubt unfounded, though it is most likely 
that both he and Jameson fancied that the authorities were not ig- 
norant of their designs, and would approve of them in case they suc- 
ceeded. After the attempt to force their land had proved futile, 
the Boers were more disinclined than ever to grant to the Uitlanders 
the concessions which they demanded and deserved. Their cause 
was warmly espoused by the new High Commissioner, Sir Alfred 
Milner, who sent a strong representation to Mr. Chamberlain urging 
that the Government must for its own credit assert itself in behalf of 
" thousands of British subjects kept permanently in the position of 
helots." As a result, a series of conferences was arranged with 
Kruger in the early summer of 1899. They came to nothing because 
the British insisted on a franchise based upon five years' residence, 
while Kruger would concede nothing less than seven years, and hedged 
in .with various restrictions at that. While the Unionist Government 
was hot for war, the Liberals opposed what they regarded as an unjust 
and unnecessary aggression in behalf of Rhodes and the financial 
interests. At length, 18 August, the Boers went so far as to offer a 
five years' franchise, but on conditions that the British Government 
would not accept, namely that they would agree never again to 
interfere in the affairs of the Republic, and to drop all claims to 
suzerainty. After further vain negotiations, both sides determined 
upon the war. The Boers were far better equipped than the British 
imagined ; for, ever since the raid, they had been quietly buying from 
Europe arms and ammunition of the most improved type. On 9 
October, they, sent an ultimatum' which the British refused to con- 
sider, and, two days later, they invaded Natal. In the war which 
followed it required three years and cost Great Britain over 
£220,000,000 to subdue a population of 50,000 adult males. 

Opening of The Boer War, October, 1899. — Neither party ex- 
pected a long conflict. The Boers recalled their easy victory in 1881 ; 
they counted on their admirable preparation, and the fact that their 
opponents had so few troops in South Africa. The British proved 
incapable of profiting by past experiences. They did not dream that a 
scanty population of farmers would be capable of effective resistance ; 
they did not realize the extent of their equipment, or how peculiarly 
adapted they were to the kind of fighting which the nature of the 
country required. Moreover, their generals, trained in peace or in 
warfare with savages, proved at first no match for the very competent 
Boer commanders — De Wet, Cronje, and Botha. As early as 1 2 
September, Wolseley had predicted the possibility of " the most 



io34 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

serious war England has ever had," but the crisis found the Cabinet 
unprepared. Their only excuse was that any evidences of armed 
preparation would imperil the negotiations. When the negotiations 
failed they took the consequences. For the sake of political effect 
it was regarded as necessary to defend northern Natal ; but, strategi- 
cally, it was unwise, since the territory in question, penetrating like a 
wedge between the Transvaal and the Orange Free State, was exposed 
to attack on both sides. As a result, the British met with several 
reverses, and Sir George White was shut up in Ladysmith, where he 
had to withstand a long siege. The arrival of General Buller, as 
Commander-in-Chief, with reinforcements brought no immediate 
relief ; indeed, three defeats followed within a week. - All this, however, 
had the effect of consolidating British public opinion in favor of the 
war, and of calling forth the best efforts not only of the United King- 
dom but of the whole Empire ; for as Mr. Asquith put it, " the British 
title to be known as a World Power was now on trial." Volunteers 
were called for, and the colonies, who had already sent contingents, 
loyally responded to the request for more. It was not long before the 
British army, including regulars, militia, volunteers, and contingents 
from Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, exceeded the whole Boer 
population. While Buller was left to operate in Natal, General 
Roberts was put in command 1 with General Kitchener as his chief of 
staff, and ordered to advance into the Transvaal through the Orange 
River Free State. 

The End of the First Phase of the War, September, 1900. — On 
15 February, 1900, Roberts succeeded in relieving Kimberley, which 
had been besieged for four months. Cronje, retreating toward Bloem- 
fontein, was compelled to surrender, 27 February, and, 15 March, 
Roberts occupied the capital of the Orange Free State. He then gave 
his overspent troops a six weeks' rest ; rather too long a period, since 
it enabled the Boers to recover from the shock of the blows which he 
had dealt them. Meantime, Buller, though he was defeated again 
and again, kept doggedly at his work of trying to break through the 
Boer lines. However, the operations of Roberts drew a portion of 
the enemy's forces from Natal, and 28 February, after two weeks of 
hard fighting, Buller succeeded in a fourth and final attempt to relieve 
Ladysmith. General White had conducted an heroic defense for 
one hundred and eighteen days. Nor were the sufferings of his garri- 
son in vain ; since, by holding out, they had saved southern Natal 
from being overrun by the Boers. Buller proceeded to fight his way 
north, and, 12 June, brought his army into the Transvaal. While 
Lord Roberts's troops had been taking their enforced repose, General 
De Wet was conducting an active guerrilla warfare in the south and 
east of the Orange Free State and creating havoc with small British 

1 By the end of igoo he had an army of 250,000, a greater force, it is said, than 
had ever been intrusted to any single British general. 




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TWO LAST DECADES OF VICTORIA'S REIGN 1035 

detachments. 1 Disregarding this diversion Roberts, when he was 
ready, started, 1 May, for Pretoria, with General French and General 
Ian Hamilton accompanying the flanks of his army. Johannesburg 
was occupied, 31 May, and Pretoria was reached and taken, after 
slight resistance, 5 June. . During the advance, Roberts's army 
relieved Mafeking.on the Transvaal border, where Colonel Baden- 
Powell 2 had been gallantly holding out for some time. The backbone 
of the war was now broken ; but De Wet was still unbeaten, and other 
detachments cooperating with him conducted a harrowing partisan 
warfare. They constantly threatened Roberts's communications, and, 
at one time, cut him off wholly from the south. Finally, General 
Hamilton was able to effect a junction with Buller's army from Natal, 
and to separate the Boer forces in the Transvaal from those in the 
Free State. The plan was to crush them in detail. While those in 
the hill country of the state were gradually overcome, De Wet managed 
to escape north. Although smaller forces continued to give trouble 
elsewhere, the conflict was, from the summer of 1900, concentrated 
mainly in the Transvaal. By September, Roberts regarded the war 
as practically ended, and Kruger had reached such a pitch of despair 
that he started for Europe. Yet, although the British commander 
issued a proclamation annexing the Transvaal, and declaring that he 
would treat those who still held out as rebels, it was still more than 
a year and a half before the supremacy of the conquerors was finally 
recognized. 

The Second and Concluding Stage of the War, September, 1900, to 
June, 1902. — The second phase of the war, which consisted in the 
" gradual acquisition and occupation of the country," was left to 
General Kitchener. He secured his conquests by block houses con- 
nected " by thousands of miles of barbed wire entanglement." 
Peace was concluded, 1 June, 1902, by which the Transvaal and the 
Orange River Free State were finally incorporated. General Roberts, 
on his return home in the autumn of 1900, became the nation's hero, 
and was showered with honors. He was made an earl, received the 
Order of the Garter, and succeeded as Commander-in-Chief to Lord 
Wolseley, who was verging on seventy and in feeble health. Alto- 
gether, while there was much discontent with the existing military 
organization, with the lack of preparation at the opening of the war, 
and at the disasters which marked its early stages, there was, neverthe- 
less, sufficient enthusiasm for what had been accomplished to induce 
Salisbury to dissolve Parliament in the autumn of 1900, and to try the 
chance of prolonging his Government. The election in October, 
known as the " Khaki election " went in his favor. The reorganiza- 
tion of the War Office, by which the Commander-in-Chief was replaced 
by a General Staff, followed some time later. 

1 However, about this time the Orange River Free State was declared annexed 
to the British Empire and to be called henceforth the Orange River Colony. 
2 Later notable as the founder of the Boy Scouts. 



1036 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

The Boxer Rebellion, 1900. — While the Boers were still uncon- 
quered, Great Britain was occupied with other colonial and foreign 
complications. In the summer of 1900 a second Ashanti l war led, 
30 September, to the annexation of that country, over which the 
British had formerly been exercising a protectorate. In China occurred 
the rising of the Boxers, a society organized against foreign encroach- 
ment and favored by the dominating faction of the Chinese court. 
In June, 1900, they attacked the legations at Peking, and the German 
Minister was killed. A joint force of British, American, and Japanese 
troops under the command of a German officer, Count von Waldersee, 
succeeded in relieving the besieged legations in August. By terms 
arranged in January, 1901, the Chinese agreed to punish some of the 
ringleaders, to pay a large war indemnity, and to concede further 
commercial advantages to the Powers. Russia took occasion to 
occupy the whole of Manchuria, a step which involved her ere long 
in war with Japan. 

Death and Character of the Queen, 1901. — The Queen, though she 
received Lord Roberts early in January after his triumphal return 
from South Africa, did not live to see the end of the Boer war. She 
died 22 January, 1901, at Osborne, Isle of Wight, in her eighty-second 
year, after completing the longest reign in English history, and, with 
the exception of that of Louis XIV, lasting seventy-one years, the 
longest of any European sovereign. Doubtless the grief at her death 
was more widespread and heartfelt than that inspired by any of her 
predecessors. This was partly due to her personal character. During 
her last years the feeling against her German husband and against 
her selfish isolation following his death had been forgotten, and 
people remembered her virtues — her courage, her honesty, her 
unblemished reputation, and her interest in their welfare — which she 
had come to manifest more and more as time went on. Possessed 
of no great intellectual power, Victoria was gifted with uncommon 
will and energy and strength of character. To be sure, she recog- 
nized the constitutional limitations of the Crown as no previous 
sovereign had done, and she had the tact to yield to the expressed 
will of her subjects when the occasion demanded it. 2 Moreover, 
toward the close of her reign the sovereign lost all control over the 
army, the pardoning power passed practically to the Home Secretary, 
and the distribution of titles and honors came to be more and more a 
function of the ministers. Also, she deliberately excluded herself 
from the business of Parliament. She ceased to prorogue that body 
after 1854, she seldom opened it after the death of the Consort, and 
during the last fifteen years of her reign she was never present in 
either House. Again, her frequent trips abroad, without leaving a 

1 The first had occurred in 1873-1874. 

2 This was manifested particularly in her efforts to bring the Lords into harmony 
with the Commons during the agitation over the Irish Church Disestablishment 
jn i860 and the Franchise Act in 1884. 



TWO LAST DECADES OF VICTORIA'S REIGN 1037 

regent or lords justices, tended to break the tradition that the sovereign 
was an essential element in the machinery of government. In spite 
of her customary high sense of duty, she, on occasion, allowed personal 
considerations to influence her in ways that conflicted at times with 
the broadest public interests. Her prolonged indulgence in private 
grief put a barrier between her and her subjects. Since she was fond 
of Scotland, she went there, after 1854, for a part of every year, while 
she visited Ireland only four times during her whole reign, and, from 
1 86 1 to 1900, never set foot in the country at all. This discrimination 
was keenly felt by the sensitive Irish. Her German family connections 
and her devoted attachment to their dynastic interests influenced, 
frequently and strongly, her attitude toward many foreign questions, 
and often aroused irritation and suspicion among the ministers and 
subjects. Nevertheless, she followed public business and performed 
her public duties conscientiously and punctiliously. And she pos- 
sessed an influence out of all proportion to her constitutionally recog- 
nized powers. Most of the higher appointments were submitted for 
her consideration, and she was very free in her criticisms, while in the 
choice of bishops she often asserted herself strongly. Her long 
experience and her detachment from party passions gave great weight 
to her views, and she was very frank and honest in expressing them to 
her ministers. In the robustness of her nature, her simplicity, her 
charitable interest in the poor, her domestic ideals, her limited appre- 
ciation of literature and art, 1 as well as in her rather masterful temper, 
she represented the best type of average English people. While 
strict in the standards of conduct which she set for those about her, 
she was very tolerant in matters of religious opinion. True to her 
feminine nature, she was guided usually by sentiment rather than 
principles of reason and logic ; but her sentiments were usually whole- 
some and her instincts were right. 

The Close of the Reign and its Problems. — Yet the cause of 
Victoria's final popularity was due less to personal qualities than to 
the fact that she was regarded as the outward and visible sign of 
the Imperial unity that was the outgrowth largely of the last quarter 
century of her life. " She and her ministers . . . encouraged the iden- 
tification of the British sovereignty with the unifying spirit of Imperial- 
ism, and she thoroughly reciprocated the warmth of feeling for herself 
and her office, which the spirit engendered in her people at home and 
abroad." The reign was one of astounding material progress and of 
great political progress as well ; but her death left many problems 
pressing for solution — the question of preferential tariffs in the 
colonies, Imperial federation, the status of Ireland, the relations be- 
tween the House of Commons and the House of Lords, relations be- 
tween capital and labor, and of provisions to be made for the poor 
in the case of old age, sickness, and unemployment. Something has 

1 Except for music, of which she was very fond. 



1038 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

been done during the reigns of her son and grandson to deal with those 
problems, though many phases of them still await settlement. 

FOR ADDITIONAL READING 

Narrative. Low and Sandars, Political History, chs. X-XIX. Marriott, England 
since Waterloo, bk. Ill, chs. XVIII-XXVI. Cambridge Modem History, XII, ch. 
Ill (bibliography, pp. 853-855). Bright, History of England, IV, V. Maxwell, Century 
of Empire, III. Paul, Modem England, III-V (to 1895). Walpole, History of 
Twenty-five Years, II-IV (to 1880). McCarthy, History of Our Own Times (1880- 
1905), V-VII. T. H. Ward, Reign of Queen Victoria (2 vols., 1887), a cooperative 
work. C. A. Whitmore, Six Years of Unionist Government, i886-j8g2 (1892). 
H. Whates, Third Salisbury Administration, 1895-1900 (1901). R. H. Gretton, 
A Modern History of the English People (1913), I, 1880-1898. G. Slater, The 
Making of Modem England (1913). 

Biography. In addition to works cited in chapter LIII above, see H. D. Traill, 
The Marquis of Salisbury (1890). Lord E. Fitzmaurice, Life of Earl Granville (2 
vols., 1905). R. B. O'Brien, Life of Charles Stuart Parnell (3 vols.. 1898), very out- 
spoken. W. Churchill, Life of Lord Randolph Churchill (2 vols., 1906), especially good 
for the Fourth Party. Rosebery, Lord Randolph Churchill (1896). T. E. Kebbei, 
Lord Beaconsfield and other Tory Memoirs (1907). J. Bryce, Studies in Contempo- 
rary Biography (1903). B. Holland, Life of Spencer Compton, Eighth Duke of Devon- 
shire (191 1). A. L. Thorold, The Life of Henry Labouchere (1913). Sir H. Maxwell, 
The Life and Letters of George Villiers, Fourth Earl of Clarendon (2 vols., 1913). 

Ireland and Home Rule. Low and Sanders (bibliography, p. 406). Cambridge 
Modern History, XII, ch. IV (bibliography, pp. 863-868). See also J. E. Morris, 
Great Britain and Ireland, 1485-1910 (1914). A. Balfour, Aspects of Home Ride 
(191 2) , adverse. E. Childers, The Framework of Home Rule (191 2) . Lord Eversley, 
Gladstone and Ireland (191 2). 

Egypt. Cambridge Modern History, XII, ch. XV (bibliography, pp. 913-914), an 
excellent brief account. Lord Cromer, Modem Egypt (2 vols., 1908), is the stand- 
ard authority on the subject. 

India. Cambidge Modern History, XII, pp. 915-917. 

For a critical bibliography on the Boer War, see Low and Sanders, p. 501. A good 
brief popular account of the second war is Sir A. Conan Doyle's The Great Boer War 
(1902). 

For a critical bibliography of the successive English ministries from 1865 to 1902, 
see Low and Sanders, 503-506. 

For foreign affairs see ibid., pp. 502-503, and Cambridge Modem History, XII, 
pp. 951-971 passim. 

Selections from the sources. Adams and Stephens, nos. 267-276; Robertson, pt. 
II, XXIX-XXXII, app. 439-441. 



CHAPTER LVI 

VICTORIAN AND POSTVICTORIAN ENGLAND 

General Features. — The period from the First Reform Bill to 
the beginning of the twentieth century is so complex in character 
and so teeming with achievement that only the barest outline of its 
main features can be attempted in a single chapter. In literary 
production it challenges comparison with any age except the Eliza- 
bethan. In painting the output has been notable. History has 
been transformed almost into a new science, while significant work 
has been done in philosophy and other fields of humanistic scholarship. 
However, the really epoch-making achievements of the Victorian era 
have been in the field of pure science and in its practical applications, 
particularly in transportation and communication. The doctrine of 
evolution has revolutionized modern thinking, while steam and elec- 
tricity, by infinitely multiplying means of distribution, have de- 
veloped the possibilities of production to a point hitherto undreamed 
of. Moreover, but for steam navigation, the postal service, and the 
telegraph, the amazing growth of the British Empire and the unity 
which pervades it would have been impossible. Finally, the democ- 
ratization of the United Kingdom — the triumph of popular majority 
rule, with the consequent breaking down of class privileges, the growth 
of State intervention in the interest of the masses, and the increasing 
humanitarian spirit — ■ is a distinctive feature of this wonderful age. 

The Condition of the Church. — The religious and moral enthusiasm 
inspired by the Wesleyan revival began to spend its force early in 
the nineteenth century, at least so far as the upper classes were con- 
cerned, and the Establishment, except for the Evangelicals, hardly 
warmed by the fervor of the movement, relapsed into its customary 
state of chilly conservatism. Its bishops were pompous, dignified 
figures who had secured their high offices through family connection, 
personal influence, or reputation for learning, who enjoyed ample 
incomes and extensive powers, and who, with little regard for purely 
religious work, devoted themselves to politics, to the administration 
of their estates, to society and scholarly leisure. Among the " high 
and dry " Anglicans there were two types. The clergy of the better 
sort were kindly and respectable, but idle and worldly. The less 
edifying representatives of this party were the " two-bottle orthodox," 
the hard-drinking, sporting parsons who came from the hunting field 

1039 



io 4 o A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

with pink coat and top-boots barely covered by a cassock to read a 
funeral service. More earnest were the few on whom the evangelical 
revival had left an enduring mark, and who manifested their enthusiasm 
in practical work, in prison reform, antislavery agitation, and the 
reformation of manners. As a rule, however, they were limited and 
narrow in their ideas. The greatest extremes of wealth and poverty 
existed in the Church. While the bishops and a few favored clergy 
were in receipt of rich revenues, the rank and file of the country parsons 
drew only meager stipends. It is estimated that of the ten or eleven 
thousand livings which constituted the Establishment, more than half 
were held by non-resident rectors and vicars, usually represented by 
underpaid curates. Akin to the evil of non-residence, and made pos- 
sible by it, was the distressing prevalence of pluralities. Furthermore, 
men of influence, Churchmen and laymen alike, heaped their relatives 
and supporters with fat benefices. There was already much discontent, 
when a series of events occurred which threatened to shake the Estab- 
lishment to its very foundations. In 1828 came the repeal of the 
Test and Corporation Acts, followed by the Catholic Relief Bill in 
1829. The passage of the Reform Bill, three years later, gave an 
impulse to a more radical policy in ecclesiastical as well as political 
legislation. Lord Grey advised the bishops to " set their houses in 
order," and, in 1833, came the Irish Church Temporalities Act. 
The attempt to meet the threatened dangers resulted in the 
Oxford Movement, so called because it was started largely by a group 
of young Oxford scholars, and for some years had its center in the 
University. Its main aim was to emphasize the antiquity and au- 
thority of the Church, partly for the purpose of asserting its independ- 
ence of State control, and partly for the purpose of stimulating the 
imagination and arousing spiritual and moral enthusiasm in its mem- 
bers. Another powerful stimulus to the Movement was the romantic 
revival in literature, the glorification of medievalism, which Scott 
had done so much to foster. 

The Beginning of the Oxford Movement. — John Henry Newman, 
who came to be the dominating figure in the Oxford group, dated 
the beginning of the Movement from a sermon on " National 
Apostasy ' ' preached by John Keble at the opening of the Oxford Assizes, 
14 July, 1833, in which he denounced the action of the commissioners 
appointed under the Irish Church Temporalities Act to administer 
the surplus revenues. The men who now banded together felt 
that if the Church of England was to be saved, it must be justified 
on other grounds than mere expediency and custom. To promulgate 
their teachings they started a series of Tracts for the Times, in which 
they sought to revive and emphasize old Catholic beliefs which had 
been discredited and forgotten, and to assert the continuity of the 
visible Church from the time of Christ and the apostles. Newman, 
who was a chief contributor, also exercised a magnetic appeal through 
his sermons from the pulpit of the University Church. The Movement 



VICTORIAN AND POSTVICTORIAN ENGLAND 1041 

was strengthened about 1834-183 5 by the accession of Dr. Pusey, a 
man of high social position and a scholar of established reputation. 

The Results of the Movement. — It was not long, however, before 
serious difficulties and divisions arose. The liberals were opposed to 
the dogmatism of the Movement, the " two-bottle orthodox " were 
alienated by its asceticism, while both combined with the Evangelicals 
to resist its growing Romeward tendencies. A crisis was precipitated 
in 1 84 1 by the appearance of Tract XC, in which Newman sought 
to prove that the Thirty-nine Articles were not necessarily in contradic- 
tion with ancient Catholic doctrine. A storm of indignation arose, 
the Tract was condemned by the Oxford authorities, and, in 1843, 
Newman resigned his living at St. Mary's and went into retirement 
at Littlemore. The following year, William George Ward, a zealous 
follower, responsible for pushing his master to extreme conclusions, 
published an Ideal of the Christian Church which was Roman rather 
than Anglican. He was degraded from his degrees, and joined the 
Roman Catholic communion in September, 1845. Newman, who 
had been slowly coming to the conclusion that the Church of England 
was a schismatical offshoot of the true Catholic faith, followed in 
October. A few other prominent men took the same step, and the 
Oxford Movement broke up. Although it had failed in its efforts to 
check the influx of liberalism and to assert the Church's independence 
of State control, its results were various and far reaching. As a 
reaction against the attempt to identify Christianity with Roman 
Catholicism a small but influential body of thinkers, including New- 
man's own brother, were driven to skepticism. Others, less radical, 
such as Frederick Denison Maurice, Charles Kingsley, and Arthur 
Penrhyn Stanley, formed the nucleus of a new liberal party — the 
Broad Churchmen — which gained strength from the dissensions 
between the Tractarians, the Evangelicals and the old high and dry 
Anglicans, though a further impetus toward both skepticism and a 
more liberal school of Churchmanship came from the scientific develop- 
ments of the century. Such were the opposing tendencies to which 
the Oxford Movement gave rise. On the other hand, the unshrinking 
attitude of those who remained true to Anglicanism stimulated the 
growth of a new type of High Churchmen, resembling the Laudian 
divines of the seventeenth century, who emphasized the Catholic, 
apostolic traditions of the Church of England. Among them were 
Gladstone, and with this party Keble and Pusey threw in their lot. 
An indirect result of the Movement was to reawaken a love for beauty 
and art in religious worship ; to restore ancient ceremonies, and to 
stimulate an enthusiasm for medieval architecture. Such ritualism 
has become a usual though not invariable accompaniment of High 
Churchmanship. Tt inspires piety and works of charity in those who 
are best reached through the channels of aesthetic emotion, and it has 
brought light and color into the drab, unlovely lives of many who have 
little or no cultural influences outside their religion. 

3* 



1042 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

Later Conflicts in the Church of England. — The Gorham case 
( 1 847-1 850), in which the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council 
reversed a decision of the Bishop of Exeter that the views of Gorham 
on the subject of baptismal regeneration were contrary to the teachings 
of the Church of England, led to new secessions to Rome. Chief 
among the seceders was Manning, who rose to be head of the Roman 
Catholics in England. A new outcry arose when a group of Broad 
Churchmen issued, in i860, a volume of Essays and Reviews, manifest- 
ing views colored by recent German theology and by the results of 
contemporary scientific research. Again the Privy Council blocked 
an attempt of the Episcopal authorities to prosecute for unorthodoxy. 
Still a third time the lay arm asserted its supremacy over the ecclesias- 
tical when John William Colenso was reinstated in his bishopric of 
Natal after he had been deposed for writing a work in which he con- 
tended that the books of the Pentateuch were productions of a late 
period in Hebrew history. On the other hand, the Public Worship 
Regulation Act of 1874, which authorized the punishment of clergy- 
men accused of ritualistic innovations by a lay judge appointed for 
the purpose, accomplished little except to stir up ill feeling. Although 
several clergymen were imprisoned for resistance, and in spite of 
bitter opposition from some quarters, ritualism is still strong in the 
Church of England. 

Lay Patronage and the Secession from the Church of Scotland. — 
Meantime, the Church of Scotland had been rent by a secession, 
which, though impelled by different motives, had this in common with 
the Oxford Movement, that it aimed to free the Church from secular 
control. An act of 171 1 had restored to lay patrons the right, taken 
from them twenty years before, of presenting candidates to benefices. 
Although this was opposed by many Presbyterians, and even resulted 
in the secession of a small body, the crisis leading to the great dis- 
ruption did not come till 1833. The extension of the political franchise 
strengthened the party which held that pastors should not be forced 
on unwilling congregations by a few privileged persons. As a result, 
the " Veto Act " was carried through the General Assembly in 1834, 
providing that the dissent of the majority of the male members of a 
congregation would be sufficient to exclude any minister presented. In 
a test case, which reached the House of Lords in 1839, the Peers 
decided in favor of the patrons, while, in another case in 1841, the 
Assembly deposed seven members of a presbytery who .obeyed the 
courts contrary to the Veto Act. Next, a proposal was made to abolish 
lay patronage altogether, and, when the Government refused its 
assent, some four hundred of the clergy seceded, and, choosing as 
their moderator Dr. Chalmers — a man of great eloquence and ability 
who had been a leader in the ten years' struggle — they constituted 
the Free Church of Scotland. In 1902 the bulk of this body combined 
with the United Presbyterians — an organization, dating from 1847, 
of various other groups outside the Establishment — to form the United 



VICTORIAN AND POSTVICTORIAN ENGLAND 1043 

Free Presbyterian Church. In 1874, lay patronage was abolished 
in the Church of Scotland, and strong efforts are now being made to 
bring the two great bodies again into one fold. 

General Tendencies of Victorian Literature. — The reign of Victoria 
marks a distinct era in literature. At her accession, in 1837, the great 
figures of the romantic revival were all dead except Wordsworth, 
who had done his best work long before. While new writers were in 
the making, the death of Byron, in 1826, and of Scott, in 1832, was 
followed by an arid interval in poetry and novel writing, when Felicia 
Hemans set the standard, and elegant " Keepsakes " and " Books 
of Beauty " were the vogue. The literature to come was profoundly 
influenced by the growth of democracy, by the new scientific temper, 
and the growing humanitarian spirit. 1 There was an increased in- 
tensity of moral earnestness, a desire to appeal to the masses — who 
for the first time in history began to form a considerable circle of 
readers — to form their taste, and to voice the unrest that they were 
manifesting, by denouncing the evils from which they suffered under 
the existing political, social, and industrial system. 

Prose Writers. Macaulay. — Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800- 
1859), preeminent as an essayist at the beginning of the period, was 
not one of the apostles of discontent. He was active in public affairs 
from his entrance in Parliament, in 1830, until within a few years of 
his death, and both in his speaking and writing, he stoutly championed 
the dominant Whigism and laissez-faire. Having done his part to- 
ward securing the extension of the franchise, in 1832, and the reforms 
which followed, he was content to depict with complacent satisfaction 
the achievements of his party. He was a man of prodigious industry, 
and gifted with a phenomenally ready and retentive memory. His 
essay on Milton, in 1825, was the first of a long and varied series which 
he contributed to the Edinburgh Review. In 1 842-1 843, appeared 
his stirring Lays of Ancient Rome. Meantime, in 1839, he began his 
History of England, which centers about the Revolution of 1688, 
and which he left uncompleted. He showed himself to be a master 
of clear, picturesque narrative, which he enriched by apt illustrations 
drawn from copious stores of knowledge, and he excelled in graphic 
portraiture of political situations. On the other hand, he went too far 
in his attempts to be vivid, he was partisan, and he lacked the ability 
to delineate complex characters, often presenting little more than 
bundles of contrasted traits. But he was a forthright, virile figure, 
who did much to shape the literary tastes and historical views of the 
general reader of his time and of subsequent generations. 

Carlyle. — Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881), essayist, historian, and 
miscellaneous writer, was in his tempestuous preaching against the 
materialism, and what he fancied to be shams of the age, a striking 

1 An early manifestation of this spirit is to be found in two poems of Thomas 
Hood (1 798-1845), the Bridge of Sighs and the Song of the Shirt, the latter of 
which appeared in the Christmas number of Punch, in 1843. 



io44 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

contrast to Macaulay. He first attracted attention with Sartor 
Res art us, or the " tailor patched," which appeared in Frazeis Magazine 
in 1 833-1 834. To some degree a spiritual autobiography, it is also 
a scathing jeremiad, lighted by flashes of grim humor and noble 
prophecy, against hollow pretense and false ideals, against the tend- 
ency to glorify mechanical progress rather than the things of the 
spirit. His French Revolution, 1837, is unique in the field of historical 
literature. The picture is distorted, but it tells the story with a fire 
and dramatic intensity that leaves an indelible impression on the mind. 
The Letters and Speeches of Oliver Cromwell, 1845, is made up of skil- 
fully selected extracts, interpreted with incisive comments by Carlyle. 
One-sided as it is, it completely vindicated Cromwell from the charges 
of hypocrisy which had hung over him for two centuries. The History 
of Frederick the Great, which occupied the author from 185 7-1 865, 
gave him another opportunity to champion a strong man, and to 
exhibit his rare genius for epic narration. Meantime, in essays and 
lectures he was constantly preaching on the " eternal verities " and 
" the government of the best," and railing against unbaked democracy 
— " the universal Morrison's Pill " with which its advocates expected 
to cure all the ills of society and the body politic. In reply to the accu- 
sation that he was sponsor for the doctrine that " might makes right," 
he insisted that the true purport of his teaching was that " right makes 
might." By virtue of his inimitable style, with its strange words — 
often coined for his purpose — his choppy constructions, and wild 
exclamations, he did succeed in arousing many from their spiritual 
torpor ; but, as a practical reformer, he had little that was tangible to 
contribute. 

Arnold, Ruskin, and Newman. — Matthew Arnold (1822-1888) be- 
gan his literary career as a poet. His verses, superb in their classic 
purity and finish, stand in striking contrast to the glowing romanticism 
of the previous generation, but are chilled by austere self-restraint. It 
was as a discriminating literary critic, as an advocate of liberalism in 
Biblical interpretation, and as an apostle of culture — or, to use his 
own words, of " sweetness and light " — to the Philistine middle 
classes, that he did his most distinctive work. Perhaps the perfection 
of prose in nineteenth-century England was reached by John Henry 
Newman (1801-1890), especially in his Idea of a University and in the 
Apologia pro Vita Sua, the latter of which is one of the most pro- 
foundly human in the world's literature of spiritual biography. In it 
he sought to reveal to his countrymen the great visible Church as an 
infallible guide descended from Christ and the apostles. John Ruskin 
(1819-1899) marked an epoch in art criticism in his Modern Painters, 
the first volume of which appeared anonymously in 1843. He began 
the work in defense of Turner ; but in successive volumes, the fifth 
and last of which appeared in i860, he broadened the scope of his task 
to include a championship of modern painters in general, and to de- 
velop a philosophy of art. According to the view which he worked 



VICTORIAN AND POSTVICTORIAN ENGLAND 1045 

out, art is a true manifestation of the temper of the artist and a re- 
flection of the spirit of his age. In the Seven Lamps of Architecture, 
1849, Ruskin contributed greatly to stimulate a new Gothic revival. 
On the completion of the Modern Painters he turned toward questions 
of economic and social reform, problems into which he sought to infuse 
the breath of idealism. Gifted with an exquisite sense of beauty, 
with a consuming moral enthusiasm, and a style of singular eloquence 
and richness, he performed, in spite of his inconsistencies and occa- 
sional petulance, signal service in elevating artistic criticism from a 
mere question of professional technique, as well as in unlocking 
treasures hitherto hidden from the common man. Thus Carlyle, 
Arnold, Newman, and Ruskin were, each in his peculiar way, preachers 
to their generation. 

Victorian Poets. Tennyson and Browning. — Alfred Tennyson 
(1809-1892), the reigning poet of the Victorian Age, succeeded Words- 
worth as Poet Laureate in 1850. He began to publish short lyrics 
as early as 1827 ; but it was years before he showed independence of 
his youthful models, Byron, Scott, and Moore. Then he produced 
some pieces of striking individuality and rare beauty. Following 
these smaller efforts, he launched the longer poems which established 
his reputation: The Princess, 1847; In Memoriam, 1850; Maud, 
1854; and the Idylls of the King, 1859. Tennyson's distinctive 
merit is his perfection of form. He excelled, too, in voicing the con- 
ventional thought and ideals of Victorian society. He was the up- 
holder of well-ordered harmony against individual caprice. Whenever 
he approached the tragic, it was in a spirit of reposeful melancholy 
rather than of passionate revolt. This, and his lack of dramatic fire, 
were due to the natural bent of his mind and to his outwardly calm 
and prosperous life. His further limitations are manifested in his 
elaboration of the obvious and the commonplace, and his surfeit of 
" linked sweetness long drawn out." Almost more than any other 
poet, he has suffered from the defects of his qualities ; since many of his 
most ineffective if beautiful poems are most popular. Robert Brown- 
ing (181 2-1889) was n ^ s opposite in almost every respect. Though 
he could write with simplicity and exquisite melody he was, both in 
phrasing and in the structure of his verse, all too often, crabbed and 
obscure. On the other hand, he equaled Tennyson in his power of 
faithfully depicting nature ; he had the dramatic genius which Tenny- 
son lacked, and is without a rival among the poets in his ability to 
interpret in verse the spirit of music and painting. He was a student 
of life in all its aspects, he showed an insatiable curiosity for probing 
into the farthest recesses of human motives and mastering the com- 
plexities of the mind and soul. Yet, while never unmindful of sin 
and folly, he was, throughout his long life, an undaunted optimist. 
Much in his writing that is difficult at first sight becomes clear to the 
patient reader, and almost invariably rewards serious effort. Pauline, 
his first poem, appeared in 1833; and Paracelsus, 1835, nrst attracted 



1046 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

the attention of the discerning. Sordello, 1840, is the most inscrutable 
of his productions. Among his longer works are : Pippa Passes, A 
Blot on the 'Scutcheon, and A Soul's Tragedy, 1841-1846; and his 
marvelous Ring and the Book, 1 868-1 869. In 1846, Browning mar- 
ried Elizabeth Barrett, the first woman poet of high distinction 
since Sappho. 

The Preraphaelites. — The Preraphaelite Movement, which be- 
gan about 1848, was primarily artistic rather than literary in its 
inception, a protest against the conventionalism bound to result from 
the following of any master, even Raphael, the " prince of painters." 
Nevertheless, it owed much to Newman's revival of ecclesiastical and 
religious symbolism, and had an important influence in stimulating 
mystical, romantic poetry of a medieval type. Dante Gabriel Rossetti 
(1828-188:?), the guiding spirit of the " Preraphaelite Brotherhood," 
was a poet as well as an artist and produced verses of haunting beauty, 
such as the Blessed Damozel. Tennyson, who had no affiliation 
with the Movement, was possibly influenced by it in undertaking his 
Idylls of the King. Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837-1909), a 
devotee of pagan beauty, showed, particularly in his earlier work, a 
temper of revolt against convention and propriety which shocked 
the majority of his contemporaries. Few or none have excelled him 
in power of word music, or in mastery of the varied forms of poetical 
technique, and, especially in Atlanta in Calydon, 1865, he showed 
a rare gift of reproducing the spirit of the Greek drama. However, 
notwithstanding a few signal achievements, the poetic drama of the 
Victorian Age never recovered the ascendancy which the novel had 
begun to usurp in the previous century. 

The Novelists. — Before Scott had closed his labors two novelists 
had appeared on the scene, who, though they continued to write ac- 
ceptable works for half a century,- were soon overshadowed. Benja- 
min Disraeli (1804-1881), later Lord Beaconsfield, was the creator 
of the political novel. Of little excellence as pure literature, his books 
furnish invaluable pictures of the public men and problems of his time. 
Beginning in 1826, with Vivian Grey, which created a sensation by 
its brilliancy and audacity, he concluded with Endymion in 1880. 
Coningsby, 1844, and Sybil, 1846, in which he attacked the social and 
political system of the dominant Whigs and advocated his peculiar 
views of Tory democracy, are perhaps his most important productions. 
Edward Bulwer Lytton (1803-1873), created Baron Lytton in 1866, 
also active in political affairs, was an author of unusual versatility. He 
wrote society, philosophical, scientific, indeed, all sorts of novels, and 
plays as well. The Last Days of Pompeii, 1834, and the Last of the 
Barons, 1843, are among the most popular stories, though Pelham 
and My Novel have more merit. The Lady of Lyons and Richelieu 
are still produced on the stage. While Lord Lytton made the most 
of his great talents, he missed the goal which is only attained by 
genius and sincere conviction. 






VICTORIAN AND POSTVICTORIAN ENGLAND 1047 

Dickens and Thackeray. — In 1836, appeared the Sketches by 
Boz and the first installment of Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens 
(181 2-1870). The long series of his novels which followed are familiar 
in every household, and probably have been more widely read than 
those of any other writer in the English-speaking world. The hard- 
ships of his early life, which brought him into contact with the people, 
his early training as a journalist, and his love for the stage explain his 
power of appealing to the masses, his facility, and his dramatic instinct. 
During the past generation there has been a tendency to belittle his 
title to fame. His faults are patent enough to the critical reader. 
His humor is largely obvious and extravagant caricature, dwelling 
much on " external oddities," his pathos is often " shallow and over- 
wrought," his situations are frequently artificial and theatrical, 
he was wanting in penetration, and his characters are, as a rule, merely 
personified traits. On the other hand, he was a keen observer who 
could describe vividly what he saw, and tell a story of absorbing 
interest. He had a genius for depicting the tragic and the terrible, 
his fun, in spite of all that has been said against it, is wholesome and 
captivating, and his characters live in the memory. Finally, and who 
would want to achieve more, his genial optimism has brought joy 
to millions of human kind. It has been said that Dickens brought 
good out of evil, and that Thackeray brought evil out of good. Though 
this is hardly fair to Thackeray, the two great masters were in striking 
contrast. William Makepeace Thackeray (1811-1863), though he 
began by picturing unscrupulous adventurers, later selected his 
scenes and characters from high life or from the upper middle classes. 
He cared little for external nature, and was strong in the analysis and 
portrayal of character. He dwelt on the faults and weaknesses of 
society and of individuals ; but, if he was cynical on the surface, he 
was a generous-minded, big-hearted man, who defined humor as " wit 
tempered with love," who could appreciate noble traits, and show a 
wealth of pity and tolerance for even the least edifying of those whom 
he felt called upon to depict. Less widely popular than Dickens, he 
has always made a stronger appeal to the thinking reader. Besides 
his inimitable satiric pictures of a life in his own day, he produced in 
Henry Esmond, one of the greatest historical novels in the English 
language ; he drew a racy sketch of the four Georges, and, in his 
English Humorists, he has made the literary world of the eighteenth 
century live again before our eyes. 

Bronte and Eliot. — Charlotte Bronte* (1816-1855), the most 
famous of three gifted sisters, is chiefly known for Jane Eyre, a novel 
of intense power and passion, but characterized by unrealities of detail 
due to her limited experience of life. Mary Ann Evans (181 9-1 880), 
who wrote under the name of George Eliot, was a woman of wide 
knowledge both of life and books. In her first novels she reproduced 
with graphic fidelity the scenes and folk of her countryside, and en- 
livened her serious problems with touches of fine humor. As her work 



io 4 8 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

progressed, she overdeveloped her inclination for psychological analy- 
sis : Adam Bede, the Mill on the Floss, and Silas Marner show her at 
her best. Yet, even in these early productions, she keeps in the fore- 
ground her great lesson that dire consequences attend disregard of 
the moral order. 

Minor Novelists. — Among numbers of minor novelists some have 
produced work well worth reading by subsequent generations. Charles 
Lever (1806-187 2) wrote rollicking tales of Irish and military life 
during the era of the Napoleonic wars. Captain Marryat (1792- 
1848), a naval officer, after his retirement from active service, in 1830, 
produced a series of breezy sea stories which are not only entertaining, 
but valuable as a reflection of the author's actual experiences. The 
Rev. Charles Kingsley (1819-1875) was a many-sided man, among 
other things a Christian socialist and an exponent of muscular Chris- 
tianity. He began by writing on contemporary problems, turn- 
ing later to history and historical fiction. Westward Ho, a glorification 
of the Elizabethan seamen, is perhaps his best novel, while his Water 
Babies is one of the most famous children's stories in the language. 
Charles Reade (1 814-1884) started out as a dramatist, but came to 
devote most of his energies to stories exposing social abuses. The 
Cloister and the Hearth, in which he ventured into historical fiction, 
almost ranks with Henry Esmond and the best work of Scott. Mrs. 
Gaskell (i8io-i865),in Mary Barton and other works, took up thecause 
of the poor in the manufacturing districts, but, from the literary stand- 
point, is remembered chiefly for Cranford, an exquisite picture of life 
in a secluded English village. Anthony Trollope (181 5-1882) was 
amazingly industrious and businesslike, reproducing what he saw 
with the fidelity of a photographer and with almost equal absence 
of imagination ; but his realistic descriptions of the clerical life in 
the cathedral city of " Barchester " are, in their way, distinct achieve- 
ments. Wilkie Collins (1 824-1 889) still retains a hold on the lovers 
of weirdness and mystery. A period which could produce Dickens, 
Thackeray, George Eliot, to say nothing of such a long list of writers 
of second rank, is certainly supreme in the age of the novel. 

Later Victorian Novelists. — While it is too early to estimate the 
importance of the most recent novelists, three stand out sufficiently 
to merit attention. George Meredith (1828-1909) published The 
Ordeal of Richard Feverel, one of his best known novels, as early as 
1859, the same year in which Adam Bede saw the light. Yet he should 
be grouped with the later generation, for he outlived his contem- 
poraries, he was productive to the end of his life, and, owing to his 
obscurity and his daring manner of portraying life, he received only 
belated recognition. His work presents obvious points of criticism, 
he was incapable of constructing an absorbing coherent plot, and his 
style is often as perversely difficult as that of Browning. While this 
latter fault was due in some degree to the complex and baffling human 
problems with which he chose to deal, it prevented him from making 



VICTORIAN AND POSTVICTORIAN ENGLAND 1049 

the universal appeal reserved for supreme geniuses. On the other 
hand, few Englishmen have ever equaled him in epigrammatic 
power ; he had a wonderful gift of subtle analysis, he described nature 
lovingly and superbly, he delineated the life of the English upper 
classes with fascinating skill, and, at the same-time, equaled Shake- 
speare and George Eliot in his faculty for creating peasants who could 
talk in their own tongue. Thomas Hardy (born 1840) resembles 
Meredith in his love of nature, and he has reproduced with artistic 
fidelity the scenes and people of his native Wessex ; but his conviction 
that the irony of circumstance makes sport with human endeavor 
most often renders him harrowing to read. Robert Louis Stevenson 
( 1 850-1 894), handicapped during much of his life by a malady which 
killed him prematurely, showed himself a prince of story-tellers 
and narrated his entrancing tales in a style of exquisite, if rather 
overconscious, art. He may prove, as some have prophesied, the 
herald of a new romanticism. 1 

Philosophy and History. — Among the many philosophical thinkers 
of the Victorian Era two are perhaps most important from the historical 
standpoint — John Stuart Mill (1 806-1 873) and Herbert Spencer 
(1820-1903). Mill, who had a soul above the mechanical training 
given him by his father, James, was active in many fields. He was 
the last and greatest economist of the " orthodox " school which 
developed from Adam Smith, and his Principles of Political Economy, 
1848, long remained the standard work on the subject; he wrote a 
suggestive essay On Liberty, 1859, in which he sought to solve the prob- 
lem of the relation between the individual and the laws of Society and 
the State ; he was a pioneer in the movement for the enfranchisement 
of women ; he was an interpreter of positivism 2 and the science of 
sociology, both of which originated with the Frenchman August Comte 
(1798-1867). In his Logic, 1843, Mill marked the greatest advance 
since Bacon. His main contribution was in reducing scientific 
thought to definite rules, and providing, what Bacon did not, a philo- 
sophical method for scientific reasoning. In other words, he taught — 
what was peculiarly valuable in an age of scientific discovery — the 
method of generalizing from the facts and then verifying by deduction 
from known laws. Spencer published, in 1855, his Principles of 
Psychology, based upon the evolutionary principle, a very notable 
fact, since the book appeared four years before Darwin's Origin of 
Species. In i860, he issued the prospectus of his System of Synthetic 
Philosophy, " in which, beginning with the first principles of knowledge, 
he proposed to trace the progress of evolution in life, mind, society, 

Richard Blackmore (1825-1900), in Loma Doone, and Joseph Henry Short- 
house (1834-1903), in John Inglesant have, amongst other writing, each created 
a work of enduring merit. Rudyard Kipling (born 1865) has produced verse of 
striking force and originality, with a strong Imperialistic bent, and has written 
tales which throw a flood of light on India and the Anglo-Indian military and civil 
life. 

2 The positivist philosophy devotes itself to a description of scientific phenomena. 



1050 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

and morality." This he did in a long series of volumes, starting with 
First Principles in 1862. His great service was to introduce the prin- 
ciple of evolution into the varied subjects with which he dealt, and — 
though here he was not completely successful — to investigate the 
laws which underlie life and thought, and to group them into a 
synthetic or unified form. 

Historical and Classical Scholarship. — This period marks an 
amazing advance in historical method and research, though Thomas 
Buckle ( 1 821-186 2) failed in his effort to construct a philosophy of 
the subject. The History of Greece, by George Grote (1794-1871), 
is a monument of learning, which, notwithstanding bias in favor of 
Athenian democracy, and the fact that it has been superseded in 
parts by more recent investigations, still remains a classic. There 
are some, however, who regard the less widely known work of Bishop 
Thirlwall (1 797-1875) as one of greater merit. Most notable, how- 
ever, has been the progress in the study of English history, especially 
in the early period. The enthusiasm for freedom manifested in and 
stimulated by the Reform Bill led to a new interest in the Anglo- 
Saxon period — regarded as a golden age of liberty which Norman 
absolutism destroyed. While others preceded him, the first signifi- 
cant pioneer work was John Kemble's, The Saxons in England, 
1849. Meantime, scholars had begun to edit and print the original 
sources and, before long, a body of materials became available which 
challenge comparison with those of any other country in Europe. 
Among those who have written on the subject, only the most prominent 
names can be mentioned — Freeman, Stubbs, Maine, Pollock, and 
Maitland on the medieval period, and Froude, Gardiner, Lecky, and 
Walpole on the sixteenth, seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth 
centuries, respectively. Classical archasology was greatly fostered 
by the removal to England of the Parthenon sculptures, which Lord 
Elgin began to acquire, in 1803, while ambassador to the Porte, and 
which he sold to the British Government in 1816. While the Victorian 
Age has produced many learned and elegant classical scholars, none 
have shown the genius of Bentley, or of Richard Porson (1 759-1808), 
second only to him in achievement, and perhaps superior to him in 
natural aptitude. 

Darwinism. — In science and its practical applications " the advance 
made during the reign of Queen Victoria has been greater in many 
ways than the advance made from the beginning of civilization to 
that time." Among the landmarks of progress three stand out pre- 
eminent — the establishment of the doctrine of evolution ; the exten- 
sion of the use of steam, particularly in transportation ; and the 
applications of electricity. The first has fundamentally trans- 
formed man's whole attitude toward the origin and growth of life. 
Evolutionary, as distinguished from creationist, philosophy is as old 
as the Greeks, while biological evolution, in the general sense of the 
descent of one species from another, was by no means a new idea. 






VICTORIAN AND POSTVICTORIAN ENGLAND 105 1 

Erasmus Darwin (1731-1802) had speculated on the doctrine, and it 
had been advocated by the Frenchman Lamarck (1744-1829) ; but 
it was only the long and patient experimental studies by Charles 
Darwin (1809-1882), grandson of Erasmus, which placed it on a sound 
scientific basis and resulted in its final acceptance. He made clear 
the causes of biological evolution by showing that different species 
of plants and animals, " instead of being each separately created," 
are evolved from lower types by means of " natural selection " in 
the struggle for existence ; in other words, there is a " survival of the 
fittest " ' due to a continuous process of adaptation. In 1837, Darwin 
began his special investigations, which were first completely set forth 
in his Origin of Species in 1859. During the previous year, Alfred 
Russell Wallace (1822-1913) sent a paper from the Malay Islands 
On the Tendency of Varieties to depart indefinitely from the Original 
Type, anticipating the results to which Darwin had been working 
for so many years. Happily both men thought more of the advance- 
ment of human knowledge than self-glorification. Darwin published 
a preliminary paper, together with Wallace's, and the latter got credit 
to the full extent for his contribution. Darwin, however, had started 
first and had based his findings on an incomparably wider and more 
thorough research. His views were bitterly opposed by the more 
conservative scientists, and by those who fancied that their theological 
beliefs were endangered by the conflict between the theory of evolu- 
tion and the Biblical story of the Creation as popularly understood. 
Gradually, however, the substance of the Darwinian doctrine has won 
its way to general acceptance, though certain features of it, such as 
the inheritance of acquired characteristics, have been modified by 
later investigators. The final victory was due, in a considerable de- 
gree, to the championship of Thomas Huxley (1825-1895), who com- 
bined to an unusual extent the faculty for original research with the 
gift of popular exposition. 

Progress in Other Sciences. — Not only did the period witness sig- 
nal progress in most of the older sciences — geology, for example, 
threw much new light on the antiquity of the earth and of plant and 
animal life — but many newer ones, such as palaeontology and anthro- 
pology, were marked off as distinct fields of investigation. An im- 
portant stage in development was the founding of the British Associa- 
tion for the Advancement of Science in 1834. Notable gains were 
made in medicine and surgery, chiefly through the discovery of anaes- 
thesia, the germ theory of disease, and antiseptic surgery. In the 
former, Americans led the way, and the credit for introducing ether 
is disputed in behalf of two claimants. Apparently Dr. Jackson 
first discovered its uses, while Dr. Morton was the first to apply it in 
surgical operations. Shortly afterwards, in 1847, a Scot, (later Sir) 
James Y. Simpson, brought chloroform into use. John Tyndall 

1 This term was coined by Herbert Spencer and adopted by Darwin, who used 
it interchangeably with "natural selection." 



1052 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 






(1820-1897), a natural philosopher, who devoted much attention to 
physics, and who exercised an even wider influence than Huxley in 
the popularization of science, was a pioneer in the germ theory of 
infection and in recognizing the value of sterilization. Dr. (later 
Baron) Joseph Lister (1827-1913) did wonders in reducing the fatality 
of surgical operations by the introduction of antiseptic bandaging. 
Physics and chemistry made amazing strides, both in pure science and 
in its practical application. Among the latter, the invention of photog- 
raphy has an important place ; for it has become an indispensable 
ally to investigators in the most diverse fields, from astronomy to his- 
tory. The Frenchman, Daguerre (1789-1851), acting on suggestions 
from his assistant, Niepce, first perfected, in 1839, the process of ob- 
taining pictures through the chemical action of sunlight on a metallic 
plate ; but the daguerreotype was soon superseded by the modern 
photograph, in which William Talbot (1800-187 7) ^ e< i the way. His 
process of taking impressions on sensitized paper has in turn been im- 
proved upon by the use of the dry plate. 

Electricity. — The discovery, by the Italian, Alessandro Volta, of the 
voltaic pile, 1 in 1800, followed by his cell, 2 first provided the battery 
for producing continuous supplies of electricity. The applications 
which followed have had an incalculable effect on modern civilization. 
The next notable step was the discovery of electromagnetism by the 
Danish physicist Orsted, in 1819, together with the resulting develop- 
ments by Ampere and Ohm. Michael Faraday (1 791-1867), who 
began his scientific work as the assistant of Sir Humphrey Davy, 
and who has been described as the " prince of investigators," did so 
much for pure and applied science that only a special treatise could 
do him justice. Most significant in connection with the present 
subject, was his work on magnetic induction which prepared the way 
for the dynamo — the machine now employed for generating elec- 
tricity in large quantities. His discovery of benzene, in 1825, has 
led to important commercial results, especially in connection with the 
preparation of aniline dyes. William Thomson (1824-1907), created 
Lord Kelvin in 1892, was a remarkable combination of pure scientist 
and inventor, whose investigations extended over the field of mathe- 
matics, heat, electricity, and magnetism. 

Steam Railways and Navigation. — The development of railways 
in Great Britain since the opening of the Manchester and Liverpool 
railway, in 1830, has been enormous. 3 The tremendous significance 

1 So called because it consisted of a series of strips of different metals, such as 
copper and zinc, placed alternately one upon the other, with cloth or paper between 
the layers, and moistened with an acid solution. 

2 This consists of a cup filled with acidulated water into which plates of copper 
and zinc are introduced. 

3 An idea can be gained from the following figures for 191 2 : 

Miles of line open ...... 23,441 

Tons of goods carried . . . . 520,279,128 

Passengers „ 1,294,337,048 



VICTORIAN AND POSTVICTORIAN ENGLAND 1053 

of this development can only be realized in view of the numbers of 
men employed for the manufacture of all the vast equipment which 
goes to make up a railroad, in the structure of the carshops, in the 
mines for supplying the materials for fuel ; in view of the increased 
facilities for emigration and for carrying laborers to and fro ; and in 
view of the creation of new markets and the possibilities of transport- 
ing food supplies. The development of steam navigation is equally 
striking. In 1819, the first steamship crossed the Atlantic from 
Savannah to Liverpool, and, going partly under sail, occupied thirty- 
two days. It was not till 1838 that the whole distance was covered 
under steam, when the time was cut to fifteen. 1 Now, the fastest 
steamers have made a record of less than five, exclusive of the delays 
in entering and leaving port. At first the ships were side-wheelers 
built of wood. The first iron steamship was built in 182 1 and the first " 
iron screw propeller in 1838; but screw propellers and iron construc- 
tion were not generally adopted till the early sixties. Iron gave place 
to steel about twenty years later. The invention of the compound, 
and then of the triple-expansion engine, due to high pressure steam 
and improved boiler construction, made it possible to build both larger 
and swifter vessels. All this, added to the employment of artificial 
refrigeration and cold storage, has added greatly to the comfort of 
travel. For a long time steam was used only for passenger traffic 
on the ocean, while fast sailing clippers were employed, especially in 
the China trade; but the opening of the Suez Canal, in 1869, put an 
end to their supremacy. Nowadays sailing ships are little used 
except for slow coasting trade. 2 The effect of steam navigation in 
supplying food and raw materials, opening new markets, stimulating 
emigration and industry, as well as in consolidating the British Empire 
has been almost incalculable. 

Army and Navy. — In view of her insular position, Great Britain 
has not found it necessary to keep so large an army on foot as the 
continental countries, especially since the self-governing colonies 
have equipped militia of their own, and has thus far refrained from 
compulsory service. However, since the advent of the airship 
and the development of Germany as a sea-power, there has been an 
earnest agitation, led by the military authorities, to increase the land 
forces and to make them more effective. On the other hand, Great 
Britain has long felt the need of maintaining a powerful navy to 
protect her commerce, her possessions beyond the seas, and to insure 
against the cutting off of her food supplies in time of war. Yet, 
during the first half of the century, her naval constructors lagged 

1 This was very soon after Dionysius Lardner had declared that "as well might 
they attempt a voyage to the moon, as to run regularly between England and New 
York." 

2 The total amount of shipping, British and foreign, entering the United King- 
dom, has increased from 4,657,795 tons in 1840 to 66,660,449 in 1910. The amount 
clearing has almost exactly corresponded. 



io54 



A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 



behind the merchant marine in the introduction of improvements. 
Indeed, so late as the Crimean War, the French navy was on a more 
modern footing. Since then, however, the British have forged steadily 
to the front in iron and steel construction for hulls, in the introduction 
of armor plate, in the introduction of breech-loading guns worked 
by machinery, and in the employment of torpedoes and torpedo boats. 
While keeping fully abreast of other nations in the adoption of im- 
proved processes, they have endeavored to maintain their fleet at 
about double the strength of their nearest rival, Germany. 1 

Electrical Inventions and Appliances. — Only a bewildering array 
of figures could give an adequate idea of the great development in 
the iron, cotton, and other manufacturing industries; but the result 
has been due not so much to the invention, as to the perfecting and 
developing of those already described. However, as practical realities, 
all the epoch-making electrical inventions and appliances date from 
the Victorian Era. The first attempt to construct an electric tele- 
graph was made by one Lesage in 1774; but it was more than half 
a century before a series of lines was actually in operation, and not 
till 1844 that the first public system in England was installed. It was 
soon superseded by the system of the American, Morse, invented 
in 1838, and first employed in 1844 on a line of wires running from 
Washington to Baltimore. Meantime, experiments in submarine 
telegraphy had been made. So early as 1839, the banks of the Hooghly 
River in India had been connected by an insulated wire placed beneath 
the surface of the stream. A line between Dover and Calais was 
established in 1851. The first attempt to lay an Atlantic cable was 
made six years later. After two successive failures, in 1858 and 1865, 
the momentous task was finally achieved in 1866. Infinite credit is 
due to Cyrus Field in securing finances, and to the scientific genius 
of Lord Kelvin. The perfection of wireless telegraphy has been the 
signal achievement of the Italian, Marconi, who began his experi- 
ments in 1895, and, in 1899, first succeeded in sending messages across 
the Channel from Boulogne to Dover. In 1837 Page, an American 
physicist, prepared the way for the telephone by his discovery that 
sounds could be transmitted by electricity. Nearly forty years 

1 The respective strength of the three leading naval powers in 191 2 was: 





U.K. 


U.S. 


Germany 




Built 


Building 


Built 


Building 


Built 


Building 


Battleships . . . 


S3 


IO 


29 


6 


3 2 


9 


Coast defense . 






9 




4 




Cruisers . . . 


108 




37 




53 


6 


Torpedo boats and 














destroyers . . 


301 


28 




10 


173 


17 


Submarines . . . 


62 


12 


18 


17 


8 


2 






VICTORIAN AND POSTVICTORIAN ENGLAND 1055 

later, in 1876, Graham Bell was finally awarded a patent, although 
two other men had made application on the very same day as himself. 
As the result of a long series of experiments by Foucault and Staite, 
arclights were first made to work successfully in 1.849, though Sir 
Humphrey Davy had discovered the voltaic arc years before. The 
incandescent lamp, which traces its beginnings to a process devised 
about 1841 by an Englishman, De Moleyns, only came to be generally 
employed toward the end of the last century. With the perfecting 
of the dynamo, within the recent generation, electricity has taken pos- 
session of the field as a motive force and as a means of communication 
and illumination, while it bids fair to supersede steam for purposes of 
transportation on railways. 

Agricultural Progress. — The period of agricultural distress fol- 
lowing the Napoleonic War continued for some years. When prices 
dropped, the cultivation of poor land ceased to be profitable. Land- 
lords who had mortgaged their estates to extend their farming opera- 
tions went under, together with tenants working on borrowed capital. 
A natural result was misery and discontent on the part of the agricul- 
tural laborers. Shortly before Victoria's accession conditions began 
to improve, and, with brief intervals of depression, the improvement 
continued until about 1876. This renewed prosperity was due to a 
combination of many causes. For one thing, the revival and growth of 
manufactures, following the temporary slump during the first years 
of the peace, created a new demand for food supplies and enhanced 
their price. Then the Poor Law of 1834 lifted a great burden from 
the rural taxpayer, while the Tithe Commutation Act of 1836 did 
away with uncertainties, inequalities, and waste, which had worked 
to the prejudice of the cultivator. Railways and steam navigation 
made possible the transportation of perishable products, and made new 
markets accessible. At the same time, the establishment of joint 
stock banks provided capital for improvements. In these improve- 
ments science came to the aid of practice. In 1838, the Royal Agri- 
cultural Society was founded; this was followed by the establishment 
of the Royal Agricultural College in 1842, and,. during the next year, 
experiments began to be made at the agricultural station recently set 
up at Rothamsted, Herts. Chemical and geographical knowledge 
was applied in the treatment of the soil, and artificially prepared 
fertilizers were adopted with excellent results. Improved methods of 
draining proved a special boon to farmers in the clay soil districts 
where lands had been under water during the rainy season and hard- 
baked during times of drought. Intensive farming, which aimed to 
get the greatest amount out of land already under cultivation, began 
to take the place of extensive tillage, which consisted in merely ex- 
tending the area to be worked. The ambition of wealthy manufac- 
turers and merchants to become landed proprietors had the twofold 
effect of bringing much capital into agriculture and of raising the 
price of land. Finally, in this period, great improvements were made 



1056 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

in agricultural machinery when new types of plows, harrows, cul- 
tivators, as well as mowing machines and steam threshing machines, 
came to be employed. 

Decline in Agriculture. — The repeal of the Corn Laws, in 1846, 
ushered in a brief interval of depression, due partly to an influx of 
cheap food, partly to the breaking of the monopoly, and, more es- 
pecially, to the fear of the British farmer that he could not compete with 
the over-sea producers. Conditions, however, soon righted themselves. 
The laborer was helped by the migrations, following upon the potato 
famine, of large numbers of Irishmen who had hitherto come to Eng- 
land during the harvest season and had brought down wages by their 
competition. On the other hand, the influx of money from the dis- 
covery of gold in California, 1848, and in Australia, 1 850-1 851, 
raised prices, and thus aided the landlord and tenant farmer. The 
third quarter of the century was, on the whole, perhaps the most 
prosperous period in the annals of British agriculture. About 1875 
came a new decline from which the farmer has never recovered. A 
chief cause was the increasing competition from over-sea, due to the 
development of the steamship and the invention of refrigerating pro- 
cesses which have made it possible to convey meat in cold storage 
from the extreme ends of the world. For a time these foodstuffs 
were absorbed by the growing population ; but a bad harvest in 
1875, followed by a worse one in the " Black Year," 1879, led to extra 
heavy imports of corn and wheat from abroad, to the withdrawal of 
much land from tillage, and to a consequent rural exodus. Of late, 
efforts have been made to bring the laborer back to the soil. In 1875 
a bill was passed to arrange for compensation to agricultural tenants 
for unexhausted improvements. Then from 1882 to 1890, a series 
of Allotment Acts were passed to enable the local authorities to acquire 
lands to rent in small parcels. This was followed, in 1892, by the 
Small Holdings Act empowering county councils to obtain lands and 
advance sums of money to those who desired to purchase holdings of 
fifty acres or under. But none of these measures proved effective ; for 
in fifteen years not more than 850 acres were sold. A new Small 
Holdings and Allotments Act of 1907, authorizing the county councils 
to take lands at the current price with or without the consent of the 
large owners, has proved more successsful, and within three years nearly 
100,000 acres were allotted to small cultivators. At present, plans 
are under discussion to improve the housing conditions of the agri- 
cultural laborer, to raise his wages, to secure deserving tenants against 
eviction, and to increase still further the number of peasant proprietors. 
In view, however, of the experience of the eighteenth century and the 
increasing competition from abroad, it is doubtful whether the small 
farmer could maintain himself. 

Decorative Art. — Fertile as was the Victorian Age in science and 
invention, it was, in the early period at least, barren of anything except 
bad taste in decorative art. Mansard roof houses, furnished with 



VICTORIAN AND POSTVICTORIAN ENGLAND 1057 

glaring carpets, ghastly marble statuary, and ornately carved black 
walnut are unlovely monuments of this period of Philistine ugliness. 
Those who strove for better things were for years as voices crying in 
the wilderness. About the middle of the century Ruskin began to 
preach the gospel of a revival of Gothic art and ornament. The Pre- 
raphaelite Brotherhood, not long after its foundation, extended its 
scope to include architecture, costume, and household decoration, as 
well as painting and literature. Toward the end of its short life it 
became an " aesthetic affectation," making for itself a " sort of religion 
out of wall paper, old teapots, and fans " ; but it began as a healthy 
plea for simplicity and beauty against conventional unsightliness, and 
set standards which survived its own organization. Much was due to 
William Morris (1 834-1 896), perhaps the most versatile man with 
brain and hand of any of the century. He painted pictures, he pro- 
duced large quantities of excellent prose and verse, he went in for print- 
ing and bookbinding, and, in i860, he started a firm for supplying 
stained glass, tapestries, carpets, and household furniture. Every- 
thing was designed by men of artistic instinct and training, and, so 
far as possible, fashioned by hand. This wholesome revival of the 
traditions of the medieval arts and crafts has had an immense in- 
fluence. Artistic taste has continued to improve, although an inevi- 
table obstacle to its general diffusion has been the necessity for cheap 
machine-made goods. 

Painting and Music. — The Preraphaelite Brotherhood was founded 
by John Everett Millais and Holman Hunt, though Dante Gabriel 
Rossetti became the great spiritual influence. Among other famous 
members were Ford Madox Brown and Edward Burne- Jones. During 
the five years of its organized activity it formed the nearest to a 
native school of painting that England has ever had. Outside the 
Brotherhood there are many names that might be mentioned. Sir 
Edwin Landseer (1 802-1 873) struck out a new path in emphasizing 
the human qualities in animals ; Clarkson Stanfield was notable as 
the most realistic of English marine painters ; and George Frederick 
Watts (1820-1904), during the course of his long life, painted superb 
portraits of most of the celebrated Englishmen of his time. While 
it is too early to estimate, the general opinion is that the greatest 
artists since Constable and Turner have been D. G. Rossetti, Millais, 
and James McNeill Whistler (1 834-1 903), an American who spent 
his later life in London. Owing to the influence of Handel, the 
oratorio has been the form of musical composition which has since 
appealed most to the mass of Englishmen. Grand opera and sym- 
phony have, until the present generation, met with no widespread 
appeal. And if we except Michael Balfe (1 808-1 870), whose Bohemian 
Girl has enjoyed a long and general popularity, the uniquely excellent 
comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan, and the fine compositions of 
Sir Edward Elgar (born 1857), the British have contributed practically 
nothing in the way of operatic or orchestral productions. 
3* 



1058 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

Industrial and Social Progress. — Two striking facts in the material 
progress of England during the period since the first Reform Bill 
are the increase of population and the increase of wealth. The number 
of inhabitants of the United Kingdom has increased from 24,392,485 
in 1 83 1 to 45,365,599, the greatest proportional growth being in Eng- 
land and Wales — from 13,896,797 to 36,075,269. The total wealth 
of the country, estimated on the basis of income, has swelled, during 
the interval, from about £225,000,000 to £1,011,100,345. In other 
words, wealth has increased about twice as fast as the population. 
Unhappily, however, this increase has been most unevenly distributed. 
From the beginning of the century to 1842 there was a startling growth 
of poverty and crime, then came a striking change for the better. 
Curiously enough, machinery was to a large degree responsible, both 
for the wretchedness and for the prosperity which followed it. Other 
factors were the repeal of the Corn Laws which steadied and cheapened 
the price of food ; the legislation regulating conditions of employment, 
especially in the case of women and children ; and the improvement of 
sanitary conditions in the populous towns. Although conditions are 
still deplorable enough, the English laborer, what with better housing, 
better lighting, better industrial regulations, and better wages, is 
far better off than his fathers before him. Friendly societies, trades 
unions, cooperative stores and banks, and building societies are at 
once indications of and further aids to thrift and progress. At the 
same time, the growing consumption of meat, tea, sugar, and tobacco 
indicates a rising standard of comfort. This, together with a steady 
upward movement of prices, especially during the last decade, has 
resulted in the acute problem that the incomes of large numbers of the 
working classes have ceased to be sufficient to meet their expenditures. 
Hence a serious agitation has developed to secure a minimum wage. 

Evidences of Progress. — Yet, in spite of the resulting crisis, and 
in spite of panics and unrest, strikes and chronic unemployment, a 
survey of the period, as a whole, shows encouraging evidences of 
progress. Parliament, which was primarily occupied " with protecting 
property against the people " now devotes much of its energy to 
" protecting the people against property." The old privileges of 
the favored, and the disabilities of the unfavored classes have been 
removed one by one. The abolition of sinecures, the curtailing of 
the exemptions of members of Parliament from arrest, the cessation 
of compulsory Church rates, the disestablishment of the Irish Church, 
and the destruction of the monopoly of the East India Company, 
are among the examples of the former, while the concessions to the 
Roman Catholics, Nonconformists, and aliens are instances of the latter. 
Although there are still acute differences between labor and capital, 
the breaking down of the aristocratic barriers has brought the classes 
closer together : " the arrogance of the aristocracy is less insolent, 
the bitterness of the democracy is less uninformed and ignorant." 
Philanthropy has become more general, and educational and social 






VICTORIAN AND POSTVICTORIAN ENGLAND 1059 

settlements have been established in the crowded quarters of large 
cities. The temperance revival of Father Mathew (1790-1856), 
though mainly concentrated in Ireland, was not without effect in 
England, while cheaper tea has contributed, at least in some degree, 
to check the excessive use of alcohol. The establishment of a system 
of public education, the introduction of cheap light in the form of 
petroleum, gas, and electricity, and the spread of the newspaper — 
not an unmixed blessing — has done much to develop a more in- 
telligent and happy body of citizens. 

Improvement of Prison Conditions. — The increase of humanitari- 
anism may be seen in all directions, in the abolition of the slave trade 
and slavery, the prohibition of flogging in the army and navy, the 
discontinuance of the press gang and transportation, the protection 
of dumb animals, and the improved treatment of debtors and convicts. 
At the beginning of the century, in spite of the efforts of Howard, 
prison conditions were still frightful. Yet he had not labored in vain, 
his work was taken up by Elizabeth Fry, whose interest and pity were 
awakened by a casual visit to Newgate in 181 2; by Fowell Buxton 
and other worthy persons. As a result of this organized work of the 
Society for the Improvement of Prison Discipline, which they founded, 
the Gaol Acts of 1823-1824 were passed, providing for improved 
sanitation and cleanliness and for individual cots or hammocks for 
prisoners. Also, regular labor, prison chaplains and schoolmasters, 
as well as matrons for the women, were recommended. Following a 
parliamentary report of 1835 the principle was established of separate 
cells in place of the old practice of herding debtors, hardened criminals, 
and even lunatics promiscuously together. More recently, the 
custom has been adopted of short terms of solitary confinement, 
followed by penal servitude or associated labor on public works ; 
followed again by release on ticket of leave or probation. Notwith- 
standing the increase of population, the convictions for crime have 
been decreased from 19,927 in 1840 to 11,987 in 1910. 

Condition of Women. — Although much remains to be done, the 
lot of women has greatly improved since the beginning of the century. 
Within the memory of those yet living, the education of girls was largely 
in the hands of governesses and private schools, with the emphasis 
on deportment, music, and other accomplishments. Memory was 
trained at the expense of the reasoning faculties, and teaching was 
given out of " elegant abridgements." Since the middle- of the 
century, however, their instruction has approximated to that of boys, 
and higher education has been opened to them. In 1867 women 
were admitted to examinations at the University of London, in 1881 
at Cambridge, and in 1884 at Oxford. Meantime, two colleges for 
women, Girton and Newnham, had been founded at Cambridge. In 
1837, the Ladies' Gallery was opened in the new House of Commons. 
Six years before, the first petition for votes for women was intro- 
duced. In 1867 John Stuart Mill made a strong plea for giving them 



1060 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

the privilege, and in 191 1 a bill conceding a restricted suffrage passed a 
second reading in the Commons. Since then, however, the methods of 
the militants have given the movement for enfranchisement a setback. 

Recent Labor Legislation. — Since the Reform Bill of 1867 there 
has been a marked increase in labor legislation. This includes an act 
of 1878 simplifying, systematizing, and extending all the factory legis- 
lation of the century, and an act of 1901, which replaced it, and which 
is still in force. It includes also a series of acts relating to mines and 
collieries, passed at intervals between 1872 and 1906. More striking, 
perhaps, are the recent measures providing for social insurance. 
Bismarck initiated this policy in Germany, between 1881 and 1891, 
as a supplement to coercion in checking social unrest. In one form 
or another it has since been adopted by the leading continental 
countries. In England the Liberal party, which came to power in 
December, 1905, on the resignation of Mr. Arthur Balfour, has taken 
notable steps in the same direction. These have been embodied 
mainly in three great measures — The Workingmen's Compensation 
Act, 1906; the Old Age Pension Act, 1909; and the National In- 
surance Act, 191 1. Formerly employees or workmen could, in case 
of accident, only recover damages by lawsuit, a long and costly 
process; and they had to prove, too, that the employer was directly 
responsible. Beginning in 1880, a series of acts was passed shifting 
the burden of proof on the employer. The first of the series applied 
only to specified dangerous trades ; but the Act of 1906 renders the 
employer liable for compensation — except in cases of " serious and 
willful misconduct " — to all manual laborers, and practically all 
other employees, including domestic servants, who receive a salary of 
less than £250 a year. Although not compelled to do so, most em- 
ployers now carry a special insurance to meet such liabilities. 

Old Age Pensions and Insurance against Sickness and Unemploy- 
ment. — The Old Age Pension Law of 1909 was the outcome of nearly 
thirty years of struggle. It provides that every person, male or female, 
over seventy years of age, who has been a British subject for twenty 
years and a resident of Great Britain for twelve, shall receive a pension, 
provided his or her income is less than £31 105. Even paupers are 
included, though, as soon as the pension begins, poor relief ceases. 
It is in no sense an insurance scheme, since the recipients contribute 
nothing. The Act of 191 1 has a twofold aim : " to provide for Insur- 
ance against loss of Health and for the Prevention and Cure of Sickness, 
and for Insurance against Unemployment." By the terms of the 
first part of the Act, all wage earners between sixteen and sixty-five 
who have less than £26 annual income from property are obliged to 
insure against sickness. Under the supervision of Government in- 
surance commissioners the scheme is administered through " approved 
societies," either existing friendly societies 1 or new bodies specially 

1 These are voluntary benefit or "mutual assurance" societies, some of which 
date back at least to the eighteenth century, and may possibly even trace their descent 



VICTORIAN AND POSTVICTORIAN ENGLAND 1061 

created. The funds are subscribed partly by the workers, partly by 
the employers, and partly by the State, though if the wage of the 
former is below a certain minimum, his quota falls on the employer. 
The benefits include weekly payments during sickness, free medical 
attendance, and free treatment at hospitals to be supplied by the State. 
The second part of the Act is in the nature of an experiment for meeting 
the problem of chronic unemployment. Something was accomplished 
by the Labor Exchange Act of 1909, according to which England was 
divided into eleven districts, each including a number of labor ex- 
changes, which serve to bring employers and laborers together, and, 
if necessary, advance money to pay the latter's traveling expenses to 
the place where work is offered him. So far, the Act of 191 1 applies 
only to two trades — the building and the engineering — which in- 
clude nearly 2,500,000 out of a total of 15,000,000 workmen. As in 
the case of the sickness insurance, the employees, the employers, and 
the State all contribute. The benefit is limited to a maximum of 
fifteen weeks, and is withheld in case the unemployment is due to mis- 
conduct, to strikes, or lockouts. These socialistic features of the 
Liberal program are due mainly to Mr. Lloyd George, Chancellor of 
the Exchequer since 1908, and are being watched with great interest. 
The Cooperative Movement. Trade Unionism. — The cooperative 
movement in England, of which Robert Owen was the practical 
founder, started as an effort to check the evils of competition. His 
ideas, first of a benevolent cooperation between employers and work- 
men, and then of State-organized communities in which the employer 
had no place, came to nothing ; but an indire-- 1 insult not contemplated 
by him was the organization of cooperative shops. The first to achieve 
practical success was started at Rochdale in 1844. Since then many 
other ventures have been undertaken. While attempts at cooperative 
production have been, generally speaking, failures, cooperative shops 
for distribution have had a considerable if not sensational success. 
In course of time their members formed a national organization, and 
began to hold annual congresses an.' io go into the wholesale business. 
In 1902, there were 850,659 members with a total volume of business 
of £31,305,910. The trades unions of various trades began to hold 
annual congresses in 1870, before the acts of 1871, 1 1875, and 1876 gave 

irom the medieval gilds. While trades unions sometimes have the benefit fea- 
ture, the friendly societies, as such, are not confined to single trades and are not 
concerned with strikes. They included about 5,000,000 members in 1908. 

1 In 1867, as a consequence of outrages committed against workmen in Sheffield 
and, to a less degree, in Manchester, a royal commission was appointed to investi- 
gate the whole subject of the trades unions which were held to be responsible. It 
was shown that they labored under serious disabilities. Some of the judges, at 
least, were of the opinion that any combination to raise wages was a "conspiracy 
and a misdemeanor." Hence the discontent of the unions; but it was found that, 
while one murder and many cases of intimidation could be traced to their members, 
only twelve unions out of sixty in Sheffield, and only one of many in Manchester 
were involved. So, by the Trades Unions Act of 1871, their legality was formally 
recognized. 



1062 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

them legal status. In 1899 a General Federation of Trades Unions, 
affiliated with kindred organizations on the Continent, was created 
" to supplement the activities of the Trades Union Congress." In 
1901, in the famous Taff Vale Case, the House of Lords struck a blow 
at trade unionism, by a decision " that the members of the trade union 
are liable singly and collectively for acts committed under the aus- 
pices of the Union." This decision, however, was offset, to a large 
degree, by the Trades Dispute Act of 1906 — to which the peers 
gave a reluctant assent — protecting the funds of trade unions. By 
the Osborne Judgment of 1909 the Lords decided that it was illegal 
to employ moneys raised by compulsory contributions to pay the 
salaries of the members representing them in Parliament. This, 
again, has been offset by a measure of 191 1 providing for the payment 
of all members of the House of Commons at £400 a year. 

Laborite Political Parties. — Meantime, labor had sought to reen- 
force the work of the trades unions by organizing into political parties. 
Two labor candidates stood for Parliament in 1868, and, six years 
later, when the number had risen to thirteen, two were elected. In 
1893, the Independent Labor Party was organized for the purpose, 
not only of demanding State intervention in the interests of labor — 
for procuring an eight-hour day, for example — but with the avowed 
socialistic aim of establishing " collective ownership and control of 
the means of production, distribution, and exchange." Since these 
views proved too radical for the rank and file of the British workmen 
the Trades Union Congress, in 1899, took steps which resulted in 
the organization of a group in the Commons prepared " to cooperate 
with any party which for the time being may be engaged in promoting 
legislation in the direct interest of labor." In 1906, this organization 
took the name of the Labor Party, and succeeded in electing twenty- 
nine out of fifty-one candidates, whereas the Independent Laborites 
elected seven. Although the number of labor representatives has 
since declined somewhat, the Liberal party depends upon them, 
together with the Irish Nationalists, for a majority. 

Socialism. — English socialism was for a long time identified with 
Robert Owen, who enunciated his views nearly twenty years before the 
word was coined in 1835. His work, however, had no direct result, 
and the system owes its development to continental thinkers. About 
the middle of the century, however, a school of Christian Socialists was 
founded in England by Charles Kingsley, Thomas Hughes, and F. D. 
Maurice as a protest against the prevailing laissez-faire. While 
Christian Socialism, as a formal movement, had a short life, it planted 
seeds which have never died. In 1864, an International Working- 
men's Association was formed in London by the combined efforts 
of British trade unionists and continental refugees. As a whole, 
however, the British workmen have never been socialists, though 
the depressions from 1875 to 1880 have had the effect of accentuating 
socialistic tendencies, of developing a new unionism more aggressive 



VICTORIAN AND POSTVICTORIAN ENGLAND 1063 

and less individualistic than the old. The Democratic Federation, 
dating from 1881, and its reconstitution two years later, under the 
name Social Democratic Federation, marks the modern stage. Yet 
neither the Federation, nor the Social Democratic party which it 
formed, has been very successful. In 1911, it numbered only 18,000, 
while the less extreme Independent Labor Party aggregated not more 
than 60,000, and as a rule both have been forced to act with the non- 
socialistic laborites. Recently, however, syndicalism — a revolu- 
tionary trade unionism originating in France about 1906, and aiming 
to control production and distribution — has been a force in general 
strikes. The Fabian Society, founded in 1883, consists of educated 
men, including many Liberals, who hold moderate, theoretical social- 
istic views, and it directs its appeal mainly to the upper and middle 
classes. While out and out socialism has made little headway, 
socialistic principles have gained increasingly in both the Con- 
servative and Liberal parties, and have shown their strength in 
the legislation outlined above, undertaken by the latter party since 
1906. 

Greater Britain. — One of the most significant features of the 
nineteenth century has been the growth of the British Empire. In 
1912, it included an area of 13,663,000 square miles and 426,000,000 
inhabitants — nearly one quarter of the land surface of the globe and 
slightly more than a quarter of the world's population. The annual 
trade of this vast Empire amounts to approximately £1,600,000,000, 
and its total revenue exceeds £400,000,000. The Imperial dominion 
comprises possessions in Europe, 1 Asia, 2 Africa, 3 America, 4 and Oceania. 5 
They may be grouped under two main heads depending upon their 
form of government. I. The self-governing colonies, including 
Canada, Newfoundland, Australia, New Zealand, and the Union 
of South Africa. Although nominally under a Governor-General 
sent out by the King, they are really governed by ministers responsible 
to elected assemblies. While the Crown has a veto on all other legis- 
lation, they can, without interference, impose taxes and duties, and 
even forbid the immigration of certain classes of British subjects. 
II. Crown colonies. These may be subdivided into three classes. 
In the first, there is an approximation to responsible government, 
for they have a legislative assembly, wholly or partly elected, in addi- 
tion to an executive council appointed by the Crown or the Governor 

1 Notably : the United Kingdom ; the Channel Islands ; Cyprus ; Malta ; and 
Gibraltar. 

2 The Indian Empire ; Ceylon ; the Straits Settlements ; the Federated Malay 
States ; Hong Kong ; and parts of Borneo. 

3 The Union of South Africa, including Cape Colony, Natal, the Orange Free 
State, Transvaal, and Rhodesia; British East, West, and Central Africa, including 
many separate possessions in the interior and along the coast. In addition, Great 
Britain has many islands off the African shore, and Egypt is under British control. 

4 Canada, Newfoundland, and various West India islands. 
6 The Commonwealth of Australia and New Zealand. 



1064 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

of the colony. The Bahamas, Jamaica, Mauritius, and Malta fall 
within this group. In the next category, both the legislative and the 
executive councils are appointed. Ceylon and the Straits Settlements 
have this forms of government. Finally, there are possessions like 
Gibraltar and St Helena, where both the executive and legislative 
powers are vested in the Governor alone. Outside the categories of 
self-governing and Crown colonies are various possessions or quasi- 
possessions. India is.governed by the King as Emperor, through the 
Secretary of State for India and his council in England, and through 
the Viceroy in India. The Viceroy is assisted by an executive and a 
legislative council, the latter partly elective. Then there are protec- 
torates — for example British Central and East Africa, Uganda, and 
Nigeria — under the control of the Crown in foreign affairs; and' 
spheres of influence, where other foreign countries agree not to acquire 
territory or control, either by treaty or annexation. These retain 
their native government under British supervision. Egypt is some- 
what anomalous. While there is no protectorate, " the administration 
is supervised and controlled in every detail through the British Consul- 
General, under whom, again, is the Governor-General, exercising su- 
preme authority in the British Egyptian Sudan." 

The Growth of the Empire. — With the exception of Canada and 
portions of India, the greater part of the present Empire was only 
acquired or settled during the last century. For a generation and 
more after the loss of the American possessions and the publication 
of the Wealth of Nations, the view persisted that the monopoly of 
the colonial market and trade should be in the hands of British manu- 
facturers and merchants, though the colonies were favored in various 
ways at the expense of other countries — by differential duties and by 
the exclusive right of supplying the Mother Country with goods not 
produced by the native British. Aside from the political evil of alien- 
ating the subjects beyond the seas, this system was attended with 
two economic disadvantages : it fostered the growth of industries 
more naturally adapted to other countries, and raised the cost for 
the consumer. Some attacked the system ; then, after its exclusiveness 
had been modified in the early twenties, and particularly after the 
troubles with Jamaica in the succeeding decade, others came to ques- 
tion the worth of foreign possessions at all. Indeed, this view was held 
by the leading statesmen of the laissez-faire school, and, so late as 
1848, Sir James Graham declared that : "we ought to limit our 
colonial Empire." Meantime, however, the development of steam 
navigation began to alter the situation. Emigration was stimulated ; 
and the value of the colonies came to be realized as refuge for redundant 
population, as an outlet for superfluous capital, as sources of food and 
raw materials, and as markets for manufactured goods. The real 
beginning of the movement dates from 181 9 when the Government 
appropriated £50,000 " to send a few hundred laborers to Cape 
Town." About 5000 ultimately went. Many would have preferred 




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VICTORIAN AND POSTVICTORIAN ENGLAND 1065 

the United States or Canada ; but the Government insisted on South 
Africa, partly because it did not want to send its subjects to a foreign 
country, and partly because South Africa lay on the trade route to 
the east and because its climate was less rigorous than the Canadian. 
Later, although it advanced further small sums to emigrants, it ceased 
to dictate. As a result, the majority went to North America. 1 About 
the middle of the century a preference for the United States became 
peculiarly marked, and was due to the desire of the Irish, driven from 
home by the potato famine and the events which followed, to settle 
outside the British dominions. Meantime, Edward Gibbon Wakefield 
( 1 796-1862), who had sought a new home in the far-off Pacific where he 
might live down a reprehensible early career, had " helped to create a 
new enthusiasm for Empire," among the thinkers and statesmen of 
his native England. His views were briefly stated in his Letter from 
Sydney, 1829, and afterwards elaborated in his Art of Colonization. 
Largely through his efforts, and the men he influenced, a society 
was formed in 1830 for systematic colonization. Lord Durham, too, 
in his famous Report wrote an eloquent plea for the development of 
the colonial possessions, and the establishment of self-governing 
systems on the Durham model greatly furthered the work. Shortly 
after the middle of the century, the Imperialistic reaction developed 
which was first generally manifested in the enthusiasm at Victoria's 
Jubilee of 1887. The development of India, Canada, and South Africa 
has been considered in other connections. The origin and growth of 
a new Britain in the southern hemisphere — with an area about equal 
to the United States — can best be taken up separately. 

The Beginnings of Australia. — The Venetian traveler, Marco 
Polo (1 254-1324), refers to a land now generally believed to be Aus- 
tralia, though the name originated with the Spanish explorer, De 
Quiros, about 1605. The Dutchman, Abel Tasman, discovered New 
Zealand about 1642, and visited the island south of Australia which 
now bears his name, though he called it Van Dieman's Land, after 
the Governor of Java. Dampier, who sailed in these waters in 1688, 
and again in 1699, made some explorations along the northwest 
coast of Australia. Seventy years later, on his second voyage to the 
Pacific, Captain Cook with the members of an astronomical expedi- 
tion landed at Poverty Bay, New Zealand, in 1769. After sailing 
around the islands, he proceeded to Australia, explored the south- 
eastern coast, and named it New South Wales. The Spanish and the 
Dutch, who had been first on the ground, made no effort to found settle- 
ments, and the vast territories fell to the latest comers, the British. 
In 1 787-1 788, Commodore Phillip was sent out with a shipload of 
convicts, and founded a city at Port Jackson which he named Sydney. 

1 Between 1819 and 1829, 126,000 migrated to Canada and 72,000 to the United 
States; during the next decade 320,000 went to Canada and 170,000 to the United 
States. Then, from 1840-1849, 428,000 went to Canada, 912,000 to the United 
States; from 1850 to 1859 the respective numbers were 250,000 and 1,350,000. 



1066 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

The mortality among the convicts was frightful during the voyage, 
and conditions were hard after their arrival ; for the soil was sandy 
and the convicts ignorant and intractable. The real need was for 
men of agricultural experience and capital. Tempted " with the 
promise of land, implements, and food," a few families began to come 
out. Grants were also made to convicts whose terms had expired, 
as well as to some of the guards, and the free population increased 
slowly until New South Wales, as the new state was called, numbered, 
in 182 1, nearly 40,000 inhabitants. But there was a great dispro- 
portion of men, and drunkenness was a fruitful cause of disorder. 
Meantime, the sheep raising industry, which was to prove the main 
source of Australian prosperity, had been introduced, in 1791, by 
John MacArthur, who soon had a flock of 1000. The numbers multi- 
plied steadily until, in 1909, there were 46,187,678. 

During a drought, in 1812-1813, some of the colonists crossed the 
Blue Mountains where they found a rich, fertile soil. Danger of 
French rivalry and increase of immigration resulted in extending 
the area of settlement. In 1826, the Governor of New South 
Wales received instructions to assert the British claim to the 
whole of Australia, and to occupy the stations on the western 
shore. Thus began, in 1829, the settlement of West Australia 
with the capital at Perth. An attempt to develop the colony was 
made by private individuals ; but the experiment proved a failure. 
In 1838, there were only 2000 inhabitants, and in 1849, n °t more than 
5000. Meantime, Wakefield published his Letter from Sydney, 
already referred to, which marks an epoch in Australian colonization. 
He insisted that lands should be sold to settlers in small lots and at 
reasonably high prices, and that the proceeds should be used to pay 
the passage of emigrant laborers and for general government expenses. 
A company was formed to colonize South Australia on his plan. 
Settlement began in 1834, and the capital was founded at Adelaide in 
1836. Owing to mismanagement and speculation on the part of 
the members, the Company became so embarrassed that, in 1841, the 
British Government was forced to advance £155,000. Nevertheless, 
the colony grew much more rapidly than that of West Australia. 
Wakefield's system, however, bore hardly on the sheep raisers, who were 
unable to pay 55. per acre which was the price demanded. So they 
moved inland and occupied fresh lands for which they paid nothing 
at all — hence the origin of the term " squatter." Eventually a com- 
promise was arranged by which they were given temporary rights of 
occupancy at a low rent. In 1835, Van Dieman's Land, or Tasmania, 
which had been settled as a subordinate penal settlement in 1803, 
was made a separate colony. In 185 1, Victoria was made independent 
of New South Wales with Melbourne (founded in 1837) as the capital. 
Queensland, carved out of New South Wales in 1859, was the last 
of the six Australian colonies. Brisbane (founded in 1824) was made 
the capital. 



VICTORIAN AND POSTVICTORIAN ENGLAND 1067 

The Commonwealth of Australia. — Australia's three great problems 
have been : the transportation evil ; the subjugation of the natives ; 
and the establishment of free institutions and self-government. After 
a long, hard struggle transportation was abolished in 1857, though 
some convicts were supplied to West Australia till 1867. The Aus- 
tralian natives were of a very inferior type. Numbers were shot for 
cattle stealing, more succumbed to drink and other evil habits. While 
a few survive in Australia proper, they are now quite extinct in Tas- 
mania. In 1842, a legislative council was established in New South 
Wales, but, owing to the steady growth in numbers, 1 wealth and in- 
telligence, there was an increasing demand for a more complete form 
of self-government. After the example had been set in Canada, New 
South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, and South Australia (under a 
permissive Imperial act of 1850) drew up constitutions with popularly 
elected legislatures, which received the sanction of the British Govern- 
ment in 1855. Queensland received a similar privilege in 1859, and 
West Australia in 1890. By various extensions of the franchise every 
adult man and woman has received the right to vote in every one of 
the six states. Besides being a pioneer in women's suffrage, Australia 
has taken over the Government ownership of railroads and has made 
a remarkable contribution in the so-called " Torrens System " of 
conveyancing. By an act passed first in South Australia at the in- 
stance of Sir Richard Torrens in 1858, all estates were required to be 
registered, and the registered owner was considered the real owner in all 
future transactions. Thus, much confusion formerly arising from 
disputed titles has been saved. After nearly twenty years of agitation, 
the various states were federated into the Commonwealth of Australia 
by a measure sanctioned by the Imperial Parliament in 1900. The 
inauguration of the new Commonwealth took place at Sydney, 1 
January, 1901, and, in the following May, the first Parliament was 
opened by the present King George V, then Duke of Cornwall and 
York. Although Melbourne is the present capital, a new site has 
been selected at Yass Canberra, in New South Wales, where a model 
metropolis is now in process of construction. The executive is vested 
in the Sovereign acting through the Governor-General, assisted 
by an executive of seven members. There is a federal Parliament, 
consisting of a senate of thirty-six — six from each state — and a 
house of representatives elected on a basis of population. Such 
powers as are not specially vested in the federal legislature remain in 
the legislatures of the several states. 2 

'The discovery of copper in 1848, and, more especially of gold, in 1851, led to 
a considerable influx of settlers. Gold was discovered in West Australia in 1886- 
1887, with the result that the population increased to 50,000 in 1801, and to 281,000 
in 1910. 

2 This arrangement differs from that in Canada where such powers as are not 
specially delegated to the provincial legislatures are reserved to the Dominion 
Parliament. The system adopted in South Africa, in iqoq-iqio, is different from 
either in not being a federation at all. There it was felt that, with only 1 ,000,000 



io68 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

New Zealand. — In the thirties, an association, started by Wake- 
field, was formed for the colonization of New Zealand, a group of two 
large and some smaller islands lying about twelve hundred miles east 
of Australia. The British Government and the missionaries at first 
opposed the project, fearing that it would cause trouble with the 
Maoris, a native race of Malay stock, highly intelligent and very war- 
like. Nevertheless, settlement proceeded apace, and, in 1839, New 
Zealand was declared subject to the Crown under the governor of New 
South Wales. In 1840, a Lieutenant Governor was sent out, and the 
following year a colony was constituted by charter. Auckland, in 
North Island, was selected as the first capital; but, in 1865, the 
capital was transferred to Wellington, further south. The Maoris 
long proved a serious problem, though it must be admitted they had 
much rijvit on their side. Now, however, they are dying out, and, 
in 1908, formed only 47,000 out of a population of 1,008,000. In 1852, 
a self-governing constitution was granted. New Zealand is perhaps 
the most progressive state in the world. Women were given the vote 
in 1893. Like Australia it has a State-owned railway system, and, in 
many other respects, has led in State socialism. The Labor party has 
been a power since 1891. Under the Labor Ministry, large estates 
have been broken up — partly by heavy taxation, partly by com- 
pulsory sale ; a State bank has been founded to lend money to small 
farmers for the purpose of improving their lands ; and very progressive 
laws have been enacted for regulating factories and conditions of 
labor. In 1895, a carefully worked out scheme was launched for 
settling trade disputes and preventing strikes. In the event of a 
failure to agree between employers and workmen's unions, provision 
was made for application to a Board of Conciliation, and, in the last 
instance, to an Arbitration Court under a judge, whose decision shall 
be final and may be enforced by fine and imprisonment. As a matter 
of fact, laborers have proved more refractory than employers, and of 
late the attempt to avert strikes has been unsuccessful. In 1898, 
ten years before the Mother Country, a system of old age pensions was 
adopted, with a weekly allowance of 105. for all persons over sixty-five. 
In 1907, New Zealand was proclaimed a Dominion to which various 
small islands in the Pacific were annexed. 

The Imperial Problem. — Such is the British Empire at the end 
of the first decade of the twentieth century. The problem of adminis- 
tering this vast extent of territory, scattered over the globe and in- 
habited by 360,000,000 non-European people of distinct traditions 
and sentiments, is a complex and formidable one. It has been ren- 
dered easier from the fact that, in a considerable part of the expansion, 
extension of commerce and colonization has been a factor as potent 
as military force. So far as possible, too, Englishmen have been given 

whites to 4,000,000 blacks, it would be safer to form a single strong government 
or union than to establish a federation of the four existing states. The former 
states are now provinces which merely administer their local affairs. 



VICTORIAN AND POSTVICTORIAN ENGLAND 1069 

an opportunity to practice self-government in their new homes, and 
" to train subject peoples for the discharge of similar responsibilities." 
Where responsible government has been impossible, efforts have been 
made, in the last half century, to provide for effective administration 
by civil servants whose merits have been tested by examination. While 
British statesmen, up to fifty or sixty years ago, expected and even wished 
for a sundering of the Imperial dominions — much to the distress of loyal 
Canadians and Australians — a great change has taken place, espe- 
cially in the last generation. The British people, formerly ignorant and 
indifferent in all that concerned Imperial questions, are now enthusiastic 
and active. In 1875, the Imperial Federation League was founded 
" under the auspices of statesmen of both political parties." Con- 
ferences of colonial ministers, beginning at London during the Jubilee 
of 1887, have done much to draw the self-governing colonies to the 
Mother Country. The aid furnished by Canada and Australia in the 
Sudan in 1885 and in the Boer War was also significant of an enhanced 
sense of unity. The penny post, the improved steam communica- 
tions, the cable to Australia, have been additional links. The confer- 
ences begun in 1887 have now become regular institutions meeting 
every four years, and have discussed such vital questions as Imperial 
preferential tariffs and Imperial defense. And, in the intervals of their 
meeting, a permanent Imperial secretarial staff is in constant session 
at London under the supervision of the Colonial Secretary to keep the 
dominions informed of all matters of common concern that may come 
up at future conferences. The League of the Empire, founded in 1901, 
is active throughout the British dominion for the furtherance of educa- 
tion in Imperial concerns. The prospects of federation, widely discussed 
a few years ago, now seem less bright ; but the bonds of union based 
on community of interest and policy, are becoming steadily stronger. 

FOR ADDITIONAL READING 

General conditions. Traill, Social England, VI, chs. XXII-XXIV (authorities, 
pp. 341-342 ; 517-518; 933-936) to 1885. J. Ashton, When William IV was King 
(1896). Brodrick and Fotheringham, ch. XX. Low and Sanders, ch. XX. Wal- 
pole, History of England, III, ch. XII ; IV, ch. XVII, VI ; conclusion. History of 
Twenty-jive Years, I, ch. I. 

Constitutional and legal. May, Constitutional History. Maitland, Constitu- 
tional History, period IV, an excellent brief survey. D. J. Medley, Manual of Eng- 
lish Constitutional History, a valuable work of reference, not chronological. E. Jenks, 
Short History of the English Law (191 2), especially period IV. Sir W. R. Anson, 
Law and Custom of the Constitution (1886-1892). A. V. Dicey, Law and Public 
Opinion (1905), very suggestive. W. Bagehot, The English Constitution (2d ed. 
1872). S. Low, The Governance of England (1904). L. Courtney, The Working 
Constitution of the United Kingdom (1901). T. F. Moran, The Theory and Practice 
of the English Government (1903). The two latter are good brief accounts. A. L. 
Lowell, The Government of England (2 vols., 1912), the standard work on the subject. 

Social and industrial. Porter's Progress of the Nation (ed. F. W. Hirst, 191 2). 
McCulloch, Dictionary of Commerce and Commercial Navigation (1860-1872). R. H. 
Palgrave, Dictionary of Political Economy (1 894-1 899). T. Mackay, History of the 



1070 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

English Poor Law (1904). S. and B. Webb's Trades Unions (1894) and Industrial 
Democracy (1897) • G.J. Holyoake's II istory of Co-operation (2 vols., 1 875-1 879, revised 
ed. 1906). J. F. Wilkinson, the Friendly Society Movement (1891). Sir E. W. Brabrook, 
Provident Societies and Industrial Welfare (1898). Sir E. F. Du Cane, The Punish- 
ment and Prevention of Crime (1885). F. A. Ogg, Social Progress in Contemporary 
Europe (191 2), which contains much on England, is an excellent compendium. C. 
Hayes, British Social Politics (1913), valuable for legislation since 1906. See also 
Cambridge Modern History, XII, ch. XXIII (bibliography). R. E. Prothero, English 
Farming, chs. XV ff. S. Smiles, Lives of George and Robert Stephenson (1868). 
Acworth, Tlte Railways of England (1900). 

Science and literature. G. J. Romanes Darwin and After Darwin (1892-1897). 
F. Darwin ed. Life and Letters of Charles Darwin (3 vols., 1887). O. Lodge, Pioneers 
of Science (1893). A. R. Wallace, The Wonderful Century (1898). R. Garnett, Heroes 
of Science (1885). G. P. Gooch, History and Historians in the Nineteenth Century 
(1913). Cambridge Modern History, XI, ch. XIII (bibliography, pp. 934-936), XII, 
ch. XXVI (bibliography, pp. 972-976). Moody and Lovett, chs. XI V, XV. Taine, 
English Literature, IV, bk. V. McCarthy, Our Own Times, II, ch. XXIX; IV, ch. 
LXVTI. E. C. Stedman, Victorian Poets (1903). Mrs. Oliphant, A Literary His- 
tory of England in the Nineteenth Century (1882). W. L. Cross, The Development of 
the English Novel (191 1). J. A. Buckley and W. T. Williams, A Guide to British 
Historical Fiction (191 2). For further references on the novel, see Moody and 
Lovett, 451. For literature in general, see ch. XLIX above. 

The Church. Wakeman, ch. XX. F. W. Cornish, The History of English Church 
(pts. I and II, 1910). Walpole, History of England, V, XXI ; History of Twenty-jive 
Years, IV, XIX. Newman, Apologia pro Vita Sua (1864-1865, frequently reprinted). 
R. W. Church, The Oxford Movement (1891). W. Ward, William George Ward and 
the Catholic Revival (1893). For further references see Low and Sanders, pp. 506- 
507. P. H. Brown, Scotland, III, bk. VII, ch. XL 

Colonies and Empire. Sir G. Cornewall Lewis, An Essay on the Government of the 
Dependencies (1841, new ed. C. P. Lucas, 1891). Egerton, British Colonial Policy. 
C. P. Lucas, Historical Geography of the British Colonies (1888 ff., new ed. 6 vols., 
1910-1911). Sir C. W. Dilke, Problems of Great Britain (4th ed. 1890) and British 
Empire (1899). A. F. Pollard ed. The British Empire: its Past, its Present and its 
Future (1909). H. E. Egerton, Federations and Unions within the British Empire 
(191 1). W. J. Ashley, British Dominions, their Present Commercial and Industrial 
Condition (191 1). E. G. Hawk, The British Empire and its History (1911). W. H. 
Woodward, Short History of the Expansion of the British Empire, 1 500-1902 (1902). 
The two latter are brief popular accounts. The government of the Empire is 
described briefly in Lowell, The Government of England, II, pt. VI, and Courtney, 
United Kingdom, pt. III. For a full bibliography on the Colonies and the Empire, 
see Low and Sanders, pp. 497-502, and Cambridge Modern History, XI, pp. 968-980 ; 
XII, 927-948. 



CHAPTER LVII 

SKETCH OF THE REIGN OF EDWARD VII (1901-1910) AND OF 
THE EARLY YEARS OF GEORGE V (1910-1914) 

Edward VII. Accession and Character. — Albert Edward, who 
ascended the throne as Edward VII, 22 January, 1901, was in his 
sixtieth year. 1 He was a man of unusual social gifts and worldly ex- 
perience, genial, tactful, and fond of seeking acquaintances from the 
most diverse walks of life, though he loved splendor, and was punc- 
tilious in matters of ceremony on state occasions. He spent short 
terms at the universities of Edinburgh, Oxford, and Cambridge, but 
the rigid training to which his parents subjected him disinclined him 
for serious study. Books made little appeal to him, and in later life he 
rarely read anything but the newspapers. Owing to the isolation in 
which he was brought up he never acquired any aptitude for ath- 
letic games, though as a young man he rode to hounds, a pursuit 
which he afterwards gave up for shooting. He was interested in 
yachting, in middle life he became a patron of the turf, and toward 
the end of his days developed a fondness for motoring. He was an 
enthusiastic supporter of the theater and the opera and the leader of 
fashion in London. Indeed, his love of pleasure and his Bohemian 
tastes aroused serious criticism at times on the part of the soberer 
folk ; but the emergence of Queen Victoria from her seclusion, the 
swelling tide of Imperialistic sentiment, together with his own good 
nature and public spirit, made him a popular figure years before he 
became king. He was an ardent promoter of philanthropic causes 
and a ready and gracious speaker at dedications of public buildings 
and other ceremonious occasions, and from 1875 to 1901 was the 
Grand Master of the Masonic Order. He took his seat in the House 
of Lords, 5 February, 1863, and from time to time attended sessions 
of the Upper House or followed debates in the House of Commons 
from the Peers' Gallery. Unhappily his mother excluded him from 
serious political activities. It was not till Gladstone's last Ministry, 
1892-1894, that Cabinet business was regularly communicated to him, 
and he did not have unrestricted access to foreign dispatches until 
Salisbury took the Premiership for the third and last time in 1895. 
But while he was not studious or systematically trained, he was 
observant ; he gathered stores of information from those with whom 
he conversed, and retained what he heard. He was widely traveled ; 
he visited, at one time or another, the chief possessions of the British 

1 He was born November, 1841. 
1071 



1072 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

Empire, and was accustomed to spend parts of each year in continen- 
tal capitals. and watering places. In his close association with foreign 
sovereigns and foreign ambassadors he learned much that was officially 
kept from him ; but he knew little and cared little for routine matters, 
domestic or foreign. On 10 March, 1863, he married Alexandra, 
daughter of Christian, who became King of Denmark in November of 
the same year. Two sons and three daughters were born of the 
marriage. Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence, who was born 8 June, 
1864, died 14 January, 1892, while George, born 3 June, 1865 and 
created Duke of York in 1892, succeeded to the throne in 19 10. 

First Measures of the New Reign, 1901. — In taking the oath be- 
fore the Privy Council, 23 January, 1901, King Edward declared that 
he was " fully determined to be a constitutional Sovereign in the 
strictest sense of the word." He opened Parliament in person, 14 
February, and read the speech from the throne, formalities which the 
late Queen had dispensed with in 1885 and 1861 respectively. The 
Commons voted him a Civil List of £470,000, an increase of £85,000 
over that which Victoria had received; but the step was bitterly 
opposed by the Radicals, the Laborites, and the Irish Nationalists. 1 
Two other important measures carried in this session were the Demise 
of the Crown Bill, to render reappointments to office unnecessary 
on the accession of a new sovereign, and a Royal Titles Bill, adding 
to the royal style the words " all the British Dominions beyond the 
Seas." 2 

The Coronation, and the Retirement of Salisbury, 1902. — The 
horizon during the first year of the new reign was clouded by the Boer 
War, not formally concluded till 31 May, 1902, and King Edward had 
to suffer bitter attacks not only from the German press but even from 
that of the French, a people with whom he had been, and desired to 
be, friendly. The coronation, set for 26 June, 1902, had to be post- 
poned, owing to a sudden illness of the King, and subsequently took 
place, 9 August. Meantime, Salisbury, who was in failing health, 
resigned n July, and died 22 August of the following year. He was 
succeeded by his nephew, Mr. Arthur Balfour. The results of a con- 
ference of the colonial premiers beginning 30 June under the presi- 
dency of Mr. Chamberlain, were announced 3 November. Similar 
conferences were to be held every four years, the self-governing colonies 
were to increase their contributions toward the Imperial navy, the 
views of such as might be affected by any proposed treaty with a" 
foreign power were to be ascertained, and it was declared that the 
principle of preferential trade between Great Britain and the oversea 

1 The opposition of the latter was due largely to the rejection in the Lords of a 
bill to alter the terms of the Declaration made by the sovereign on his accession, 
which contained expressions denouncing the Roman Catholic faith. 

2 The full royal title was: "Edward VII, by the Grace of God, of the United 
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of all the British Dominions beyond 
the Seas, King, Defender of the Faith, Emperor of India." 



EDWARD VII AND GEORGE V 1073 

dominions would stimulate and facilitate mutual commercial inter- 
course, though any hard and fast rules were at present impracticable. 

Mr. Chamberlain and "Tariff Reform," 1 1903. — On 15 May, 
1903, Mr. Chamberlain raised the issue in a speech at Birmingham, 
advocating preferential tariffs and reciprocity in colonial trade, and 
retaliation, where necessary, in the case of foreign countries. In this 
and subsequent speeches he argued that the whole fiscal situation had 
changed since the days of Cobden and Bright, that Great Britain's 
exports were decreasing and her imports increasing. He did not pro- 
pose to tax raw materials, but advocated moderate duties on corn, 
flour, meats, dairy produce (counterbalanced by reductions on tea, 
coffee, cocoa, and sugar) and foreign manufactures. In this way, 
he insisted, Great Britain would have a means of bargaining with the 
colonies and supplying them with the products of industries which 
they had not yet started ; of preventing other countries from dumping 
their products on British shores ; and of increasing the revenue. 
Business depression, lack of employment, the deficit due to the late 
war, and the growing enthusiasm for colonial unity 2 all told in his 
favor, though his opponents argued that the country needed cheap 
food and that it was impossible to increase the customs revenue and 
to keep out imports at the same time. His resignation from the Cabi- 
net was announced, 18 September, and he was followed into retire- 
ment by various free-trade Unionists of whom the Duke of Devonshire 
was the most influential. Apparently Mr. Balfour was ready to go 
too far for them and not far enough for Mr. Chamberlain. The Prime 
Minister was inclined to favor the principle of retaliation, without 
taxing food, but declared that the question of preferential tariffs 
could not be raised during the present parliament, and suggested that 
it be referred to the next Colonial Conference. 

Army Reform, 1904. — The miscarriages of the South African War, 
and the defects in military training and equipment which it mani- 
fested, forced the Government, 11 October, 1902, to appoint a Com- 
mission of Inquiry. The Commission's report, 25 August, 1903, was 
an " unsparing condemnation of War Office methods." While it 
made no recommendations as a body, the chairman, Lord Elgin, and 
other individual members, offered important suggestions. Lord Elgin 
recommended the abolition of the Commander-in-Chief and the insti- 
tution of a war board similar to the Board of Admiralty. As a result, 
a War Office Reconstruction Committee was appointed. In accord- 
ance with its report, submitted 1904, a Defense Committee was con- 
stituted with the Prime Minister as its head ; the Commander-in- 
Chief was replaced by an Army Council including the War Secretary, 

1 This meant an alteration of the tariff in the direction of protection, instead of 
in the direction of free trade, as is the usage in the United States. 

2 On 24 May, 1904, occurred the inaugural celebration of Empire Day in London 
and the colonies as a permanent memorial to Queen Victoria and an outward and 
visible sign of Imperial cohesion. 

3Z 



1074 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

four military members, together with one civil and one finance mem- 
ber, 1 while, in addition, a Board of Selection was appointed, with the 
Duke of Connaught as President, to control appointments. The 
Defense Committee was given a staff, consisting of a secretary and 
some ten officers of either service. 

The Fall of the Balfour Ministry, December, 1905. — The Balfour 
Ministry was steadily growing weaker. The Prime Minister per- 
sisted in treating the tariff question as irrelevant and in staving it 
off till the next Colonial Conference ; but the Liberals were gaining 
new strength. They worked persistently to embarrass the Ministry 
and profited by the split in the Unionist ranks ; - they carried votes 
on three occasions condemning the policies of Mr. Chamberlain and 
Mr. Balfour and won various by-elections. Besides the tariff there 
were various other difficulties confronting the Government. For one 
thing, the Nonconformists were opposing the Education Bill of 1902 
(see above, p. 996) by a policy of passive resistance, withdrawing their 
children from the denominational schools and refusing to contribute 
financial support. Then, 6 March, 1905, George Wyndham, chief 
Secretary for Ireland, resigned from the Cabinet, owing to the fact 
that his Under-Secretary, Sir Anthony Macdonnell, to whom he had 
given practically a free hand, had been found " coquetting with Home 
Rule " by working with Lord Dunraven, president of the Irish Reform 
Association, to secure a devolution of financial and legislative powers 
for Irish representative councils. Finally, the Ministry had aroused 
great dissatisfaction by sanctioning ordinances, prompted by the 
South African mine owners, for admitting Chinese coolie labor into 
the Rand. This strengthened the conviction that the Boer War had 
been waged in the interests of the capitalists. In view of all these 
difficulties, Mr. Balfour tendered his resignation, 4 December, 1905, 
counting, it is said, on the hope that the Liberals would not be able to 
form a Cabinet and that his party would be recalled to power. The 
Conservative Government had been in office continuously for ten and 
a half years and for nearly twenty, excluding the " transient and 
embarrassed Governments of Gladstone and Rosebery." The people 
tire of the party in office after a time, so, in addition to other com- 
plications, old age contributed to the demise of the Conservative 
regime. 

Foreign Relations, 1902-1905. The Entente Cordiale, 1904. — 
Under the Marquess of Lansdowne, who had succeeded Salisbury as 
Foreign Secretary 3 in 1900, and aided by the pacific Edward VII, the 

1 They were : the Chief of the General Staff ; the Adjutant-General ; the Quarter- 
master-General ; the Master-General of the Ordnance; the Civil Member; and 
the Inspector-General of the Forces. 

2 On 1 December, 1904, the Unionist Free Trade Club was inaugurated under 
the presidency of the Duke of Devonshire, as an offset to the Tariff Reform League 
which had held its first meeting 21 July previously. 

3 The Prime Minister had held this office himself from 1895 to 1900, 



EDWARD VII AND GEORGE V 1075 

ties with Italy and Portugal had been strengthened, and cordiality 
with France had been reestablished after the partial estrangement 
dating from the British occupation of Egypt and manifest during the 
Boer War. The King was closely related by marriage or blood rela- 
tionship with most of the leading dynasties of Europe — Germany, 
Russia, Denmark, Greece, Norway, Spain, and Portugal. He often 
visited his royal kinsmen or met them at continental watering places. 
He was particularly attached to France, both imperial and republi- 
can. As Prince of Wales he had made long and frequent visits to 
Paris, where he had many warm friends. But as King, in spite of his 
friendly foreign attitude, he was careful not to usurp the functions of 
his responsible ministers. In 1903, during his first continental tour 
since his accession, he stopped at Paris, and his visit was returned by 
President Loubet in July. This prepared the way for the entente 
cordiale concluded by Lansdowne and the French Foreign Minister 
Delcasse, 8 April, 1904. The British agreed to recognize French 
interests in Morocco, while the French agreed to recognize those of 
Great Britain in Egypt. In return for an assurance that the British 
Government would not alter the political status of Egypt, they ceased 
to ask for a fixed time for the withdrawal of the British, and consented 
to allow them a freer hand in the administration of Egypt's surplus 
revenues. The entente cordiale was later expanded into a triple entente 
by the adhesion of Russia, the ally of France, and served as a counter- 
poise to the triple alliance of Germany, Austria, and Italy. Edward, 
Le Roi Pacificateur, was able to accomplish very little toward improv- 
ing relations with Germany. The latter country, in consequence of the 
enormous development of population and industry following the Franco- 
Prussian War, sought to spread beyond the seas, and resented the fact 
that Great Britain had preempted the best part of the colonial field. 
The British, on their part, were apprehensive of the increasing manu- 
facturing and commercial development of Germany and of her growing 
sea power. Moreover, there were personal reasons why the English 
royal and the German Imperial families were not warmly attached to 
one another. The Queen was a Danish princess, and the Prussian 
attitude on the Schleswig-Holstein question had aroused a rancor never 
completely healed. Another source of friction was the unpopularity of 
the King's sister, Victoria, in Germany. So, while Edward and his 
nephew, the Emperor William, interchanged formal visits on occasion, 
their relations were far from wholly cordial. 

The Russo-Japanese War, 1904-1905. — The result of the Russo- 
Japanese war added another disturbing factor. The causes of the 
conflict were Russia's refusal to evacuate Manchuria and to give assur- 
ances as to the territorial integrity of Korea and the Chinese Empire 
and equal rights of trade. 1 The Japanese insisted on these points and 

1 On 30 January, 1902, Great Britain had concluded an alliance with Japan for 
the maintenance of peace and order in the Far East, especially the integrity of China. 



1076 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 






war broke out 8 February, 1904. The Japanese won a complete 
triumph ; after an investment of five months they captured Port 
Arthur, 3 January, 1905 ; they defeated, with tremendous slaughter, 
a huge Russian army before Mukden ; and they destroyed the Russian 
Baltic fleet in the Sea of Japan. 1 Peace was signed at Portsmouth, 
New Hampshire, U. S. A., 5 September, 1905, by which Russia 
recognized the preponderating influence of Japan in Korea and re- 
stored Manchuria to China. 

The Morocco Crisis, 1905, and the Algeciras Conference, 1906. — 
While Japan leaped into the position of a military and naval power 
of the first rank, Russia was so prostrated that Germany took advan- 
tage of the situation to protest against the recent strengthening of the 
Anglo-French entente by which France was given a free hand in induc- 
ing the Sultan of Morocco to undertake civilizing reforms. Although 
Germany, in return for commercial privileges, had agreed to the French 
policy of " peaceful penetration " in Morocco, she changed her tone 
as the war went steadily against Russia. In the spring of 1905 the 
Emperor visited Tangier in his yacht, and, under the pretense of pro- 
tecting German commercial rights, practically assumed a protectorate 
over Morocco by declaring that he could not allow any power to step 
between him and the free sovereign of a free country. M. Delcasse, 
who was responsible for the French policy, was forced to resign 6 June. 
The British Government remained neutral, but intimated that un- 
provoked aggression against France would arouse public opinion in 
England. Finally, a conference was arranged at Algeciras, meeting 
16 January, 1906, when it was agreed that the Powers, and not France 
alone, should settle with the Sultan of Morocco a plan for policing the 
country and reforming the system of taxation. 

The Liberal Programme, 1906. — On 5 December, Sir Henry Camp- 
bell-Bannerman 2 was summoned to form a Cabinet. Mr. Asquith 

It provided that if either Power went to war in defense of its interests, the other 
would maintain neutrality, and that if either were attacked by more than one for- 
eign enemy the other would come to its assistance. This treaty was expanded into 
a formal alliance, 27 September, 1905, by which the maintenance of the territorial 
rights of Japan in Korea and of Great Britain in India were mutually guaranteed, 
as well as the integrity of China and the policy of the open door. 

1 This fleet on its way to the Asiatic waters had committed "an extraordinary 
outrage" in the North Sea, that for the moment threatened war with Great Britain. 
Shortly before midnight, 21 October, 1904, at Dogger Bank, about twenty miles 
off its course, the squadron passed through a fleet of Hull trawlers and, in a fit of 
"nervous frenzy," opened fire, sank one vessel, seriously damaged others, killed- 
two men and wounded several more. But the Tsar and the Russian Government 
expressed profound regret, promised full compensation, and detained the fleet at 
Vigo for the return of the officers implicated. It turfed out that the Admiral 
Rozhvestvensky had mistaken the trawlers for Japanese torpedo boats ! The incident 
was subsequently adjusted peacefully by an international commission sitting at Paris. 

2 He was the first to have his status solely as Prime Minister and not from a 
ministerial office. Hitherto the Premier had usually taken the First Lordship of 
the Treasury, the Chancellorship of the Exchequer, or, in the case of Salisbury, the 
Foreign Secretaryship. Sometimes he had united two offices. 



EDWARD VII AND GEORGE V 1077 

was made Chancellor of the Exchequer and Sir Edward Grey, Foreign 
Secretary. The main features of the Liberal programme were : the 
exclusion of Chinese labor from the Transvaal ; the emendation of the 
Education Act in the interest of the Nonconformists ; the reduction 
and national control of liquor licenses ; and sweeping measures for 
social and industrial betterment. Parliament was dissolved 8 January, 
1906, and, in the ensuing general election, the Liberals secured a 
greater majority than in any parliament since that returned after the 
Reform Bill of 1832. 1 One of the first steps was to stop the further 
importation of Chinese into South Africa. Also, self-government was 
granted to the Transvaal, in which the right to vote was conceded to 
all white, male British subjects of full age who had resided in the 
Colony. Plans were also made for granting a similar constitution 
to the Orange River Colony. 2 At home, the Trades Disputes Bill 3 
and also the Workmen's Compensation Bill (see above, p. 1060) were 
passed, but an Education Bill was defeated in the House of Lords. 
In 1907, the Small Holdings Bill was carried, and in spite of the 
protests of the bishops, a bill legalizing marriage with a deceased 
wife's sister. 4 Again, in 1908, an Education Bill 5 failed to pass the 
Peers and also a Licensing Bill, though the Old Age Pensions Bill 
(see above, p. 1060) became law in 1909. 6 Thus the Liberal party 
with an overwhelming majority in the Lower House was able to 
carry only part of its programme, owing to the Conservative strength 
which invariably dominates the Peers. As early as October, 1907, 
after they had effectively demolished a Scotch Small Landholder's Bill, 
Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman intimated that the constitution of 
the Upper House would have to be altered. However, he did not 
live to finish the fight. Owing to a breakdown in health he resigned 
5 April, 1908. 7 

Mr. Lloyd George's Budget of 1909, and the War against the House 
of Lords. — The King, who was at Biarritz, summoned Mr. Asquith 
to assume the Premiership, and in the reconstructed Cabinet Mr. 
Lloyd George became Chancellor of the Exchequer. It was his 
revolutionary Budget which forced the issue. In consequence of 

1 There were 379 Liberals; 51 Labor members; 83 Irish Nationalists; and 157 
Unionists. 

2 In 1 9 10 the two were combined with Cape Colony and Natal to form the 
Union of South Africa. 

3 Besides providing immunity for the funds of trades unions, it declared that 
what was lawful for an individual was also lawful for a combination, and legalized 
peaceful picketing. 

4 Many clergymen acting under the advice of their bishops refused to perform 
such marriages. 

5 The Education Bills of 1906 and 1908 aimed at popular control of rate-aided 
schools and at abolishing religious restrictions in the choice of teachers. 

6 In 1907 a court of criminal appeal was constituted and met for the first time. 
15 May, 1908. 

7 He died, 22 April, 1908. 



1078 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

increased naval estimates * and the cost of the new social industrial 
legislation he was confronted with a deficit of £16,500,000. The 
Opposition insisted that the taxable resources of the country were 
already overstrained and that tariffs were the only means of enhanc- 
ing the revenue. Nevertheless, Mr. Lloyd George proceeded, in April, 
1909, to frame a Budget based on four principles that took no account 
of tariffs. They were: (1) the appropriation of about £3,000,000 from 
the sum annually set aside for debt reduction ; (2) increased duties 
on the luxuries of the masses, notably liquor and tobacco ; (3) taxation 
of the excess of wealth by an increase of the income tax and the suc- 
cession duties, and a higher rate for unearned incomes, from which 
he anticipated a revenue of over £7,000,000; (4) heavy rates on 
monopolies, such as liquor licenses, and — what roused a furious 
outcry — on unearned increments of land ; that is, the increase in site 
values of unoccupied and uncultivated lots. In general, the aim of the 
Budget was to meet the deficit to a large degree by " shifting the 
burden of taxation from the producers to the possessors of wealth." 
The Finance Bill based upon it was introduced, 26 May, and was hotly 
attacked on the ground that it discriminated unfairly, that it struck 
at security of property, and that it would drive capital from the 
country. It finally passed the Commons, 5 November, but was 
rejected by the Lords, on the 30th, until the judgment of the country 
could be obtained — a step which Mr. Asquith denounced as "a wan- 
ton breach of the settled practice of the Constitution." 2 Parliament 
was prorogued 3 December, dissolved 8 January, 1910, and an appeal 
made to the country in a general election. The issue was fought on 
the Budget, the abolition of the veto power of the House of Lords, 
and the introduction of a scheme of Home Rule ; for the Irish Nation- 
alists had only agreed to support the Government on condition that 
power of the Peers be so reduced that they would be unable to defeat 
a new measure of Home Rule. The result of the election showed a 
striking falling off in the Liberal majority. 3 

The Parliament Bill of 1 9 1 1 . — Parliament opened 2 1 February. On 
10 May, three resolutions passed the House of Commons. (1) Hence- 
forth the Lords should have no right to veto a money bill ; if in 
one month they refused their assent it should nevertheless go to the 
King for his signature, the power to determine whether any par- 
ticular measure was a money bill being left to the Speaker. (2) Any 
measure not a money bill passing the Commons in three successive 
sessions might, in spite of the veto of the House of Lords, be submitted 
to the King for his approval, provided that, in each instance, it had 

1 It was the British policy to keep the naval strength of the country equal to 
that of any other two powers combined. 

2 While the right of the Peers to amend money bills had been given up in 1678 they 
had never abandoned their right of veto, though they had long ceased to exercise it. 

3 The final returns were: Liberals, 275; Labor party, 40; Nationalists, 71; 
Independent Nationalists, 11; Unionists, 273. 



EDWARD VII AND GEORGE V 1079 

been submitted to the Peers one month before the close of the ses- 
sion, and provided that two years had elapsed since its first introduc- 
tion. (3) The maximum life of a parliament should henceforth be 
five years instead of seven. On 17 June, a conference began between 
the party leaders. 1 It rose with Parliament, 2 August, and resumed 
its sittings in the autumn. At length, 10 November, Mr. Asquith 
announced that it " had come to an end without arriving at any de- 
cision." Parliament resumed its sittings. In the Lords, on the second 
reading of the Parliament Bill based on the three resolutions of 21 
April, the Marquess of Lansdowne moved, as an alternative to the 
Government scheme, a plan for reconstructing the Upper House by 
making it more representative, reducing the Conservative majority, 
and slightly curtailing its powers. 2 As a consequence, Parliament 
was dissolved, 28 November, and a general election was held for the 
second time within a year, with the Lansdowne resolutions as the 
official programme of the Unionist party. 

The Liberal coalition made a net gain of only 2 seats, thus increasing 
its majority from. 124 to 126. 3 On 21 February, 1911, Mr. Asquith 
introduced his Parliament Bill into the House of Commons, and, 
8 May, Lord Lansdowne introduced a new alternative scheme in the 
House of Lords ; 4 but, nevertheless, the Parliament Bill passed the 
Lords with amendments 20 July ; 5 but Mr. Asquith refused to accept 
the amendments and announced that he had, before the election, se- 
cured the assent of the King to create a sufficient number of peers to 
carry the Bill if necessary. As a result, the Bill without amendments 6 

1 Mr. Asquith, Lord Crewe, Mr. Lloyd George, and Mr. Birrell, Chief Secretary 
for Ireland, represented the Government, while Mr. Balfour, the Marquess of 
Lansdowne (leader of the Opposition in the House of Lords), Lord Cawdor and Mr. 
Austin Chamberlain represented the Opposition. 

2 It provided that : (i) In future, the House of Lords should consist of Lords of 
Parliament, sitting by virtue of certain offices or qualifications, some chosen by 
hereditary peers and nominated by the Crown, others chosen from outside ; (2) 
Bills other than money bills, if causing differences for two successive sessions, 
should be settled in a joint session of the two Houses ; (3) The Lords would give 
up their privilege of vetoing money bills on condition that there should be no 
tacking. Already, 21 March, Lord Rosebery had carried a series of resolutions for 
a reform of the House of Lords based on the principle that the possession of a 
peerage should no longer of itself give the right to a seat and a vote. 

3 The Liberals actually lost 2 seats ; but the Laborites and the Nationalists, 
between them, gained 4. 

4 It provided for : (1) 100 hereditary Lords elected by the Peers; (2) 120 chosen 
by electoral colleges composed of the members of the House of Commons from the 
district; (3) 100 by recommendation of the Ministry in power, selected in propor- 
tion to the strength of the respective parties ; (4) the 2 Archbishops, together with 
5 bishops, chosen by the episcopal bench; (5) 16 peers of judicial office. The 
representative peers thus selected were to hold office for twelve years, one fourth 
going out every three years. 

5 Its passage in the House of Commons had been expedited by "kangaroo" 
closure, authorizing the chairman to make selections from amendments. 

6 On 3 May, Mr. Asquith had stated that the Government was under obligation, 
if time permitted, to propose a scheme for the reconstruction of the Upper House 
during the lifetime of the present Parliament. 



io8o A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

passed the Lords, 10 August, and received the royal assent 18 August, 
in spite of the " Die-Hards " or " Forwards " led by Lord Halsbury, 
who had pledged themselves to die in the last ditch. On 24 August, 
the Commons voted £ 252,000 to pay their members salaries of £400 
a year. 

The Accession of George V, 6 May, 1910. — King Edward did not 
live to see the end of the struggle. Early in March, 19 10, he caught 
cold on his way to Biarritz. He returned to London, 26 April, where 
he died 6 May. His eldest surviving son took the oath l before the 
Privy Council, 7 May, and was proclaimed, 9 May, as George V. 
In July, the new King and Queen made visits to Ireland, Wales, and 
Scotland, and in the winter of 1911-1912 they paid a visit to India 
for the purpose of holding a coronation Durbar. An announcement, 
made 12 December, that the capital was to be transferred from Cal- 
cutta to Delhi was not received with unmixed satisfaction. Indeed, 
while India has been of late years more prosperous than ever before, 
there has been much, perhaps inevitable, suffering, and a party of the 
more educated has sought to arouse the masses against British domina- 
tion. A manifestation of the extremer sort was an attempt to assassi- 
nate the Viceroy, Lord Hardinge, while making a state entry into 
Delhi, 23 December, 191 2. However, he has since shown his interest 
in the welfare of the people under his care by his attempts to mitigate 
the lot of the Indian laborers in South Africa. Stimulated no doubt 
by a concerted international movement to suppress the opium traffic , 
Great Britain has at last put an end to the Indo-Chinese trade in the 
drug. Under an agreement reached between China and Great Brit- 
ain 8 May, 191 1, the Chinese production and the imports from India 
were to be proportionally reduced until the traffic should cease entirely, 
which was not to be later than 191 7. The Chinese, it is alleged, vio- 
lated their part of the agreement, and, in 191 2, an acute situation was 
reached when cargoes valued at £ 1 1 ,000,000, bought by Indian dealers 
from the Government 2 with money advanced from the banks, were 
held up at Shanghai. However, in May, 1913, it was announced 
that the Indo-China opium traffic was ended, and India has already 
taken new measures to meet the loss in revenue from this source, esti- 
mated at £4,000,000 a year. 

1 On 31 August, 1910, after a long struggle, an Accession Declaration Act was 
passed which shortened the form of the oath and removed the phrases offensive to 
Roman Catholics. The oath was as follows: "I (name of sovereign) do solemnly 
and sincerely, and in the presence of God, profess, testify and declare that I am a 
faithful Protestant, and that I will, according to the enactments which secure the 
Protestant succession to the Throne of my Realm, uphold and maintain the said 
enactments to the best of my powers according to the law." 

2 China was still in the throes of a revolution. In consequence of a series of 
revolts which began in the autumn of 191 1, the Manchu dynasty abdicated early 
in February, 191 2. A republic was set up with Yuan Shih-Kai as provisional presi- 
dent, 10 March, 191 2. On 6 October, 1913, he was elected president ; but has made 
himself practically dictator. 



EDWARD VII AND GEORGE V 1081 

South African Problems, 1910-1914. — Since the Union of South 
Africa in 1910, 1 there has been much discord, discontent, and unrest, 
Particularly since 191 2 the Premier, Louis Botha, a former general 
on the Boer side, has been sharply opposed by General Hertzog and 
the anti-British party because of his enthusiasm for Imperialistic 
defense. Another difficulty has been raised by the treatment of the 
East Indian indentured laborers. In 1913, the South African Parlia- 
ment passed an Immigrants Regulation Act which continued a £3 
tax imposed some years before by the Natal Government on such 
laborers at the end of their term of service, and also restrictions on 
their movements from province to province. Thereupon, the East 
Indians began a policy of passive resistance. In November, 1913, 
their leader in Natal headed a march of men, women, and children 
across the Transvaal border as a protest. Refusing to pay a fine, he 
and others were sentenced to nine months' imprisonment. Another 
grievance has arisen from the fact that a Natal court has recently 
decided that wives married according to Hindu or Mohammedan rites 
have no status in the province. Moreover, during the year 1913- 
1914 South Africa has been disturbed by serious strikes. Since there 
are 5,000,000 natives to 1,250,000 whites, the Botha Government was 
so alive to the danger that it not only proclaimed martial law and 
called out troops but went to the length of deporting ten of the strike 
leaders, who were put on a steamer at Durban, and sent to England 
early in the spring of 191 4. While the Government secured the pas- 
sage of a bill in the South African Parliament legalizing its action, the 
English labor leaders have taken up the case and warmly protested 
against sending British subjects into exile. 

The Imperial Conferences of 1907 and 191 1. — The fifth colonial 
(henceforth Imperial) Conference met at the Colonial Office, 15 April, 
1907. It took up the question of Imperial tariffs; but since the 
colonial premiers favored a preferential protective policy and the new 
Liberal Government opposed it, no agreement could be reached. On 
the other hand, important steps were taken toward a common system 
of Imperial defense. At the next meeting, in 191 1, Sir Joseph Ward, 
the Premier of New Zealand, proposed an Imperial Parliament of two 
houses ; since no other Dominion was prepared to go anything like 
so far in the direction of Imperial federation the matter was dropped ; 
but, after a consultation between the British Premier and the Com- 
mittee of Imperial Defense, it was announced that henceforth the 
Dominions would be consulted " automatically " as far as possible 
in international agreements which affected their interests. 2 On 1 May 
the rate of postage from Australia to the United Kingdom and all 

1 Although the Act of Union had passed the Imperial Parliament in 1909, it did 
not go into effect till 1910. 

2 On 14 July, 191 1, the Anglo- Japanese alliance was revised and renewed with 
the knowledge and concurrence of the Dominions. 



io82 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

other parts of the Empire, including Egypt, was reduced from 2d. 
to id. the half ounce. 

Canadian Reciprocity, 1910-1911. The Borden Naval Programme, 
1912-1913. — The advocates of Imperial preference were greatly dis- 
turbed by an agreement between the Canadian and United States 
governments, published 26 January, 191 1, providing for a substan- 
tially free exchange of natural, especially food products and for a 
mutual reduction of duties on manufactured goods. The arrangement 
was ratified by the United States Congress, 22 July; but in a par- • 
liamentary election in September the Canadian Liberal Administra- 
tion, under Sir Wilfrid Laurier, who had opened the negotiations, 
was defeated and its reciprocity policy rejected. Mr. Borden suc- 
ceeded as the new Conservative Prime Minister. During the summer 
of 191 2, he, with several members of his Cabinet, was in England, and 
as a result of several conferences with the British Ministry they made 
a tentative offer to supply the Mother Country with three super- 
Dreadnaughts at a cost of £7,ooo,ooo. 1 On 5 December, Mr. Bor- 
den introduced the proposal into the Canadian Parliament, and, 
in spite of an amendment by Sir Wilfrid Laurier that the ships should 
be constructed in Canada and should not take part in any Imperial 
war unless voted by the Dominion, the Borden Naval Bill passed the 
Commons, 15 May, 1913. Thereupon, the Senate voted that: 
" This House is not justified in giving its assent to this Bill until it 
is submitted to the judgment of the country," and the final issue 
awaits the next election. 

The Morocco Situation, 191 1. — In consequence of a rebellion in 
Morocco, France landed troops to restore order ; whereupon, Ger- 
many took occasion to declare that she would not acquiesce in French 
ascendancy in the country without compensation, and, 2 July, 191 1, 
the Emperor sent a ship of war to Agadir. The British Government 
declared that this action created a new and grave situation and that 
it did not purpose to stand aside if British interests were affected. In 
consequence of this and of a firm speech by the Chancellor of the 
Exchequer, 2 1 July, the Germans sent satisfactory assurances. By an 
arrangement, concluded in November, Germany, in return for terri- 
torial cessions in the Congo region, recognized the French political 
ascendancy in Morocco. At the same time, equal economic oppor- 
tunities for all were guaranteed. 

The Turco-Italian War, 1911-1912. — On 29 September, 1911, war 
broke out between Italy and Turkey, and, 4 November, the Italian 
King issued a decree annexing Tripoli. After a year of fighting, 
preliminaries of peace were arranged 15 October, 191 2. Although 
Turkey neither affirmed nor denied the Italian sovereignty in Tripoli, 
she agreed to withdraw her troops and to give no aid to the Arabs, 

1 In 1909 New Zealand had contributed the battleship New Zealand, which was 
commissioned in 1912, and in November, 1912, the Confederated Malay States 
offered a cruiser. 



EDWARD VII AND GEORGE V 1083 

and the Powers recognized the Italians. Italy promised to return 
the islands in the yEgean which she had occupied ; but that clause of 
the treaty remains in abeyance. 

The Balkan War, 1912. — The Christian States of the Balkan 
Peninsula seized the opportunity to combine against Turkey, to realize 
long-cherished ambitions, and to redress ancient grievances. By the 
end of July, 1912, alliances were concluded between Greece, Bulgaria 
(which had declared itself an independent kingdom in 1908), Servia, 
and Montenegro. On 8 October, Montenegro declared war on 
Turkev. On the 17th, Turkey replied by a declaration against Bul- 
garia, while on the same day Greece and Servia declared war on the 
Porte. After the Allies had gained a series of striking successes a 
peace conference was arranged at London, where delegates from the 
countries at war held their first meeting, 16 December. Meantime, 
Great Britain and the other Great Powers had been working to keep 
the conflict localized, and Mr. Asquith, in his Guildhall speech l of 
9 November, had declared that : " the victors were not to be robbed 
of the fruits which cost them so dear." Terms which the Turkish 
delegation agreed to accept were rejected in consequence of a coup 
d'etat in Constantinople, and, 3 February, 1913, hostilities were re- 
newed. On 16 May, sittings were resumed ; after ten days of wran- 
gling, Sir Edward Grey sent for three of the delegates and informed them 
that they must accept terms on the basis of a treaty drawn up by the 
Great Powers or leave London. As a result, the Treaty of London 
was signed, 30 May, by which Turkey ceded all of Rumelia west of a 
line from Midea on the Black Sea and Enos on the yEgean, and ceded 
Crete to Greece. The question of the status of Albania and the 
^Egean Islands was left for the Powers to determine. The peace was 
followed by the break-up of the Balkan League. Servia and Greece 
combined against Bulgaria; Rumania, which had remained neutral 
in the previous war, took a hand ; fighting broke out in July, and 
Turkey took advantage of the situation to reoccupy Adrianople, which 
she had just been forced to yield. Peace was made at Bucharest, 
6 August, by which all her opponents profited at the expense of Bul- 
garia, who, on the yEgean, was allowed only a limited coast-line. 
Although the Triple Alliance was renewed for twelve years in 191 2, 
Anglo-German relations were greatly improved by the necessity of 
cooperation in the near East ; for Germany was not keen on assisting 
Austria to expand in the Balkans, while Great Britain was even more 
reluctant to allow Russia to extend her influence through the Slavonic 
peoples in the peninsula. Nevertheless, suggestions made in the 
autumn of 1913 by Mr. Churchill, the First Lord of the Admiralty, 
for a holiday in the construction of naval armaments were coldly re- 
ceived in Germany. 

1 The occasion for important pronouncements in foreign policy by the Prime 
Minister. 



1084 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

Great Britain and the United States, 1901-1914. — In spite of one 
or two causes for friction, friendly relations between Great Britain and 
the United States have not been seriously disturbed since the turn of 
the century. By an award of 20 October, 1903, a long standing dis- 
pute between Canada and the United States regarding the Alaska 
boundary was settled. While the extreme claims of the United States 
were not recognized, the Canadians were disappointed of their hope 
of access to the sea in that region and their two delegates refused to 
sign. Although the British representative, Lord Alverstone, affixed 
his signature, the general feeling in England was that the United 
States had got the better of the bargain. On the other hand, an award 
at the Hague, September, 1910, adjusting the Atlantic fisheries dispute, 
was mainly in favor of Great Britain, though there were reservations 
in support of American interests. Meantime, following as far as pos- 
sible the recommendations of the Second Hague Conference of 1907, 
Great Britain and the United States concluded an arbitration treaty, 
excluding, however, from compulsory arbitration subjects affecting the 
" independence " or " honor " or " vital interests " of the two coun- 
tries, or " the interests of third parties." The treaty, which was for 
five years, was renewed in the spring of 1 914, though there was a ground- 
less fear on the part of certain United States senators that it might 
be invoked to force an arbitration of the vexed question of the Panama 
tolls. The Clayton-Bulwer treaty of 19 April, 1850, had provided for 
the common use and neutral control of any canal constructed by the 
Nicaragua or Panama routes, and the British agreed not to make 
any settlements in Central America. This was superseded by the 
Hay-Pauncefote treaty, 18 November, 1901, by which Great Britain 
gave up all claims to any share in the construction or control of a 
canal from the Atlantic to the Pacific ; but on condition that the navi- 
gation be free to ships of all nations on equal terms. On 24 August, 
191 2, a bill signed by President Taft for the regulation of the Panama 
Canal, then nearing completion, exempted from tolls American ship- 
ping engaged in coastwise trade. Regarding this as a violation of the 
spirit of the Hay-Pauncefote treaty, the British Government framed 
a protest which was presented at Washington 9 December, Sir Edward 
Grey suggesting that if the United States could not accept the British 
interpretation they should refer the matter to arbitration. The 
British announcement, in August, 1913, that they would not take 
part in the Panama Exposition of 191 5, though based on grounds of 
expense, was regarded by many as an evidence of dissatisfaction at 
the attitude of the United States toward the tolls question. In accord- 
ance with a recommendation made by President Wilson in a message 
to Congress, 5 March, 1914, it was voted 12 June to repeal the exemp- 
tion clause, with the proviso, however, that the United States did 
not thereby relinquish any of its rights. 

Recent events in Mexcio have put a severe strain on Anglo- 
American relations. In 1910 Francisco Maderc led a revolution against 



EDWARD VII AND GEORGE V 1085 

Porfirio Diaz, President from 1876 to 1880 and again from 1884 to 
191 1. In May of the latter year, Diaz was forced to resign and Madero 
succeeded him in November. In February, 1913, Madero was slain 
and Huerta set himself up as dictator. While Great Britain and other 
Powers who had interests in Mexico recognized him as dc facto ruler, 
President Wilson held aloof. In January, 1914, the Spectator voiced 
the sentiment of many Englishmen when it declared that, " if external 
force is used to restore order it must be by the United States alone," 
and complained that the President " deprecates anarchy and blood- 
shed, but neither stops them himself nor allows anybody else to stop 
them." On 17 February, the murder or execution of William S. Ben- 
ton, a British subject who had lived in Mexico as a rancher for twenty 
years, aroused great resentment, but the wise moderation of Sir Edward 
Grey, who decided to act through communications to the United States 
Government, averted a possible rupture. Then a series of events 
stirred the President to determined action, and, 22 April, Vera Cruz 
was occupied by American forces. Since then, the representatives 
of the three leading South American states — Brazil, Chili, and Argen- 
tine — have undertaken to adjust the Mexican situation by mediation. 
Labor Disturbances in England, 1911-1912. — The opening years 
of the reign of George V were disturbed not only by a grave consti- 
tutional crisis but by serious labor troubles. There had been, in 1908, 
an engineers' strike affecting 83,000 men and a strike of the Lancashire 
cotton spinners involving 120,000 operatives. In 1910, there had been 
strikes in the shipyards, in the cotton trade, and in the South Wales 
coal fields, but the year 191 1 proved to be an " unprecedented year 
of strikes," which reached the dimensions of a veritable epidemic dur- 
ing the weeks immediately following the coronation. The situation 
became acute, in August, with the outbreak of a dock strike in London. 
The dockers got the increase which they demanded, but they refused 
to go to work until the other classes belonging to the National Trans- 
port Federation were dealt with. The movement spread to the rail- 
roads and culminated, 17 August, when for two days traffic was nearly 
stopped, and Government interference and the employment of mili- 
tary force was necessary. As a result of negotiations during 18 and 
19 August the strike was brought to an end. The strikes in 191 2 were 
less in number than in 191 1, but, considering the number of persons 
involved and the loss of time and money, they were more serious than 
in any previous year in English history. Worst of all was the coal 
strike, occasioned by the demand for a minimum wage for all under- 
ground workers. On 26 February, the first miners went out in Derby- 
shire, and, by 2 March, all the mines in the country, except a few pri- 
vate ones, were idle. At length the Government stepped in and 
passed a minimum wage bill, 29 March. It provided for joint district 
boards under an independent chairman, chosen either by agreement 
or by the Board of Trade. Mr. Asquith, however, refused a demand 
that a minimum wage should be fixed in all cases at 2s. for boys and 55. 



1086 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

for men. As a result of a ballot, taken 4 April, 201,013 voted for 
resumption of work, while 244,011 voted against it; but a conference 
of miners' delegates, 6 April, declared for resumption, since a majority 
of two-thirds was necessary to declare a strike. After the Easter 
holidays most of the men were back. The strike had involved 
1,000,000 mine workers and 500,000 from allied industries, and, from 
the time when the first men went out, had lasted six weeks. This, 
and the failure of the London dockers and transport workers to bring 
about a general strike in July, struck a hard blow at syndicalism. Yet, 
on the whole, in spite of these labor disturbances and the Balkan war, 
the year was one of prosperity in trade. Prices were rising ; but busi- 
ness was good and higher wages and shorter hours were very general. 

The Liberal Programme, 1911. — In the Autumn session of 1911 
the National Insurance Bill (see above, pp. 1060-1061) was forced 
through the Commons by a rigid enforcement of closure and carried 
in the Lords, notwithstanding vigorous protests. Outside, it was 
opposed chiefly by domestic servants, by those who employed them, 
and by the doctors. The domestics felt that, taken care of in homes, 
they did not need to contribute to any such scheme, while their 
employers also objected to the extra expense. The doctors, regarding 
the remuneration as inadequate and the conditions of service as too 
arduous, stood out stubbornly for better terms. Finally, in December, 
191 2, Mr. Lloyd George refused to come to the terms of the British 
Medical Association and proceeded to enroll in panels such indi- 
viduals as would agree to serve. The other leading features of the 
Liberal programme were Home Rule, the disestablishment of the 
Welsh Church, 1 and the abolition of plural voting, or the introduction 
of the principle of " one man, one vote." Oh 8 November, 191 1, 
Mr. Balfour resigned his position as leader of the Opposition and, 
on the 13th, was succeeded by Mr. Andrew Bonar Law, who had been 
a member of Parliament since 1900 and to whom Lord Lansdowne had 
referred in 1909 as " one of the Dreadnoughts of the Unionist party." 

The Revival of Home Rule and the Ulster Opposition, 1912-1914. 
— The prospect of Home Rule led to a determined opposition in Ulster 
led by Sir Edward Carson, who began his political career as a Liberal, 
who attained great prominence as a lawyer, and rose to be Solicitor- 
General in the Balfour Ministry. He soon attained such an ascend- 
ancy in the Province as to gain the name of King Carson. On 
5 January, 191 2, he organized a great demonstration at Omagh. 
Furious excitement was aroused when it was announced that Mr. 
Winston Churchill 2 was, 8 February, to address a meeting of the 
Nationalists in Ulster Hall, Belfast. The Standing Committee of 
the Ulster Unionist Council made determined preparations to prevent 
this, and Mr. Churchill avoided a riot and possible conflict by holding 

1 A subject which had been under discussion for some years. 

2 Curiously enough his father, Lord Randolph Churchill, a Conservative, had 
done more than any other Englishman to stir up Ulster against Home Rule in 
Gladstone's day. 



EDWARD VII AND GEORGE V 1087 

the meeting in an athletic field outside the city. On n April, 191 2, 
the Home Rule Bill was introduced into the House of Commons. 1 
Although objections to the financial provisions of the Bill were pointed 
out and the advantage Ireland would have over Wales and Scotland, 
the chief criticism was directed against the injustice to Ulster, and 
motions were made to exclude the four northeast provinces of Antrim, 
Armagh, Down, and Londonderry, which are prevailingly Protestant. 2 
In August, it was announced that the men of Ulster would pledge 
themselves to a solemn covenant for united resistance to Home Rule 
and for refusal to accept it if it were set up. A series of great demon- 
strations began at Enniskillen 18 September, and culminated with 
the signing of the Covenant at Belfast on the 28th. 3 Meantime, the 
Welsh Church Disestablishment Bill had been introduced into the 
Commons, 23 April and, in June, a Franchise Bill providing for uni- 
versal manhood suffrage and the abolition of plural voting. On 12 
July, 1913, there was another demonstration at Craigavon attended 
by 150,000 Ulstermen, and a resolution was adopted to resist Home 
Rule by force of arms if necessary. The enrollment of the Ulster vol- 
unteers began, and by December the numbers had reached 100,000. 
Sir George Richardson, a retired lieutenant-general of the British 

1 It provided for a parliament in Ireland, consisting of a senate of 40 members 
and a house of commons of 164 members. Ulster, which was to have 59 members, 
to be safeguarded by the provision that the Irish Parliament could not make any 
law " either directly or indirectly to establish or endow any religion or prohibit 
the free exercise thereof, or give any preference, privilege or advantage or impose 
any disability or disadvantage on account of religious belief or religious or eccle- 
siastical status." Furthermore, it could not legislate on peace or war, the navy, or 
army, foreign relations, trade outside Ireland, coinage or legal tender. Temporary 
restrictions were placed on legislation relating to land purchase, old age pensions, 
national insurance, labor exchanges, royal Irish constabulary, post office and other 
savings banks and friendly societies. 

The executive was to remain vested in the sovereign or his representative, and 
42 members from Ireland were to be elected to the British House of Commons. 
The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council was to give the final decision as to 
the constitutional validity of any act of the Irish Parliament. The Irish Exchequer 
was to defray the expenses of the Irish administration, except for the reserved serv- 
ices mentioned above. The Imperial Exchequer was to pay an annual sum to the 
Irish Exchequer, starting at £500,000 and reduced £50,000 for six years until it 
became a permanent annual payment of £200,000. 

2 The province of Ulster consists of 9 counties, or 1 1 , including Belfast and Derry 
City. It returns 17 Home Rulers and 16 anti-Home Rulers, and, if the large and 
wealthy city of Belfast were excluded, the Roman Catholics would be in the major- 
ity. They have a strong minority in the four Protestant counties: 31.6 per cent 
in Down; 20.3 in Antrim; 45.3 in Armagh, and 41. 1 in Derry. Belfast contains 
24.1 per cent Roman Catholics and Derry City, 56.2. The problem of exclusion is 
complicated by the Roman Catholic minority in the four counties and the Protes- 
tants scattered through the rest of- Ireland. 

3 On n November, 191 2, a curious incident happened — an amendment to the 
financial resolution of the Home Rule Bill was carried against the Government 227 
to 206. Instead of resigning or dissolving, the Prime Minister, on the 13th, intro- 
duced a resolution to rescind the decision. This caused such an uproar that the 
House was adjourned. On the 18th, the canceled resolution was withdrawn and 
a new one introduced. 



1088 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND 

army, was chosen as Commander-in-Chief, and an Indemnity Guarantee 
Fund was raised to protect sufferers in the cause. All through July 
and August Sir Edward Carson went through Ulster making speeches 
and declaring that, in the event of the Home Rule Bill passing, Ulster 
would set up a provincial government and refuse to pay taxes to the 
Parliament at Dublin. In December, the Government prohibited 
the importation of arms ; but it was a question whether the proclama- 
tion was legal, and certainly it was not effective in preventing gun- 
running. In September, Lord Loreburn, ex-Liberal Lord Chancellor, 
sent a letter to the London Times urging a reconsideration of the Home 
Rule policy of the Government. Mr. Churchill suggested a possible 
scheme of federation, but the Cabinet was under pledge to the Na- 
tionalists to carry a Home Rule Bill before considering any form of 
modification. The only alternatives seemed to be, to take a refer- 
endum, which the Unionists desired, or to run the risk of civil war, if 
the Home Rule Bill were pressed to a final passage. 

The Triumph of Home Rule, 1914. — On 10 February, 1914, Parlia- 
ment met. The chief features of its programme as announced in the 
speech from the throne were : (1) a bill for Irish Home rule, which had 
already passed in two successive sessions and been vetoed by the 
Lords ; (2) a bill for the disestablishment of the Welsh Church, which 
had had the same history ; x (3) a Plural Voting Bill ; 2 (4) reconstruc- 
tion of the House of Lords ; (5) a measure to increase the number of 
landed proprietors ; (6) a provision for Imperial naturalization ; 
(7) improvement of the condition of the poor, particularly by better 
housing ; (8) enlarged facilities for education. The Home Rule Bill 
continued as the center of interest. The Unionist Opposition, realiz- 
ing that they could not defeat the measure in the House of Commons, 
determined to force a dissolution, to secure an appeal to the country 
by a referendum or to intimidate the Liberals by threats of civil war 
in Ulster. On 2 March, appeared a Declaration signed by twenty 
English subjects, headed by Earl Roberts, to the effect that : " the 
claim of the Government to carry the Home Rule Bill into law with- 
out submitting it to the judgment of the nation, is contrary to the 
spirit of our Constitution," and that if it was so passed they would 
hold themselves, " justified in taking or supporting any action that 
may be effective to prevent it being put into operation, and more par- 
ticularly to prevent the armed forces of the Crown being used to de- 

1 It passed the Commons 19 May, 1914, and by the terms of the Parliament 
Bill of 191 1 becomes law, on the signature of the King. 

2 On 13 January, 1913, the Speaker announced that any substantial amendments 
to the Franchise Bill would necessitate a new measure. Owing to amendments 
providing for votes for women, the Government withdrew the Bill. This was re- 
sented by women suffragists, especially the Militants, who had begun their violent 
methods in 1907, and who had acquiesced in the tabling of a Conciliation Bill, 
granting the vote to certain classes of women, on the understanding that conces- 
sions would be granted them in the Franchise Bill. On 8 April, 1913 a Plural Vot- 
ing Bill was substituted, which having twice passed the Commons and having been 
twice vetoed by the Lords, passed a third time in the House of Commons, 15 June. 



EDWARD VII AND GEORGE V 1089 

prive the people of Ulster of their rights as citizens of the United 
Kingdom." Five days later, Mr. Asquith laid a compromise scheme 
before Parliament, providing that before the Bill became operative 
the parliamentary electors in each of the nine counties of Ulster might 
decide by vote whether their county should be excluded from the 
arrangement for a term of six years. Mr. Bonar Law said that if 
the Government insisted on the excluded counties coming in at the 
end of six years the Unionists could not accept the plan. He again 
urged dissolution and submission of the whole question to the electors, 
though he later intimated that he would agree to leave the question 
of the term of the exclusion to a future parliament. Then came a 
crisis. On 20 March, the Government issued an order that was inter- 
preted by several of the army officers as a step toward the coercion of 
Ulster and they forthwith resigned. Colonel Seely, the Secretary for 
War, at once assured them that they had misunderstood the order, 
which was purely a precautionary measure, and that the Government 
had no intention of using the suppression of disorder to crush politi- 
cal opposition to the Home Rule, whereupon they withdrew their resig- 
nations. The Radical Press at once raised the cry of " army dicta- 
tion." Colonel Seely, taking the blame on himself, offered his resig- 
nation ; Mr. Asquith refused to accept it, but repudiated the guarantee, 
and the Army Council framed an order to the effect that henceforth 
no officer was to ask for or receive any assurances " as to orders which 
he may be required to fulfill." This led to the resignation of Sir John 
French, the Chief of the General Staff, Sir John Ewart, the Adjutant- 
General, and others. Colonel Seely offered his resignation a second 
time, which the Prime Minister now accepted, announced his inten- 
tion of assuming the Secretaryship for War himself, resigned his seat 
from East Fife, according to the requirements of the Place Bill of 1705, 
and stood for reelection. He was returned without a contest. Dur- 
ing his absence Sir Edward Grey threw out a hint that within six 
years some form of federation might be devised. Mr. Redmond, 
the leader of the Irish Nationalists, who had previously insisted that 
there should be no " watering down" of the Home Rule Bill, declared 
that he was ready to exert himself to placate Ulster and to do all pos- 
sible to reach an honorable settlement. On 25 May, the Home Rule 
Bill passed the House of Commons by a majority of 77, and whether 
the Lords veto it or not it will go to the King for his signature. After 
nearly a half century of struggle the Home Rulers have triumphed, 
at least in Parliament. 

FOR ADDITIONAL READING 

R. H. Gretton, A Modern History of the English People, 1880-1910 (2 vols., 
1913), rather journalistic and Liberal in sympathy, but clear and vivid. The New 
International Year Book, 1901-1913, a particularly good summary of the recent 
Liberal legislation. The London Times (weekly ed.), the annual summaries since 
1910 are especially full. For Edward VII, Dictionary of National Biography, 2d 
Supplement, I, 546-610. 

4 A 



APPENDIX 

List of Prime Ministers from Walpole to Asquith 

1721-1742 Sir Robert Walpole. 

1 742-1 743 Lord Wilmington. 

1743-1754 Henry Pelham. 

1754-1756 I. Duke of Newcastle. 

1756—1757 Duke of Devonshire. 

Real head, William Pitt 
Secretary of State. 

1757-1762 II. Duke of Newcastle. 

Pitt Secretary of State till 1761. 

1 762-1 763 Earl of Bute. 

1 763-1 765 George Grenville. 

1765-1766 I. Marquis of Rockingham. 

1 766-1 770 Duke of Grafton. 

1770-1782 Lord North. 

March-July, 1782 II. Marquis of Rockingham. 

1782-1783 Earl of Shelburne. 

April-December, 1783 Coalition Ministry. 

Duke of Portland nominal Prime Minister. 
Real heads Fox and North. 

1 783-1801 I. William Pitt, the younger. 

1801-1804 Henry Addington (Viscount Sidmouth). 

1804-1806 II. William Pitt. 

1806-1807 "All the Talents." 

Lord Grenville and Fox, d. September, 1806. 

1807-1809 II. Duke of Portland. 

1809-181 2 Spencer Perceval. 

181 2-1827 Lord Liverpool. 

April-August, 1827 George Canning. 

1827-1828 Lord Goderich. 

1828-1830 Duke of Wellington. 

1830-1834 Lord Grey. 

July-November, 1834 I. Lord Melbourne. 

1834-1835 I. Sir Robert Peel. 

1835-1841 II. Lord Melbourne. 

1841-1846 II. Sir Robert Peel. 

1846-1852 I. Lord John Russell. 

February-December, 1852 I. Lord Derby. 

1852-1855 Lord Aberdeen. 

1855-1858 I. Lord Palmerston. 

1858-1859 II. Lord Derby. 

1859-1865 II. Lord Palmerston. 

1865-1866 II. Lord John Russell. 

1866-1868 HI. Lord Derby. 

February-December, 1868 . . . I. Benjamin Disraeli (Earl of Beaconsfield) . 

1 868-1 874 I. William E. Gladstone. 

1874-1880 II. Disraeli, 

1090 



APPENDIX 1091 

1880-1885 II. Gladstone. 

1885-1886 I. Marquis of Salisbury. 

February- July, 1886 III. Gladstone. 

1886-1892 II. Salisbury. 

1802-1804 IV. Gladstone. 

1894-1895 Lord Rosebery (Earl of Midlothian). 

1895-1902 III. Salisbury. 

1902-1905 Mr. Arthur Balfour. 

1 905-1 908 Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman. 

1908- Mr. Herbert Henry Asquith. 



INDEX 



Abdur Rahman Khan, 1007 
Ab'ercromby, General, 72g, 

Abercromby, General Ralph, 
commander in Ireland, 840 

Aberdeen', Lord, supports 
Peel's free trade views, 
945 ; problems of Foreign 
Office under secretaryship 
of, Q47 ; conciliatory pol- 
icy of, with regard to 
France, 949 ; coalition 
Ministry of, 958; Tsar 
approaches, regarding 
intervention in Turkey, 
960; fall of Ministry of, 

063 
Ab'ernethy, treaty of, 78 
Abhorrers, the, 562 
Abjuration Act, the, 648 
Abou'kir Bay, battle at, 

844, 845 
Abraham, the Plains of, 732 
Absenteeism, Irish, 880 
Abyssinia, Napier's expedi- 
tion to, 988 
Acadia, see Nova Scotia 
Accession Declaration Act, 

the, 1080 
Acre, Napoleon's failure to 

capture, 845 
Acton Bur'nell, Statute of, 

see Merchants 
Adams, John, aids in nego- 
tiating peace with Eng- 
land, 780 and note 
Adams, John Quincy, Amer- 
ican Secretary of State, 
88s 
Adams, Samuel, 757 
Addington, Henry, Lord 
Sidmouth, becomes Prime 
Minister, 847, 848; re- 
signs, 850; in Grenville 
Ministry, 651 ; Home 
Secretary, 870 ; retires 
from Home Secretaryship, 
874 



Addison, Joseph, 796, 797 ; 
his A Tory's Creed, 678 
Addled Parliament, the, 437 
Adelaide, Australia, 1066 
Adelaide of Saxe-Coburg, 
Queen of William IV, 905 
A'delhard of Bath, 125 
Admiral, the Lord High, 343 
Admiralty, Court of, 999 
"Admonitions to Parlia- 
ment," Cartwright's, 389 
Adrian IV, Pope, 111 
Adrian VI, Pope, 300 
Adrianople, occupied by the 

Russians, 1004 
" Adul'lamites," the, 985 
Advertisements, the, of Par- 
ker, 389 
Aegean Islands, the, 1083 
^Elf'heah, Archbishop of 
Canterbury, martyrdom 
of, 52 
/El'fric, Colloquies of, 74 
/El'Ia, chief of the South 

Saxons, 29 
/Eth'elbald, King of Mercia, 

38 
/Eth'elbert, King of Kent, 3 T 
32 ; conversion to Chris- 
tianity, 32 ; his laws, 33, 44 
^Eth'elfrith, Northumbrian 

king, 33 
/Eth'elred, King of the 

West Saxons, 42 
/Eth'elred, the Redeless, 
Anglo-Saxon king, decline 
of the royal power under, 
5 1 ; second coming of 
the Danes, 51, 52; 
Danegeld and massacre of 
Danes, 52; retires to 
Normandy, return to Eng- 
land and death, 53 
iEth'elric, Northumbrian 

king, 33 
Affirmation Bills, 1009 
Afghanistan, 947 ; England 
repulses a Persian attack 



upon, 966 ; Auckland's 
expedition to, 968; Rus- 
sia seeks to extend her 
influence over, 907 ; Eng- 
lish failures in, a cause for 
Indian Mutiny, 969 ; the 
war of 1878-1879 in, 
1006, 1007 ; British with- 
drawal from, 1013 

Afghans, and cessions de- 
manded by British in India 
as protection against, 967 

Africa, British advance in, 
1029 ; cotton imported 
from, during English fam- 
ine, 979 

African Slave Trade, Pitt's 
opposition to, 818, 819; 
abolishment of, by Eng- 
land, 851 and note 

Agadir, 1082 

Agincourt (Aj'inkort), battle 
of, 250, 251 

Agitators, the, 502, 505 

"Agreement of the People," 
the, 504, 509 

Agric'ola, Governor of Brit- 
ain, 19 

Agricultural laborers, condi- 
tion of, in the seventeenth 
century, 596, 597 

Agriculture, in the thirteenth 
century, 164, 165; in the 
fourteenth century, 215, 
216; in the fifteenth cen- 
tury, 283 285 ; growth of, 
under Elizabeth, 409 ; con- 
dition of, in the seven- 
teenth century, 501-593; 
development of, in eight- 
eenth century, 780-791 ; 
condition of, in 1812- 
1813, 856 ; status of, at end 
of Napoleonic wars, 869; 
improvement in, in early 
nineteenth century, 8g4 ; 
condition of, in the reign 
of Victoria, 1055, 1056 



Such English proper names as are peculiarly pronounced are indicated. 
IOQ3 



io94 



INDEX 



Aidan (f dan), 35 
Aids, feudal, 85 
Aix-la-Chapelle', the peace 

of (1668), 540; (1748). 

716, 717, 720 
Alabama Claims, the, 1001 
Alabama, the cruiser, 078- 

979 

Alais', sister of Philip of 

France, 114, 122 
Al'aric, sack of Rome by, 21 
Alaska boundary, the, 1084 
Albany, Dukes of, 271, 272, 

298, 333 
Albemarle, Duke of, see 

Monck, George 
Albero'ni, Cardinal, 684- 

686, 700 
Albert, Prince Consort, 935, 

955, 978, 980 
Albert Edward, Prince of 

Wales, see Edward VII 
Albert Victor, Duke of Clar- 
ence, 1072 
Alberta, creation of Cana- 
dian province of, 932 
Albertus Magnus, isg 
Aldermen, election of, under 

act of, 1835, 925 
Alehouses, 73, 220, 594 
Alencon, Duke of, suitor 
of Elizabeth, 370, 385, 
386 
Alexander III, Pope, no 
Alexander IV, Pope, 154 
Alexander VI, Pope, 520 
Alexander III, King of Scot- 
land, 170 
Alexander of Parma, Gov- 
ernor of the Netherlands, 
385, 39i. 393, 394, 390 
Alexander I, Tsar of Russia, 
847 ; signs Treaty of 
Tilsit, 852; breaks alli- 
ance with Napoleon, 858; 
advocates intervention in 
European politics, 884 
Alexander II of Russia, ac- 
cession of, 963 
Alexandra, Queen of Ed- 
ward VII, 980, 1072, 1075 
Alexandria, captured by 
Napoleon, 844 ; massacre 
at and bombardment of, 
1014 
Alfon'so VI, King of Portu- 
gal, 540 
Alfred, the Great, King of 
the West Saxons, his 



youth, 42 ; his repulse of 
the Northmen, 43 ; mili- 
tary reorganization, 43, 
44 ; laws and political 
reorganization, 44 ; pro- 
motion of literature and 
education, 45 ; final esti- 
mate of, 46; other refer- 
ences, 72, 74 

Algeciras Conference, the, 
1076 

Alien Bill, the, 829 

A'li, Me'hemet, 886 

Allegiance, oaths of, 432, 
559, 621, 622, 880 

Allotments Acts, 1056 

Alma River, battle at the, 
962 

Almanza (alman'tha), battle 
of, 663 

Aln'wick, 113 

Althorp (all'trup), Lord, 
883, 903 ; in Grey's 
Ministry, 909 ; resigns 
from Grey's Cabinet, 922 ; 
in Melbourne's Cabinet, 
923 ; in House of Lords, 
ib. See Spencer, John 
Charles 

Alva, Duke of, Governor of 
the Netherlands, 381, 382, 
384. 385, 392 

Alverstone (awl'verston), 
Lord, 1084 

Amboise, conspiracy of, 

374 

Ambola, 971 

Amboy'na, massacre at, 514, 
5i9 

American Civil War, the, 
outbreak of, 977 ; end of, 
979 ; stimulates growth of 
democracy in England, 
984-985 ; stimulates Fe- 
nian movement, 992 

American Colonies, .the, be- 
ginnings of the, 436 ; mi- 
grations to, during the 
Laudian regime, 465 ; in- 
stitutional divergences of, 
from the mother country, 
746, 747 ; preparation of, 
for independence, 747 ; 
effect of the Seven Years' 
War upon, 748, 749; 
the question of parliamen- 
tary supremacy over, 749 ; 
their constitutions, 750 ; 
attempt to establish 



bishops in, 750; the 
revenue from, 751 ; oppo- 
sition to the Stamp Act 
in, 752, 753; object to 
criminal transportation, 
958-959 
American Revolution, the, 
the causes of, 746-753; 
outbreak of, 766 ; strength 
of the combatants, 767 ; 
Continental Congress as- 
sumes executive control 
of Colonies, 767 ; battle of 
Bunker Hill, ib.; Wash- 
ington appointed Com- 
mander-in-Chief of army, 
768 ; Continental army 
organized, ib. ; siege of 
Boston, ib. ; Declaration 
of Independence, ib. ; the 
Southern Colonies in, ib. ; 
campaign of 1776, 768, 
769 ; Burgoyne's cam- 
paign, 1777, 769, 770; 
Convention of Saratoga, 
770; the French Alliance, 
770, 771 ; progress of, in 
1778-1779, 772, 773; the 
war in 1 780-1 781, 774— 
776; influence of, upon 
Ireland, 777; opening of 
peace negotiations, 780 ; 
end of, 780, 781; Pitt 
denounces the war of, 
812 

Amherst, General, 729, 731, 
736 

Amherst, Lord, Governor- 
General of India, 967 

Amicable Loan, the, 301 

A'miens, Mise of, 153, 154 

Amiens, the Peace of, 848; 
rupture of, 849, 850 

Ampere, inventor, 1052 

Amusements, English, in, 
eighteenth century, 806 

Anaesthesia, discovery of, 
105 1 

Anarchy, extent of, under 
Stephen, 104 

Anchorites, 160 

Ande'rida, 29 

Andred's Weald, 28, 29 

Andre (an'dra), Major, exe- 
cution of, 775 

Angevin (an'jevin) dynasty, 
beginning of the, 107 

Angles, their invasion of 
Britain, 29, 30 



INDEX 



i°95 



Anglo-French dual control 
in Egypt, 1002, 1003, 
1013, 1014 

Anglo- Japanese treaties, the, 
1075, 1076, 1081 

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the, 

45- 7i 

Anglo-Saxon period, the, 
revived interest in the 
study of, 1050 

Anglo-Saxons, the, conver- 
sion to Christianity, 31 ; 
literature, 70, 71 ; art, 
71, 72; architecture, 72; 
houses, 72; daily life, 72, 
73 ; travel, hunting, inns, 
public health, 73 ; trade, 
73-74 ; navy, 74 ; slave 
trade, ib. 

Aniline dyes, 1052 

Anjou, inherited by Henry 
II, 103 ; secured by Philip 

II, 136 

Anjou, Duke of (later Henry 

III, King of France), 384, 
390, 391, 397 

Anna Maria, daughter of 
Philip III of Spain and 
Queen of Louis XIII of 
France, 441 

Annapolis (Port Royal), 670 

Annates, 153; Act of, 317, 
318 

Anne of Bohemia, Queen of 
Richard II, 225, 228, 234, 

237 

Anne, of Brittany, 282 

Anne of Cleves, Queen of 
Henry VIII, 332 

Anne of Denmark, Queen 
of James I, 429, 440 

Anne, Princess, flees from 
James II, 583 ; Marl- 
borough's plot in favor of, 
630 ; acknowledged as 
successor of William III, 
636; see Anne, Queen of 
England 

Anne, Queen of England, 
her opposition to party 
government, 616; char- 
acter of, 650, 651 ; favors 
of, to Marlborough, 657 ; 
aversion to the Whigs 
and quarrels with Sarah, 
658, 660, 662, 665, 672 ; 
insists on resignation of 
Philip of Spain, ib. ; share 
of, in bringing about the 



Union, 661, 662 ; takes a 
new favorite, 665 ; drives 
out the Whigs, 667 ; de- 
sire for peace, 668; dis- 
trust of Bolingbroke, 672,; 
dismisses Oxford, 673, 
674 ; makes Shrewsbury 
Lord Treasurer, 674; her 
death, ib. 
Annual Parliaments, 479 
An'selm, Saint, 52, 83, 89; 
made Archbishop of Can- 
terbury, 91, 92; conflict 
with William Rufus, 92, 
93 ; journey to Rome, 93 ; 
recalled by Henry I, 94; 
comprise an investiture, 
95. 96 
An'son, Commodore and 

later Admiral, 704, 716 
Anti-Corn Law League, the, 

942 
Anti-Corn Law Movement, 
the, Chartists oppose, 939- 
940 ; progress of, 940, 941 
Antiseptic surgery, 1052 
An'trim, 1087 
Apology of the Commons, 

433 
Apparel, Statutes of, 285 
Appeals, Act of, 318; in 
colonial and ecclesiastical 
causes, permanent com- 
mittees of Privy Council 
to hear, 918 
Appellant, see Lords Appel- 
lant. 
Apprentices, system of, 598 ; 

turbulence of, 600 
Appropriation of supply, 

447, 545 
Arabi, the revolt of, 1014 
Arbitration court, the, in 

New Zealand, 1068 
Arbitration treaties, 1084 
Arbuth'not, John, 645 
Architecture, Anglo-Saxon, 
72 ; Norman, ib. ; Anglo- 
Norman, Romanesque, 
Gothic, or Early English, 
89, 90 ; in the thirteenth 
century, 161 ; in the 
fourteenth century, 221, 
222; "decorated" style, 
222; perpendicular, ib. ; 
the Elizabethan, 417; in 
the seventeenth century, 
611 
Arc lights, invention of , 1055 



Arcot, 721 

Area, the, of the Britisk 
Empire, 1063 

Areopagit'ica, the, 608, 640 

Argyle', see Campbell, Arch- 
ibald, eighth Earl of; 
Archibald, ninth Earl and 
first Marquis of, and 
John, second Duke of 

Arimathe'a, Joseph of, 22 

Ark'wright, Richard, in- 
vents water frame, 785 

Aries, Synod of, 22 

Arlington, Earl of, see Ben- 
net, Henry 

Armada, the Spanish, 394- 
396 

Armagh (ar'mah'), 1087 ; 
the Archbishop of, victim 
of the Popish Plot, 560 

Armagnac (armanyac'). 

Count of, 249 

Armed Neutrality, the 
formation of, against 
Great Britain, 774 

Arminians, the, 452 

Arms, Assize of, 118 

Army, the parliamentary, in 
the Civil War, 488-490; 
the royalist, in the Civil 
War, ib. ; condition of, in 
I 793, 83 l > Americans in 
the British, during Cri- 
mean War, 966 ; reforms 
in 1870, 997-998; in 
1904, 1073, 1074; the 
sovereign loses control 
over, 1036 ; crisis, the, in 
Ulster, 1089 ; see also New 
Model and Standing army 

Army Act, the, 621 

Army Council, debates in 
the, of the New Model, 503, 
504; the, of 1904, 1073 

Army officer's commissions, 
struggle over purchase of, 
in 1870, 998 

Army plot, the first, 479; 
the second, 481 

Arnold, Benedict, treason of, 

774. 775 
Arnold, Matthew, 1044, 

1045 
Ar'ran, Earl of, Regent of 

Scotland, 367 
Arrow, the affair of, 966, 

note 
Art, Anglo-Saxon, 71, 72; 

in the seventeenth ten- 



1096 



INDEX 



tury, 611 ; Victorian, 1056, 

1057 ; see also Painting 
Art of Colonization, the, 1065 
Artevelde, van, Jaques, 192 
Arthur, legendary British 

king, 29, 89, 138, 198, 

223, 224, 290 
Arthur, Prince, nephew of 

John, 135, 136 
Arthur, Prince, son of 

Henry VII, 282, 308 
Articles, the Lords of the, 

428 
Articles, of faith, the Ten, 

325, 326; the Six, 331 ; 

the Forty-two, 355 ; the 

Thirty-nine, 379, 1041 
Articles of the Eyre of 1194, 

124 
Articles of War, the, forbid 

dueling in army, 902 
Artificers, Statute of, 414 
Artisans' Dwelling Act, the, 

1002 
Artois, the Count of, 834 
Ar'undel, Archbishop, 247 
Arundel, Earl of, 235, 236, 

2 37, 238 ; see also Howard, 

Thomas 
Aryan "race," 13 
Ascham (As'kam), Roger, 

344, 346, 419 
Ashan'ti wars, the, 1036 
Ash'bourne Act, the, 1017 
Ash'burton, Lord, adjusts 

boundary disputes with 

United States, 948-949 
Ashby vs. White, case of, 

659 
Ashley, Lord, 921 ; labor 

legislation of, in 1843- 

44, 942-943. 
Aske, Robert, 327, 328 
Askew, Anne, 336 
Asien'to, the, 671, 717 
As'quith, Herbert Henry, 

1076; on the South 

African War, 1034; be- 
comes Prime Minister, 

1077 ; denounces the veto 
of the Budget, 1078; 
promise to reconstruct 
the House of Lords, 1079 ; 
carries the Parliament Bill 
by a threat to create new 
peers, 1079, 1080; his 
Guildhall speech on the 
Balkan War, 1083 ; his 
attitude on the minimum 



wage, 1085, 1086 ; carries 
the Home Rule Bill in 
Parliament, 1087, 1089 ; 
assumes the secretaryship 
of War, io8g 

Assandun', battle of, 53 

Assemblies, see General As- 
semblies 

Asser, biographer of Alfred, 
45 

Assisi (ase'si), 157 

Assize', various meanings of 
the term, 116; courts, 
406; the Bloody, 569 

Assize of Arms, 118 

Assize of Clarendon, 117, 
131, 159 

Assize of Northhampton, 117 

Association, the bond of, 
388; of the Eastern 
Counties, 492 ; the Catho- 
lic, O'Connell founds, 880 

As'suan dam, the, 1015 

Astrology, 417 

Atheists, Parliament open 
to, 975, 1009 

Ath'elstan, Anglo-Saxon 
king, his conquests and 
power, 47, 48 

Atlantic cable, the, 1054 

Atlantic fisheries, 1084 

Attainder, bills of, against 
Wolsey, 311; against 
More and Fisher, 320; 
against Thomas Crom- 
well, 332 ; against Thomas 
Seymour (See'more), 352 ; 
against Strafford, 479 ; 
the, of Fenwick (Fen'- 
ick), 634, 635 ; against 
. Bo'linbroke and Or'- 
monde, 678 

At'terbury, Francis, Bishop 
of Rochester, 690, 691 

Attwood, Thomas, organizes 
National Convention of 
Workingmen, 939 

Auckland, Australia, 1068 

Auck'land, Lord, expedition 
to Afghanistan of, 968 

Audit of accounts, 206, 246, 

545 
Auerstadt, battle of, 852 
Augmentations, Court of, 

324, 406 
Augsburg, the Religious 

Peace of, 442 
Augsburg Confession, the, 
321. 326 



Augusta of Saxe-Gotha, wife 
of Frederick, Prince of 
Wales, 701, 718, 740, 741, 
753 

Augus'tine, Saint, converts 
Kent and establishes Arch- 
bishopric of Canterbury, 
32; failure to win over the 
British bishops, 33 

Augustinians, 99 

Augustus (the Strong), King 
of Saxony, 664 

Aumale, Due d', 949 

Aurelia'nus, Ambrosius, 29 

Austen, Jane, 899 

Austerlitz, battle of, 150, 151 

Australia, transportation to, 
958-959; the origin and 
growth of, 1065-1067 

Austria, in war of First Coali- 
tion, 834 ; concludes peace 
of Campo Formio with 
France, 837 ; in Second 
Coalition against France, 
845-846 ; forms Third 
Coalition against France, 
850, 851 ; Francis II 
becomes Emperor of, 751 
and note ; Napoleon de- 
feats, in 1809, 855; joins 
Russia, Prussia, and 
Sweden, in War of Liber- 
ation, 859; signs first 
Treaty of Paris, 861-862 ; 
signs Quadruple Alliance, 
865 ; status of, in Italy, 
883-884 ; aids in suppress- 
ing revolutions in 1820, 
884; compels Russia to 
evacuate Danubian Prin- 
cipalities in Crimean War, 
961 ; signs Treaty of 
Paris after Crimean War, 
964-965 ; cedes Lombardy 
to Sardinia, 975-976; 
Schleswig-Holstein Ques- 
tion and, 980, 981 ; over- 
whelmed by Prussia in 
war of 1866, 987-988 

Austrian Succession, the 
War of the, causes of, 704 ; 
events of, 706-710,; end 
and results of, 716, 717 
Austro-Hungary, Revolu- 
tion of 1848 in, 951, 952 
Austro-Prussian War, the, 

987-988 
Auxiliary sciences to his- 
tory, 11 



INDEX 



1097 



Auxilium, 118 

A'vice, see Isabel 

Avignon, the papacy at, 
226 

Avranches', submission of 
Henry II at, 112 

Aylesbury (ails'bury) elec- 
tion case, the, 659 

B 

Babington's plot, 393 

Bacon, Roger, 159-161, 304 

Bacon, Sir Francis, succes- 
sively Baron Verulam 
and Viscount St. Albans, 
writings of, 420 ; estimate 
of, 444 ; his impeachment 
and fall, 444, 445 ; men- 
tioned, 606, 1049 

Bacon, Sir Nicholas, Lord 
Keeper, 371 

Badajoz, Wellington cap- 
tures, 857 

Baden, the Peace of, 679 

Baden-Powell (Bayden- 

Po'ell), Colonel, 1035 

Bad'minton, 595 

Badon, Mount, 29 

Bahamas, the, 781 

Bakewell, Robert, 790, 791 

Balaclava Bay, 962 

Balance of trade, 288 

Balfe, Michael, 1057 

Bal'four, Arthur, becomes 
Irish Secretary, 1020 ; 
leader of the House of 
Commons, 1023, 1027 ; 
becomes Prime Minister, 
1072 ; his attitude on 
tariff reform, 1073, 1074 ; 
his resignation, 1074; his 
retirement from the leader- 
ship of the Opposition, 
1086; on the Parliament 
Bill conference, io7g 

Balkan War, the, 1083 

Ball, John, 231, 232, 234 

Bal'liol, Edward, King of 
Scotland, 190, 191, 197 

Balliol, John, King of Scot- 
land, 170, 171 

Balliol College, Oxford, 160 

Bangorian Controversy, the, 
683 

Bank of England, the foun- 
dation of the, 637-639; 
bids on the Debt, 686, 
687; suspends in 1797, 



836 ; resumes specie pay- 
ments, 875 ; in crisis of 
1825, 877 ; run on, during 
Reform Bill agitation, 916 ; 
charter of, renewed, 918; 
critical condition of, at 
Victoria's accession, 941 

Bank Charter Act, Peel's, of 
1844, 941-942 

Ban'nockburn, battle of, 184 

Banns, marriage, 719 

Bantry Bay, French expedi- 
tion lands at, 835 

Baptists, law against the, 
500 

Barber Surgeons, gild of, 
221 ; monopoly of, broken, 
792 

Barbon, Nicholas, 606 

Barcelona, 657 

Bardi, the, 194 

Barebones Parliament, the, 
see Nominated 

Barillon, French ambassa- 
dor, 573 

Baring, Evelyn, Lord 
Cromer, British Commis- 
sioner in Egypt, 1003; 
Agent and Consular Gen- 
eral, 1014, 1015; his 
effective administration, 
1015, 1016 

Bar'net, battle of, 268, 269 

Baronet, the title of, created, 
437. 438 

Barons, concessions to, in 
Magna Carta, 143 ; de- 
mand elective ministers, 
151 ; refuse a grant to 
Henry III, 152; war 
against Henry III, 153— 
155; final submission, 
156; conflicts with Ed- 
ward II, 182-185 

Barre, Colonel, 752 

Barrier, fortress, 646 ; 
treaties, 664, 671, 826 

Barrows, neolithic, 13 

Barrows, Celtic, 14 

Bartholomew Fair, 806 

Barton, Elizabeth, the nun 
of Kent, 319 

Basle, Peace of, 834 

Basques, the, 13 

Bastille, the, destruction of, 
824 

Bastwicke, John, 464, 477 

Batavian Republic, 834 ; 
Austria recognizes, 846 



Bate Case, the, 434 

Bath, city of, 22, 602 

"Batta," the, double, 809; 
Bentinck revises, 967 

Battle, trial by, 117 

Battle of Lewes, the, 161 

"Battle of the Saints," the, 
778 

Baxter, Richard, 538, 539, 
576, 604 

Bayeux Tapestry, the, 60 

Beachy Head, battle of, 625 

Bea'ton, Cardinal, 333, 334, 
352, 367 

Beaufort (bo'fort), the Duke 
of, 595 

Beaufort, origin of House of, 
246 

Beaufort, Edmund, Duke of 
Somerset, 257, 258, 259, 
260 

Beaufort, Henry, Bishop of 
Winchester, 254, 255, 257 

Beauvais (bo va'), the 
Bishop of, 257 

Becket, St. Thomas, Chan- 
cellor, 108 ; Archbishop of 
Canterbury, ib. ; conflict 
with Henry II, 108-m; 
murdered, 1 1 1 ; canon- 
ization, ib. ; 113, 219, 225, 
242, 243, 329 

Bedchamber Question, the 
934, 935, 985 

Bede, the Venerable, his 
Historia, 37, 38, 7i~73 

Bedford, Dukes of, see John 
and Russell 

Beggars, 219, 342 

Belfast, 9; Queen's College 
at, 944; anti-Home Rule 
agitation in, 1086, 1087 

Belgae, 14 

Belgium, Austria cedes to 
France, 846 ; revolution 
of 1830, in, 880-890 

Bell, Andrew, educational 
theories of, 995 

Bell, Graham, inventor of 
telephone, 1055 

Bell, Henry, steamboat of, 
on Clyde, 894 

Bellerophon, the, 864 

Bellingham, assassin of Per- 
ceval, 856 

Benares, Chait Singh, Raja 
of, 810 

Benedict of Peterborough, 
Chronicle of, 127 



1098 



INDEX 



Benedictine Order, the, 37 

Benefit of clergy, 112 ; abol- 
ished, 903 

Benevolences, abolished by 
Richard III, 274; ac- 
count of, 405 ; attempts 
of James I to collect, 438 ; 
of Charles I, 455 ; abol- 
ished, 457 

Bengal, the winning of, 735 ; 
famine in, S09 ; discontent 
in army at, before Mu- 
tiny, 970; in Indian Mu- 
tiny, 971 

Bennet, Henry, Earl of Ar- 
lington, 548, 550, 551 

Bentham, Jeremy, assists 
in law reform, 875 ; pio- 
neer in legislation, 895 ; 
influence of, 906-907 

Ben'tinck, Lord George, 
becomes Conservative 
leader, 945-946 ; proposal 
of, for railroads in Ire- 
land, 95 1 

Bentinck, William, Earl of 
Portland, 635, 646 

Bentinck, William Henry, 
Duke of Portland, 808, 
833, 852, 855 

Bentinck, Lord William, re- 
forms of, in India, 967 

Bentley, Richard, 792, 1050 

Benton, William, 1085 

Benzine, the discovery of, 
1052 

Beowulf, 45, 70, 71 

Berengaria, of Navarre, 122 

Ber esfords, the influence of, 
in Ireland, 838 ; appeal 
of, against Fitzwilliam, 
840 

Bergen, 542 

Bergen-op-Zoom, 716 

Berkeley (bark'ly), George, 
793-7Q4 ; Governor, 307 

Berlin, the Congress of, 
1005, 1006 

Berlin, Decree, the, 852, 853 

Bermuda, Durham exiles 
Canadian rebels to, 931 

Bernardoni, Giovanni Fran- 
cesco, see St. Francis 

Berni'cians, 30 

Bernstorff, 677 

Bertrand de Born, 121 

Berwick (ber'ick), Duke of, 
natural son of James II, 
634, 685 



Berwick, the Pacification of, 
470; the treaty of, 374 

Bible, the Wiclif version, 
228;- forbidden, 247; 
translations of the, 307, 
330, 33i 

Bible Society, the British 
and Foreign, 902 

Bill of Rights, the, 142, 561 ; 
terms of, 622 

Birmingham, 3 ; Chartist 
National Convention at, 
939 ; Russel proposes to' 
enfranchise, 908 ; Orsini's 
bombs manufactured at, 
974 ; representation of, 
under the Act of 1867, 987 

Birmingham Political Union, 
the, Revival of, 939 

Birrell, Augustine, 1079 

Bishops, method of appoint- 
ment, under Anglo-Saxon 
kings, under William I, 
79; election of, 96, 122; 
attempt to establish, in 
the Colonies, 750; the 
character of the early 
nineteenth century, 1039 

Bishops' Drag-net, the, 573 

Bishops' War, the first, 470 ; 
the second, 473 

Bismarck, his attitude on the 
Schleswig-Holstein Ques- 
tion, 980; made Chan- 
cellor, 988 ; his conduct of 
the Franco-Prussian War, 
1000; death of, 1028; 
his social insurance policy, 
1060 

Black, Joseph, 792 

Black Box, the, 562 

Black Death, 198-200, 216, 
220, 231, 284 

"Black Friday," 712 

Blackmore, Richard, 1049 

Black Mountains, the, 7 

Black Prince, the, see Ed- 
ward 

Black Rubric, the, 354 

Black Sea, Castlereagh fears 
Russian supremacy in, 
886; Russian desire for 
outlet from, 959; Russia 
refuses to yield her pre- 
ponderance in, 963 ; Peace 
of Paris neutralizes, 964; 
Russian ships again al- 
• lowed in, 1001 

Blackstone, Sir William, 



529; his Commentaries, 
529, 740; Bentham at- 
tacks views of, 906 
Blackwood' 's Magazine, 900 
"Black Year," the, 1056 
Blake, Robert, admiral and 

general, 513, 520 
Blake, William, the poetry 

of, 896 
Bleaching, by chlorine, 892 
Blenheim, 612; battle of, 

of, 656 
Blenheim palace, 657 
Blockades, "Declaration of 

Paris" on, 964 
Blockade running, British 
profit by, in American 
Civil War, 978-979 
Bloemfontein (blbm'fontln), 

1034 

Blood feud, 16 

Bloody Assize, the, 569 

Bloody Clavers, see Graham, 
John 

Blore Heath, battle of, 261 

Bliicher, Marshal, in Water- 
loo Campaign, 862-865 

Blue Coat School, 356 

"Blue Stockings," origin of 
term, 806 

Boadice'a, or Bou'dicca, in- 
surrection of, 19 

Board of Ordinance, aboli- 
tion of the, 963 

Board schools, 996 

Board of Selection, the, 1074 

Boccaccio, 225, 303 

Bo'cher, Joan, 353 

Bodleian Library, 303 

Boer War, the, 1032-1036; 
aid of British colonies in, 
1069; conclusion of, 1072, 
1074 

Boleyn (bul'Ien), Anne, 309, 
310, 317, 318, 324, 325 

Bolinghroke, see Henry of 
Lancaster and St. John, 
Henry 

Bologna (bolon'ya), Uni- 
versity of, 115, 128 

Bombay, 721 ; acquired 
under Charles II, 540 

Bonaparte, Jerome, King of 
Westphalia, 852 and note 

Bonaparte, Louis, King of 
Holland, 851 

Bonaparte, Napoleon, at 
siege of Toulon, 832, 833; 
defeats Austrians, 1796, 



INDEX 



1099 



835 ; aims to strike India, 
838 ; Egyptian campaign 
of, 844, 845 ; becomes 
First Consul, 846 ; ambi- 
tions and position of, 
in 1803, 849; Emperor 
of the French, 850 ; 
crushes Third Coalition, 
850, 851 ; defeats Prus- 
sians at Jena and Auer- 
stadt, S51, 852 ; territorial 
changes effected by, in 
1806, 851, 852; the 
Continental System of, 
852, 853; signs Tilsit 
treaty with Russia, ib. ; 
beginning of uprising in 
Spain against, 853-855 ; 
defeats Austria in 1809, 
855 ; loses Spain, 856- 
858 ; Russian campaign 
of, 858; first abdication 
of, 858-859 ; escapes from 
Elba, 862 ; defeat of, at 
Waterloo, 862-865 ; buys 
English goods, 893 ; his 
canal project, 1002 
Bonar (bon'ner) Law, An- 
drew, 1086, 1089 
Boniface VIII, Pope, 175, 

176 
Bonner, Edmund, Bishop 
of London, 350, 362, 363 
Book of Common Order, 

375 
Book of Homilies, the, 350 
Book of Rates, the, 434 
Books of Beauty, 1043 
Books of Discipline, first 

and second, 375 
Borden, Robert, 1082 
Borden Naval Bill, the, 1082 
Border, the Scottish, 8 
Border Minstrelsy, Scott's, 

897 
Borodino, battle of the, 858 
Boroughs, origin and char- 
acteristics of, 47, 64-65 ; 
after the Conquest, 88; 
under Henry I, 98; in 
the twelfth and thir- 
teenth centuries, 128, 129; 
members from, under the 
Tudors, 403 ; types of, 
before first Reform Bill, 
910-91 1 ; abuses in, be- 
fore first Reform Bill, 
909-910 ; franchise in, 
under Reform Acts of 



1832 and 1867, 916,987; 

under Municipal Reform 

Act of 1835, 925 

Boroughbridge, battle of, 185 

Bosca'wen, Admiral, 722, 

729, 73° 
Bosnia, 1003, 1005 
Boston Massacre, 763 
Boston "Tea Party," 764 
Boston Port Bill, ib. 
Boston, siege of, 768 
Boswell, James, 799 
Bosworth, battle of, 274, 275 
Bot, 65 
Botany Bay, transportation 

to, 958-950 
Botha (bo'ta), General, in 
the Boer War, 1033 ; 
Premier of South Africa, 
1081 
Bothmar (bot'mar), 677 
Bothwell, see Hepburn, 

James 
Boufflers (boo-flay'), Mar- 
shal, 635, 636 
Boulogne (booloin'), 334; 
sold to France, 353 ; Na- 
poleon's camp at, 850 
Boulton (bol'ton), Matthew, 

787, 788 
Bourbon, Duke of, Regent 

of France, 691, 692 
Bourbon, Isle de, 721 
Bourbons, the, restored to 
France by allies, 859; 
Metternich pledged to 
protect, 884 ; (Orleanist) 
Palmerston's hatred of, 
957 
Boxer Rebellion, the, 1036 
Boxley, the Rood of, 328, 

329 
"Boy Patriots," the, 703, 

744 
Boy Scouts, the, 1035 
Boycott, Captain, ion 
Boyle, Robert, 606 
Boyne, battle of the, 626 
Brachy cephalic skulls, 13 
Bracton, 439 
Braddock's defeat, 722 
Bradlaugh (brad'law) case, 

the, 1009 
Bradshaw, John, 507, 533 
Braemar, Highlanders as- 
semble at, 679 
Braganza, House of, driven 

from Portugal, 853-854 
Brahmins, excited state of, 



a cause of Indian Mutiny, 

969, 970 
Brandon, Charles, Duke of 

Suffolk, 296, 327, 344 
Brandywinc, battle at the, 

769 
Brazil, Portuguese Royal 

family flees to, 853, 854 ; 

declares independence, 

876 ; foreign recognition 

of independence of, 884- 

885 
Bread riots in 1795, 834 
Breda, declaration of, 527, 

529, 533-535 ; the Peace 

of, 543 
Breslau and Berlin, Peace 

of, 707 
Brest, 296 ; failure of the ex- 
pedition against, 632 
Bretigny, Peace of, 203 
Breviary, the, 331 
Bribery in Parliament, 913, 

914 
Bridewell, 356 

Bridgettine monks, the, 320 

Bridgewater Canal, 786, 787 

Bright, John, works to secure 

Corn-Law repeal, 940 ; 

characterization by, of 

Disraeli's franchise bill of 

1859, 9S4 ; furthers reform 

in 1866, 986; proposes 

"votes for women," 987; 

in Gladstone's second 

Ministry, 1009 ; opposes 

Home Rule, 1018, 1019 

"Bright clauses," the, in 

Irish Land Act of 1870, 

994-995 
Brihuega, the battle of, 665 
Brindley, James, 786, 787 
Brisbane, 1066 
Bristol, 5, 287; riot at, 915 
Britain, races in, n ff . ; 
extinct men and animals 
of, n-12; paleolithic 
age in, ib. ; neolithic man 
in, 12-13; Celtic invaders 
into, 14; after the with- 
drawal of the Romans, 25 
British and Foreign School 

Society, the, 995 
British Association for the 
Advancement of Science, 
the, 1 05 1 
British Columbia, 932 
British East Africa Com- 
pany, 1029 



IIOO 



INDEX 



British Empire, the, area, 
population, and revenue 
of, i, 1063; desire to 
restrict, 1064, 1069; in- 
crease of emigration in, 
1065 ; see Canada, South 
Africa, Australia, and New 
Zealand ; the problem of, 
1068, 1069 

British Indian Empire, the, 
China threatens, 966 

British Isles, physical char- 
acteristics, 1-10 ; area 
and population, 1 ; cli- 
mate, 1-2 

British Museum, foundation 
of, 793 note 

Brittany, Duchy of, 194, 282 

"Broad bottom," ministries, 
706, 709 

Broad Churchmen, the, 104 1, 
1042 

Bronte, Charlotte, 1047 

Bronze age, in Britain, 13 

Brougham (broom), Henry, 
characterization of, 868 ; 
counselor for Queen Caro- 
line, 873 ; assists in legal 
reform, 875 ; contributes 
to Edinburgh Review, 900 ; 
influence of Bentham on, 
907 ; in Grey's Ministry, 
909 ; speech of, on second 
Reform Bill, 915, note; 
hostility of William IV 
to, 923 ; not in Mel- 
bourne's second Ministry, 
924 ; political policy of, 
in 1838-1839, 933 

Brown, Lord Madox, 1057 

Browne, Archbishop, 335 

Browne, Robert, 388 

Browne, Sir Thomas, 607 

Brownists, the, 388 

Browning, Elizabeth Barrett, 
1046 

Browning, Robert, 1045, 
1046 

Bruce, David, King of Scot- 
land, 190, 196, 197 

Bruce, Robert, claimant to 
Scottish throne, 170 

Bruce, Robert, King of Scot- 
land, 177, 180, 184, 190 

Bruce, Edward, 184, 201 

Bruce, Thomas Lord Elgin, 
1050; see Elgin sculp- 
tures 

Brunanburh, battle of, 47 



Brussels, Wellington's head- 
quarters at, 862 ; popular 
rising of 1830 in, 890 
Brut, legend of, 127 
Brythons, the, 14 
Buchanan, George, 429 
Bucharest, the Peace of, 

1083 
Buckingham, Dukes of, see 

Stafford and Villiers 
Buckle, Thomas, 1050 
Budget, Disraeli poor at 

framing a, 989 
Budgets, Peel's, of 1842, 
941 ; the second Free 
Trade, 942 ; Gladstone's 
first, 959; Disraeli's, of 
1852, upsets Derby's first 
Ministry, 958 ; Glad- 
stone's, of i860, 977; 
Lloyd George's, 1077, 
1078 
Bulgaria, 1003-1006 
Bull, see John Bull 
Bull baiting forbidden in 

England, 903 
Buller, General, 1034, 1035 
Bunker Hill, battle of, 768 
Bunyan, John, 576, 607 
Bur'dett, Francis, 907 
Burford, battle of, 38 
Burgh, de, see Hubert 
Burghley (bur'ly), Lord, 

see Cecil, William 
Burgoyne, General, cam- 
paign of, 769, 770 
Burgundy, Edward IV's 
commercial treaty with, 
271 
Burgundy, Dukes of, see 
John, Philip, and Charles ; 
see also Margaret and 
Mary 
Burh, see Borough 
Burial Act, the, 1009 
Burke, Edmund, 726; views 
of, on American taxation, 
749 ; character and policy 
of, 754. 755 ; opposes the 
Stamp Act, 755 ; works to 
conciliate American Col- 
onies, 765, 766; made 
Paymaster of the Forces, 
776 ; in trial of Hastings, 
820 ; attitude towards 
French Revolution, 825, 
and note ; estrangement 
between Fox and, 825, 
826; denounces Pitt's 



foreign policy, 828; on 
the war with France, 830 ; 
opposes parliamentary re- 
form, 907 

Burke, Thomas Henry, 101 1 

Burmah, Lower, British an- 
nexation of, 968 

Burmese war, the first, 967 

Bur'net, Gilbert, Bishop of 
Salisbury, 604 

Burne-Jones, Edward, 1057 

Burney, Fanny, English 
novelist, 800-801, goo 

Burns, Robert, poetry of, 
896 

Burton, Henry, 464, 477 

Burton, Robert, 607 

Bury, St. Edmund, 42 ; 
brothers of, 131 

Bushel's case, 639 

Bussy, Marquis de, 721 

Bute, Earl of, see Stuart, 
John 

Butler, James, twelfth Earl 
and first Duke of Ormonde, 
498, 510, 511 

Butler, James, second Duke 
of Ormonde, 654, 670, 678, 
679, 685, 690 

Butler, Samuel, 608 

Butt, Isaac, 1010 

Buxton, Thomas Fowell, 
g2o, 1059 

Byng (bing), Admiral 
George, Viscount Torring- 
ton, 664, 685 

Byng, Admiral John, 723, 
724, 726, 727, 728 

Byron, Lord, in Greece, 
886, and note; literary 
work of, 897-898; influ- 
ence of, 1045 



Cabal' Ministry, the, 532, 
547-549 ; break-up of, 

55i 

"Cabinet," the, of 

Charles II, 532 

Cabinet system, the be- 
ginning of, 529, 614-617, 
642 ; weakness of, under 
Anne, 667 ; check in 
the progress of, under 
George III, 738; influ- 
ence of first Reform Bill 
upon, 917 

Cable, the Atlantic, 1054 



INDEX 



IIOl 



Cabot, John, 5, 283, 290, 303 
Cabot, Sebastian, 410 
Cade, Jack, rebellion of, 

259 

Cadiz, Duke of, 949 

Cadiz, plundered by Drake, 
394; expedition against, 
under Howard and Es- 
sex, 397, 398; unsuccess- 
ful expedition to, in 1625, 
454 ; expedition against, 
under Rooke and Or- 
monde, 654 

Ca^dmon, 71 

Caedwalla, 34 

Caesar, Julius, his Com- 
mentaries, 14; descrip- 
tion of the Celtic religion 
ib. ; of London, 16; first 
invasion of Britain, 
55 B.C., 17; second in- 
vasion, 54 B.C., 17, 18; 
description of the ancient 
Germans, 27, 62 

Calais, made a staple, 212, 
213; siege and capture 
of, 197; attempt of 
French to recover, 202 ; 
use of cannon at, 218; 
retained at end of Hun- 
dred Years' War, 260; 
representation granted to, 
339; lost by England, 
364. 365, 372 

Calcutta, acquired by the 
British, 591, 721; the 
"Black Hole" of, 734; 
capital transferred from, 
to Delhi, 1080 

"Caleb Williams," 899 

Caledonians, the, 15 

Calendar, the reform of 
the, 718, 719; extended 
to the Colonies, 750 

Calico printing, introduced 
into England, 590 

Calvin, Robert, case of, 435 

Calvinism, 366, 367 ; doc- 
trinal and political in- 
fluence of, 349, 350 

Cambrian Mountains, 7 

Cambridge, University of, 
beginning of, 128; in the 
fourteenth century, 223 ; 
teaching monks to be 
maintained at, 323 ; in 
the time of Henry VIII, 
345; the Test Act of 
1871, 997 



Cambridge Platonists, the, 

603, 604 
Camden, Earl, see Pratt, 

Charles 
Camera Stellata, see Star 

Chamber 
Cameron, Donald, of 

Lochiel, 711 
Cameron, Sir Ewen, of 

Lochiel, 628 
Cameronians, the, 574 
Campbell, Archibald, fifth 

Earl of Argyle, 367 
Campbell, Archibald, eighth 

Earl and Marquis of 

Argyle, 481, 506, 512, 

513, 535 
Campbell, Archibald, ninth 

Earl of Argyle, 568 
Campbell, Archibald, Mar- 
quis and first Duke of 

Argyle, 628 
Campbell, John, second 

Duke of Argyle, 679, 

680, 699 
Campbell, Sir Colin, 972, 

973, and note 
Campbell, Thomas, poet, 

899 
Campbell-Bannerman, Sir 

Henry, 1076, 1077 
Campeggio, Cardinal, 310, 

311 
Camperdown, British naval 

victory off, 837, 838 
Campion, Edmund, 387 
Campo Formio, Peace of, 

837 
Camulodunum, 18, ig 
Canada, the British con- 
quest of, 736 ; ceded to 
the British, 743 ; proph- 
ecy concerning the French 
surrender of, 741, 749; 
regulations for, under 
Quebec Act, 764, 765 ; 
France gives up all claim 
to, 771 ; loyalty of, to 
England, in war of 181 2, 
860; governmental prob- 
lems and revolt in, 930- 
932 ; Durham's proposed 
constitution for, becomes 
model for British Colo- 
nies, 932 ; Government 
bill for the, 932; immi- 
gration into, 1065 ; gov- 
ernment of, 1067 
Canadian Reciprocity, 1082 



Canal transportation, de- 
velopment of, in Eng- 
land, 786, 787 

Canning, George, opposition 
of, to Addington Ministry, 
847, 848 ; quarrel be- * 

tween, and Castlereagh, 
855 ; leader of House of 
Commons, 874, 875 ; 
Ministry of, 878-879 ; 
death of, 879 ; foreign 
policy of, 884-886; duel 
with Castlereagh, 902 ; 
joins Scott, to found 
Quarterly Review, 900 ; 
defeats bill for gradual 
abolition of slavery in 
British Colonies, 920 

Canning, Viscount, in India, 
969-970; energy of, in 
the Mutiny, 971 

Cannon, use of, 213, 218 

Canons, Black, 99; White, 
ib. 

Canon law, the, 116 

Canterbury, foundation of 
the archbishopric of, 32 ; 
murder of Archbishop 
Thomas at, in; dis- 
puted election of the 
Archbishop of, 137 

Canterbury Tales, 127, 225 

Canton, opened to British 
trade, 948 

Canton River, Chinese 
destroy opium in, 948 

Cape Breton, ceded to the 
British, 743, see also 
Louisburg 

Cape Colony, 1030, 103 1 

Cape of Good Hope, pro- 
visions concerning, in 
treaty of Amiens, 848; 
secured to Great Britain 
by Congress of Vienna, 
865 

Cape Passaro, battle off, 685 

Cape St. Vincent, battle 
off, 836 

Capel, Arthur, Earl of 
Essex, 562, 564 

Capet, Hugh, founder of 
the French Capetian 
dynasty, 56 

Capitalist class, develop- 
ment of, in England, 
788, 789 

Capodistrias, President of 
Greece, 887, 888 



II02 



INDEX 



Caracalla, decree of, 21 
Caraffa, Cardinal, see 

Paul IV 
Carbery Hill, battle of, 377 
Card playing, in the Middle 
Ages,2i7,2i8;rage for, in 
eighteenth-century Lon- 
don, 806 
Cardan, Jerome, 417 
Cardinal's College (later 

Christ Church), 297 
Cardwell, Edward, army 

reforms of, 097-998 
Carew (ca'ry), Sir Peter, 360 
Carham (car'am), battle 

of, 54 
Caricaturists, British, in 
late eighteenth and early 
nineteenth centuries, 901 
Carisbrooke Castle, 505 
Carlos, Don, son of Philip II, 

375 

Carlyle, Thomas, his vin- 
dication of Cromwell, 524 ; 
champions cause of John 
Eyre, 983 ; on Reform of 
1867, 987 ; his writings, 
1 043- 1 045 

Carmar'then, Marquis of, 
see Osborne, Sir Thomas 

Carnar'von, 169 

Carnatic, the, 721 ; winning 
of the, 735 

Carnot, French War Min- 
ister, 832, 835, 837 

Carolinas, the, the British 
wage unsuccessful war in, 

774,775 

Caroline of Anspach, Queen 
of George II, 696, 697, 
700, 701 

Caroline, Queen of 

George IV, history of, 
872-873 

Carpenter, General, 680 

Carr, Robert, successively 
Viscount Rochester and 
Earl of Somerset, 440, 441 

Carson, Sir Edward, 1086, 
1088 

Carteret, John. Lord Gran- 
ville, 706, 707, 709, 716, 
718 

Carthagena, Vernon's ex- 
pedition against, 704 

Carthusians, the, 126; pro- 
ceeding against, 320, 321 

Cartwright, Edmund, Eng- 
lish inventor, 785, 786, 892 



Cartwright, Thomas, Pres- 
byterian, 389 
Carucage, the, of 1198, 124 
Carwell, Madame, 554 
"Case of the Army fully 

stated," the, 504 
Cashel, synod at, 112 
Casket Letters, the, 377 
Cassiter'ides, or tin islands, 

14 

Cassivellaun'us, or Cas- 
wallon, 17 

Castillon, battle of, 260 

Castle Chamber, court of, 
406 

Castles, Anglo-Norman, 89, 
90; in the thirteenth 
century, 162; in the 
fourteenth century, 221 

Castlemaine, Lady, see Pal- 
mer, Barbara 

Castlereagh (Castleray'), 
Viscount, in Ireland, 142 ; 
British Secretary for War, 
854 ; quarrel between, and 
Canning, 855 ; represents 
Great Britain at Congress 
of Vienna, 862 ; political 
status of, after Napoleonic 
wars, 868; suicide of, 
874, and note; advo- 
cates non-intervention in 
European affairs, 884 ; 
attitude toward Russian 
intervention in Greece, 
886 ; duel with Canning, 
902 

Catalonia, 657, 663, 665 

Cateau Cambresis, Peace 
of, 343, 372 

Catesby, Robert, 432 

Catharine of Aragon, Queen 
of Henry III, betrothed 
to Arthur, 282 ; marries 
Henry VIII, 283 ; divorce 
proceedings against, 308- 
311; popularity of, 317; 
divorce from Henry VIII 
pronounced, 318; death 
of, 321, 322 

Catharine of Braganza, 
Queen of Charles II, 540, 
558, 560 

Catharine Howard, Queen 
of Henry VIII, 332, 333 

Catharine Parr, Queen of 
Henry VIII, 336 

Catherine de' Medici, 379, 
384 



Catherine, Empress of Rus- 
sia, 692 

Catherine II, Empress of 
Russia, 827 

Catholic Emancipation, 879- 
882 

Catholic League, the, of 
1609, 442 

Catholic Relief Bill, the, 
1040 

Catholics, see Roman 
Catholics 

Cattle Act, the Irish, 536 

Catuvellauni, the, 17 

Cautionary towns, the 
Dutch, 391, 438 

Cavalier Parliament, the, 
temper and work of, 536, 
537 ; the Clarendon Code 
of, 537-539; overthrow 
of Clarendon by, 544, 545 ; 
gains of, 545, 546; origin 
of corruption in, 553, 554 ; 
its dissolution, 560, 561 

Cavalier poets, the, 607, 608 

Cavaliers, name first em- 
ployed, 483 ; burdens on, 
522 

Cavendish, origin of the 
family of, 329 

Cavendish, Lord Frederick, 
ion 

Cavendish, Henry, scientific 
discoveries of, 895 

Cavendish, William, fourth 
Duke of Devonshire, 
Prime Minister, 725 

Cavour, Count, role of, 
in achievement of Italian 
unification, 975-976 

Cawnpore, massacre at, 971 

Caxton, William, 290, 291 

Ceaw'lin, 29 

C£'cil, Robert (later Earl 
of Salisbury), successively 
Secretary of State and 
Lord Treasurer, 397, 429, 
432, 434, 437 

Cecil, Robert, successively 
Viscount Cranborne and 
Marquis of Salisbury, en- 
trance into politics, 985 ; 
comment of, on Reform 
Bill of 1867,986, 987; his 
negotiations in the Russo- 
Turkish War, 1004, 1005 ; 
his attack on Gladstone, 
1016; his first Ministry, 
1017; his negotiations 



INDEX 



1 103 



with Parnell, 1017; his 
denunciation of the first 
Home Rule Bill, 1019; 
his second Ministry, 1019- 
1024; estimate of his 
domestic and foreign 
policy during his second 
administration, 1023 ; 

his defeat and resignation, 
1023, 1024; third and last 
Ministry, 1056 ff . ; man- 
agement of the Vene- 
zuela disputes, 1028 ; see 
Khaki election ; retire- 
ment and death of, 1072 ; 
as Foreign Secretary, 
1074, 1076 

Cecil, William, Lord 
Burghley, successively 
Secretary of State and 
Lord Treasurer, character 
of, 371, 372; sympathy 
with the Puritans, 389; 
his cautious councils, 397 ; 
his death, 398; his eco- 
nomic policy, 413 

Celts, the, invasion of, into 
Britain, 13 ; myths con- 
cerning, ib. ; remains of, 
in Britain, ib. ; religious, 
social and political char- 
acteristics of, in Britain, 
14-16; trade and indus- 
try, 16-17; slightness of 
influence of, on Anglo- 
Saxons, 30 

Censorship, see Press 

Ceorls, 69 

Cerdic and Cynric, founders 
of the West Saxon House, 
29 

Cerro, mines at, 340 

"Cessation," the, in Ireland, 
498 

Cetewayo, Zulu chief, 1030 

Ceylon, secured to Great 
Britain by Congress of 
Vienna, 865 ; retained by 
England in Peace of 
Amiens, 848 

Chaise, Pere la, 556, 557 

Chait Singh, 810 

Chalgrove Field, battle of, 
492 

Chalmers (Chah'mers), Dr., 
1042 

Chaluz, Castle of, 125 
Chamberlain, Austin, 1079 
Chamberlain, Joseph, enters 



the Cabinet, ioog; helps 
arrange the Kilmainham 
Treaty, ion; breaks 
from the Liberal party, 
1019; becomes Colonial 
Secretary under Salis- 
bury, 1027; fosters 
Imperialism and protec- 
tion, 1027, 1028; presi- 
dent of the conference of 
igo2, 1072; his advocacy 
of Tariff Reform, 1073, 
1074; resignation of, 1073 
Chancellor, the Lord High, 
functions of, 97, 108, 168, 
404 
Chancellor, Richard, 410 
Chancery, court of, Peel 
inaugurates reform of, 
904; under the reform 
of 1873, 999 
Chandernagore, 721, 734 
Chantries, 336, 34s ; sup- 
pressed, 349 ; disposal of 
the spoil from, 353 
Chantry schools, 345 
Chapman, George, 418 
Charlemagne, Emperor of 
the Franks, 37, 38, 41, 74 
Charles, Prince (later 
Charles I), 432 ; proposed 
as husband for Maria 
Anna of Spain, 441 ; 
journey to Spain, 446; 
betrothed to Henrietta 
Maria, 447 ; involved with 
Buckingham in anti- 
Hapsburg alliances, 447, 
448, see Charles I 
Charles I, King of England, 
character and problems 
of, 450, 451 ; his advisers, 
452, 453; quarrels with 
his first Parliament, 453, 
454 ; dissolves his second 
to block inpeachment of 
Buckingham, 454, 455 ; 
his financial exactions, 
455 ; involved in war 
with France, 455, 456; 
forced to sign the Petition 
of Right, 457, 458; at- 
tempts to collect tonnage 
and poundage and issues 
a Declaration concerning 
religion, 458, 459; dis- 
solves Parliament and 
orders the imprisonment 
of Eliot and eight other 



members, 459, 460; his 
eleven years of personal 
rule, 460—47 1 ; summons 
Short Parliament, 471, 
472; devices of, for 
raising money after its 
dissolution, 472; sum- 
mons a Great Council 
and a new Parliament, 
473 ; forced to consent 
to Strafford's execution, 
478, 479; journey to 
Scotland, 481 ; rejects 
the Grand Remonstrance, 
483 ; attempts to arrest 
the five members, 483, 
484 ; withdrawal from 
London and struggle for 
control of the kingdom, 
484; raises standard at 
Nottingham, 485 ; as com- 
mander of the royalist 
forces, 489, 491, 492, 
495-497 ; rejects the 
Treaty of Oxford, 491 ; 
his flight after Naseby, 
497, 498 ; his intrigues 
with the Irish, 498 ; 
his surrender to the 
Scots, 499 ; futile nego- 
tiations with the Scots, 
500, 501 ; handed over 
to Parliament, 501 ; his 
person secured by the 
army, 502 ; rejects the 
Heads of Proposals, 502, 
503 ; flees to the Isle of 
Wight and makes the 
"Engagement" with the 
Scots, 504, 505 ; his trial 
and execution, 506-508 ; 
his regulation of trade 
and manufactures, 589 ; 
as an art collector, 611 
Charles II, King of England, 
proclaimed in Ireland and 
Scotland, 510, 511; his 
sojourn in Scotland, 512; 
defeat at Worcester and 
flight, 513 ; results of his 
French policy, 521 ; his 
recall to England, 527; 
his declaration l at Breda, 
527, 529; his character 
and policy, 530, 531 ; his 
moderation, 533 ; his rev- 
enue, 533, 534; ' his 
failure to secure tolera- 
tion, 534, 535, 538; his 






1 104 



INDEX 



coronation, 536 ; foreign 
policy and marriage of, 
539, 540; draws close 
to France, 540; his first 
war with the Dutch, 
540-543 ; growing dis- 
content against, 543, 544 ; 
throws over Clarendon, 
544, 545 ; seeks to make 
himself absolute, 547 ; 
joins a Triple Alliance 
against Louis XIV, 549; 
negotiates the Secret 
Treaty of Dover, 549, 
550; his Declaration of 
Indulgence, 551; his 
second war with the 
Dutch, 552, 553; gives 
up his Roman Catholic 
designs and allies with 
the High Church party, 
553, 554; his idleness, 
554 ; his tortuous foreign 
policy, 555, 556; his 
attitude toward the 
Popish Plot, 556-560; 
vain effort of, to save 
Danby, 560, 561 ; his 
triumph over the Whigs, 
562-564; his death, 565 ; 
state of monarchy at 
death of, 566; his Dec- 
laration of Indulgence 
compared with those of 
James II, 576; bribery 
in elections commences 
under, 911 

Charles IV, King of France, 
191 

Charles V, King of France, 
204, 205, 207 

Charles VI, King of France, 
238, 245, 249, 251, 254 

Charles VIII, King of 
France, 281, 282, 343 

Charles IX, King of France, 
379, 384 

Charles X, King of France, 
889 

Charles V, German Em- 
peror, 298-301, 308, 310, 
334, 359, 364, 380 

Charles, Archduke, later 
Emperor Charles VI, 646, 
647, 657, 658, 659, 663, 
668, 670, 692, 704 

Charles II, King of Spain, 
549, 645, 646 

Charles III, successively 



King of Naples and Spain, 
684, 685, 700, 741, 742 

Charles IV, King of Spain, 
Napoleon forces retire- 
ment of, 853, 854 

Charles XII, King of 
Sweden, 663, 682, 685 

Charles (the Bold), Duke of 
Burgundy, 267, 270, 299 

Charles, Duke of Orleans, 
250 

Charles Albert of Bavaria, 
elected Emperor as 
Charles VII, 704, 705, 710 

Charles Edward, the Young 
Pretender, birth of, 690; 
joins the futile French ex- 
pedition of 1744, 709; his 
leadership of the '45, 
710-714; his flight, last 
years and death, 714 

Charleston, siege of, re- 
pulsed, 768 

Charlotte, Queen of 
George III, 740 

Charter, confirmations of 
the, 148, 154, 170, 175, 
176 

Charter of Forests, 148 

Charter, the Great, see 
Magna Carta 

Charter of Liberties, of 
Henry I, 94 

Charter of Stephen, 100 

Chartered Company, the, 
1032 

Charterhouse, the, 320 

Charters, of boroughs, 129 

Chartism, first phase of, 
938-940 ; collapse of, 952- 
953 

Chateau Gaillard, 124 

Chateaubriand, his char- 
acterization of William 
Pitt, 814 note 

Chatham, Earl of, see Pitt, 
William 

Chatterton, Thomas, 802 

Chaucer, Geoffrey, 127, 221, 
290, 291, 303, 418; his 
life and writings, 224, 225 

Chauvelin, French ambassa- 
dor to England, 828, 830 

Cheke, Sir John, 344, 355 

Chelsea, pottery industry at, 
786 

Chess, 73 

Chester, 22 ; battle of, 33 ; 
palatinate of, 78; repre- 



sentation granted to, 339 ; 
Fenian attempt to capture 
castle of, 992 

Chesterfield, Earl of, see 
Stanhope, Philip Dormer 

Chevalier de St. Georges, 
the, see James Francis 
Edward 

Chichester, Sir Arthur, 436 

Child, Sir Josiah, 605, 636 

Child labor, abuses of, 943 

Childers, Hugh, naval re- 
forms of, 997-998 

Children, in the Middle 
Ages, 217; legislation 
affecting the employment 
of, 943 

Chillingworth, William, 603 

Chiltern Hills, 4 

China, opium war of, with 
Great Britain, 947-948 ; 
Great Britain at war with, 
in 1856, 966 and note; 
war with Japan, 1029; 
relations with, in the last 
years of Victoria, ib. ; 
Manchuria restored to, 
1075 ; coolie labor from, 
excluded from the Trans- 
vaal, 1076; revolution 
in, 1 080; see Boxer Re- 
bellion and Opium 

Chinese coolies in South 
Africa, 1074, 1077 

Chinon, 114, 255 

Chippenham, treaty of, 43 ; 
election, the, 705 

Chivalry, 90, 218 

Christ Church, see Cardinals, 
College 

Christian IX, King of Den- 
mark, 980, 1072 ' 

Christianity, British, 22; 
conversion of Anglo- 
Saxons to, 31 

Christian socialism, 1048, 
1062 

Christmas, Old Father, 224 

Christ's Hospital, 356 

Chronicle, The London, on 
defeat of second Reform 
Bill, 915 

Chroniclers, see Ordericus, 
Florence of Worcester, 
Henry of Huntington, 
William of Malmesbury, 
Geoffrey of Monmouth, 
Benedict of Peterborough, 
Roger of Hoveden, Wil- 



INDEX 



1 105 



liam of Newborough, 
Walter of Coventry, Mat- 
thew Paris, Froissart 

Chupattis, the, 970 

Church, the English, be- 
ginnings of, 32, 35; or- 
ganization and extension 
of, 36; influence of, 38; 
a model of unity in 
Anglo-Saxon England, 
40; attitude of Wil- 
liam I toward, 79, 80 ; 
concession to, in charter 
of Henry I, 94; gains of, 
under Stephen, 105 ; secu- 
lar character, under 
Henry II, 126; conces- 
sions to, in Magna Carta, 
143 ; condition of, under 
Henry III, 159. 160; 
Statute of Mortmain 
directed against, 179; 
parliamentary attacks on 
its wealth, 247 ; the, 
declining power of, in 
the fifteenth century, 278, 
279 ; condition of, at 
the eve of the Reforma- 
tion, 307, 308; see also 
Church of England, 
Church of Rome, Refor- 
mation, Oxford Move- 
ment, Anselm, Becket, 
Wiclif, Laud, Wesley 

Church, the Scotch-Irish, 
22, 23 

Church of England, separa- 
tion of, from Rome, 315- 
320; articles of faith of, 
325, 326; suppression 
of the monasteries, 322- 
324, 328-330; Protestant 
excesses, 349, 350; first 
Act of Uniformity, 350, 
351 ; the second Act of 
Uniformity, the revised 
Prayer Book, and the 
Forty-two Articles, 354, 
355 ; Mary restores the 
system of Henry VIII, 
359. 360; the Eliza- 
bethan settlement of, 
372-374; attacked in 
the Marprelate libels, 389, 
390 ; royal supremacy 
over, under Elizabeth, 
402, 403 ; in Ireland, 
436; views of the High 
Anglican party in, 452 ; 
4B 



the Declaration of 
Charles I concerning in- 
novations in the, 459, 
460; the Laudian policy 
and religious discontent, 
461-466; split in parlia- 
mentary party over re- 
form of, 480, 481 ; atti- 
tude of Cromwell toward, 
518; ceases to be a 
national body, 528; fail- 
ure to secure toleration 
in. 534. 535 ; the Claren- 
don Code, 537-539; re- 
versal of the policy of 
Charles II toward, 553 ; 
aims of James II to Ro- 
manize, 570-573, 575-579 ; 
his belated concessions 
to, 580, 581 ; the clergy 
of, in the seventeenth 
century, 596 ; Latitudi- 
narian movement in, 603, 
604 ; toleration in, and 
the failure of comprehen- 
sion, 621, 622; the es- 
tablishment guaranteed, in 
the union with Scotland, 
662 ; Sacheverell's de- 
fense of, 666 ; rationalism 
in, in the eighteenth cen- 
tury, 793 ; Ecclesiastical 
Commission corrects 

abuses in, 925 ; educa- 
tion in control of, 995 ; 
monopoly of members of, 
under Test Act of 1871, 
997 ; condition of, in the 
nineteenth century, 1039- 
1041 ; later conflicts in, 
1042 
Church of Rome, introduced 
into Kent, 32; triumph 
at Whitby, 35 ; organiza- 
tion and extrusion of, 
36; its influence, 38; 
English fear of, in 1850, 

953-954 

Church of Scotland, see 
Scotland 

Church courts, under Wil- 
liam I and Stephen, 109; 
under Henry II, no; 
powers of, under Eliza- 
beth, 402 

Church lands, 533 

Church rates, compulsory, 
Derby opposes abolition 
of, 989 



Churchill, John, later Duke 
of Marlborough, deserts 
James II, 583 ; his plot 
and dismissal by Wil- 
liam III, 630; discloses 
the expedition against 
Brest, 632; draws to- 
ward William III, 634; 
takes up his work, 648 ; 
character of, 653, 654; 
his relations to parties, 
ib. ; his campaigns, 654- 
656, 658-659, 662-665, 
668, 669 ; receives grant 
of Blenheim, 657 ; forces 
a Whig secretary on the 
Queen, 660 ; accused of 
aiming at a military 
dictatorship, 665 ; refuses 
to resign, 667 ; attempts 
to obstruct the peace, 
668 ; his removal, 669 ; 
his achievements, 671, 
672; retires to the Con- 
tinent, 672; military sys- 
tem of, outworn, 717 

Churchill, Lord Randolph, 
1018, 1020, 1086 

Churchill, Winston, 1083, 
1086-1088 

Cibber, Colley, 802 

Cinque (sink) Ports, the, 
162, 163, 213; Lord War- 
den of the, 407 

Cintra, the Convention of, 

854 

Circulation of the blood, 
discovery of the, 606 

Cisalpine Republic, Austria 
recognizes, 846 

Cistercians, 99, 126 

Cities, 65 ; under Munici- 
pal Reform Act of 1835, 
925 ; see also Boroughs 

"Citizen King," the, 889 

Ciudad Rodrigo, Wellington 
captures, 857 

Civil List, the, beginning of, 
under William III, 623 ; 
of George III, 739, 741 ; 
of George IV, 868; of 
William IV and Victoria, 
929, 930; of Edward VII, 
1072 

Civil Service, opened to 
public competition, 959 ; 
Reform of, in 1870, 997 

Civil War, the great, open- 
ing of, 485 ; comparison 



no6 



INDEX 



of parties in, 486-400; 

plan of campaign, 490; 

the campaigns of 1642 

and 1643, 490, 491 ; end 

of the first, 499; state of 

parties, 499 
Civil War, the second, 505 ; 

crushed by Cromwell, 505, 

506 
Claim of Right, the, 627, 

1010, 1012 
Clarence, Dukes of, see 

Albert Victor, and George 
Clarendon, Assize of, 131, 

159 
Clarendon Code, the, 537- 

539 

Clarendon, Constitutions of, 
no, 117 

Clarendon, Earl of, see 
Hyde, Edward and Henry, 
and Villiers, George 

Clarkson, Thomas, 819 

Classes, Presbyterian, 366 

Classicism, revolt against, 
in eighteenth century, 
801-802 

Claudius, Roman Emperor, 
18 

Claverhouse (Cla'vers), see 
Graham, John 

Clayton-Bulwer Treaty, 
the, 1084 

Clement IV, Pope, 161 

Clement VII, anti-pope, 227 

Clement VII, Pope, 235, 
300, 301,309-311,315,318 

Clergy, the condition of, in 
the time of Alfred, 45 ; 
in the time of Henry III, 
159; the condition of the, 
in the seventeenth cen- 
tury, 596 ; in eighteenth 
century, 793 ; attempts 
to relieve Irish, in 1833, 
919 ; Episcopal, in Ire- 
land denounce Glad- 
stone's Church Disestab- 
lishment Bill, 993-994 ; 
the character of, in the 
nineteenth century, 1039, 
1040 

Clergy reserves, the, 930 
and note, 932 

Clericis Lai cos, Bull of, 174 

Clerkenwell, Fenian attempt 
to destroy, 993 

Clermont, the, Hudson 
steamboat, 893-894 



Cleveland, President Grover, 
1028 

Clifford, Thomas, Baron, 
Lord Treasurer, 547, 548, 
550, 551- 553 

Clinton, Henry Pelham, 
fourth Duke of Newcastle, 
910 

Clinton, Henry Pelham, fifth 
Duke, 958, 961 

Clinton, General, 768, 769, 
770; Commander-in- 

Chief of British forces in 
America, 772 

Clipper ships, 1053 

Clive, Robert, later Baron 
Clive, "the father of the 
British Empire in India," 
721, 722, 727, 734-736, 
809-810, 966 

Clontarf, O'Connell plans 
mass-meeting at, 943 

Close boroughs, 911 

Closetings, the, of James II, 
575 

Closure, 1086 

Cloth manufacture, 211 

Club, the, a discontented 
faction in Scotland, 627, 
628 

Clubs, London, 601 

Cluniac reforms, 49, 50, 80 

Clyde River, the, 8 

Cnut, conqueror of Edmund 
Ironside, King of Eng- 
land, 53 ; extends power 
of the earls, becomes 
ruler of Denmark and 
Norway, his laws, journey 
to Rome, 54 ; character 
and rule, ib. ; his forest 
laws, 81 ; see Chess 

Coal, begins to be used as 
fuel, 589, 590; use of, 
in iron manufacture, 786 

Coal strike, the, 1085, 1086 

Coalition, the First, against 
France, 832-836; end 
of, 837, 838; war of 
Second, against France, 
845-846; war of Third, 
850-851 

Coast line, importance of, 7 

Coat and conduct money, 
472 

Cobbett, William, views 
of, 869 ; goes to America, 
870; the "Two-penny 
Trash" of, 871 and note; 



Political Register of, the 
Radical organ, 900; in- 
fluenced by Bentham, 
go7 ; in first Reformed 
Parliament, 918; de- 
nounces the New Poor 
Law, 922 

Cobden, Richard, fights for 
Corn-Law repeal, 940 
and note ; Peel's tribute 
to, 946 and note ; nego- 
tiates a commercial treaty 
with France, 976 

Cobham, Eleanor, second 
wife of Humphrey of 
Gloucester, 254, 257 

Cockfighting forbidden in 
England, 903 

Codrington, Admiral, vic- 
tory of, at Navarino, 887 

Coercion Bills for Ireland, 
919-920, 946, 951 ; see 
also Ireland 

Coffeehouses, 601 

Coifi, 34 

Coinage, British, 16; Nor- 
man, go ; of Henry VII, 
288; under Edward I, 
II, III, 214; under 
Henry VII, 288; de- 
basement of, 355 ; restora- 
tion of, by Elizabeth, 
408 ; debasement of, sug- 
gested, 472; restoration 
of, under William III, 
635 ; see also Debasement 

Coke, Sir Edward, 407, 438- 
440, 457 

Coke, Thomas, 894 

Colchester, 18, 29 

Cold harbors, 220 

Cole, Old King, 20, 224 

Coleman, Edward, 556, 557, 
559 

Colenso, John William, 
Bishop, 1042 

Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, 
literary work of, 896-897 ; 
attitude towards the 
French Revolution, 898 

Col'et, John, 304, 305, 344 

Coligny, Admiral, 382, 384 

Collectivism, development 
of policy of, 984 

Colleges, Irish, Gladstone's 
bill to unite, 999 

Colley, Sir George, 1031 

Col'lier, Jeremy, 610 

Collins, Wilkie, 1048 



INDEX 



1107 



Colloquies, of ^Elfric, 74 

Colman, 35 

Colonial ■ conferences, 1022, 
1028, 1070, 1072-1074, 
1081 

Colonial preference, 1072, 
1080, 1081 

Colonial system, the old, 
evils of, 1064 

Colonies, Huskisson's policy 
regarding, 875 ; Ben- 
tham's influence on im- 
provement of government 
of, go6 ; abolition of 
slavery in British, gi8, 
920, 934, see Buxton and 
Jamaica ; contribute to 
England during cotton 
famine, 979 ; England's 
growing interest in prob- 
lems concerning, in 1866, 
988; Crown and self- 
governing, 1063, 1064 ; 
see American colonies 

Colonies, American, begin- 
ning of struggle of, with 
Great Britain, 763 ; First 
Continental Congress of, 
765 ; attempts of British 
government to conciliate, 
765, 766; British views 
concerning, before Ameri- 
can Revolution, 766; out- 
break of Revolution of, 
ib. ; British estimate of 
fighting capacity of, 767 
and note ; strength of, 
in the Revolution, 767, 
768; Declaration of In- 
dependence of, 768 ; un- 
rest in, before the Revolu- 
tion, ib. ; France and 
Spain join, against Eng- 
land, 770, 771 ; cotton 
from, to England, 784 

Colonies, British, Durham's 
Constitution becomes 

model for self-governing, 
932; troops in, reduced 
in number by Cardwell, 
997 ; Disraeli'* Imperial- 
istic theories regarding, 
998-999 

Colonies, the Canadian, 
Durham's proposals for 
governing, 931-932 

Colonies, the Spanish- 
American, declare inde- 
pendence, 876 



Colonization, American, in 
the sixteenth century, 411, 
412 

Columba, Saint, 35 

Columbia River, the navi- 
gation of, free to English 
and Americans, 949 

Columbus, Bartholomew, 
2 go 

Columbus, Christopher, 282, 
290, 303 

Colville, see Calvin, Robert 

Comet, the, Bell's steam- 
boat, 894 

Cominges, William, 286 

Comitatus, 68 

Comites, the, 28 

Commander-in-Chief, the 
reorganization of duties 
of, 963 ; Cardwell in- 
creases subordination to 
Secretary for War of the, 
gg7-gg8; the office of, 
abolished, 1073 

Commendams, 431, 439 

Commercial classes favored 
by the Tudors, 401 

Commercial system, the 
British, 747, 748 

Commercial treaties, 289 ; 
see France, Ireland, Bur- 
gundy, and Intercursus 
Magnus 

Commission, Civil Service, 
selects candidates for 
Home Service, 997 

Commissioner, Lord High, 
Durham sent to Canada 
as, 931 

Committee of Both King- 
doms, the, 489, 495 

Committee of the Privy 
Council on Education, 
the, creation of, 996 

Committee of Safety, the, 
in the Civil War, 488 

Common law, the, 116; 
Peel simplifies procedure 
in courts of, go4 

Common law, the courts of, 
406 ; reform of , in 1 873 , ggg 

Common Pleas, Court of, 
117, 144; see also Com- 
mon Law Courts 

Common Prayer, Book of, 
350; revised editions of, 
354, 355,373, 557; Queen 
Carcline's name omitted 
from, 872, 873 



Common Sense, Paine's 
pamphlet, 768 

Commons, House of, first 
separate session of, 174; 
payment of members, ib. ; 
attempt to exclude law- 
yers, ib. ; origin of legis- 
lative powers of, 210, 211 ; 
money grants to originate 
in, 246 ; composition of, 
under Henry VIII, 339 ; 
Roman Catholics excluded 
from, 373 ; control of, by 
Elizabeth, 403, 404 ; priv- 
ileges gained, in judging 
disputed eleotions, in free- 
dom from arrest, 433 ; 
"Apology" of, ib. ; quar- 
rels of, with James I 
over privilege, 445, 446 ; 
protestation of, 446 ; 
gains of, under James I, 
448, 449 ; insist on right to 
initiate money bills, 472; 
gains in appropriation of 
supply and audit of ac- 
counts, 545 ; successfully 
assert that money bills 
must originate in, and 
cannot be amended, 545, 
546; resolution of, re- 
serving the exclusive right 
of granting trading priv- 
ileges, 636 ; property 
qualification in the, 668 ; 
unable to exclude legal 
qualified members, 744 ; 
attempt to exclude 
Wilkes, 745, 746 ; theory 
and practice of represen- 
tation in, 747 ; failure 
of, to exclude members, 
758; struggle over de- 
bate reporting in, 762 ; 
contractors excluded from, 
776; composition, 824 
and note ; inequalities 
in representation in, 909- 
910; placemen in, 913; 
composition of, in first 
Reformed Parliament, 
gi7-gi8; radical claims 
to abolish property quali- 
fication for, g26; frame 
resolutions for governing 
India, 974 ; property 
qualification for, abol- 
ished, g75 ; distribution 
of seats in, under Reform 



no8 



INDEX 



Bill of 1867, 987; atheists 
made eligible, 1009 ; pay- 
ment of members in, 
1062, 1080; see Corrupt 
Practices Act, Franchise 
Act, and Parliament Bill 

Commonwealth of Australia, 
the, 1067 ; government 
of, ib. 

Commonwealth, the Eng- 
lish, 509-516; forces of 
disorder in, 510; sea 
power of, 513, 514; grow- 
ing opposition to, 514, 
515; end of, 516 

Commonwealth of Oceana, 
the, 604, 605 

Commune, the, of London, 
122, 129, 130 

Communion in both kinds, 
331, 349 

Communism, Owen's ex- 
periments in, 938 

Comperts, 323 

Compound householders, 
986 

Comprehension, failure to 
secure, 551, 621, 622 

Compton, Henry, Bishop of 
London, 572, 581, 583 

Compton, Sir Spencer, later 
Earl of Wilmington, 706, 
708 

Compton, Spencer, succes- 
sively Marquis of Harting- 
ton and Duke of Devon- 
shire, 1002 ; attitude on 
the Bulgarian Massacres, 
1004; Liberal leader, 
1009; breaks from the 
Liberal party, 1018, 1019; 
refuses the leadership of 
the Commons under Salis- 
bury, 1019, 1020; takes 
office under Salisbury, 
1027 ; opposition to tariff 
reform, 1073, 1074 

Compurgation, 117 

Comus, Milton's, 609 

Conciliation Bill, the, 1088 

Concordat of 1801, the, 847 

Conde, French Marshall, 
566 

Conde, Huguenot leader, 
378, 382 

Confederacy, the Southern, 
Great Britain recognizes,' 
as a belligerent, 978; 
surrender of, 979 



Confederation of Rhine, for- 
mation of, 851 

Conferences, see Colonial 
and Imperial 

Confirmalio Cartarum, 176 

Congregation, Lords of, 368, 

374 

Congregationalists, the, 388 

Congress, the American, 
rejects North's concilia- 
tion proposals in 1778, 771 

Congress European, at 
Verona, 884 ; Canning 
opposed to governing 
Europe by, 884-885 

Congresses, European, pro- 
vision for, by quadruple 
Alliance, 883 

Congreve, William, 610 

Connaught, the Duke of, 
1074 

Connaught, the Province of, 
112, 471 

Connecticut, the Funda- 
mental Orders of, 517 

Conservatives, the name 
adopted by moderate 
Tories, 918; middle 
classes joining, in 1838- 
1839, 933 ; revolt of, 
against Corn-Law re- 
peal, 945 ; divisions of, 
in 1846, 950; Disraeli 
re-creates party of the, 
991 ; the English, de- 
nounce Gladstone's dis- 
establishment Bill, 993 ; 
see Unionists 

Conservators of the Peace, 
180 

Consolidated Fund, Pitt's, 
816, 817 

Consols, 815 and note 

Conspiracies to Murder Bill, 
Palmerston's, 974-975 

Conspiracy, the Cato Street, 
872 

Constable, John, goi 

Constance, Council of, 227, 
251 

Constantine, Roman Em- 
peror and founder of 
Constantinople, 20 

Constantinople, capture of 
(i453), 6, 289, 302 

Constantius, Roman Em- 
peror, 20 

Constitution, the English, 
750; Bentham objects 



to Blackstone's laudation 
of, 906 ; Disraeli's early 
theory of the, 989 

Constitutional Information, 
English Society for, 828 

Constitutional royalists, the, 
476, 483 

Constitutions of Clarendon, 
no, 112 

Consubstantiation, 227 

Continental Army, Ameri- 
can, organization of, 768 ; 
at Valley Forge, 770 

Continental Congress, the 
First, 765 ; the Second, 
768 

Continental system, the, 
establishment of, 852, 853 ; 
produces industrial suf- 
fering in England, 856; 
causes war between Great 
Britain and the United 
States, 859-860 ; effects 
on England of, 893 

Conventicle Act, the, 538 

Conventicles, 389 

Convention Parliament, the, 
of the Restoration, 527, 
529, 532-535; of William 
of Orange, 584-586; its 
illegal status, 587 ; turned 
into a parliament, 621 

Convocation, beginnings of, 
174; powers of, restricted 
by Henry VIII, 317; 
forced to declare null the 
marriage of Henry VIII 
and Catharine, 318; 
powers of, under Eliza- 
beth, 402 ; grants to 
Charles I, and assertion 
of the Divine Rights of 
Kings, 472; clergy cease 
to grant supplies in, 545 ; 
rejects plan of compre- 
hension, 622; suspended 
for one hundred and 
thirty-five years, 683 

Cook, Captain James, 789, 
1065 

Coolies, Chinese, Treaty of 
Peking recognizes emi- 
gration of, 966 note; 
in South Africa, 1074, 
1077 

Cooper, Sir Anthony Ash- 
ley, first Earl of Shaftes- 
bury, chief of the Puritan 
party, 532; his aims i 



INDEX 



1109 



548 ; not consulted in the 
Treaty of Dover, 550; 
dismissed, 551 ; organizes 
the Country party in the 
Lords, 554; foments the 
Popish Plot, 558, 550; 
share in passing the 
Habeas Corpus Act, 561 ; 
leader in the Exclusion 
struggle, 562, 563; his 
flight and death, 563, 564 

Cooper, Anthony Ashley, 
third Earl of Shaftesbury, 
640, 793 

Cooper, Samuel, 611 

Cooperative movement, the, 
1061 

Coote, Colonel Eyre, 735 

Cope, Sir John, 711 

Copenhagen, bombardments 
of, 846, 847, 852 

Coper'nicus, 303 

Cop'ley, John Singleton, goo 

Cor'biesdale, battle of, 512 

Cork, 9; Queen's College 
established at, 944 

Corn laws, in the fifteenth 
century, 284; the, of 
1815, 856; question of 
the, in 1826, 877-878; 
repeal of the, 945-946 and 
notes ; suspended in 1 846- 
1847, 950; repeal of the, 
Russell and, 985 note 
Derby splits with Peel 
on abolition of the, 989 
the repeal of, 1056 

Cornwall, Duchy of, 77 
disposition of revenues 
from, 929 and note, 930 

Cornwall, tin mines of, 3 ; 
revolt in, 351 

Cornwallis, Lord, joins Clin- 
ton in Virginia, 775; 
surrender of, 775, 776; 
Lord Lieutenant of Ire- 
land, 841, 842; works 
for Irish Union, 842, 843 

Coroners or crowners, 123 

Corot, French artist, Con- 
stable's influence on, 901 

Corporation Act, the, 537 ; 
repeal of the, 880-881, 
98s 

Corporations, municipal, 
Reform Act of 1835 for, 
924-925 

Corresponding Society, the 
London, 828 



Corrupt Practices Act, 1012 

Corruption, parliamentary, 
Pitt fights, 814, 815; 
in elections for Parlia- 
ment, 91 1-91 2 and notes; 
in Parliament, 913 and 
note, 914 

Corsned, the, or sacred 
mprsel, 66 

Cosmo, Grand Duke of 
Tuscany, 594 

Cotswold Hills, 4 

Cotters, 64 

Cotton, manufacture of, sta- 
tus of, in 1830, 892 ; fam- 
ine of, in England, 979 

Council, see also Privy 
Council 

Council of the North, the 
President and, court of, 
328, 378, 406; abolished, 
480 

Council of Wales and the 
Marches, the, 406 

Council for Trade, the, 591 

Councilors, election of 
town, under Act of 1835, 
925 

Councils, county, 1022; dis- 
trict and parish, 1024 

Count of Britain, the, 20 

Count of the Saxon Shore, 
the, 20 

Counterfeiting, death pen- 
alty for, removed, 904 

Counter-Reformation, the, 
379 

Counties, unfair represen- 
tations of, before first 
Reform Bill, 909 

Country gentry, the, in the 
seventeenth century, 595 

Country party, the, 554 

County, franchise in, be- 
fore first Reform Bill, 
912; franchise in, under 
Reform Bill of 1867, 987; 
see Shire 

County Councils, 407, 1022 

County Courts, 1022 

Courtenay (court 'ny), Wil- 
liam, Bishop of London, 
208 

Courtenay, Edward, 360 

Courts, of Appeal, the, a 
division of the Supreme 
Court of Judicature, 999 ; 
baron, 87 ; of Common 
Law, the, 168; custom- 



ary, 88; constitution of 
a new, for divorces, 974; 
leet, 87 ; Pie Powder, 
163 

Covenanters, the, 506, 512, 
513; rising of the (1679), 
573. 574 I their opposition 
to William III, 627 

Covenants, in Scotland, 367, 
368; the Scottish Na- 
tional, 469, 471 ; the 
Solemn League and, 493 ; 
Englishmen ordered to 
take the, 494 ; the Ulster, 
1087 

Coverdale, Miles, 330 

Cowper (coo 'per), William, 
poetry of, 896 

Crabbe, George, poetry of, 
896 

Craft gilds, 130 

Craftsman, the, 698 

Craggs, James, 688 

Craigavon, 1087 

Cranborne, Viscount, see 
Cecil, Robert 

Cranfield, Lionel, Earl of 
Middlesex, 447 

Cranmer, Thomas, Arch- 
bishop of Canterbury, 
enters the service of 
Henry VIII, 314; made 
archbishop, 317; gives 
sentence of divorce, 318; 
views on monasteries, 323, 
327; his first Prayer 
Book, 345, 350; his 
second, 354 ; his Forty- 
two Articles, 355 ; accepts 
Lady Jane Grey as suc- 
cessor of Edward VI, 
355; execution of, 364; 
attitude toward the Bible, 
452 

Crawford, Earl of, 481 

Crecy (cray'see or cres'sy), 
battle of, 195, ig6, 218 

Creeds, the three, 325 

Crete, i02g, 1083 

Crewe, Chief Justice, dis- 
missed by Charles I, 455 

Crewe, Lord, 1079 

Crime, in England in the 
eighteenth century, 805, 
806, 903 ; in the nine- 
teenth century, 1058 

Crimean War, the, causes 
of, 959 and note, 960; 
England dragged into, 



IIIO 



INDEX 



960-961 ; opening of the 
conflict, 961 ; opening of 
siege of Sebastopol, 961 ; 
suffering during the, 962, 
963 ; end of the, 963- 
965, and notes; checks 
designs of Russia on 
Turkey, 965 ; Americans 
in British army in the, 
966 ; the navy in, 1054 

Criminal Appeal, the Court 
of, 1077 

Criminal Code, the reform 
of, in early eighteenth 
century, 903-904 ; Ben- 
tham's influence on re- 
form Of, <)D<> 

Criminous clerks, 109, no 

Cromer, Lord, see Baring, 
Evelyn 

Crompton, Samuel, Eng- 
lish inventor, 785 

Cromwell, Oliver, 343 ; early 
parliamentary career of, 
476; considers migration 
to America, 483 ; his 
" Ironsides " and New 
Model, 489, 490, 492, 495- 
497 ; views on the first par- 
liamentary recruits, ib. ; 
leader of the anti-Presby- 
terian party, 494 ; at 
Marston Moor, 495 ; 
views of, on toleration, 
496 ; urges conciliation 
between Parliament and 
the army, 502 ; his slow 
change of view, 503, 504 ; 
crushes the Second Civil 
War, 505, 506; assumes 
the lead in abolishing 
monarchy, 506-508 ; ef- 
forts to preserve order, 
510; conquest of Ire- 
land, 510, 511; of Scot- 
land, 512, 513; dissolves 
the Rump, 515; made 
Lord Protector, 517; his 
aim, 518; his religious 
policy, ib. • his foreign 
policy, 519; makes peace 
with the Dutch, ib. ; his 
war with Spain, 520; 
his alliance with France, 
520, 521 ; his difficulties 
with his parliaments, 521- 
523; his death, 523, 524; 
final estimate of, 524, 525 ; 
his body dishonored, 533 ; 



his attitude toward 
France, 540; regret for, 
543, 544 ; contributes to 
agricultural progress, 592 ; 
as a patron of art and 
music, 611 ; fear of his 
army, 642 ; Carlyle's vin- 
dication of, 1044 

Cromwell, Richard, 525, 
526 

Cromwell, Thomas, early 
career of and entrance 
into the service of 
Henry VIII, 314, 315; 
his use of Parliament, 
315; advises a Lutheran 
alliance, 321 ; undertakes 
dissolution of the monas- 
teries, 322-324, 326; his 
innovations, 327 ; his in- 
junctions, 327, 330; fall 
and death of, 332; his 
packing of Parliament, 
338, 339 

" Cromwellian Settlement," 
the, 511 

Cronje, General, 1033, 1034 

Cronstadt, British and 
French fail to capture, 
961 

Crosby, Lord Mayor, 762 

Cross, Assheton, 1002 

Crown, the, powers of the 
East India Company 
transferred to, 973-974 

Crown lands, 404, 533 

Crown pleas, 123, 144 

Crown Point, 731 

Crown revenues, see Rev- 
enues 

Cruelty to Animals, Royal 
Society for Prevention of, 
903 

Cruelty to animals, British 
laws against, ib. 

Crusades, the first, 93 ; 
third, 120, i2i, 122; 
influence of, 157 

Crystal Palace, the, 955 

Culloden, the battle of, 713 

Cumberland, see Ernest Au- 
gustus and William 
Augustus 

Cumbria, 170 

Cumbrian Mountains, 2 

Cunobelinus, 18 

Curia Regis, the, 86, 97, 117 

Customs Bill, the, passage 
of, 946 



Customs duties, origin of, 
an, 212; Pitt's reforms 
of, 815, 816, 817 

Cynewulf, 71 

Cyprus, 1006 

D 

Dacre, Scottish homages at 
47 

Daguerre, 1052 

Dalhousie (dalhow'zie), 

Earl of, aggressive policy 
in India of, 968-969 

Dalrymple (dalrim'ple), 

John, Master of Stair, 629 

Dalrymple, John, second 
Earl of Stair, 707 

Dalton, John, atomic 
theory of, 895 

Dampier (dam'per), Wil- 
liam, 789, 1065 

Danby, Earl of, see Osborne, 
Sir Thomas 

Danegeld, 52, 55, 81, 118 

Danelagh, 43 

Danes, see Northmen 

Danes, in Ireland, 112 

Dante, 157, 225 

Danubian Principalities, the, 
960, 961, 964 

Darby, Abram, 786 

D'Arc, see Jeanne 

Dardanelles, the Peace of, 
Paris neutralizes, 964 

Dare, Virginia, 412 

Darien Company, the, 660, 
661 

Darlington, Countess of, 
see Kielmannsegge, Coun- 
tess von 

Darnel's case, 456 

Darnley, Earl of, see Stew- 
art, Henry 

Darvell Gadarn, 329 

Darwin, Charles, 1049, 1051 

Darwin, Erasmus, 1051 

Dashwood, Sir Francis, go7 

Dauphin, the, later 

Charles VII, King of 
France, 250, 251, 252, 
254, 256 

David I, King of Scotland, 
100, 101 

David, Welsh prince, 169 

Davis, Jefferson, 977 

Davis, John, 411 

Davis, Thomas, 944 

Davison, Secretary, 393, 394 



INDEX 



Davy, Sir Humphry, 895, 
10SS 

Death duties, 1027 

Debasement of the coinage, 
340, 341 ; suggested, 472 

Debates, struggle over re- 
porting, 761, 762 

Debt, see National Debt 

Deccan, fhe, 721 

Deceased wife's sister, mar- 
riage with a, legalized, 
1077 

Declarations, of Breda, the, 
see Breda ; the, concerning 
religion of Charles I, 
459, 460; of Charles II 
of 1662, 537 ; the, of 
Charles II, concerning 
religion, 534, 535; of 
Independence, the, 768 ; 
of Indulgence, the, of 
Charles II, 551; the, of 
Monmouth, 569 ; of In- 
dulgence, the first, of 
James II, 575, 576; the 
second, 578, 579; of 
James II, 630, 631 ; of 
Paris, the terms of, 964- 
965 ; of the Rights of 
Man, 824 ; of Sports, the, 
463, 464; of William of 
Orange, 581, 582 

Decorative Art, in the Vic- 
torian Age, 1056, 1057 

Decretum, the, 116 

De donis conditionalibus, 
179 

Defender of the Faith, origin 
of the title, 295 

"Defenders," the, in Ire- 
land, 839, 840 

Defenestration of Prague, 
the, 442 

Defense Committee, the, 
1073, 1074 

Defense, Imperial, 1081 

Defense of the Seven Sacra- 
ments, Henry VIII's, 295 

Defoe, Daniel, 647, 799 

De Grasse, Admiral, 775, 
778 

De Guichen, Admiral, 775 

De hmrelico comburendo, the 
Statute, 247, 326, 529 

Deirans, 30 

Deists, the English, 793 

Delcasse, M., 1075, 1076 

Delegates, High Court of, 
318, 402 



Delhi, 720; in the Indian 
Mutiny, 967, 970-973 ; 
made capital of India, 
1080 

Delinquency, 500 

Demise of the Crown Bill, 
1072 

Democracy, awakening of, 
in England, 984-985 ; 
its effect on literature, 
1042 ; Carlyle's denun- 
ciation of, 1044 

Democratic Federation, the, 
1063 

De Moleyns (dem'moleens), 
1055 

Demouriez, French com- 
mander, 829 

Denain, the battle of, 670 

Denmark, joins armed neu- 
trality of 1800, 846, 847; 
Great Britain seizes fleet 
of, 852 ; Schleswig-Hol- 
stein and, 980-981 

Deorham, battle of, 29 

Depositions, of Edward II, 
186; of Richard II, 240; 
of Henry VIII, papal 
bull for, 318 

De Quincey,Thomas, writing 
of, 899, goo 

Derby (dar'by), Earls of, see 
Stanley, Edward George 
and Edward Henry 

Derby, the races, 602 

"Derbyshire Insurrection," 
the, 870 

De Religiosis, the Statute, 
see Mortmain 

Desborough, John, 526 

Desmond, Earl of, 386 

Despensers, the, 184, 185, 
186 

D'Estaing, Admiral, 772 

Dettingen, the battle of, 
696, 707, 708 

Devereux (dev'erroo'), 

Robert, second Earl of 
Essex, 370, 397, 398 

Devereux, Robert, third 
Earl of Essex, 440, 476, 
477-479, 484. 486, 490- 
492, 495, 496 

Devolution, 1026 

Devolution, the War of, 549 

Devon, revolt in, 351 

Devonshire, Dukes of, see 
Cavendish, William, and 
Compton, Spencer 



De Wett, General, 1033, 

1034, 1035 
De Witt, John, Grand 
Pensionary of Holland, 
552 
Dialogue of the Exchequer, 

127 
Diarmait, King of Leinster, 

112 
Diaz, Bartholomew, 411 
Diaz, Porfirio, 1085 
Dickens, Charles, 938, 1047 
Dickinson, John, 757 
Diebitsch, Russian com- 
mander, in Balkans, 887 
"Die-Hards," the, 1080 
Differential duty, 940 
Diggers, the, 504 
Dilettanti Society, the, 803 
Diocletian, reorganizer of 

Roman Empire, 20 
Directory, the, established 

in France, 835 
Disarming Act, the, 715 
Discovery, under the 

Tudors, 409-411 
Disestablishment, the, of 
the Irish Church, 991, 
993. 994; of the Welsh 
Church, 1086, 10S8 
Dispensing, royal preroga- 
tive of, abolished, 586 
Dissent, after the Clarendon 

Code, 539 
Dissenters, the Protestant, 
528; efforts of James II 
to win over, 575, 576; 
the High Churchmen ap- 
proach, 576; gain legal 
toleration, 621 ; repeal 
of Test and Corporations 
Acts favor, 880; meas- 
ures on behalf of, 924, 925 ; 
status of, at Victoria's 
accession, 927 
Dissolution of the monas- 
teries, 322-324, 328-330; 
effect of, on the poor, 342 
Disraeli (dizray'ly) Benja- 
min, supports protection 
in Commons, 942 ; leads 
revolt of Conservatives 
against Corn Law repeal, 
945-946 ; unites Irish and 
Radicals to defeat Coer- 
cion Bill for Ireland, 946 ; 
Chancellor of the Ex- 
chequer, 957-958; com- 
ment of, on Aberdeen's 



III2 



INDEX 



Coalition Ministry, 958; 
positions and prospects 
of, in 1865, 983 ; bill of, 
to extend franchise in 
1859, 984; passes Reform 
Bill of 1867, 986-987; 
comment of, on Napier's 
Abyssinian expedition, 
988 ; foreshadows idea 
of British Imperialism, 
in speech, 988 ; first 
Ministry of, 989-990 ; 
characterization of, 989, 
990 ; comparison between 
Gladstone and, 990-991 ; 
resignation of, in 1868, 
991 ; delight of, at fail- 
ure of Land Act of 1870, 
995 ; exploits Imperial- 
ism during Gladstone's 
first Ministry, 998-999 ; 
criticism of Gladstone's 
first Ministry by, 999 ; 
his second Ministry, 1001- 
1008; policy of, 1 00 1, 
1002 ; his purchase of 
the Suez Canal shares, 
1002 ; makes Victoria 
Empress of India, 1003 ; 
created Earl of Beacons- 
field, 1003 ; his policy in 
the Russo-Turkish War, 
1 003- 1 006 ; at the Con- 
gress of Berlin, 1005, 
1006; his Afghan War, 
1006, 1007 ; his resigna- 
tion, 1008 ; as a novelist, 
1046 
Distraint of knighthood, 461 
District Councils, 1024 
Divine Right of Kings, the, 
views of James I on, 429, 
430; asserted by Con- 
vocation, 472; not be- 
lieved in by Charles II, 
531 ; blow at, 587 ; de- 
cline of belief in, under 
the Hanoverians, 693 
Divorce of Henry VIII and 
Catharine, 301, 302, 308- 
311, 315, 316, 318 
Divorce, the law of, 719; 
the Bill of, 1857, 974; 
the Court of, in 1873, 999 
Dock strike, the, 1085 
Dockwray, William, 602 
Dogger Bank incident, the, 

1076 
Dolichocephalic skulls, 13 



Domesday Survey and Book, 
81, 82 

Domestic system, the, 287, 
288 

Dominican friars, 157-159 

Dominion of Canada, the, 
932 and note 

Dominion of New Zealand, 
the, 1068 

Domremy, 255 

Don Carlos, Spanish Pre- 
tender, 889 

Don Pacifico Case, the, 955, 
950 

Donne, John, 607 

Donum, 118 

Dorislaus, murder of, 514 

Dorset, Marquis of, invades 
Guyenne, 295, 344 

Dort, Synod of, 452 

Dost Muhammad, 968 

Douay, college at, 387 

Douglas, Archibald, Earl of 
Angus, S33 

Dover, the secret Treaty of, 
549, 550, 557 

Dover, the sham Treaty of, 
550 

Dowlah, Suraja, 734, 735 

Down, 1087 

Downing, Sir George, 545 

Downing Street, 545 

Drake, Sir Francis, 391— 
394. 397, 4ii 

Drama, the English, be- 
ginnings of, 224; the 
Elizabethan , 422-425; 
the Jacobean, Carolian, 
and Restoration, 610, 61 1 ; 
in age of Anne and the 
Georges, 802-803 ; in the 
Victorian Age, 1046 

Drapier Letters, the, 691, 
798 

Dresden, battle of, 859; 
the Peace of, 710 

Dress, in the Elizabethan 
period, 416; in the Res- 
toration period, 602 ; ex- 
travagance of, in eight- 
eenth-century England, 
806 ; in early nineteenth 
century, 901-902 

Dreux, battle of, 379 

Drinking, in the fourteenth 
century, 217; excessive, 
in early nineteenth cen- 
tury, 902 

Drogheda, massacre of, 511 



Druidism, 15; suppression 
of, 18, 19 

Drumclog, battle of, 574 

Drummond, Under-Secre- 
tary in Ireland, 933 

" Drunken Administration," 
the, of Cartaret, 706 

Dryden, John, 601 ; his 
career and chief works, 
609-611 

Dubois, Cardinal, 682, 691 

Dudley, Dud, 589 

Dudley, Edmund, 280, 699 

Dudley, Guildford, 355, 360, 
361 

Dudley, John, successively 
Earl of Warwick and 
Duke of Northumberland, 
351; assumes control of 
the Council, 353 ; Prot- 
estant zeal of, 353 ; 
makes himself Duke of 
Northumberland, 354; his 
plot, 355 ; its failure and 
his execution, 358 

Dudley, Robert, Earl of 
Leicester, 353, 370, 375, 
39i, 397, 398, 415 

Dueling, 600, 902 

Dufferin, Lord, 1014 

Duffy, Charles Gavan, 944 

Duke of Britain, the, 20 

Dumouriez, treason of, 832 

Dunbar, the battle of, 512, 
513 

Duncan, Admiral, mutiny 
in fleet of, 837, 838 

Dundas', Admiral, 961 

Dundee', Viscount, see Gra- 
ham, John 

Dunkirk, acquired by Crom- 
well, 520; sold to France, 
540, 544 ; to be razed, 670 

Dunning attacks power of 
George III, 773 

Dunstan, St., early life and 
character, 48 ; Abbot of 
Glastonbury, share in 
monastic and educational 
reform, adviser of Edred, 
banishment under Edwig, 
49 ; recall by Edgar, 49, 
50; made Archbishop of 
Canterbury, decline of in- 
fluence under jEthelred, 51 

Dunraven, Lord, 1074 

Dunwich, borough of, gio 

Dupleix, 721 

Duquesne, Fort, 722 



INDEX 



1113 



Duquesne, Marquis, Gover- 
nor of Canada, 722 

Durham, Bishop of, Rus- 
sell's letter to the, 953 

Durham, palatinate of, 79 

Durham, Lord, influenced by 
Bentham, go7 ; in Grey's 
Ministry, 000 ; presides 
over committee to draft 
Reform Bill, 915; mis- 
sion of, to Canada, 931, 
932; the "Report" of, 
932, 1065 

Dutch, the, as trade rivals 
of the English, 410, 591 ; 
the carrying trade of, in 
the reign of Charles I, 466 ; 
send auxiliaries in 1715 
and 1745, 711, 712; 
French violate treaty 
rights of, 829 

Dutch Wars, the first, 514, 
519; the second, 540- 
543 ; the third, 552, 553 

Duties, Gladstone's reduc- 
tion of, 959 ; Gladstone 
raises, to fight Russia, 
961 ; Gladstone repeals, 
on paper, 977 

Dynamiters, the Fenian, 
1012 

Dynamo, the, 1052, 1055 

Dykevelt, his mission to 
England, 577, 578 

E 

Eadgar the ^Etheling, 58, 76, 
77, 78 

Ealdhelm, St. Aldhelm, 
Abbot of Malmesbury, 37 

Ealdorman, the, 44, 50, 51, 
67 ; see also Earl 

Earls, Anglo-Saxon, 69 ; 
power of, broken by Wil- 
liam I, 78; rising of the 
Norman, ib. 

East Africa Company, the 
British, 1029 

East Anglian Hills, 4 

Eastern Association, the 
army of the, 489 

East Florida, 781 

East India Company, the 
Dutch, 411 ; the English, 
founding of the, 411, 413 ; 
purchase of pepper from, 
472; the new General 
Society, 636; its union 



with the old company, ib. ; 
growth of, 720, 721 ; 
North's attempt to assist, 
764 ; organization of, 809 ; 
Parliament investigates, 
809,811; North's Regu- 
lating act, 809, 810 ; 
Pitt's Bill to regulate, 
815 ; charter of, renewed, 
918; monopoly of China 
trade held by, 948; ex- 
tends control in India, 
g66, el seq. ; monopoly 
for trading removed, 967 ; 
powers of, transferred to 
the Crown, 973-974; the 
French, 720, 736 

East Indian laborers, in 
South Africa, 1081 

Eastland Company, the, 413 

East Saxons, the, conquest 
of London by, 29 

Ecclesiastical Commission, 
the, corrects abuses in 
Church of England, 925 

Ecclesiastical Commission, 
the court of, 572, 577, 
582-586 

Ecclesiastical jurisdiction 
under William I and 
Stephen, 109 ; under 
Henry II, 109-112; in 
the Tudor period, 402 

Ecclesiastical Polity, Hook- 
er's, 390, 420 

Ecclesiastical Reservations, 
the, 442 

Ecclesiastical Titles Bill, 
the, 954, 985 

Economic theory, in the 
seventeenth century, 605 ; 
in the eighteenth century, 
795, 79°; i n the early 
nineteenth century, 895, 
896; in the Victorian 
period, 1049 

Edgar, the Peaceful, Anglo- 
Saxon King, 49 ; the high- 
water mark of royal 
supremacy in the Anglo- 
Saxon period, 49, 50 

Edgehill, battle of, 489, 490 

Edgeworth, Maria, 899 

Edict of Nantes, the, 397 ; 
revoked, 570 

Edinburgh, 54 ; represen- 
tation in Parliament be- 
fore first Reform Bill, 
912; the treaty of, 374 



"Edinburgh Letter," the, 
945 

Edinburgh Review, the, 900, 
908, 1043 

Edmund, Anglo-Saxon King, 
48 

Edmund Ironside, Anglo- 
Saxon King, 53 

Edmund (Crouchback), 

younger son of Henry VII, 
152, 156, 171, 174 

Edmund, Earl of Kent, 189 

Edmund of Lancaster, 240 

Edmund Rich, Archbishop 
of Canterbury, 150, 151 

Edred, Anglo-Saxon King, 
48 

Education, in the fifteenth 
century, 291 ; under 
Henry VIII, 344 ; foun- 
dations of Edward VI, 
for, 356; in the seven- 
teenth century, 594 ; re- 
form of, in 1870, 995-996 
and notes 

Education Bill, the, of 1870, 
996; of 1902, 1074; of 
1906, 1077; of 1908, ib. 

Edward the Elder, 46; his 
reconquest of the Dane- 
lagh, 47 ; relations with 
the Scots, ib. 

Edward "The Martyr," 51 

Edward the Confessor, King 
of the Anglo-Saxons, his 
holiness, his fondness for 
Normans, 55 ; declares 
William of Normandy his 
heir, reaction against his 
Norman favorites, 57; 
his death, 58 

Edward I, King of England, 
as Prince, 133 ; allied 
with Simon de Montfort, 
154; joins the King, ib. ; 
hostage after Lewes and 
escape, 155; victory at 
Evesham, ib. ; lessons 
learned from de Mont- 
fort, 156; goes on Cru- 
sade, ib., 158; accession 
and character, 166, 167; 
military policy, 167 ; as 
a lawgiver and adminis- 
trative organizer, 167, 
168; conquest of Wales, 
168-169; wars with Scot- 
land and France, 169-172 ; 
summons Model Parlia- 



iii4 



INDEX 



ment, 173, 174; conflicts 
with his subjects, 174, 
175 ; expedition against 
Flanders, 175; confirms 
the Charters, 175, 176; 
peace with France, 176, 
177; last campaign 
against Scotland, 177 ; his 
quo warranto inquiries 
and statutes, 178-181; 
expulsion of the Jews, 179, 
180; significance of reign 
of, 181 ; trade regulations 
of, 211, 212; asserts 
sovereignty of the seas, 
213 

Edward II, King of England, 
appointed Regent, 175; 
accession and character, 
181, 182; conflicts with 
the barons, 182-185; in- 
vasion of Scotland and 
repulse at Bannockburn, 
184; culmination of mis- 
rule, 185; overthrow and 
imprisonment, 185, 186; 
deposition and death, 186, 
187 

Edward III, King of Eng- 
land, proclaimed guar- 
dian of the realm, 186; 
chosen King, ib. ; years of 
minority, 189; marries 
Philippa of Hainault, ib. ; 
assumes the government, 
189, 190; his character, 
190 ; sends expedition 
against Scotland, 190, 
191 ; assumes title of 
King of France, 191 ; 
alliances abroad, 192 ; 
expeditions against Flan- 
ders and France at the 
opening of the Hundred 
Years' War, 192, 193 ; 
concessions to Parliament, 
193, 194; truce with 
France, 194; victor at 
Crecy, 195, ig6; besieges 
and captures Calais, 197; 
ceases to take active part 
in the war, ib. ; troubles 
with subjects, 198, 203; 
makes Black Prince ruler 
of Gascony, 204; declin- 
ing capacity of, 205 ; his 
death, 208, 209 ; secures 
sovereignty of the seas, 
213 



Edward, Earl of March, later 
Duke of York and King 
of England, 242, 261 ; 
exile and return, 261, 262 ; 
defeat at St. Albans, 263 ; 
but occupies London and 
declared King, 264; see 
Edward IV 

Edward IV, victory at 
Towton, 265 ; character 
of, 265, 266 ; marries 
Elizabeth Woodville, 266 ; 
estrangement from War- 
wick, 266, 267 ; taken 
prisoner, 267 ; driven out 
of England, 268; returns 
and gains victories at 
Tewkesbury and Barnet, 
268, 269 ; ruthlessness 
and exactions, 269, 270; 
expedition to France and 
treaty of Pecquiny, 270; 
execution of Clarence, 

270, 271; last years of, 

271, 272; his death, 272; 
moneys promised to, 282 

Edward V, 272, 273 

Edward, Prince, son of 
Henry VIII, birth of, 
331 ; proposed marriage 
of, to Mary, Queen of 
Scots, 334, 344; see 
Edward VI 

Edward VI, situation at 
accession of, 348; death 
and character of, 355, 356 

Edward VII, King of Great 
Britain and Ireland, Em- 
peror of India, accession 
and character of, 107 1, 
1072 ; coronation of, 
1072; as an advocate of 
peace, 1075 ; appoints Mr. 
Asquith Prime Minister, 
1077 ; his death, 1080 

Edward, the Black Prince, 
his birth, 189; at Crecy, 
195, 196; victory of, at 
Poitiers, 202, 203 ; niler 
of Guyenne, 204 ; in- 
volved in war with Spain, 
ib. ; loses ground in France, 
205, 206 ; leads opposition 
against the court party, 
206 ; his death, 207 ; his 
use of cannon, 218 

Edward, Prince of Wales, 
son of Henry VI, 260, 267- 
269 



Edward, Earl of Warwick, 
nephew of Edward IV, 
279, 280 

Edwig, Anglo-Saxon King, 
49 

Edwin, Northumbrian King, 
supremacy and overthrow, 
34 

Ed wine, Earl of Mercia, 58, 
59. 76, 77 

Egbert, establishes the West 
Saxon supremacy, 41 

Egmont, Count, 381 

Egypt, Napoleon's expedi- 
tion to, 618; Napoleon's 
campaign in, 844, 845 ; 
French forces abandon, 
847; provision for, in 
treaty of Amiens, 848; 
Anglo-French dual con- 
trol in, 1002, 1003, 1013, 
1014; revolution in, and 
the beginning of the 
British occupation, 1013- 
1016; the transformation 
of, 1016; government of, 
1064; the English in, 
1075 ; see Suez Canal 

Eighteenth century, leading 
characteristics of, 614 

Eikon Basilike, the, 507 

Ejectors, the, 518 

Elba, Napoleon at, 859; 
Napoleon escapes from, 
862 

Eldon, Lord Chancellor, 868, 
878, 881 

El Dorado, 412 

Eleanor of Aquitaine, Queen 
of Henry II, 103, 113, 135 

Eleanor of Provence, Queen 
of Henry III, 150, 173, 
181 

Eleanor of Castile, Queen of 
Edward I, 166 

Elections, Grenville Act to 
settle disputed, 761 ; the 
Clare, 881 ; bribery in, 
before first Reform Bill, 
911-912 and notes 

Elective ministers, baronial 
demand for, 151 

Electoral Hesse, Prussia in- 
corporates, g88 

Elector of Bavaria, the, see 
Max Emanuel 

Electrical inventions and 
appliances, 1054, 1055 

Electricity, 1052 



INDEX 



i"5 



Elgar, Sir Edward, 1057 

Elgin, Lord, and army re- 
form, 1 173 

Elgin sculptures, the, 1050 

Eliot, Sir John, 437, 454, 
455 ; his Resolutions, 459 ; 
his imprisonment and 
death, 460; his political 
views, 466 

Eliot, George, see Evans, 
Mary Ann 

Eliott, General, defends Gib- 
raltar against Spain, 772 

Elizabeth, Princess, later 
Queen of England, birth 
of, 318; declared illegiti- 
mate, 325 ; later placed in 
the line of succession, 355 ; 
Thomas Seymour aims to 
marry, 352 ; charged with 
complicity in Wyatt's Re- 
bellion, 360, 361 ; acces- 
sion and character, 369, 
370; her courtships, 370; 
her favorites and coun- 
cilors, 370, 371; her 
problems and policy, 371, 
372; makes peace with 
France, 372 ; her religious 
settlement, 372-374; her 
Scotch policy and rela- 
tions to Mary, Queen of 
Scots, 374-377 ; policy of, 
towards the Catholics, 
378, 379; aid to the 
Huguenots, 378; bull of 
excommunication against, 
382 ; Anjou marriage proj- 
ect, 384 ; Alencon mar- 
riage project, 386 ; plots 
against, 386-388 ; atti- 
tude of, toward the Protes- 
tant extremists, 389; in- 
tervention of, in the 
Netherlands, 390, 391 ; 
her support of the English 
seamen against Spain, 
392, 393 ; her part in the 
execution of Mary, 393, 
394; her part in repuls- 
ing the Armada, 394- 
397 ; final struggle with 
Philip II, 397, 398; de- 
clining years and death of, 
398, 399 ; strength and 
weakness of her monarchy, 
401 ; Poor Laws of, 415; 
progresses of, ib. 

Elizabeth of York, later 



Queen of Henry VII, 272 ; 
274, 279, 283 
Elizabeth, Princess (later 
Countess Palatine), 432, 

437 

Elizabeth Farnese, Queen of 
Spain, 684-686 

Elizabethan settlement, the, 
372 

Ellenborough (el'lenboro), 
Lord, Chief Justice, 851 

Ellenborough, Lord, Gover- 
nor-General of India, 968; 
his India Bill, 973, 974 

Elphinstone, General, 968 

Ely, the monks of, 55, 77, 

131 

Elyot, Sir Thomas, 344, 345 

Embargo, the American, of 
1807, 860 

Emigration, 1064, 1065 

Emma, Queen of ^Ethelred, 
and, later, of Cnut, 53 

Emmet, Robert, 844 

Empire, Holy Roman, the, 
end of, 851 ; Colonial, 
British, aspirations for, 
in early nineteenth cen- 
tury, g28 ; the League of 
the, 1069 ; see British Em- 
pire 

Empire Day, 1073 

Employer's Liability Act, 
the, 1009 

Empson, Sir Richard, 280, 
699 

Enclosures, beginning of, 
216; laws against, in the 
fifteenth century, 284 ; 
aided by the Reformation, 
329; Henry VIII tries to 
check, 341 ; Somerset op- 
poses, 350; legalized, 353 ; 
laws against, under Eliza- 
beth, 409 ; in the seven- 
teenth century, 591, 593; 
in the eighteenth and 
early nineteenth centu- 
ries, 789-791, 894 

Encumbered Estates Act, 
the, 951, 994 

Encyclopedists, the, 604, 823 

Engagement, the, 505 

Engagers, the, 513 

England, area of, 1 ; pro- 
ductiveness of, 7 ; origin 
of the name, 29; under 
the Anglo-Norman Kings, 
84-90 ; at the close of the 



twelfth century, 84-92 ; 
laid under an interdict, 
137 ; invaded by Louis of 
France, 145; expulsion of 
French from 147, 148; 
conditions in, in the thir- 
teenth century, 157-165; 
magnificence of, after 
Cr6cy, 197-198; causesfor 
popular discontent in, 198; 
Black Death in, 198; 
turning of the tide against, 
in the Hundred Years' 
War, 204-206 ; increasing 
discontent in, 206 ; life in, 
under the first three Ed- 
wards, 210-229; popula- 
tion of, in the fourteenth 
century, 216; becomes a 
national state, 228, 229; 
condition of, in the fif- 
teenth century, 283-291 ; 
population of, in the fif- 
teenth century, 286, 287 ; 
condition of, under Henry 
VIII, 338-346 ; popula- 
tion of, under Henry VII 
and Henry VIII, 341 ; 
development of sea power 
of, 391-393 ; condition of, 
under Elizabeth, 401-425 ; 
conditions of, in the 
seventeenth century, 588- 
612; population of, during 
the Restoration, 596 ; ex- 
pansion of, in the eight- 
eenth century, 617-619; 
material character of, 
under the first two 
Georges, 694 ; revival of 
sea power of, 1782, 778; 
conditions in, in the eight- 
eenth century, 783-806; 
commercial union of, with 
France, 817; effects of 
French Revolution on, 
822, 823 ; favorable con- 
ditions in, as compared 
with France at end of 
eighteenth century, 823, 
824; reception of French 
Revolution in, 824, 825 ; 
debt of, at end of Napo- 
leonic wars, 831 ; suffer- 
ing in, in 1795, 834, 835; 
descent on, from France, 
in 1797, fails, 836; criti- 
cal condition of, in 1796- 
1797, 835, 836; suffering 



iii6 



INDEX 



in 1799 in, 846; Napo- 
leon's proposed invasion 
of, 850; industrial dis- 
turbances in, in 181 1- 
1812, 856; conditions in, 
1815-1830, 867, 868; at 
the eve of the Reform Bill, 
892-904 ; financial crisis 
of 1825 in, 877 ; effect of 
July Revolution in, 890; 
social effects of French 
Revolution in, 901-902 ; 
conditions in, at Victoria's 
accession, 927 ; discon- 
tent of working classes of, 
in Victoria's early years, 
937-941 ; threatened with 
financial crisis in 1836, 
941 ; potato famine in, 
944; relation of, to the 
Franco-Prussian War, 
1000 ; local government 
in, 1022, 1024; popula- 
tion and wealth of, in the 
nineteenth century, 1058; 
condition of, in the Vic- 
torian Age, 1039-1065 

English, language of law 
courts, 201 ; first used in 
court proceedings, 699 

English Channel, shoalness 
of, 5 

Englishry, presentment of, 81 

Enniskillen, 624, 625, 1087 

Entails, 179 

Entente cordiale, the, 1074- 
1076; the triple, 1075 

Enumerated goods, 747 

Episcopacy in Scotland, 435 

Episcopal elections, 96, 122, 
137. M9. 14 1 . 402; see 
also Bishops 

Epsom, 602 

Erasmus, 304-306 ; as an 
educational reformer, 344 

Erie, Lake, Perry's victory 
on, in 1813, 861 

Ernest Augustus, Duke of 
Cumberland, gets Han- 
over upon accession of 
Victoria, 929 

Erse language, 14 

Erskine, John, Earl of Mar, 
679-681 

Escheats, 85 

Eskimos, traces of, in Brit- 
ain, 12 

Essays and Reviews, the, 
1042 



Essay on Man, Pope's, 801 

Essay on Woman, the, 745, 
746 

Essay on Population, Mal- 
thus', 895-896 

Essayists, British, of late 
eighteenth and early nine- 
teenth centuries, 899-900 

Essex, Earls of, see Devereux, 
Robert, and Capel, Arthur 

Estates General, French, 
meeting of, at Versailles, 

, 789, 824 

Etaples, Peace of, 282 

Ethandun, battle of, 43 

Ethelfleda, the Lady of the 
Mercians, 46 

Ethelwold, the "Father of 
the Monks," 49 

Etheredge, Sir George, 610 

Eugene, Prince, 653, 655, 
656, 659, 663, 664, 665, 
670 

Eugenie, Empress, 1002 

Euphuism, 419 

Eustace, brother-in-law of 
Edward the Confessor, 56 ; 
son of Stephen, 104 

Evangelicals, the, 1039, 
1040, 1 04 1 

Evans, Mary Ann, 1047, 
1048, 1049 

Evelyn, John, 572 

Evesham, battle of, 155 

Evolution, the doctrine of, 
1050, 1 05 1 

Ewart, Sir John, 1089 

Exchequer, the, 98, 117, 127 

Exchequer, the Stop of the, 
550, 637 

Exchequer bills, 832, 963 

Exchequer Chamber, Court 
of, 406 ; decision of, in the 
Bate case, 434 ; decision 
of, in the Cavin case, 435 

Exchequer Court, see Com- 
mon Law Courts 

Excise, Walpole's, 699, 700; 
Dr. Johnson's definition 
of the term, 699 

Exclusion, bills against 
James, 560, 561 ; struggle, 
beginning of the, 555; 
of the Ulster counties 
proposed, 1087, 1089 

Excommunication, of John, 
137; of Henry VIII, 318 

Exeter, Duke of, 252 

Exeter, Marquis of, 332 



Exhibition, the great indus- 
trial, of 1 85 1, 954, 955 

Ex-officio oath, 431 

Exploration under the 
Tudors, 409-411 

Exports, British, 6 ; under 
James I, 589 ; increase in 
British, in 1824, 876 

Export duties, Peel abolishes, 
942 

Eye, the witch of, 257 

Eyre, the, of 1194, 124 

Eyre, John, suppresses insur- 
rection in Jamaica, 983 



Fabian Society, the, 1063 
Factory Act, the, of 1802, 

920; of 1833, 918, 920, 

921, 938; of 1843-1844, 

942, 943 
Factory Acts, the, since 

1878, 1060 
Factory System, Arkwright 

founder of, 785 ; use of 

steam in the development 

of, 788; results of, 788, 

789 
Faerie Quecne, the, 422, 607 
Fagel, Grand Pensionary, 

577 
Fairf ax.Thomas, commander 

of the parliamentary army, 

490, 502, 506, 507, 512 
Fairfax, Lady, 507 
Fairs, 130, 131, 163, 806 
Falaise, 113 
Falkirk, battle of, 176 
Falkland, Lord, 476, 603 
Family Compact, the first, 

703 ; the second, 708 ; 

the third, 742 
Famine, the cotton, 979 
Famines, in the thirteenth 

century, 165; in the 

fourteenth century, 220 
"Fantastic School," the, of 

English poetry, 607 
Faraday, Michael, 1052 
" Farmer George," 739 ; see 

George III 
Faro banks, 902 
Farquhar, George, 610, 611 
Fashoda incident, the, 1015, 

1016 
Faulkes de Breaute, 148 
Fawkes, Guy, 432 
Federation, Imperial, 106ft 






INDEX 



1117 



1081 ; of the United King- 
doms, suggested, 1088, 
1080, 
Felony, prisoners on trial 

for, to have counsel, 925 
Felton, John, 458 
Fen'ians, 991-003 ; con- 
trasted with the Home 
Rulers, 1010 
Fens, the draining of the, 592 
Fenwick (fen'ick), Sir John, 

634, 63s 
Feorum fultum, 68 
Ferdinand of Aragon, 281, 

282, 295, 296, 298, 299 
Ferdinand VI, King of 

Spain, 684, 716 
Ferdinand VII of Spain, 

853, 884, 889 
Ferdinand II, German Em- 
peror, 442 
Ferdinand, Austrian Em- 
peror, abdication of, 952 
Ferdinand of Brunswick, 

Prince, 730, 733, 736 
Ferdinand of Naples, 884 
Ferguson, Robert (the 

"Plotter"), 568 
Feud, the, 65 
Feudal dues, 404 
Feudal grievances under 

John, 140 
Feudal incidents, gi, 433 
Feudal system, the, abol- 
ished, 533 
Feudalism, elements of, in 
Anglo-Saxon times, 84 ; 
Anglo-Norman, ib. ; inci- 
dents afid other obliga- 
tions, 85 
Field, Cyrus, 1054 
Field deputies, the Dutch, 

6 54. 657, 663, 664, 667 
Field of Cloth of Gold, the, 

299 
Fielding, Henry, 799-800 
Fifth monarchy men, 501 ; 

rising of, 535 
Filmer, Sir Robert, 604, 605 
Finch, Daniel, Earl of 
Nottingham, 583, 620, 
621, 641, 668, 669, 676 
Finch, John, Chief Justice 
of the Common Pleas, 
467, 468 
Fining of Juries, abolished, 

529 
Finnsburg, Battle of, 71 
Firearms, 263 



Fire of London, the, 543 
Firma burghi, 129 
First fruits, see Annates 
First Fruits, Court of, 406 
Fisher, John, Bishop of 

Rochester, 319, 321 
Fishguard Bay, French ex- 
pedition lands at, 835 
Fitch, Ralph, 410, 411 
Fitzgerald, Gerald, eighth 
Earl of Kildare, 281, 335 ; 
Gerald, ninth earl, ib. 
Fitzgerald, William Judkin, 

841 
Fitzgerald, Vesey, 881 
Fitzgibbon, John, Earl of 
Clare, Irish Lord Chancel- 
lor, 838, 842 
Fitzherbert, Mrs., 820, 821, 

872 
Fitzmorris, James, 386 
Fitzwilliam, Lord, Lord 
Lieutenant of Ireland, 839, 
840 
Five Articles of Perth, the, 

467, 470 
Five Boroughs, the Danish, 

46 
Five knights' case, the, 456 
Five Mile Act, the, 538, 539 
Flagellants, Brotherhood of 

the, 199 
Flambard, see Ranulf 
Flanders, expedition of Ed- 
ward I against, 175 ; a 
factor in the Hundred 
Years' War, 192 ; inva- 
sion of, ig2, 193 ; crusade 
against, 235 ; invaded by 
Henry VIII, 15 13, 296 
Fleet marriages, the, 719 
Fleetwood, General, 526 
Flemish weavers, migrations 

of, 214 
Fleury, Cardinal, Bishop of 

Frejus, 692, 703, 708 
Fleurus, battle of, 625 
Flodden, battle of, 296 
Flogging, illegal for women, 

903 
Flood, Henry, 777 
Florida Treaty, the, of 

1 81 9, 949 
Florio, John, 418 
"Flying Coach," the, 593 
Flying shuttle, the, invention 

of, 785 
Folk, the, see Tribe 
Folkmoot, the, 66 



Fontainebleau, Treaty of, 

708 
Fontenoy, the battle of, 709 
Food, English, in the four- 
teenth century, 217; in 
the fifteenth century, 284 ; 
in the Restoration period, 
602 
Forbes, Brigadier, 729 
Forced loans, see Loans 
Foreign Enlistment Act, the, 

1001 
Foreign policy, British, char- 
acter of, at Victoria's 
accession, 927-928 
Forest fines, declared illegal, 

480 
Forest, Friar, 329 
Forests, under Cnut, William 
I, 81 ; under Henry II, 
118; under John, 138; 
concessions regarding, in 
Magna Carta, 144 ; charter 
of, 148, 154, 176; en- 
croachments on the, by 
Charles I, 461 
Forfeiture, 85 

Forgery, death penalty re- 
sumed for certain classes 
of, 904 
Forster, Thomas, 680, 681 
Forster, W. E., 995, 996 
Fortescue, Sir John, 290 
"Forwards," the, 1080 
Foucault and Staite, 1055 
Fountains Abbey, 99 
Four Days' Battle, the, 542 
Fox, Charles James, 529, 
776; character of, 779; 
attitude of, towards the 
Americans after the Revo- 
lution, 780; joins North 
in attack on Shelburne, 
808; Secretary of State, 
ib. ; India Bill of, 811, 
812; attack on Pitt, 812, 
813 ; breach between, 
and Prince of Wales, 820, 
821 ; Pitt thwarts, on 
Regency question, 821, 
822 ; attitude towards 
French Revolution, 825 ; 
estrangement between 
Burke and, 825, 826; 
political breach between, 
and Grenville, healed, 
850 ; made Foreign Secre- 
tary, 851 ; death of, 851 ; 
dress of, 901 



iii8 



INDEX 



Fox, George, 524 

Fox, Henry (later Lord 
Holland, 719, 720, 723, 
725. 730, 742, 779 

Fox, Libel Act of, 762 

Foxe, John, 420, 421 

Foxe, Richard, Bishop of 
Winchester, 280 

Fragment on Government, 
Bentham's, 906 

France, war with Edward I, 
169-172; peace with, 176 ; 
Edward assumes title of 
King of, 190; Hundred 
Years' War with, ib. ; 
causes, 191, 192; cam- 
paigns, 1338-1340, 192, 
ig3; truce, 194; cam- 
paign of 1346, 194-196; 
siege and capture of 
Calais, 197 ; attempt to 
recover, 202 ; campaign 
of battle of Poitiers, 202, 
203 ; sufferings and dis- 
order in, 203 ; Peace of 
Bretigny, ib. ; turning of 
the tide against England, 
204-206 ; course of the 
war under Richard II, 
23s, 243 ; war reopened 
by Henry V, 248-250; 
three invasions of, by 
Henry V, 250— 252 ; treaty 
of Troyes, 251; siege of 
Orleans and relief of, by 
Jeanne d'Arc, 255 ; Eng- 
land loses ground in, 257 ; 
end of Hundred Years' 
War, 260 ; treaty between 
Louis XI and Edward IV, 
267 ; between Louis XI 
and Charles of Burgundy, 
ib. ; Edward's expedition 
to, 270; relations with 
Henry VII, 280, 281; 
alliance with Henry VIII, 
296 ; meeting of Francis I 
of, with Henry VIII, 299, 
300; invasion of, by 
Surrey, 300 ; expedition 
of Suffolk against, 300 ; 
Henry VIII signs a truce 
with, 301 ; renewal of 
war with Henry VIII, 
334 ; relations with, under 
Somerset, 352; War- 
wick's treaty with, 353 ; 
war with, under Mary, 
recovers Calais, 364, 365 ; 



Elizabeth makes peace 
with, 372; marriage 
treaty with, 447 ; war 
with, under Charles I, 
455 ; Peace of Susa with, 
460; refuses to aid 
Charles I, 488; Crom- 
well's alliance with, 520, 
521 ; Charles II's alliance 
with, 536 ; he draws closer 
to, 540 ; treaty of Dover 
with, 549-550; relations 
of James II with, 570, 571 ; 
influence of, on the Res- 
toration drama, 610; sig- 
nificance of the wars with, 
in the eighteenth century, 
618; alliance of William 
III against, 629, 630; 
King William's War with, 
629-636 passim; Peace 
of Ryswick with, 636; 
see Spanish Succession, 
War of the ; Peace of 
Utrecht with, 670, 671 ; 
commercial treaty with, 
defeated, 672 ; see Triple 
Alliance, the, of 17 16; 
becomes a principal in the 
War of the Austrian Suc- 
cession, 708 ; declares 
war on England, 709 ; 
see Aix-la-Chapelle, the 
Peace of (1748) ; see 
Seven Years' War, the ; 
see Paris, the Peace of, 
743 ; joins the United 
States against England, 
770, 771 ; initiates the 
Armed Neutrality of 1778, 
774 ; peace concluded 
with England, 1783, 781 ; 
commercial union of, with 
England, 817; Burke on 
intervention in revolu- 
tionary, 826 ; Triple Alli- 
ance of 1781 against, 826, 
827 ; aggressive in Nether- 
lands, 828; Pitt's effort 
to avoid intervention in 
revolutionary, ib. ; for- 
eign intervention in rev- 
olutionary, 829; declares 
war on Great Britain, 
!793. 830; prepares to 
invade Holland, ib. ; First 
Coalition against revolu- 
tionary, 832-834; Peace 
of Basel concluded with, 



834; aims at ruin 01 
England's trade, 835 ; 
Directory rejects English 
peace proposals in I7g6, 
ib. ; expedition to Ire- 
land from, 835, 836; 
failure of expedition to 
England from, in 1797, 
836; conditions in, in 
1796-1797, 837; end of 
war of First Coalition 
against, 837, 838; Wolfe 
Tone seeks aid for Ire- 
land from, 840; expedi- 
tions to Ireland from, in 
1798, 841 ; war of Second 
Coalition against, 845- 
846 ; Napoleon becomes 
First Consul of, 846; 
gains of, after Luneville, 
847 ; Louisiana receded 
to, ib. ; signs Peace of 
Amiens, 841 ; Great Brit- 
ain declares war on, 
March, 1803, 849, 850; 
war of Third Coalition 
against, 850, 851 ; na- 
tional risings against, in 
1813, 850; American 
Non-intercourse Act 

against, 860; signs first 
Treaty of Paris, 861-862 ; 
boundaries of, as deter- 
mined at Vienna, 865 ; 
intervenes in Spain in 
1820, 884-885; Revolu- 
tion of 1830 in, 889; 
attitude of, toward Bel- 
gian Revolution, 890 ; July 
Revolution in, stimulates 
parliamentary reform in 
England, 908 ; strained 
relations of, with England 
over Spanish marriages, 
949 ; troops from, restore 
Pope in Revolution of 
1848, 951 ; nears war with 
England over Don Pacifico 
case, 955-956 ; in the 
Crimean War, 959-964 ; 
joins England against 
China in 1856, 966; 
antagonizes England by 
her attitude towards Or- 
sini's Conspiracy, 974- 
975 ; assists in Italian uni- 
fication, 975-976; Napo- 
leon III proposes media- 
tion in American Civil 






INDEX 



IIIQ 



War by Russia, England, 
and, 979; England es- 
tranged by Palmerston 
from, 988; in China, 
1029 ; in South Africa, 
1032; relations with, 
under Edward VII, 1072, 
1074, 1075; see Morocco; 
see Fashoda; see Entente 
cordiale 

France, Isle de, 721 

Franchise, county, by law 
of 1430, 285 ; restricted, 
before first Reform Bill, 
909 ; the borough and 
county, before first Re- 
form Bill, 910-912; in 
Scotland and Ireland be- 
fore first Reform Bill, 
gi2 note, 913; under 
Reform Bill of 1832, 916 ; 
state of, in 1865-1866, 
984 ; extension of, by Bill 
of 1867, 986-987 ; ex- 
tension of, by the Act of 
1884; the, in the South 
African Republic, 1033 

Franchise Bill of 191 2, 1087, 
1088 

Francis I, King of France, 
298, 299, 301, 317, 333, 
35i 

Francis II, King of France, 
374. 375 

Francis, successively Duke 
of Lorraine, Grand Duke 
of Tuscany, and Emperor 
of Germany, 700, 704, 708, 
710 

Francis II, becomes Emperor 
of Austria and the Holy 
Roman Empire ceases to 
exist, 851, and note 

Francis Joseph, Austrian 
Emperor, 952, 976 

Francis, St., 157-159, 308 

Francis, Sir Philip, 759 

Franciscan friars, the, 131, 
I57-IS9 

Franco-Austrian War, the, 
975-976 

Franco-Prussian War, the, 
1000, 1001 

Franking, abuse of, 816, 
936, 937 

Franklin, Benjamin, 749, 
752, 758, 763. 77o, 780; 
his experiments with elec- 
tricity, 792 



Franks, piratical invasions 

of, against Britain, 20 
Fraser, Simon, Lord Lovat, 

7i4 

Frederick Barbarossa, Em- 
peror, no, 122 

Frederick I, King of Prussia, 
656 

Frederick II (the Great), 
King of Prussia, 676 ; his 
character and aims, 704, 
7°5. 707, 710; allies with 
England in the Seven 
Years' War, 724; see 
Silesian War, the third ; 
breaks with England, 743, 
744; joins the Armed 
Neutrality of 1778, 774; 
Carlyle's History of, 1044 

Frederick VII, King of 
Denmark, 980 

Frederick, Prince of Wales, 
697, 701, 709, 718, 739 

Frederick V, Count Pala- 
tine, 442, 443, 437 

Frederick Augustus, Duke 
of York, 845, 881 

Frederick of Augustenburg, 
980 

Frederick William II, 829 

Frederick William III, 851, 
852, 859 

Free Church of Scotland, 
1042 

Freedom of speech, 586 

Freeholders, the forty shil- 
ling, 285, 912, 916 

Freeman, Edward Augustus, 
1004 

Freeman, Mrs., see Jennings, 
Sarah 

Free trade, agitation to 
secure centers at Man- 
chester, 940-941 ; Peel 
furthers growth of, 941, 
942 ; Peel's conversion 
to, 944-946 

Free United Presbyterian 
Church, 1043 

French, General, 1035, 1089 

Frere, Sir Bartle, 1030, 
103 1 

Friars, Franciscan, 131, 157- 
159, 219; proceedings 
against, under Henry 
VIII, 319, 320; orders of, 
328 

Friends of the People, 
society of, organized to 



promote parliamentary re- 
form, 907, and note 

Friendly societies, 1060, 1061 

Frith, John, 317 

Fro'bisher, Martin, 411 

Froissart, Jean, chronicler, 
196, 223 

Frost, John, 939 

Fry, Elizabeth, 1059 

Fulk the Good, of Anjou, 

145 
Fuller, Thomas, 603 
Fulton, Robert, 893-894 



Gadarn, Darvell, 329 

Gaels, 14 

Gage, General, 757, 768 

Gainsborough, battle of, 492 

Gainsborough, Thomas, 804 

Gallicanism, 570 

Galway, Earl of, see Ru- 

vigny, Henri de 
Galway, Queen's College 

established at, 944 
Gama, Vasco da, 411 
Gambling, in the seven- 
teenth century, 602 ; in 
the eighteenth century, 
806 
Game Laws, changes in, in 
early nineteenth century, 
903 
Games in the fourteenth cen- 
tury, 217, 218 
Gaol Acts, 1059 
Gardiner, Stephen, Bishop 
of Winchester, 348, 350, 
353, 358, 359, 360, 362 
Garibaldi, march of, 976 
Garrick, David, 802 
Garter, Order of the, 198 
Gascony, troubles in, 149; 
Henry Ill's expeditions 
to, 149, 151 ; de Mont- 
fort in, 152; expeditions 
against, in the reign of 
Edward I, 171, 172, 174, 
175, 177; hearth tax in, 
205 
Gaskell, Mrs., 1048 
Gaspee, affair of the, 763 
Gates, General, 770, 775 
Gatton, Borough of, 910 
Gauden, Dr. John (later 
Bishop of Worcester), 507 
Gaunt, Elizabeth, 569 
Gaunt, see John 



II20 



INDEX 



Gavelkind, 85 

Gaveston, Piers, 182, 183 

Gawayne and the Green 

Knight, 224 
General Assembly, the, 
of the Church of Scot- 
land, 366, 428; the Veto 
Act of, 1042 
General Staff, the, 1035 
General Warrants, 744, 745 
Geneva Award, the, 1001 
Geoffrey of Anjou, 96, 103 
Geoffrey, Count of Brittany, 
son of Henry II, 113, 114 
Geoffrey, Archbishop of 

York, 121, 141 
Geoffrey, Fitzpeter, 135, 140 
Geoffrey de Mandeville, 103 
Geoffrey of Monmouth, 89 
Geoffrey of Monmouth, 127 
George I, King of Great 
Britain, 437 ; ceases to 
attend Cabinet meetings, 
617; proclaimed, 674; 
his peaceful reception in 
England, 676; character 
and policy of, 676, 677 ; 
difficulties of, abroad and 
at home, 677, 678; rising 
of 1715 against, 670-681 ; 
his journeys to Hanover, 
681 , 682; arranges the 
Triple Alliance and dis- 
misses Townshend, 682, 
683 ; concludes the Quad- 
ruple Alliance, 684, 685 ; 
resentment against, 688; 
negotiates the Treaty of 
Hanover, or Herren- 
hausen, 692 ; his death, 
ib. ; material bases of his 
power, 693 
George, Prince (later 
George II, King of Great 
Britain), 676; made 
Guardian of the Realm 
and Lieutenant, 682 ; re- 
lations with his father, 
696 ; see George II 
George II, King of Great 
Britain, contributes to 
the growth of the Cabi- 
net, 617; as man and 
King, 696, 697 ; his 
quarrels with Frederick, 
701 ; in the campaign of 
Dettingen, 707, 708; 
vainly seeks to support 
Cartaret against the Pel- 



hams, 708, 709; forced 
to admit Pitt, 716; makes 
a treaty with Frederick 
the Great, 724; makes 
Pitt Secretary of State, 
725; dismisses Pitt, but 
obliged to recall him, 728; 
recalls the Duke of Cum- 
berland, 729; gives his 
confidence to Pitt, 734; 
death of, 737 ; robbed 
by thief, 806 
George III, King of Great 
Britain and Ireland, sig- 
nificance of his reign, 738 ; 
character and policy of, 
739-741 ; breaks up the 
combination of Pitt and 
Newcastle and brings 
about a peace, 742-744; 
his opposition to Wilkes, 
745 ; his support of the 
Grenville Programme, 746, 
749, 750; foresees the 
gravity of the American 
crisis, 752; his mental 
illness, 753 ; his dismissal 
of Grenville, ib. ; his 
opposition to the Rocking- 
ham Ministry, 754-756; 
commissions Pitt to form 
a ministry, 756 ; attacked 
in the Junius Letters, 759 ; 
makes Lord North Prime 
Minister, 759 ; share of, 
in government under 
North's Ministry, 760, 
761 ; Royal Marriage Act, 
762 ; Acts of, to coerce 
Massachusetts, 764; at- 
titude of England to- 
wards, regarding Ameri- 
can Revolution, 766 ; 
thwarts development of re- 
sponsible government, 771, 
772; his power attacked, 
773 ; curbs Gordon 
rioters, 773, 774; 

threatens to retire to 
Hanover, 776, 808; ap- 
points Shelburne Prime 
Minister, 780; his posi- 
tion in 1783, 781 ; blocks 
Fox's India Bill in House 
of Lords, 811, 812; dis- 
misses Coalition Ministry, 
812; breach between, 
and Prince of Wales, 820, 
821; insanity of, 821; 



obstinacy of, regarding 
concessions to Irish Cath- 
olics, 843, 844 ; peace 
letter from Napoleon to, 
846; blindness and in- 
sanity of, 856 ; death of, 
871 ; bribery in elections 
reaches height under, 911, 
and note 

George, Prince of Wales 
and Regent, his unpromis- 
ing youth, 740 ; his friend- 
ship for Fox, 808; mis- 
conduct of, 820, 821; 
question of Regency of, 
821, 822; becomes Re- 
gent, 856 ; his extrava- 
gance, 868 ; his carriage 
attacked, 869, 870 ; dress 
of, 901 ; see George IV 

George IV, King of Great 
Britain and Ireland, ac- 
cession of, 871—872; sep- 
aration of, from Queen 
Caroline, 872-873; op- 
poses Catholic Emanci- 
pation, 881-882 ; death 
of, 883 

George V, King of Great 
Britain and Ireland, and 
Emperor of India, birth 
of, 1072; assents to the 
creation of Peers, 1079 ; 
his accession and visits 
to various parts of his 
kingdom, 1080 

George, Duke of Clarence, 
265, 267, 268, 270, 271 

George of Denmark, con- 
sort of Queen Anne, 583, 
650, 653 _ 

George, King of Greece, 
888 

George, Prince, High Com- 
missioner of Crete, 1029 

George, David Lloyd, his 
socialistic legislation, 

1 06 1 ; becomes Chancellor 
of the Exchequer, 1077 ; 
his Budget, 1077, 1078; 
on the Parliament Bill 
conference, 1079 ; speech 
of, on the Morocco ques- 
tion, 1082 ; his Insurance 
Bill resisted, 1086 

Georgia, Oglethorpe's colony 
in, 805 

Georgiana, Duchess of Dev- 
onshire, 813 



INDEX 



II2I 



Gerald de Barri, see Giraldus 
Cambrensis 

Geraldines, see Fitzgerald, 
281 

Germain, Lord George, Co- 
lonial Secretary, 769 ; sec 
also Sackville 

German Confederation, the, 
and Schleswig-Holstein, 
980-981 

Germanic, the invasions of 
the Empire, 21 ; of 
Britain, 25 ff. 

"German Ministry," the, 
683 

German Unification, un- 
successful efforts towards, 
in 1848, 951-952 

Germans, their ancient re- 
ligion, 26 ; political or- 
ganization, ib. ; ranks, 
personal characteristics, 
28 ; causes of migration, ib. 

Germany, development of, 
causes England concern, 
928; revolution of 1848 
in, 951-952; in China, 
io2g ; concessions of, for 
Heligoland, 1032; rela- 
tions with, under Ed- 
ward VII, 1072, 1075; 
under George V, 1083 ; 
see Morocco 

Ghent, Treaty of, 861 

Gibbon, Edward, comment 
of, on the Gordon Riots, 
774 note; historical writ- 
ing of, 792-793 

Gibraltar, capture of, 656 ; 
ceded to the British, 671 ; 
negotiations concerning, 
691, 692 ; Spain attempts 
to recover, 772 ; Spanish 
siege of, raised, 778 

Gilbert, Sir Humphrey, 411, 
412 

Gilbert and Sullivan, 1057 

Gilds, origin and growth of, 
130; in the thirteenth 
century, 164; in the 
fourteenth century, 215; 
festival of, 224; regula- 
tions of, 231 ; in the 
fifteenth century, 287 ; 
under Henry VIII, 341 ; 
decline of, 413 ; in the 
seventeenth century, 598 ; 
as ancestors of Friendly 
Societies, 1060. 1061 



Gillray, James, caricatur- 
ist, 901 

Gin, Act to check drinking 
of, in 1736, 804 

Giraldus Cambrensis, 127, 
128 

Girton College, 1059 

Gladstone (glad'ston), Wil- 
liam E., enters Parlia- 
ment from Newark, 910; 
in Peel's second Ministry, 
941 ; in Coalition Minis- 
try, 950; early Budgets 
of, 959 ; financial policy 
of, to support Crimean 
War, 961, and note; ap- 
proves Cobden's com- 
mercial treaty with 
France, 976; in Palmer- 
ston's second Administra- 
tion, 976 ; in sympathy 
with South in American 
Civil War, 977 ; Liberal 
financial policy of, in 
i860, 977; able adminis- 
tration of Exchequer by, 
during American Civil 
War crisis, 979 ; leader 
of House of Commons, 
983 ; attitude toward 
compound householders, 
986 ; speeches by, further 
reform in 1866, 986; Dis- 
raeli on policy of, toward 
Victoria, 990 ; charac- 
ter and policy of, 990- 
991 ; first Ministry of, 
991-999 ; first Ministry 
of, foreign affairs, 1000- 
1001 ; temporarily with- 
draws from the Liberal 
leadership, 1002 ; de- 
nounces the Bulgarian 
atrocities, 1003, 1004; 
opposes Disraeli's Afghan 
policy, 1007 ; his Midlo- 
thian campaign, 1008, 
1009 ; second Ministry 
of, 1009-1017; his Land 
Act of 1881, 1011 ; his 
Franchise Bill of 1884, 
1885, 1012, 1013 ; his 
disastrous Egyptian policy 
and failure to relieve 
Gordon, 1013-1016; fall 
of his second Ministry, 
1016,1017; adopts Home 
Rule, 1 01 7; his third 
Ministry and the defeat 



of his first Home Rule 
Bill, 1018, 1019; re- 
pudiates Parnell, 1021 ; 
his Newcastle Programme, 
1023 ; his fourth Minis- 
try and the defeat of his 
second Home Rule Bill, 
1024 ; threatens the 
Lords, 1026 ; his resig- 
nation, ib. ; death of, 
1028; his disastrous South 
African policy, 1031 ; his 
High Churchmanship, 
1041 

Glamorgan, Earl of, 498 

Glanville, Ranulf de, Jus- 
ticiar, 113, 121; Treatise 
ascribed to him, 126, 127 

Glasgow, 8, 428; repre- 
sentation of, in Parlia- 
ment, before first Reform 
Bill, gi2 

Glastonbury, Abbey of, 22 

Glencoe, the Massacre of, 629 

Glendower, Owen, 243, 244, 
245 

Glenfinnan, 711 

"Glorious Revolution," the, 
see Revolution of 1688 

Gloucester, 22 

Gloucester, the Duke of, 
son of Anne, 643 ; see also 
Thomas of Woodstock, 
Humphrey, and Richard 

Gloucester, Statute of, 178 

Godfrey, Sir Edmund Bury, 
557 

Godolphin, Sidney, 583, 630, 
632, 635, 660, 662; his 
character and policy, 654, 
666 ; dismissed, 667 ; his 
death, 672 

Godoy, Spanish Minister, 
signs treaty with Napo- 
leon to divide Portugal, 
853 

Godwin, William, 899 

Godwine, Earl of Wessex, 
54 ; exile of, 56 ; return 
and death, 57 

Goidels, 14 

Gold, discovery of, in the 
Transvaal, 1031, 1032; 
in California and Aus- 
tralia, 1056; in Australia, 
1067 

Golden Rose, the, 307 

Goldsmith, Oliver, 800, 802 
note ; plays of, 803 



1122 



INDEX 



Gondomar, Count, 441, 443, 
445. 440 

Good Hope, Cape of, 411 

Good Parliament, the, 206, 
207, 615 

Goodwin, Sir Francis, case 
of, 433 

Gordon, General Charles 
(" Chinese Gordon " ) , in 
the Sudan, 1014, 1015 

Gordon, George, see Byron, 
Lord 

Gordon, Lord George, fa- 
natic, anti-Catholicism of, 
773,774 

Gordon Riots, the, 773, 
774 

Goree, 729, 743 

Gorham case, the, 1042 

Goshen, Lord, 1020 

Gothic art, revival of, 1044, 
1057 

Government, British, grow- 
ing paternalism of, at 
Victoria's accession, Q27 

Gower, John, 225 

Gowrie Conspiracy, the, 
428. 

Grace, Act of, 623. 

Grafton, the Duke of, his 
Ministry, 756-760 

Graham (gray 'am), Sir 
James, gog ; refuses place 
in Peel's Cabinet, 923; 
Home Secretary, 943 ; 
supports Peel's free trade 
views, 945 ; in Coalition 
Ministry, gs8. 

Graham, John, of Claver- 
house, later Viscount 
Dundee, 574, 628, 629. 

Grail, the Holy, 22 

Grammar schools, under 
Henry VIII, 344; of 
Edward VI, 356 

Gramont, Duke of, 707, 708 

Grampian Hills, 8 

Grand Alliance, the, 647 

Grand Army, Napoleon's, 
veterans of, at Waterloo, 
864 

Grand National Consoli- 
dated Trade Union, the, 
938 

Grand Remonstrance, the, 
482, 483 

Grand Tour, the, goi 

Granvella, Cardinal, minis- 
ter of Philip II, 381 



Granville, Earl of, see Car- 

taret, John 
Granville, Lord, 1000, 1002, 

1009, 1015, 1016 
Gratian, 116 
Grattan, Henry, 777, 829, 

838, 840, 842 
Gray, Thomas, 802 
Gray's Elegy, 732, 802 
Great Britain, rise of the 
sea power of, 619; name 
of, adopted at the union 
of England and Scotland, 
662 ; territorial gains of, 
by the Peace of Utrecht, 
670, 671 ; achievements 
of, in the war of the 
Spanish succession, 672; 
struggle begins with 
American Colonies, 763 ; 
strength of, in American 
Revolution, 767 ; isola- 
tion of, by formation of 
"Armed Neutrality," 774 ; 
critical situation of, in 
1800-1801, 846, 847; ter- 
ritorial gains of, at Con- 
gress of Vienna, 865 ; 
situation of, with refer- 
ence to Europe at close 
of Napoleonic wars, 883- 
8go; effect of separation 
of Hanover upon, g2g ; 
survey of problems of, 
after Crimean War, 966; 
sentiment in, regarding 
American Civil War, 977- 
978 ; survey of problems 
confronting, in 1865, 983 
Great Contract, the, 434, 435 
Great Council, the, 98, 118; 
summoned by Charles I, 
473 
Greater Britain, 1063-1069 
Great Fire, the, 599, 611 
Great Mogul, the, 720 
Great Schism, 227, 251 
Great Seal, the, 311, 583 
Greece, independence of, 
886-888 ; Byron and War 
of Independence of, 898 ; 
England in trouble with, 
over Don Pacifico case, 
955-956; war with Tur- 
key, 1029 
Greek Christians, Russian, 
desire regarding, in Otto- 
man Empire, gsg ; Rus- 
sia refuses to renounce 



protectorate over, 963 ; 
struggle between Latin 
Church and, over Holy 
Places, gsg 
Green Ribbon Club, the, 

554, 564 
Green, J. R., 13s 
Greene, Nathanael, General, 

775 
Greene, Robert, 420, 423 
Greenwich, the National 
Observatory at, 606 ; 
royal hospital at, 612, 633 
Greenwood, Frederick, 1002 
Gregory I, Pope, 32, 74; his 

Pastoral Care, 45 
Gregory VII, Pope (Hilde- 

brand), 80 
Gregory IX, Pope, 149 
Gregory XI, Pope, 208, 227 
Gregory XIII, Pope, 385- 

387, 7i8 
Grenville, George, 725 ; be- 
comes Prime Minister,744 ; 
his colonial programme, 
746, 751-753; his dis- 
missal, 753 ; his Election 
Act, 760, 761, 913; his 
death, 761 
Grenville, Lady Hester, 725 
Grenville, Thomas, 780 
Grenville, William Wynd- 
ham, Lord Grenville, 
British Foreign Secretary, 
830 ; opposition of, to 
Addington Ministry, 847 ; 
refuses to enter Cabinet 
in 1804, 850; Ministry 
of "All the Talents," 851, 
852 
Grenville Election Act, the, 

of, 1770, 760, 761 
Gresham, Thomas, 413 
Grev'ille, Charles, character- 
ization of Derby by, 989 
Grey, Charles, later Earl 
Grey, motions of, for 
parliamentary reform re- 
jected, 907 ; becomes 
Prime Minister, 909 ; 
Ministry of, secures Par- 
liamentary Reform, 914- 
917; resignation of, 922; 
adviser to the bishops, 
1040 
Grey, Lady Jane, 344, 355, 

358, 360, 361 
Grey, Lord Leonard, 335 
Grey de Wilton, Lord, 386 



INDEX 



1123 



Grey, Sir Edward, Foreign 
Minister, 1077, 1083-1085, 
1089 

Grey, Sir Richard, 272, 273 

Grindal, Edmund, Arch- 
bishop of Canterbury, 389 

Grocyn, William, 304, 305 

Grosseteste, see Robert 

Grote, George, 1050 

Grouchy, Marshal, at 
Waterloo, 863, 864 

Grub Street, advent of 
authors of, 798 

Gualo, papal legate, 147, 148 

Guarda-costas, the Spanish, 
703. 704 

Guesclin, Bertrand du, 204- 
207 

Guillotine Closure, the, 1020, 
1021, 1024 

Guinegate, the battle of, 296 

Gulf Stream, the, 2 

Gulliver's Travels, 797 

Gunpowder, early use of, 
218 

Gunpowder Plot, the, 432 

Gustavus Adolphus, King of 
Sweden, 470 

Gustavus III, of Sweden, 
827 

Gutenberg, John, 291 

Guthrum, Danish invader, 
43 

Guy of Lusignan, 136 

Guyenne, seized by 

Philip VI, 102, 107 ; 
made separate principal- 
ity, 204 ; see Aquitaine 
and Gascony 

Guzman, Domingo de, see 
St. Dominic 

Gwledig, British leader, 25 

H 

Habeas Corpus, 142, 144 ; 
purpose of the writ of, 
456 ; attitude of the 
judges of Charles I on, 466 

Habeas Corpus Act, the, 
529; passed, 561 ; 

James II aims to repeal 
the, 571 ; suspended, 634, 
833. 870; in Ireland, 840 

Hadrian, Abbot, 36 

Hadrian's Wall, 20 

Hague Conference, the 
first, 1029; the second, 
1084 



Haidarabad, Nizam of, 
Mornington forces terri- 
tories from, 967 
Haidar Ali, 809, 845 
Hailes, the phial of, 329 
Hakluyt, Richard, his Voy- 
ages, 412, 421 
Hales, Sir Edward, the case 

of, S7i 
Hales, John, 603 
Halidon Hill, battle of, igi 
Halidon Rig, S3>3 
Halifax, Earl of, sec Mon- 
tague, Charles 
Halifax, Marquis of, see 

Savile, George 
Halley, Edmund, 792 
Hal, Prince, see Henry, 

Prince of Wales 
Halsbury, Lord, 1080 
Hamilton, General Ian, 1035 
Hamilton, James, Marquis 

of, 470, 481, 505, 506 
Hamilton, Patrick, 367 
Hampden, John, 466-468, 

475. 476, 479, 492 
Hampton Court Confer- 
ence, the, 431 
Hampton Court Palace, 311 
Hams, Anglo-Saxon, 63 
Handel, George Frederick, 

697, 803, 1057 
Hanover, the Treaty of, 692 ; 
kingdom of, offered to 
Prussia, 851 ; severed from 
England, 929 ; absorbed by 
Prussia, 988 
Hansard, case of Stockdale 

against, 936 
Hanseatic League, 162 
Harcourt, French ambassa- 
dor, 645, 646 
Harcourt, Sir William, 1027 
Hardinge, Lord, Viceroy of 

India, 1080 
Hardinge, Sir Henry, 968 
Hardwicke, Earl of, see 

Yorke, Philip 
Hardwicke's Marriage Act, 

719 
Hardy, Thomas, 1049 
Harfleur, siege of, 250 
Hargreaves, James, invents 

spinning jenny, 785 
Harington, Sir John, 418 
Harleck, 499 

Harley, Robert, Earl of 
Oxford, intrigues with 
Mrs. Masham, 665 ; char- 



acter of, 667 ; leading 
minister of Anne, 667, 
668 ; founds the South 
Sea Company, 671, 686; 
rivalry with Bolingbroke, 

672, 673; his dismissal, 

673, 674; his impeach- 
ment, 678 

Harold Harefoot, Danish 
King of England, 55 

Harold, son of Godwine, 56 ; 
becomes Earl of Wessex, 
57; King of England, 58 ; 
victory at Stamford 
Bridge, 59 ; . defeat and 
death at Senlac, sg, 60 

Harold Hadrada, King of 
Norway, 59 

Harrington, James, 604 

Harrison, William, 421 

Harthacnut, Danish King 
of England, 55 

Hartington, Marquis of, see 
Compton, Spencer 

Harvey, William, 606 

Hasten, 43 

Hastings, see Senlac 

Hastings, Lord, 273 

Hastings, Warren, governor 
of Bengal, 810; impeach- 
ment of, 561, 820 

Havana, captured by the 
British, 742 ; restored, 743 

Havelock the Dane, 161 

Havelock, Henry, 972 

Hawke, Admiral, 716, 730, 
733 

Hawkins, John, 392, 411 

Hawley, General Henry, 712 

Haxey, Sir Thomas, case of, 
238 

Hay-Pauncefote Treaty, the, 
1084 

Hazlitt, William, 900 

Head, Major, 931 

Heads of Proposals, the, 
502, 503, 509 

Health, public, in the Anglo- 
Saxon period, 73 ; in 
Anglo-Norman times, 88; 
in the twelfth century, 
132; in the fourteenth 
century, 220, 221 ; in the 
fifteenth century, 284, 
285 ; in the time of 
Henry VIII, 341, 342; 
in the reign of Elizabeth, 

414, 4i5 
Health Act, the Public, 1002 



1124 



INDEX 



Hearth Tax, the, 621 ; in 

Gascony, 205 
Heathfield, battle of, 34 
Heinsius, Grand Pensionary, 

653 

Heligoland, 865, 1032 

Hem'ans, Felicia, 1043 

Hengist and Horsa, invaders 
of Britain, 25 

Henrietta Maria, Queen of 
Charles I, betrothed to 
Charles, 447 ; character 
of, 453 ; fosters Roman 
Catholicism, 465 ; plots 
of, 479, 481 ; threatened 
impeachment of, 483 ; es- 
capes abroad, 484 ; seeks 
foreign alliances, 488, 498 ; 
urges Charles to take the 
Covenant, 501 

Henrietta, of Orleans, sister 
of Charles II, 540, 550, 554 

Henry I, King of England, 
accession and issue of 
Charter of Liberties, 94; 
marriage to Edith (Ma- 
tilde), ib. ; suppresses a 
rising of the barons, 94, 
95 ; treaty with Robert, 
95 ; conquest of Nor- 
mandy, ib. ; victory at 
Tenchebrai, 95 ; com- 
promise with Anselm, 95, 
g6 ; last years, character 
and policy, 96, 97 ; ad- 
ministrative reorganiza- 
tion, the Curia Regis and 
Exchequer, 97, 98 ; en- 
courages growth of towns, 
98; founder of Curia 
Regis and Exchequer, 117; 
originator of scutage, 118 ; 
charters to London, 129; 
charter to Weavers' Gild, 
130 

Henry II, King of England, 
96; early visits to Eng- 
land, 103 ; marries Elea- 
nor of Aquitaine, ib. ; 
recognized as heir of 
Stephen, 104 ; accession 
and character, 107 ; prob- 
lem and policy, 107, 108; 
conflict with Becket, 100- 
iii ; in Ireland, 112; 
submission at Avranches, 
112; crushes a revolt led 
by Prince Henry, 113, 
114; penance at Becket's 



tomb, 113; last years 
and death, 114; constitu- 
tional and legal reforms, 
114-116; development of 
the jury system, 116, 117 ; 
reorganization of the 
courts and administrative 
reforms, 117, 118; rev- 
enue of, 118; summary 
of his work, ng; litera- 
ture and learning at his 
court, 126; grants of 
borough charters, 129; 
imposes fines on adulterine 
gilds, 130 

Henry III, King of England, 
constitutional importance 
of his reign, 133, 134, 147 ; 
crowned, 147 ; years of 
minority, 148, 149; un- 
successful expeditions 
against Gascony and 
Wales, 149; beginning of 
his personal rule, 150; 
marries Eleanor of Prov- 
ence, ib. ; invasions of 
needy foreigners, ib. ; leads 
another unsuccessful ex- 
pedition to Poitou and 
Gascony ; new inroads 
of foreigners, 151 ; breach 
with Simon de Montfort, 
152 ; baronial war against, 
I 53~i5S; death and char- 
acter of, 156, 157, 158; 
favor to Jews, 180; to 
Lombards and Proven- 
cals, 211 

Henry of Lancaster, Earl 
of Derby, 236 ; made 
Duke of Hereford, 238; 
quarrel with Norfolk and 
exiled by Richard II, 
239 ; lands at Ravenspur, 
239; chosen King, 240; 
see Henry IV 

Henry IV, King of England, 
opening of his reign, 242, 
243 ; character and prob- 
lems, 243 ; revolts against, 
243-245 ; last years of, 
245, 246 

Henry, Prince of Wales, 
at Shrewsbury, 245 ; 
Welsh campaign of, ib. ; 
begins to assume the 
government, 246; see 
Henry V 

Henry V, King of England, 



accession and character 
247, 248; reopens wa 
with France, 248, 249, 
250; suppresses the Lol- 
lards, 248, 249 ; first inva- 
sion of France, 250; vic- 
tory at Agincourt, 250, 
251 ; second invasion, 251 ; 
concludes Treaty ot 
Troyes, ib. ; third inva- 
sion, 252 ; his death, ib. ; 
suppresses alien prioric:, 
323 

Henry VI, King of England, 
coronation of, 256 ; dis- 
regards Parliament in the 
appointment of councilors, 
257 ; marries Margaret 
of Anjou, ib. ; temporary 
insanity of, 260; second 
attack, 261 ; dominated 
by Margaret, 261, 262; 
defeated and taken pris- 
oner, 262 ; release of, 
263 ; flight into Scotland 
after defeat at Towton, 
265; attainted, 266; 
again a prisoner, 267 ; 
his release, 268 ; his 
death and character, 269 

Henry, Duke of Richmond, 
representative of the Lan- 
castrian line, in exile in 
France, 273, 274; lands in 
England, 274; victory at 
Bosworth, 274, 275 ; pro- 
claimed King, 275; see 
Henry VII 

Henry VII, King of Eng- 
land, chapel of, 222; 
his policy, 276; character 
of, 278; problems and 
means of securing his 
title, 279; marries Eliza- 
beth of York, 279 ; 
troubles with pretenders, 
279, 280; his exactions, 
280; establishes the Star 
Chamber, 279, 280; Irish 
policy of, 281 ; foreign 
policy of, 281-283 ; mar- 
riage alliances, ib. ; mod- 
ern and medieval traits 
of, 283 ; regulation of 
gilds, 287^ negotiates 
Intercursus Magnus, 289; 
issues a patent to the 
Cabots, 290; death and 
estimate of, 291, 292 



INDEX 



1125 



Henry VIII, King of Eng- 
land, marries Catharine 
of Aragon, 283 ; accession 
and character of, 294, 
295 ; author of the De- 
fense of the Seven Sacra- 
ments, gains title of "De- 
fender of the Faith," 295 ; 
joins the Holy Alliance, 
295 ; invades Flanders, 
296 ; betrayed by Fer- 
dinand he allies himself 
with Louis XII ; favor 
to Wolsey, 297 ; unsuc- 
cessful candidate for the 
Imperial crown, 299 ; his 
alliance with Charles V, 
299, 300 ; meeting with 
Francis I at the Field 
of Cloth of Gold, ib.; 
yields on the question of 
the Amicable Loan, 301 ; 
he withdraws from the 
European war, 301, 302; 
motives of, for separation 
from Rome, 301, 302; a 
patron of the New Learn- 
ing, 306 ; his orthodoxy, 
307 ; his divorce proceed- 
ings against Catharine, 
308-311; throws over 
Wolsey, 311, 312; takes 
Cranmer and Cromwell 
as advisers, 314; sum- 
mons the Reformation 
Parliament and brings 
about the separation from 
Rome, 315-320; perse- 
cutes heretics, 316, 317; 
restricts powers of Con- 
vocation, 317; marries 
Anne Boleyn, ib. ; se- 
cures divorce from 
Catharine, 318; assumes 
title of Supreme Head, 
320; has More, Fisher, 
and others executed, 320, 
321 ; his dissolution of 
the monasteries, 322-324; 
divorces and executes 
Anne Boleyn, 324, 325; 
marries Jane Seymour, 
325; imposes the Ten 
Articles on the Church, 
325, 326; attitude of, 
toward the Pilgrimage of 
Grace, 327, 328; dis- 
posal of the spoils of 
monasteries, 329, 330; 



forces the Six Articles 
on Parliament, 331, 332; 
marries and divorces Anne 
of Cleves, 332; throws 
over Cromwell, ib. ; mar- 
ries Catharine Howard, 
ib. ; has her executed, 
333 ; Scotch policy, 333, 
334 ; war with France, 
334; Irish policy, 334, 
335 ; marries Catharine 
Parr, 336; closing years 
and death of, 336, 337 ; 
nature of his absolutism, 
338 ; management of Par- 
liament, 338-340; his 
revenue and his extrava- 
gance, 340; as a military 
leader, 344; attitude to- 
ward education, 344, 345 ; 
character of his age, 346 ; 
final regulation of the 
succession, 355 

Henry, son ofHenryll, in, 
113. 114 

Henry, Prince, son of 
James I, 432, 437 

Henry, Cardinal of York, 
son of the Old Pretender, 

7i4 
Henry II, King of France, 

35i 
Henry of Navarre (later 

Henry IV, King of 

France), 384, 390, 397, 

398 
Henry VI, Emperor of the 

Germans, 123 
Henry FitzAylwine, Mayor 

of London, 130 
Henry of Huntington, 8g 
Henry of Lancaster, guard- 
ian of Edward III, 189, 194 
Henry of Trastamara, 204 
Henry of Winchester, 100, 

102, 103 
Henry, Patrick, 750 
Hepburn (heb'burn), James, 

Earl of Bothwell, 375, 

376, 377 
Heptarchy, 30 
Herbart, Admiral (later 

Earl of Torrington), 580, 

581, 625, 626 
Herbert, George, 607 
Herbert, Sidney, 94s, 958 
Heresy laws, 326; repealed 

by Somerset, 349 ; see 

De haretico comburendo 



Heretics, persecution of, by 
Henry VIII, 316, 317 

Heriot, 68 

Heritable jurisdictions, abol- 
ished in Scotland, 715 

Herrenhausen, Treaty of, 
see Hanover 

Herrick, Robert, 608 

Hertford, Earl of, see Sey- 
mour, Edward 

Hertzog, General, 1081 

Herzegovina, 1003, 1005 

Hide, 63 

High Church party, views 
and aims of, under 
Charles I, 452; resists 
forced loan, 455 ; under 
the direction of Laud, 
461-463 ; on the side of 
Charles I in the war, 487 ; 
alliance with Charles II, 
553; alienated by 

James II, 575-580; re- 
action of, against Wil- 
liam III, 620, 622; prin- 
ciples of, 651 ; opposes 
the Union, 662 ; alienated 
by the Education Act of 
1870, 998 ; see Sacheverell 
and Oxford Movement 

High Commission, the Court 
of, begins to be active, 
379; enlarged powers of, 
389 ; under Elizabeth and 
the early Stuarts, 402, 403 ; 
see Ecclesiastical Com- 
mission ; abolished, 480; 
in Scotland, 435, 460, 470 

High Court of Delegates, 
the, 318, 402 

High Court of Justice, the, 
a division of the Supreme 
Court of Judicature, 999 

Highe, Thomas, inventor, 
785 

Highland Host, the, 573 

Highlands, the Scottish, 8; 
state of, at the end of the 
seventeenth century, 02S 

High Steward, the court of 
the, 639, 640 

Highwaymen, in the seven- 
teenth century, 593 ; in 
the eighteenth century, 
805, 806 

Hildebrand, see Gregory VII 

Hill, Abigail, see Masham 

Hill, Rowland, Post Office 
reforms of, 936, 937 



1126 



INDEX 



Historical writing, Eliza- 
bethan, 420, 421 ; Vic- 
torian, 1043, 1050 

Hoadley, Benjamin, Bishop 
of Bangor, see Bangorian 
Controversy 

Hobbes, Thomas, 487 ; his 
political theories, 604, 605 

Hoche, French commander, 

834 

Hochkirchen, the battle of, 
730 

Hogarth, William, 803 

Hohenlinden, battle of, 846 ; 
Campbell's poem, 899 

Holbein, 332 

Holborne, Robert, council 
for Hampden, 467 

Holinshed's Chronicles, 421 

Holland, ceases to be a 
great Power, 717; joins 
the Armed Neutrality of 
!778> 774; England de- 
clares war against, 1780, 
ib. ; Orange Party of, in 
Triple Alliance, 826, 827 ; 
States General of, appeal 
to England for aid, 829 ; 
France declares war on, 
J7Q3. 830; France pre- 
pares to invade, ib. ; 
Batavian Republic set 
up in, 834; kingdom of, 
851 ; revolts against 

France in 1813, 859; 
Belgium declares her in- 
dependence from, 890 ; 
see also Dutch Wars and 
Austrian and Spanish Suc- 
cession, wars of the 

Holland, Lord, 872; see 
also Fox, Henry 

Holies, Denzil, 459, 460 

Holmby House, 501 

Holmes, Robert, 841 

Holstein, Duchy of, 980 

Holy Alliance, the, 865 

Holy Grail, 223 

Holy League, 301, 306; 01 
France and Spain, 380 

Holy Places, the quarrel 
over the, in Palestine, 
precipitates Crimean War, 
959; settlement of cus- 
tody of, 965 

Holyrood palace, 376 

Holy Sepulcher, the, 959 

Home Rule, origin of the 
movement, 1010; adopted 



by Gladstone, 1017; de- 
feat of Gladstone's first 
bill for, 1018, 1019 ; Ulster 
opposition to, 1018; the 
Conservative substitute 
for, 1023, 1024; defeat 
of Gladstone's second Bill 
in the Lords, 1024; the 
problem, 1025, 1026 ; 
Rosebery 's views on, 1027 ; 
becomes an issue in the 
election of 1910, 1078; 
revival of the struggle 
for, 1 086- 1 088 ; the 
triumph of, in Parlia- 
ment, 1089 
Home Rule Federation, the, 

1010 
Homilies, the Book of, 350 
Hong-Kong, 948 
Honorius, Roman Emperor, 
withdraws Roman legions 
from Britain, 21 
" Honours," 87 
Hood, Admiral, Lord, 813, 

834 
Hood, Thomas, 1043 
Hooker, Richard, 390, 420 
Hooper, John, Bishop of 
Gloucester, 336, 353, 363 
Hopton, Ralph, Royalist 

commander, 492 
Hospitals, St. Thomas's and 

St. Bartholomew's, 356 
Hotham, Sir John, 484 
Hotspur, see Percy, Henry 
Houghton, Prior John, 320 
Hounslow Heath, 580, 642 
House breaking, death pen- 
alty for, removed, 904 
Household franchise, 1012 
House of Commons, see 

Commons 
House of Lords, see Lords 
House, the "Other," under 

the Protectorate, 523 
"Hovering Act," the, 816 
Howard, Lord Charles, of 
Effingham (later Earl of 
Nottingham), 394, 395, 
396, 440 
Howard, Catharine, see 

Catharine 
Howard, Edward, Lord Ad- 
miral, 296 
Howard, Frances, Lady Es- 
sex, 440, 441 
Howard, Henry, Earl of 
Surrey, poet, 336, 346 



Howard, Henry, seventh 
Duke of Norfolk, 573 

Howard, John, prison re- 
former, 805, !059 

Howard, Thomas, Earl of 
Surrey and Duke of Nor- 
folk, 296, 328, 333, 336, 
337 

Howard, Thomas, fourth 
Duke of Norfolk, 377, 
381,382 

Howard, Thomas, Earl of 
Arundel, 611 

Howe, General, incompe- 
tency of, 768 ; occupies 
Philadelphia, 769 ; re- 
sponsibility of, in Bur- 
goyne's surrender, 770 

Howe, Admiral, Lord, peti- 
tion from British seamen 
to, 837 ; quells naval 
mutiny at Spitbead, ib. 

Hubert de Burgh, 136; 
Justiciar, 148-150 

Hubert Walter, 121, 122, 

123, 1 24 ; probable author 
of the Treatise, 127, 135, 
136, 140 

Hudson's Bay, 510 
Huerta, General, 1085 
Hugh, St., Bishop of Lincoln, 

124, 131 

Hughes, Thomas, 1062 

Huguenots, introduction of 
new industries into Eng- 
land by, 589, 783 

Humanism, 303 

Humber River, 5 

Humble Petition and Ad- 
vice, the, 523 

Hume, David, 792, 794 

Humphrey, Duke of 
Gloucester, 252, 254, 255, 
256, 257, 303 

"Hundred Days," the, 862 

Hundred Rolls, 178 

Hundreds, Anglo-Saxon, 44, 
62 ; origin of, 65 ; courts 
and procedure in, 65, 66; 
responsibility of the, 81 

Hundred Years' War, the, 
significance of, 191 ; 
causes of, 191, 192; open- 
ing campaigns, 192, 193; 
three years' truce, 194; 
Cr£cy, 195, 196; capture 
of Calais, 197; campaign 
and battle of Poitiers, 
202, 203 ; peace of Br6t- 



INDEX 



1127 



igny, 203 ; turning of 
the tide against England, 
204-206 ; economic effects 
of, 212; longbow and 
firearms in, 218, 235; 
reopened by Henry V, 
248-250; his three in- 
vasions of France, 250- 
252; Treaty of Troyes, 
251 ; siege of Orleans, 
and relief of, by Jeanne 
d'Arc, 255 ; England loses 
ground, 257; end of, 
260; effect on the no- 
bility, 278 

Hungerford, Sir Thomas, 
206 

Hunt, Holman, 1057 

Hunt, Leigh, literary work 
of, 900 

Hunting, in Anglo-Saxon 
times, 73 ; in the seven- 
teenth century, 595 

Hurst Castle, 506 

Huskisson, William, presi- 
dent of Board of Trade, 
874-875 ; reforms of, 875- 
877 ; resigns from Wel- 
lington's Cabinet, 881 ; 
death of, 908 

Huss, John, 228, 251, 308 

Hutchinson Letters, the, 
763 

Hutton, James, 895 

Huxley, Thomas, 983, 105 1, 
1052 

Hyde, Anne, 544, 552 

Hyde, Edward, Earl of 
Clarendon, leader of the 
Constitutional royalists 
and author of the History 
of the Great Rebellion, 476, 
483, 530; made Lord 
Chancellor, his character 
and policy, 532, 533; 
opposes Charles II's at- 
tempts at toleration, 538; 
foreign policy of, 539; 
blamed for the sale of 
Dunkirk, 540 ; the fall 
of, 544, 545 ; laments 
bribery, 553 ; his over- 
throw, 615 

Hyde, Henry, Earl of 
Clarendon, 567, 575 

Hyde, Lawrence, Earl of 
Rochester, 567, 575 

Hyde Park, reform demon 
stration in, 986 



Iberians, 13, 16 

Idle River, battle of, 34 

Immigrants Regulation Act, 
1081 

Impeachments, beginning of, 
206; of Latimer and 
Lyons, 206, 207 ; of 
Suffolk, 258; of Mom- 
pesson, Michell, and 
Bacon, 442-445 ; of Mid- 
dlesex, 447 ; of Bucking- 
ham, 454, 455 ; of Laud, 
477, 478; of Strafford, 
477 _ 47q; °f Clarendon, 
545 ; of Danby, 560, 561 ; 
prorogations no bar to, 
561 ; royal pardon no 
bar to, 561 ; no pardon 
to be pleaded in bar of, 
644; of Portland, Orford, 
Halifax, and Somers, 646 ; 
of Dr. Sacheverell, 666, 
667 ; of Bolingbroke, Ox- 
ford, and Ormonde, 678 ; 
of Thomas Parker, Earl 
of Macclesfield, 693, 694; 
of Lord Lovat, 714; of 
Warren Hastings, 820 

Imperial Conferences, 1081, 
1082 

Imperial defense, 1081 

Imperial federation, 1069, 
1081 

Imperial Federation League, 
the, 1069 

Imperial Guard, Napoleon's, 
at Waterloo, 864 

Imperial Naturalization Bill, 
the, 1088 

Imperialism, British, Dis- 
raeli foreshadows idea of, 
988; Disraeli popularizes 
the idea of, 990; Glad- 
stone opposed to extreme, 
ib. ; Disraeli exploits idea 
of, during Gladstone's 
first Ministry, 998-999 ; 
growth of the idea of, 
1022, 1027, 1065; Vic- 
toria as the embodiment 
of, 1037 

Imports under James I, 589 

Impositions, 404, 434 

Impressment, British, antag- 
onizes United States, 860 

"In and out" clause, the, 
1024 



Incandescent lamp, the, 
1055 

Incident, the, 481 

Income tax, the, established 
by Pitt, 846; abolished 
after the Napoleonic 
Wars, 868 ; Peel's sec- 
ond Ministry revives, 941 ; 
Gladstone proposes re- 
duction of the, 959 ; 
Gladstone doubles, to 
fight Russia, 961 ; in- 
creased by Lloyd George, 
1078 

Indemnity and Oblivion, 
Act of, 533 

Indemnity Bill, the, 622 

Independent Labor party, 
the, 1062, 1063 

Independent Nationalists, 
the, 1025 

Independents, the, 388; 
breach with the Presby- 
terians, 499 ; in the New 
Model, 503 

India, opened up by Eng- 
lishmen, 411; beginnings 
of the English activity in, 
720, 721 ; the struggle 
with the French for 
supremacy in, 721, 722; 
triumph of the British 
over the French in, 734- 
736; mutual restoration 
of Conquests in (1763), 
743 ; state of, at close of 
Seven Years' War, 808- 
809 ; North's Regulating 
Act, 809, 810; Fox's Bill 
for, 811 and note, 812; 
Pitt's Bill, 815; British 
successes in, in 1793, 833 ; 
Napoleon strikes at, 838, 
844, 845 ; supposed plot 
of Russia against, 966 ; 
extension of British con- 
trol in, 966 ff . ; the 
Mutiny in, 969-973 ; 
Derby Ministry intro- 
duces bill for govern- 
ment of, 973-974; Bill, 
the, of 1858, carried, 975; 
cotton imported from, 
during English famine, 
979 ; Civil Service, the, 
posts in, filled by competi- 
tive examination, 997 ; 
Victoria declared Empress 
of, 1003 ; visit of Prince 



1128 



INDEX 



Albert to, 1006; the 
government of, 1064 ; 
visit of George V and 
Mary to, and transfer of 
the capital of, 1080; see 
Anglo-Japanese Treaties ; 

"India Bill No. 2," the, 
973-974 

Indian Empire, the Order 
of the, 1006 

Indians, American, in Ameri- 
can Revolution, 767 ; loy- 
alty of, to England, in 
War of 1812, 860 

Indo-European "race," 13 

Indulgence, the Declara- 
tion of Charles II, 551; 
the first Declaration of 
James IJ, 575. 57°; the 
second, 578, 579 

Industrial and Social Prog- 
ress, in the Victorian 
Era, 1058 

Industrial Revolution, 4 ; 
effects of, 788 and note, 
789 

Industry, in the thirteenth 
century, 163, 164; in 
the fifteenth century, 287, 
289; under Edward I, 
II, III, 2 1 1-2 14; regula- 
tion of, 213, 214; under 
Elizabeth, 413, 414; con- 
dition of, under James I 
and Charles I, 589; con- 
dition of, in the seven- 
teenth century, 589, 590; 
development of, in Eng- 
land, before the great 
inventions, 783, 784; de- 
velopment of the cotton, 
784-786; disturbed con- 
ditions in, in 1811-1812, 
856; depressed state of, 
at end of Napoleonic 
wars, 868, 869; laissez- 
faire theory opposes state 
interference with, 937-938 

Ine (e'ne or i'ne), King of 
the West Saxons, his laws, 
40, 44 

Injunctions, governing 

monasteries, 323; royal, 
of Henry VIII, 326; 
Cromwell's, 327, 330 

Inkerman, battle of Mount, 
962 

Innocent III, Pope, 117, 124, 
137, 138, I39> 145 



Inns, Anglo-Saxon, 73 ; in 
the Middle Ages, 220; 
in the seventeenth cen- 
tury, 594 

Inns of Court, 223 

Inoculation, discovery of, 
792 

Inquisition, the, 380, 381 

Inquisition jury, the, 116, 
117 

Inquisition of Sheriffs, the, 
118 

Instrument of Government, 
the, 516, 517 

Insularity, importance of 
British, 5, 6 

Insurance, against sickness 
and unemployment, 1060, 
1061 

Insurance Bill, the National, 
1086 

Intercursus Magnus, 289 

Interdict, 137 

Interest, forbidden, 215, 
288 ; legalized under Eliz- 
abeth, 408 ; fall in rate of, 
under Charles I, 589 

Interludes, 422 

International Workingmen's 
Association, the, 1062 

Interparliamentary period, 
the, under James I, 437— 
443 ; under Charles I, 
460-471 

Invasions into Britain, neo- 
lithic, 12; Celtic, 13; 
Germanic, 25, 26, 28-30; 
Danish, 41, 42, 51-53; 
Norman, 59, 60 

Investiture, compromise on, 
95. 96 

Io'na, monastery of, 34 

Ionian Islands, 865 

Ireland, physical charac- 
teristics, 8, 9; English 
conquest and oppression 
of, 9 ; population of, ib. ; 
granted to Henry II, in ; 
condition of, in, 112; 
conquest of, by Strong- 
bow and Henry II, 112; 
John's visit to, 114; his 
expedition against, 138 ; 

• description of, by Gi- 
raldus, 127; laws of Ed- 
ward III relating to, 201 ; 
on side of Bruce against 
Edward II, ib. ; visited 
by Richard II, 237 ; his 



second visit, 239; sup- 
ports Simnel and War- 
beck, 281 ; disorders in, 
under Henry VII, ib. 
Poynings's Law imposed 
on, ib. ; policy of Henry 
VIII toward, 334, 335; 
he assumes the title of 
King of, 335 ; movements 
in, against Elizabeth, 386 ; 
Essex's failure against, 
398 ; Mountjoy's conquest 
of, ib. ; court of Castle 
Chamber in, 406 ; diffi- 
culties with, under James I, 
435. 436 ; Wentworth's 
rule in, 471 ; rebellion of 
1641 in, 481, 482; 
Charles I's relations with 
the Roman Catholic party 
in, 488, 498, 499; Crom- 
well's conquest of, 510, 
511; the "Cromwellian 
Settlement in," 511; rep- 
resented in the English 
Parliament, 516 ; the Res- 
toration in, 535, 536; 
restrictions on Irish com- 
merce, 575 ; policy of 
James II in, 575 ; land- 
ing of James in, 624 ; the 
Parliament of 1689 in, 
624, 625 ; flight of James 
from, after the defeat at 
the Boyne, 626 ; the 
treaty of Limerick and 
its violation, 626, 627 ; 
oppressive restrictions and 
penal laws against the 
Irish, 627 ; evil condi- 
tions in, under George III, 
777 ; independence of 
Parliament of, 777, 778; 
Pitt fails to establish 
freedom of trade between, 
and England, 817 ; French 
expedition to, in 1796, 
835, 836 ; conditions in, 
in 1782-1789, 838, 839; 
effect of French Revolu- 
tion in, 839 ; Fitzwilliam 
made Lord Lieutenant 
of, 839, 840; expedition 
from France to, in 1798, 
841 ; rebellion of 1798 in, 
ib. ; condition of, after 
rebellion of 1798, 841, 
842 ; Lord Cornwallis 
Lord Lieutenant of, ib.: 



INDEX 



1129 



parliamentary union of, 
with England, 9, 842, 843 ; 
representation of, in Eng- 
lish Parliament, 843 ; 
Napoleon on French ex- 
pedition to, 844; agita- 
tion on behalf of Roman 
Catholics in, 880 ; 
Catholic emancipation 
fails to quiet, 882 ; par- 
liamentary franchise in, 
before first Reform Bill, 
913 ; parliamentary fran- 
chise under Bill of 1832, 
916-917; the Tithe War 
in, 918—920; conditions 
in, at Victoria's accession, 
932-933 ; violent agita- 
tion of O'Connell in, in 
1843, 943-944; potato 
famine in, 9, 944 ; a 
new Coercion Bill for, 
defeated, 946 ; Russell's 
remedial measures for 
relief of, 950-951 ; effects 
of Revolution of 1848 
upon, 952; disorder in, 
in 1865, 984; represen- 
tation of, under Act of 
1867, 987 ; measures on 
behalf of, during Glad- 
stone's first Ministry, 
991-995 ; Gladstone's bill 
to unite colleges of, 999 ; 
Victoria's visits to, 1037 ; 
condition of, in the last 
decade of Victoria's reign, 
1024, 1025; see Wood's 
Halfpence, Fenians, Irish 
Land Acts, Parnell 

Ireton, General, 502, 503, 
_5o6, 507, 511, 533 

Irish Agricultural Commis- 
sion, the, 9 

Irish Agricultural Organi- 
zation Society, the, 1025 

Irish Church, Derby op- 
poses disestablishment of, 
989 ; Gladstone and dis- 
establishment of the, 991- 

_ 994 

Irish Church Temporali- 
ties Bill, the, 918, 919, 
1040 

Irish forfeitures, 642 

Irish Land Acts, of 1870, the, 
994-995; of 1 881, ion 

Irish Local Government Act, 
1028 



Irish Nationalists, see Na- 
tionalist Party 

Irish People, the, Rossa 
proprietor of, 992 

Irish Protestant Volunteers, 
778 

Irish Tithe War, the, 918- 
919 

Irish Union, the, O'Connell 
agitates repeal of, 943- 

944 

Iron, development of Eng- 
lish manufacture of, 786 ; 
smelting of, 589 ; develop- 
ment of the manufacture 
of, 786 

" Ironsides," the, 489, 492, 
49S 

Isabel of Angouleme, second 
wife of John, 135 

Isabel, of Gloucester, first 
wife of John, 135 

Isabella of France, Queen 
of Edward II, 176, 185- 
187, 189, 190 

Isabella, Queen of Richard II, 
238 

Isabella of Castile, 282, 299, 
380 

Isabella, Queen of Spain, 949 

Island Voyage, the, 398 

Isle de Bourbon, see Bourbon 

Isle de France, see France 

Ismail, Khedive of Egypt, 
1002, 1003 

Italian Opera, in England, 
802 

Italian Republic, Napoleon 
president of, 849 

Italy, status of Austria in, 
883-884; Revolution of 
1830 in, 890; Revolution 
of 1848 in, 951, 952; 
Cavour and Unification 
of, 975—976 ; kingdom of, 
Austria recognizes, 988 

Itinerant justices, under 
Henry II, 117; instruc- 
tions to, 123, 124; under 
Edward I, 168 

Ivan (the Terrible), King of 
the Muscovites, 410 



Jack Ketch, 569 

Jackson, General Andrew, 

defeats British at New 

Orleans, 861 



Jackson, Dr., 1051 

Jacobites, the, under Wil- 
liam III, 625, 630, 634, 
641 ; under George I, 
677, 679-681, 685, 690, 
691 ; under George II, 
703, 709, 710-714, 718 

Jacqueline, wife of Hum- 
phrey of Gloucester, 254 

Jacquerie, 203 

Jamaica, English capture of, 
520; suspension of con- 
stitution of, 933-934 ; in- 
surrection in, 983 

James I, King of England, 
epigram on Bacon, 420 ; 
significance of his acces- 
sion, 427 ; early environ- 
ment and character of, 
427-429; views on mon- 
archy, 429, 430; his 
treatment of the Puri- 
tans, 430, 431; of the 
Catholics, 431-433; con- 
flicts with Parliament, 

433, 434, 437, 443, 444, 
445-449 ; financial em- 
barrassments of, 433, 434 ; 
relations with Scotland, 
435 ; with Ireland, 435, 
436 ; conflicts with his 
subjects during the inter- 
parliamentary period, 
437-443; negotiations of, 
for a Spanish marriage, 
441, 442 ; his policy in 
the Thirty Years' War 
opposed to that of his 
subjects, 442, 445, 446 ; 
quarrels with the Com- 
mons over privilege, 445, 
446 ; adopts the anti- 
Spanish policy of the 
Commons, 447 ; arranges 
marriage treaty of Charles 
and Henrietta Maria, ib. ; 
sends out the Mansfeld 
expedition, 447, 448; 
death and final estimate 
of, 448, 449 ; character 
of, 440 ; regulation of 
trade and manufactures 
by, 589 ; Scotch policy of, 
468 
James, Duke of York, made 
Lord Admiral, 532 ; 
patron of the African 
Company, 541 ; in the 
second Dutch war, 541; 



H30 



INDEX 



marries Anne Hyde, 544; 
conversion to Rome, S4Q ; 
resigns as Lord Admiral, 
551, 552; in the third 
Dutch War, 552; be- 
comes the center of Cath- 
olic hopes, 554, 555 ; his 
connection with the Pop- 
ish Plot, 557-560; ex- 
cluded from the Council, 
559 ; attempts to exclude 
from the succession, 559, 
560; resumes office in 
defiance of the Test Act, 
564 ; see James II 

James II, King of England, 
his character and aims, 
566, 567 ; first measures 
of, 567 ; his revenue, 567, 
568 ; vengeance of, after 
Monmouth's rising, 569, 
570; the turning point 
in his reign, 570 ; his rela- 
tions with Louis XIV, 
57°. 57i I his encroach- 
ments on the Test Act, and 
Ecclesiastical Commis- 
sion, 571, 572; quarters 
an army on Hounslow 
Heath, 572, 573 ; his deal- 
ings with the Scots, 574, 
575 ; his Irish policy, 575 ; 
his first Declaration of 
Indulgence, 575, 576; his 
attack on the Universi- 
ties, 577 ; his attempt to 
pack a Parliament, 577, 
578; his second Declara- 
tion of Indulgence, 578, 
579; birth of a son to, 
579; fails in suit against 
the Seven Bishops, 580; 
orders recruits from Ire- 
land, 581 ; issues belated 
concessions on the coming 
of William, 581, 582; his 
flight, 583 ; his capture 
and second flight, 583, 
584; Parliament declares 
his abdication, 585, 586 ; 
lands in Ireland, 624; 
flees again to France, 626 ; 
his Declaration, 630 ; ex- 
pedition of, defeated at 
La Hogue, 630, 631 ; his 
second Declaration, 631 ; 
forbids mourning for 
Mary, 633 ; death of, 647 

JamesI, Kingof Scotland, 245 



James III, King of Scot- 
land, 271, 272 

James IV, King of Scotland, 
296 

James V, King of Scotland, 
333, 334 

James VI, King of Scotland 
(later James I, King of 
England), his birth, 376; 
ascendancy of Esme Stew- 
art over, 387 ; seized in 
the Ruthven raid, ib. ; 
disinherited, 394 ; named 
as Elizabeth's successor, 
399 ; see James I, King of 
England 

James Francis Edward, his 
birth, 579; taken to 
France, 583 ; attempts 
an invasion of Scotland 
in 1708, 663, 664; ex- 
cluded from France, 670; 
distrusted by the Protes- 
tants, 673 ; the rising of 
17 15 in behalf of, 679- 
691 ; see Atterbury 

Jameson, Dr., 1032 

Jameson Raid, the, 1032 

Jamestown, settlement of, 
436 

Jane (Seymour), Queen of 
Henry VIII, 325, 331, 332 

Japan, war with China, 
1029 ; see Anglo-Japanese 
Treaties, Russo-Japanese 
War 

Jarnac, battle of, 381 

Jay, John, 780 

Jeanne d'Arc, 255, 256 

Jefferson, President Thomas, 
860 

Jeffrey, Francis, 900 

Jeffreys, George, succes- 
sively Chief Justice and 
Lord Chancellor, 564, 569, 
S7o, 583, 584 

Jemmappes, Austrians de- 
feated at, 829 

Jena, battle of, 852 

Jenkins' Ear, the War of, 
701-704 

Jenkins, Robert, 702 

Jenkinson, Anthony, ex- 
plorer, 410 

Jenner, Edward, 895 

Jennings, Sarah, Duchess 
of Marlborough, 650, 654, 
658, 660, 665, 667 

Jervis, Admiral Sir John 



(Lord St. Vincent), wins 
battle of Cape St. Vin- 
cent, 836 

Jesuits, the, founding of the 
Society of, 379, 380; in 
England, 387, 388, 560; 
see Popish Plot 

Jews, 90, 164, 199, 212, 221, 
380, 719; massacre of, 
121; expulsion of, by 
Edward I, 180, 181 ; 
return of, 518, 590; re- 
moval of exclusion from 
Parliament, 975 

Jingoism, origin of the term, 
1004 

Joanna of Castile, 282, 299 

Johannesburg, 1032 

John, King of England, 
occasions revolt of n 73, 
113; revolt against Henry 
II, 114; misconduct in 
Ireland, ib. ; gains the 
name Lackland, ib., 121; 
plots against Richard I, 
122, 123; scholarship of, 
126; treatment of the 
weavers' gild, 130; con- 
stitutional importance of 
his reign, 133, 134; his 
character, 134, 135 ; the 
three crises of his reign, 
135; the loss of Nor- 
mandy, 136; the disputed 
archiepiscopal election, his 
struggle with the Pope and 
his submission, 136-138; 
struggle with the barons, 
130-141 ; concession of 
Magna Carta, 142 ; final 
struggles and death, 145 

John Lackland, Softsword, 
see, John, King of Eng- 
land 

John II, King of France, 
202, 203, 204 

John VI, King of Portugal, 
884, 888 

John, Duke of Bedford, 252, 
254, 256, 257 

John of Burgoyne, 221 

John of Gaddesden, 221 

John of Gaunt, Duke of 
Lancaster, 205, 206, 207, 
208, 225, 226, 230, 239 

John of Salisbury, 125, 126, 
127 

John (the Fearless), Duke of 
Burgundy, 249, 251 



INDEX 



1131 



John, Don, of Austria, 385, 

386 
John Bull, The History of, 

645 

Johnson, Dr. Samuel, his 
definition of "excise," 699 ; 
character and writings, 
798, 799 

Jones, John Paul, 772, 773 

Jones, Inigo, 611 

Jonson, Ben, 424, 425 

Joseph I, German Emperor, 
°57> 663, 664, 668, 671 

Joseph II, German Emperor, 
826 

Joseph Ferdinand of Bava- 
ria, 645, 646 

Joyce, Cornet, 502 

Jubilees, Victoria's, in 1887, 
1022, 1065, 1069; in 
1897, 1027, 1028 

Judges, the, conflicts of, with 
James I, 438-440; three, 
dismissed by Charles I, 
466 ; consultation of, by 
James I, 439 ; by Charles 
I, 467 ; tenure of, 644 

Judgment by peers, 144 

Judicial combat, 81 

Judicial Committee of the 
Privy Council, the, 318, 
402 ; decisions of, in the 
Gorham, Essays and Re- 
views, and Colenso cases, 
1042 

Judith, niece of William I, 
married to Waltheof, 77 

Julius II, Pope, 308 

"July Ordinances," the, 889 

"Junius, the Letters of," 
758, 759 

Junot, French commander, 
in Portugal, 854 

Junto, the Whig, 641 ; break- 
up of the, 643 

Juries, introduced into Eng- 
land by William I, 116; 
brought into general use 
by Henry II, 116, 117; 
fining of, abolished, 529 

Jury, trial by, 46 

Justices of the Peace, 124, 
180, 216, 405-407, 414 

Justiciar, the, 97, 150 

Justification by faith, 307, 
325, 326, 380 

Justinian, Roman Emperor, 
115 

Justinian Code, the, 115, 116 



Jutes, their invasion of 
Britain, 25, 29 

K 

Kaffirs, the, 1030 

Kalm (Swedish traveler), 

749 
Kamschatka, English expe- 
dition against, in 1854, 

fails, 961 
Kangaroo closure, 1079 
Kars, in Asia Minor, Russia 

secures, 964 
Katherine of France, suc- 
cessively wife of Henry V, 

and of Owen Tudor, 249, 

251 
Kaunitz, minister of Maria 

Theresa, 724 
Kay, John, invents flying 

shuttle, 785 
Kearsarge, the, 978 
Keats, John, poetical writ- 
ings of, 898-899 
Keble, John, 1040, 1041 
"Keepsakes," 1043 
Kelvin, Lord, see Thomson, 

William 
Kemble, John, 1050 
Kendal, Duchess of, see 

Schulenburg, Countess 

von 
Kenilworth, Dictum of, 156; 

Castle of, 415, 417 
Kenneth, King of the Scots, 

50 
Kenneth, MacAlpine, King 

of the Scots, 170 
Kent, Duchess of, mother of 

Victoria, 928, 930 
Kent, the Nun of, 319 
Kentish petition, the, 647 
Keppel, Admiral, 739 
Keroualle, Louise de, D uchess 

of Portsmouth, 554 
Ketch, John, see "Jack 

Ketch" 
Kett, Robert, rebellion of, 

35i 
"Khaki election," the, 1035 
Khartum, 1015 
Kiao Chau, 1029 
Kidd, Captain, 789 
Kielmannsegge, Countess 

von, 677 
Kilkenny, Statute of, 201, 

202, 237 
Killiekrankie, battle of, 628 



Kilmainham Treaty, the, 
ion 

Kimberley, 1031, 1034 

Kimbolton, Lord, see Mon- 
tagu, Edward, 483 

King, the Anglo-Saxon, his 
functions, 68; see also 
Monarchy ; office of, 
abolished by the Rump, 
5°9 

"King of France," title, 
dropped by English mon- 
arch, 843 

King Horn, 161 

King James' version, the, 
33i, 43i 

Kingmaker, see Neville, 
Richard 

King's Bench, Court of, 117; 
business of, in 1825, 903; 
see Common Law Courts 

King's Book, the, 336 

"King's evil," 58 

King's Friends, the, 739, 
758 

King's peace, 68 

King's Primer, the, 331 

Kingsley, Charles, 1041, 
1048, 1062 

King Waldere's Lay, 71 

Kipling, Rudyard, 1049 

Kirke, Colonel Percy, 569, 
625 

" Kirke's Lambs," 569 

Kirk o' Field, 376 

Kirk sessions, 366 

Kitchener, General Herbert, 
Lord Kitchener, his con- 
quest of the Sudan, 1015 ; 
in the Boer War, 1034, 
103S 

Kloster-Zeven, 729 

Kneller, Sir Godfrey, por- 
trait artist, 803 

Knight, Dr., 310 

Knighthood, distraint of, 
461 ; declared illegal, 480 

Knights' fees, 85 

Knights Hospitallers, 99 

Knights Templars, 9g 

Knolles, (nols) Richard, 421 

Knox, John, 365, 367, 368, 
374. 375 

Koniggratz or Sadowa, 
battle of, 987 

Konigsmarck, Philip von, 
676 

Korea, 1029, 1075, 1076 

Korsakov, Russian com- 



1132 



INDEX 



mander, defeated at 
Zurich, 84s 
Kruger, President, 1033, 

1035 
Kutuzov, Russian com- 
mander, 858 



Labor disturbances, 191 1- 
1912, 1085, 1086 

Labor legislation, since the 
second Reform Bill, 1060; 
in New Zealand, 1068 

Labor parties, 1062 

Labor party, the, oppose 
the Civil I ist, 1072 

Laborers, condition of, in 
the fifteenth century, 287, 
288; condition of, under 
Henry VIII, 341 ; under 
Elizabeth, 408, 400 ; con- 
dition of, in the eighteenth 
century, 804 ; condition 
of, in the Victorian period, 
1058 ; Huskisson's reforms 
regarding, 876-877 ; stat- 
utes of , 200, 216, 219, 231, 
342 

La Bourdonnais, 721 

Labrador, 290 

Lackland, see John, King of 
England 

Ladies' Gallery, the, 1059 

Ladies-in-waiting, the royal, 
and party politics, 934- 
035 

Ladysmith, 1034 

La Fayette, Marquis de, 770 

Laffeldt, battle of, 716 

La Haye, 864 

La Haye, Sainte, 864 

La Hogue, battle of, 631 

Laibach, Congress of, 883 

Laissez -faire, Whigs advo- 
cate policy of, for industry 
921 ; the doctrine of, 
opposed to State inter- 
ference in industry, 937— 
938; supporters of, fight 
Ashley's legislation of 
1843-1844, 942-943; doc- 
trine of, works hardship 
in Ireland, 950 ; death of 
policy of, 984; protest 
against, 1062 

Lake district, the, 3 

Lake of the Woods, the, 949 

Lake, General, 841 



"Lake School," the, 896-897 

Lally, Comte de, 735 

Lamarck, 105 1 

Lamb, Charles, literary work 
of, 899-900 

Lamb, Mary, literary work 
of, 899 

Lamb, William, Lord Mel- 
bourne, in Canning's 
Cabinet, 878 ; resigns 
from Wellington's Cabi- 
net, 881 ; in Grey's Cabi- 
net, 909 ; first Ministry 
of, 922— 923; second Min- 
istry of, 924 ; reforms of 
second Ministry of, 924- 
926 ; prepares Victoria's 
accession speech to Privy 
Council, 928; Victoria's 
instructor, 929; char- 
acterization of Ministry 
of, in 1837-1838, 933, 934 ; 
resignation of, 434 ; con- 
duct of, in Bedchamber 
Question, 934-935 ; dif- 
ficulties of, with Victoria, 
over Prince Consort, 935- 
936 ; opposes Corn-Law 
repeal, 940 ; final resig- 
nation of, 940-941 

Lambert, John, General, 
526, 533 

Lancaster, Duchy of, dis- 
position of revenue from, 
under Victoria, 929-930 

Lancaster, House of, par- 
liamentary basis of, 240; 
constitutional importance 
of its regime, 242 ; causes 
for fall of, 265, 275, 276 

Lancaster, James, 411 

Lancaster, Joseph, educa- 
tional reformer, 995 

Lancaster, Thomas of, 183- 
185 

Land bank project, the, 638 

Land Purchase Acts, the 
Irish, 1017, 1023, 1024; 
see also Irish Land Acts 

Landed proprietors, rise of, 
in eighteenth-century Eng- 
land, 791 

Landor, Walter Savage, lit- 
erary work of, 900 

Landseer, Edwin, Sir, 1057 

Landwehr, the Prussian, 859 

Langfranc, Archbishop of 
Canterbury, 52, 79, 83, 
89, 90 



Langland, William, 225, 226, 
230 

Langport, battle of, 499 

Langside, battle of, 377 

Langton, Stephen, Arch- 
bishop of Canterbury, 
137. 138, 139. 145, 148 

Language, in the thirteenth 
century, 161 

Lansdowne, the Marquess 
of, 1074, io 75> !079, 
1086 ; see also, Petty, 
William, Earl of Shel- 
burne. 

Lardner, Dionysius, 1053 

Latimer, William, Lord, im- 
peachment of, 206 

Latimer, Hugh, Bishop of 
Worcester, 285, 325, 327, 
345, 363 

Latin Church, the struggle 
between Greek Church 
and, over Holy Places, 959 

Latitudinarians, the, 603 

Laud, William, Archbishop 
of Canterbury, character 
of, 453 ; policy of, 461- 
463 ; impeachment and 
execution of, 477, 478 

Lauderdale, Duke of, see 
Maitland, John 

Laudian divines, the, 451, 
602, 603, 1041 

Laurier, Sir Wilfrid, 1082 

La Vendee, insurrection in, 
832 

Law Courts, reorganization 
of British, in 1873, 999 

Law, John, 688 

Lawlessness in Medieval 
England, 216; in eight- 
eenth-century England, 
805, 806 

Lawrence, Sir Henry, de- 
fense of Lucknow by, 971- 
972 

Lawrence, John (later Lord 
Lawrence), aids in sup- 
pressing the Indian 
Mutiny, 971, 972 

Lawrence, Major Stringer, 
"father of the Indian 
army," 721 

Lawrence, Thomas, 900 

Lawyers, attempt to exclude, 
from Parliament, 174 

Layamon, 127 

Laynez, the Jesuit, 379 

Lay patronage, 1042, 1043 



INDEX 



"33 



League, the Anti-Corn Law, 
founded, Q40 ; growth of, 
942 

League, the Catholic, 390, 
391,397; see Holy League 

League of the Empire, the, 
1069 

Learning at the court of 
Henry II, 126; of Henry 
VIII, 344 

Leeds, 3, 908, 987 

Leeds, Duke of, see Osborne, 
Sir Thomas 

Leicester (les'ter), Earl of, 
see Dudley, Robert 

Leighton (lay'ton), Alexan- 
der, 464, 477 

Leinster (len'ster), 112 

Leipzig, battle of, 859 

Legal memory, year of, 178 

Legatine, commission, the, 
310 

Legislation, beginning of, 
under Edward I, 168 

Lely, Peter, 611 

Lenthall, Speaker, 483, 484 

Leo X, Pope, 300, 303 

Leof'ric, Earl of Mercia, 56 

Leopold I, German Em- 
peror, 646, 647, 655, 657 

Leopold, Prince of Saxe- 
Coburg, later King of 
Belgium, 871, 887, 888, 
890, 928, 935 

Leopold of Austria, 122, 123 

Lesage, 1054 

Leslie, Alexander, Earl of 
Leven, 470, 495 

Leslie, David, Scottish gen- 
eral, 495, 512 

Lesseps, Ferdinand de, 1002 

Letter from Sydney, the, 
1065, 1066 

" Letters of Junius," the, 
758, 759, 761 

Letters of a Pennsylvania 
Farmer, the, 757 

Leuthen, the battle of, 729 

Levant Company, the, 413 

Levelers, the, 501, 504, 510 

Le'ver, Charles, 1048 

Leviathan, the, 604 

Lewes, battle of, 154; Mise 
of, 154-155 

Lexington, battle of, 766 

Libel, the law of, 640, 936 

Libel Act, Fox's, 762 

Liberal party, the, Glad- 
stone causes breach in, 



991 ; Gladstone breaks 
up, 991 ; the, social legis- 
lation of, 1060, 1061 ; 
alliance of, with the 
Laborites and National- 
ists, 1062 

Liberal programme, the, of 
1906, 1076, 1077 

Liberal Unionist party, birth 
of, 1019 

Liber de Unit ate Ecclesia, 325 

Liberties, see " Honours " 

Licensing Bill, the, 1077 

Lichfield, archbishopric of, 
39 

Liegnitz, the battle of, 736 

Light Brigade, Charge of 
the, 962 

Ligny, battle of, 862, 863 

Ligurian Republic, the, 846 

Lilburne, John, 464, 477, 510, 
664 

Lillibullero, 581 

Limerick, the siege and 
treaty of, 626 ; violation 
of the treaty, 627 

Limoges, sack of, 205, 207 

Linacre (lin'acre), Thomas, 
304, 305 

Lincoln, defeat of Stephen 
at, 102 ; the fair of, 148 

Lincolnshire, rising in, 327 

Lindisfarne, 35, 42 

Lionel, Duke of Clarence, 
second son of Edward III, 
240 

Lisle, Viscount, see Dudley, 
John 

Lister, Joseph, Baron Lister, 
1052 

Literature, Anglo-Saxon, 70, 
71; Anglo-Norman, 88; 
at the court of Henry II, 
126; in the thirteenth 
century, 161 ; in the 
fourteenth century, 223- 
226; in the fifteenth cen- 
tury, 290, 291 ; in the 
time of Henry VIII, 345, 
346 ; in the .Elizabethan 
age, 417-425; in the 
seventeenth century, 607 ; 
in the eighteenth century, 
796-803 ; the Victorian, 
1 043- 1 049 

Literary criticism, in the 
Restoration period, 611 

Little Parliament, the, see 
Nominated 



Littleton, Sir Thomas, 290 

Liverpool, 5 ; railroad from 
Manchester to, opened, 
894; cruiser Alabama 
built at, 978 ; repre- 
sentation of, under the 
Act of, 1867, 987 

Liverpool, Lord, made Prime 
Minister, 856 ; Ministry 
of, supports Welling- 
ton in Spain, 857 ; with- 
draws the Orders in Coun- 
cil, 860 ; conspiracy to 
destroy Cabinet of, 872; 
bill introduced by, to 
divorce Queen Caroline, 
873 ; end of Ministry of, 
878 

Livery and Maintenance, 
216, 230, 237, 280, 281 

Livery Companies, 414 

Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, 168, 
169 

Llywelyn ap Jowerth, Prince 
of North Wales, 138, 156, 
168 

Loans, forced, 340, 405, 455 ; 
abolished, 455 

Lob-lie-by-the-fire, 597 

Local government under the 
Tudors, 407 

Local Government Act, the, 
1024, 1026; extended to 
Ireland, 1024 

Lochleven Castle, 377 

Locke, John, his political 
philosophy, 605 ; his Let- 
ters on Toleration, 621 ; 
assists in restoration of 
coinage, 635 ; influence of, 
in revolutionary preachers, 
747 ; indebtedness of 
Hume to, 794 

Lodge, Thomas, 420, 423 

Logarithms, invention of, 
606 

Lollards, 228, 246, 247, 248, 
249 

Lombards, money lenders, 
164 

Lombardy, Austria in con- 
trol of, 951, 952 

London, 5 ; in Celtic times, 
1 6 ; Saxon conquest of, 
29 ; taken by the North- 
men, 42 ; recovered by 
Alfred, 43 ; captured by 
William I, 76 ; granted a 
charter, ib. ; under Henry 



1 134 



INDEX 



I, 98; charters to, 129; 
granted a "commune," 
122, 129, 130; receives a 
charter, 1 23 note ; charters 
to, from Conquest to 
Magna Carta, 129, 130; 
gilds and livery companies 
of, 130; concessions to, in 
Magna Carta, 143; in 
the time of Edward I, 180 ; 
Black Death in, 199; 
trade regulations in, 211; 
lawlessness in, 216; trade 
combinations in, 231 ; pop- 
ulation of, in the fifteenth 
century, 287 ; health reg- 
ulations in, 341 ; opposi- 
tion of James I to its 
growth, 414 ;populationof, 
in Elizabeth's reign, meas- 
ures to check growth of, 
414, 415 ; treaty of (1603), 
432; in the first months 
of the Long Parliament, 
477 ; the Plague and 
Fire in, 543 ; Treaty of 
(1674), 553; condition of, 
in the seventeenth century, 
599-601 ; in the eight- 
eenth century, 806 ; banks 
of, in crisis of 1825, 877; 
Treaty df (1827), 886; 
conference of, 887 ; con- 
ference at, Belgian Revo- 
lution referred to, 890; 
postal rates from, to Bel- 
fast and Aberdeen, before 
Penny Post, 936 ; Anti-. 
Corn Law Movement fails 
in, 940 ; Chartist conven- 
tion in, 952; conference 
at, Schleswig-Holstein 
Question before, 980 ; in- 
crease of members from, 
1013 ; made a separate 
county, 1022, 1023; 
Treaty of (1913), 1083 
Londonderry, the siege of, 
624, 625 ; proportion of 
Protestants in, 1087 
London Gazette, the, 640 
London Magazine, the, 900 
Longbeard, see William 

FitzOsbert 
Longbow, effectiveness of 

the, 169, 218 
Longchamp, see William 
Long Parliament, the tem- 
per and aims, 474, 475 ; 



the leaders in, 475-477 ; 
impeachments by, 477- 
479 ; remedial legislation 
of, 479, 480 ; struggle over 
religion and the Grand 
Remonstrance, 481-483; 
alliance with the Scots, 
493 ; intolerance of, 500 ; 
conflict with the army, 
500-504, 506 ; Pride's 
Purge of, 506 ; see Rump ; 
final dissolution of the, 
526 

Lord Chancellor, the Roman 
Catholics excluded from 
office of, 882 

Lord Lieutenant, the Eng- 
lish, origin of, 407 ; at- 
tempted coercion of, by 
James II, 578 

Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, 
Roman Catholics excluded 
from office of, 882 ; power 
of, under Coercion Bill, 
919-920 

Lord Protector, the, see 
Cromwell, Oliver and 
Richard, and Seymour, 
Edward 

Lords Appellant, the, 236, 
238 

Lords, House of, the origin 
of, as a separate House, 
174; spiritual power 
weakened by dissolution 
of the monasteries, 329; 
composition of, under 
Henry VIII, 339; the 
control of, by Eliza- 
beth, 403 ; as a court of 
appeal, 406 ; bishops tem- 
porarily deprived of seats 
in, 484 ; parties in, 487 ; 
temporarily abolished by 
the Rump, 509 ; yield 
right to amend money 
bills, 545, 546 ; gain right 
to hear appeals from Chan- 
cery. 554; Country Party 
organized in, ib. ; de- 
nounce tacking, 659 ; 
creation of twelve new 
peers in, 669 ; a Tory 
stronghold under Pitt, 
815; threat to create 
peers in, to carry Reform 
Bill, 915; Radicals call 
for reform of, 926; Irish 
bishops excluded from, 



993 ; as a Court of Ap- 
peal under reform of 
J 873, 999; threat to 
diminish their power, 
1013; Gladstone suggests 
curtailing the power of, 
1026 ; decides in favor of 
lay patrons, 1042 ; deci- 
sions of, in the Taff Vale 
and Osborne cases, 1062 ; 
reduction of the powers of, 
1077-1080 ; see also Witan, 
Great Council, Parlia- 
ment, Barons, Nobility, 
and Peers 

Lords of the Articles, the, 
428 

Lords of the Congregation, 
the, 367 

Lords Ordainers, 183 

Loreburn, Lord, 1088 

Lose-coat-field, 268 

Lostwithiel, the surrender 
at, 495 

Lothian, cession of, 54, 170 

Lotteries, 637, 913-914 

Loubet, President, 1075 

Loudon, the Earl of, 728 

Loughborough (luf'boro), 
Lord, see Wedderburn 

Louis VII, King of France, 
103, no, in, 113 

Louis (afterwardsLouis VIII, 
King of France), 138; in- 
vasion of England, 145; 
defeat and expulsion, 147, 
148, 149 

Louis IX (St. Louis), King 
of France, 149, 151, 154 

Louis XI, King of France, 
267, 268, 270, 282 

Louis XII, King of France, 
295, 296 

Louis XIII, King of France, 
488 

Louis XIV, King of France, 
alliance of Charles II with, 
536, 540, 541 ; treaty of, 
with the Dutch, 541 ; in- 
tervenes in the first Dutch 
War, 542 ; fear of, 547 ; 
his " War of Devolution " 
with Spain, 549 ; combines 
with Charles II in the 
Treaty of Dover, to se- 
cure his aid in a war on 
the Dutch, 540-5S3 ; sub- 
sidizes the Opposition, 
555, 560; his Gallicanism, 



INDEX 



1 135 



570; alienates the Dutch, 
581 ; receives James II 
and his Queen, 584; aids 
James II, 620, 624 ; alli- 
ance of William III 
against, 629, 630 ; in the 
campaign of 1693, 631 ; 
agrees to the Peace of 
Ryswick, 636, 637 ; see 
Spanish Succession ; 

promises to recognize the 
son of James II, 647, 648 ; 
his proposals of peace to 
the Dutch, 659, 663 ; 
later negotiations of, 664, 
668 ; makes Peace of 
Utrecht with England, 
670, 671 ; achievements 
of, in the war, 672 ; death 
of, 679 ; length of his 
reign, 1036 

Louis XV, King of France, 
679, 691, 709, 724, 742 

Louis XVI, King of France, 
824, 828, 830 

Louis XVIII, King of 
France, 859, 862, 889 

Louis Napoleon, see Napo- 
leon 

Louis Philippe, ascends 
throne of France, 889 ; 
alienates England in Span- 
ish marriages affair, 949 ; 
ousted by Revolution of 
1848, 951 

Louis, Emperor of the Ger- 
mans, 192, 193 

Louis, Count of Flanders, 
192, 196 

Louisburg (Cape Breton 
Island), the capture of, 
710; reverts to France, 
717; recapture of, 729 

Louisiana, ceded by France 
to Spain (1763), 743; 
Spain recedes to France, 
847 ; Napoleon sells to 
the United States, 849 

Louth, outbreak of Lincoln- 
shire rising in, 327 

L'Ouverture, Toussaint, 849 

Louvois, minister of 
Louis XIV, 629 

Lovelace, Richard, 607 

Lowe, comment of, on re- 
form of 1867, 987 

Lowestoft, battle of, 541 

Lowlands, the Scottish, 8 

"Loyalty Loan," the, 836 



Loyalists, in American Col- 
onies, 766 ; provision re- 
garding, in Treaty of 
Paris, 781 
Loyola, Ignatius, 379, 380 
Lucknow, siege of, 971—973 
Lud, god of commerce, 16 
"Luddites," the, 856 
Ludlow, General, 511 
Luneville, Peace of, 846 
Luther, Martin, 299, 303, 

305, 307, 308, 330 
Luttrell, Colonel, 758 
Luxembourg, Marshal, 630- 

632, 634 
Lycidas, Milton's, 608 
Lydgate, John, 290 
Lyell, Sir Charles, 895 
Lyly (li'ly), John, 419 
Lyme Regis, 568 
Lyndhurst, Lord Chancellor, 

923. 933 
Lyons, Richard, 206, 207 
Lytton, Edward Bulwer, 
Lord Lytton, writings of, 
1046 
Lytton, Edward Robert, 
Earl of Lytton, Viceroy 
of India, 1006, 1007 

M 

MacArthur, John, 1066 

Macaulay, Thomas Bab- 
ington (Baron Macaulay), 
combats views of Radi- 
cals on parliamentary re- 
form, 908 ; his writings, 
1043 

Macaulay, Zachary, 819 

Macdonald, Flora, 714 

Macdonnell, Sir Anthony, 
1074 

Macedonia, 1005, 1006 

Machiavelli, 314, 605 

Mackay, General Hugh, 628 

Mackintosh, Brigadier, 679, 
680 

Mackintosh, Sir James, the 
VindicitB Gallicce of, 825 ; 
assists in law reforms, 875 

Macpherson, James, 802 

Madagascar, 721 

Madero, Francesco, 1084, 
1085 

Madison, President James, 
860 

Mad Parliament of Oxford, 
153 



Madras, 721 ; see India 

Madrid, Treaty of, between 
Charles V and Francis I, 
301 ; Peace of (1630), 460 ; 
in the War of the Spanish 
Succession, 663, 665 

Mafeking, 1035 

Magdala, Abyssinian strong- 
hold, 988 

Magdalen College, case of 
the Fellows of, 577, 582 

Magenta, battle of, 976 

Magna Carta, 94, 135 ; the 
struggle for, 142 ; sig- 
nificance of, ib. ; terms 
of, 143, 144; means of 
enforcement and future 
importance of, 144, 145 ; 
declared null and void by 
the Pope, 145,. 147; con- 
firmations of, 148, 153, 
154, 156, 170, 175, 176 

Magnum Concilium, see 
Great Council 

Mahdi, the, in Jhe Sudan, 
1014, 1015 

Mahomet, 677 

Maiden Castle, 15 

Maidston, Cromwell's cof- 
ferer, 525 

Maine, French province se- 
cured by Philip II, 136 

Maine, U. S. A., Ashburton 
adjusts boundary of, 948 

Maintenance, see Livery 

Maitland, John, Earl and 
later Duke of Lauderdale, 
548, 549, 550, 551, 573 

Major-Generals, the rule of 
the, 522, 523 

Majuba Hill, the battle of, 
1031 

Malakoff Tower, the, 963-964 

Malcolm, King of Scotland, 
77 

Maldon, battle of, 51 

Malmesbury, the borough of, 
910 

Ma'lory, Sir Thomas, 290 

Malplaquet, the battle of, 
665 

Malta, captured by Napo- ■ 
leon, 844 ; recovered by 
England, 846 ; in treaty 
of Amiens, 848 ; England 
refuses to evacuate, after 
Amiens, 849 ; secured to 
Great Britain by Congress 
of Vienna, 865 



1 136 

Malthus, Thomas, 895 
Mamelukes, the, Egyptian, 

844 and note 
Manasseh Ben Israel, 590 
Manchester, 3 ; cotton in- 
dustry centered at, 784; 
massacre in, 870-891 ; 
railroad to Liverpool from, 
opened, 894 ; Russel ad- 
vocates enfranchisement 
of, 908 ; free trade agi- 
tation centers at, 940; 
representation of, under 
the Bill of 1867, 987; 
Fenian disturbance at, 
992-993 
"Manchester martyrs," the, 

993 
Manchester School, the, 
views of, on Ashley's 
legislation of 1 843-1 844, 
943 
Manchester, Earl of, sec 

Montagu, Edward 
Manchuria, 1036, 1075, 1076 
Manila, captured by the 
British, 742 ; restored, 743 
Manila ransom, the, 743 
Manitoba, Province of, 932 
Manning, Cardinal, 1042 
Manoa, fabled city of, 412 
Manor houses, in the four- 
teenth century, 222, 223 
Manors, Anglo-Saxon, 62, 
63, 64; in Anglo-Norman 
times, 86-88 
Mansfeld expedition, the, 

447. 448 
Mansfield, Lord, see Murray, 

William 
Manufactures, measures to 
protect, 289 ; regula- 
tions of, by James I and 
Charles I, 589 ; develop- 
ment of, in England be- 
fore the great inventions, 
784; status, in 1832, of, 
892 ; British, opposition 
of, to factory legislation, 
921 
Manwaring (man'nering), 

Roger, 451 
Maoris, the, 1068 
Map, Walter, 127 
Mar, Earl of, see Erskine, 

John 
Mara'thas', 809, 810, 967 
"March of the Blanketers," 
the, 870 



INDEX 

Marchand, Major, 1015 
Marcher lords, the, 155, 169, 

185 
Marconi, inventor, 1054 
Mare, Sir Peter de la, 206 
Marengo, Austria defeated 

at, 846 
Margaret, daughter of Ed- 
ward the ^Etheling, 58 
Margaret of Anjou, Queen 

of Henry VI, 257, 258, 

260—270 
Margaret of Burgundy, 271, 

272, 280 
Margaret, Queen of 

James IV of Scotland, 

282, 296, 298, 333, 35s 
Margaret, Maid of Norway, 

170 
Margaret of Parma, Regent 

of the Netherlands, 381 
Margaret of Valois, 384 
Margaret Beaufort, Count- 
ess of Richmond, 279 
Maria Anna, daughter of 

Philip III of Spain, 441, 

446 
Maria Christina, Queen and 

Regent of Spain, 889, 949 
Maria Leczinska, Queen of 

Louis XV of France, 691 
Maria Theresa, Empress, 

700, 704, 705, 708, 710, 

716, 717, 724, 725, 826 
Marian Exile, significance 

of, 365, 366 
Marian exiles, 388 
Marian martyrs, the, 363 
Marie Antoinette, 828 
Marignano, battle of, 298 
Markets, 130, 131 
Marlborough, Duchess of, 

see Jennings, Sarah 
Marlborough, Duke of, see 

Churchill, John 
Marlborough, the Statute 

of, 156 
Marlowe, Christopher, 423 
Marprelate libels, the, 389, 

390 
Marriage, feudal incident of, 

85 , 
Marriage with a deceased 

wife's sister legalized, 

1077 
Marriage Act, Lord Hard- 

wicke's, 719 
Mar'ryat, Captain, 1048 
Marsh, Adam, 160 






Marshall, see William Mar- 
shall 

Marston Moor, battle of, 
494, 495 

Martin, Richard, "Human- 
ity Martin," 903 

Mar'vell, Andrew, 607 

Mary I, Princess and Queen 
of England, 308, 344 ; 
provisions concerning her 
succession, 355; acces- 
sion, character, and policy 
of, 358, 359; marriage 
projects, 359 ; restores the 
ecclesiastical system of 
Henry VIII, 359, 360; 
marries Philip of Spain, 
360; suppresses Wyatt's 
rebellion, 361 ; secures 
reunion of Church of 
England with Rome, 361 ; 
the Marian persecutions, 
361-364 ; last years and 
death of, 364, 365 

Mary II, Princess, later 
Queen of England, marries 
William of Orange, 555 ; 
her succession barred by 
the birth of a son to James 
II, 579 ; chosen joint 
sovereign with William, 
585, 586 ; her arrival in 
England, 586 ; influence 
of, in purifying the drama, 
610, 625; her death, 632 

Mary (of Modena), Queen 
of James II, 552, 570, 
579, 583 

Mary, sister of Henry VIII, 
Queen of France, and 
Duchess of Suffolk, 296, 
355 

Mary (of Lorraine), Queen 
of James V of Scotland 
and Regent, 333, 334, 

367, 374 
Mary, Queen of Scots, birth 
of, 334 ; crowned Queen, 
ib. ; taken to France, 352 ; 
married to the Dauphin 
(later Francis II of 
France), 353 ; refuses to 
ratify the Treaty of Edin- 
burgh, 374; returns to 
Scotland and marries 
Darnley, 375 ; murder of 
Darniey, 376 ; her mar- 
riage to Bothwell, defeat, 
and flight to England, 



INDEX 



"37 



377; her trial and cap- 
tivity, ib. ; plot of Nor- 
folk to marry, and the 
rising of the Northern 
Earls to put her on the 
throne of England, 377, 
378; aim of Philip II 
to make her Queen, 380; 
plots in behalf of, 381, 382, 
385, 386, 387, 388, 303; 
her execution, 393, 394 

Mary of Burgundy, 270-272, 
299 

Mary of Bavaria, 646 

Ma'serfeld, battle of, 35 

Masham, Mrs., 665, 667 

Mashonaland, 1032 

Mason, James M., Confed- 
erate Commissioner to 
England, 978 

Massachusetts, resistance to 
the Stamp Act in, 753 ; 
to the Townshend Acts, 
757 

Massachusetts Bay, colony 
of, 436 

Massacre of St. George's 
Fields, the, 758 

Massacre, the "Peterloo," 
870-871 

Matabeleland, 1032 

Mathew, Father, gso, 1059 

Matilda, daughter of 
Henry I, 96 ; marries Em- 
peror Henry V, ib. ; mar- 
ries Geoffrey of Anjou, 
ib. ; claims the throne, 
100; begins civil war, 
101 ; gains and losses, 
102, 103 ; retires from the 
struggle, 103 ; mention 
of, 309 

Matthew Paris, 156, 161, 
172 

Matthews, Thomas, 330 

Matthias, Emperor of Ger- 
many, 442 

Maurice (mor'ris), Freder- 
ick Denison, 1041 

Mauritius, secured to Great 
Britain by Congress of 
Vienna, 865 

Max Emanuel, Elector of 
Bavaria, 655, 656 

Maximilian, later Emperor 
of the Germans, 271, 272, 
281, 282, 295, 2g6, 298, 299 

Maximilian, Duke of Ba- 
varia, 442 



Maximilian, Archduke, in 
Mexico, 980 

Maximus, 20, 21 

May Fair; 806 

Mayflower Compact, the, 
5i7 

Maynard, Sergeant, 584 

Maynooth College, 840, 944 ; 
grant to, discontinued, 993 

Mazarin, Cardinal, 372, 488 

McAdam, John, 893 

McCarthy, Justin, 102 1 

Meagher (ma'her), Thomas 
Francis, Irish conspira- 
tor, 952 

Meath, 112 

Medicine, in fourteenth cen- 
tury, 221; in the seven- 
teenth century, 606 ; in 
the eighteenth century, 
792 ; in the nineteenth 
century, 895 

Medina Sidonia, Duke of, 394 

Medway, the Dutch enter 
the, 542, 543 

Meerut, rising at, 970 

Melbourne (mel'bun), Lord, 
see Lamb, William 

Melbourne, capital of Vic- 
toria, Australia, 1066 ; 
temporary capital of the 
Commonwealth of Aus- 
tralia, 1067 

Melrose Abbey, 99 

Melville, Andrew, 431 

Menai Straits, road across, 
893 

Menshikov, Prince, 960-962 

Mercantilism, 288 ; declin- 
ing strength of, 605 ; 
Adam Smith's criticism 
of, 796 

Merchant Adventurers, the, 
289, 413 

Merchant gilds, 130 

Merchants, concessions to, 
in Magna Carta, 143 ; 
Statute of, 179, 212; 
foreign, in England, 212, 
213; in the fifteenth 
century, 286; of the 
Staple, 289 ; condition 
of, under Henry VIII, 341 

Merchant Shipping Act, the, 
1002 

Mercia, supremacy of, 38, 39 

Mercians, the, 30 

Merciless Parliament, the, 
236 



Meredith, George, 1048, 

1049 
Merlin, 89, 243 
Merry Andrew, 224 
Mersey River, 5 
Merton College, Oxford, 160 
Methodism, rise of, 794-795 
Methuen Treaty, the, 655 
Metropolitical visitations, 

the, 463 
Metternich, Prince, 865, 

883, 884 
Mexico, recognition of Re- 
public of, 885 ; Napoleon 

III intervenes in, 979-980 ; 

the situation in, 1910- 

1914, 1084, 1085 
Michell, Sir Francis, 443, 445 
Middle class, the, in the 

fifteenth century, 286 
Middlesex election, the, 757, 

758 
Middleton, John, Earl of, 

535 
Miguel, claimant to Por- 
tuguese throne, 885, 888, 

889 
Milan decree, the, 853 
Mile End, 232, 233 
Militant suffragists, 1060, 

1088 
Military and Naval Officers' 

Oath Bill, the, 880 
Military tenures, introduced 

by William the Conqueror, 

85 ; abolished, 534 
Mill, James, 907, 1049 
Mill, John Stuart, 973, 983, 

1041, 1059, 1060 
Millais (mil la'), John 

Everett, 1057 
Millenary Petition, the, 430, 

43i 
Millet, Constable's influence 

on, 901 
Milner, Sir Alfred (Lord 

Milner), 1033 
Milton, John, 423, 451, 601, 

747 ; his life and works, 

608, 609 
Minden, the battle of, 733 
Mines and collieries, Acts 

relating to, in 1842-1843, 

942, 943; in 1872-1906, 

1060 
Minimum Wage Bill, the, 

1085, 1086 
Ministerial responsibility, 

615, 646 



n 3 8 



INDEX 



Ministries, list of, from 
Walpole, appendix 

Ministry of All the Talents, 
851, 852 

Ministry, the, distinguished 
from the Cabinet, 614 

Minorca, captured by the 
British, 665 ; ceded to 
Great Britain, 671; cap- 
tured by the French, 723, 
724; restored, 743; lost 
again, 776; ceded to 
Spain, 781 

Miquelon, Island of, 781, 
833 

Miracle plays, 224 

Mise of Amiens, the, 153, 

154 

Mise of Lewes, 154 

Missal, the, 331 

Mistress of the Robes, the, 
changed with each Gov- 
ernment, 935 

Mitchell, Irish conspirator, 
952 

Modena, see Zurich, Peace 
of 

Mogul, the Great, 720, 969- 

973 

Mogul Empire, British 

assHime guardianship of, 

967 
Mohocks, 600 
Moira, Lord, see Rawdon, 

Francis, Earl of Hastings 
Moldavia, 887, 964 ; see 

Rumania 
Mompesson, Sir Giles, 443, 

445 

Monarchy, rise and decline 
of Anglo-Saxon, 62 ; rev- 
enues, 66 ; evidences of 
growth of, 68, 69 ; cause 
of decline of, 69, 70 ; 
strength of, at the acces- 
sion of James I, 566 ; 
declining respect for, 
under the first two 
Georges, 693 

Monasteries, hospitality of, 
220 ; faults and merits of, 
322 ; dissolution of the, 
322-324, 328-330; as 
centers of poor relief, 342 ; 
of education, 345 ; see 
Monks 

Monastic revival in twelfth 
century, 99 ; decline of, 
under Henry II, 126; see 



Monks, Monasteries, and 
Cluniac reform 

Monck, George, later Duke 
of Albemarle, ■ 526, 527, 
532, 542 

Money bills, the Lords 
yield right to amend, 545, 
546 ; to veto, 1078 

Money lending, legalized, 
408; see Interest and 
Usury 

Monks, work and influence 
of, 36,37 ; the, as landlords, 
285, 341 ; proceedings 
against under Henry VIII, 
319, 320, 322-324, 326, 
328-330; see Monasteries 
and Monastic revival 

Monmouth, Duke of, see 
Scott, James 

Monopolies, attitude of Eliz- 
abeth on, 399 ; under the 
Tudors and Stuarts, 405 ; 
attack on, 443, 444 ; Act 
abolishing, 444 ; grants 
of, by Charles I, 461 ; 
justification for, 588, 589 

Monroe, President, enunci- 
ates "Monroe Doctrine," 
885 and note 

Monroe Doctrine, the, 885, 
1028 

Mons, 630 

Montagu (mon ta gu'), 

Charles, later Earl of 
Halifax, his share in the 
restoration of the coinage, 
635 ; in founding the 
National Debt and the 
Bank of England, 637- 
638, 643 ; impeachment 
of, 646 ; mention of, 
667 

Montagu, Edward, Earl of 
Manchester, 477, 483, 492, 
495. 496 

Montagu, Edward, Earl of 
Sandwich, 552 

Montagu, John, Earl of 
Sandwich, 745 

Montagu, Mrs., 806 

Montcalm, Marquis of, 278, 
731-733 

Montenegro, 1003, 1005 

Montesquieu, 823 

Montfort, de, see Simon 

Montgomery, Robert, 971 

Monthly assessments, 488 

Montpensier, Due de, 949 



Montreal, the British cap- 
ture of, 736 

Montrose, the Earl of, 481, 
498, 512 

Moore, Sir John, death of, 
854 and note 

Moore, Thomas, 899, 1045 

Morality plays, 224 

Morals, status of British, 
after French Revolution, 
902 

Moray, Earl of, see Stewart, 
Lord James 

Mordaunt, Charles, Earl of 
Peterborough, 657, 663 

More, Sir Thomas, 295 ; 
Speaker of the Commons, 
300; character and work 
°f» 305, 306; made Lord 
Chancellor, 311, 314; re- 
signs, 317; arrest and 
execution of, 310-321 ; 
as a writer, 346 

Morea, the, Ibrahim Pasha 
in, 886, 887 

Morkere, Earl, 58, 59, 76, 77 

Morley, John, Viscount 
Morley, 1013, 1024 

Morley, Mrs., see Anne, 
Queen of England 

Mornington, Lord, see 
Wellesley, Richard, Mar- 
quis of Wellesley 

Morocco, 138, 1075, 1076, 
1082 

Morris, William, 1057 

Morse, Samuel, 1054 

Morte d' Arthur, Malory's, 
290 

Mortimer, Edmund, Earl 
of March, heir presump- 
tive of Richard II, 240, 
244, 245, 250 

Mortimer, Roger, 186, 189, 
190 

Mortimer's Cross, battle of, 
263 

Mortmain, Statute of, 179 

Morton, Earl of, Regent of 
Scotland, 367, 387 

Morton, Thomas, Lord 
Chancellor, 280, 289 

Morton, Dr., 1051 

" Morton's Fork," 280 

Mortuaries, 316 

Moscow, in Napoleon's Rus 
sian campaign, 858 

Mountjoy, Lord, 398 

Mount Vernon, 704 



INDEX 



"39 



Mowbray, Thomas, Earl of 
Nottingham, 236 ; Duke 
of Norfolk, 238, 239 

Muckden, battle of, 1076 

Mummeries, 208, 218 

Mummings, 224, 422 

Mun, Thomas, 605 

Municipal corporations, at- 
tacks on, by Charles II, 
and James II, 563, 564, 
577. 578; forfeited char- 
ters restored, 582 

Municipal Reform, problem 
of, for Ireland, in 1837, 
932-933 

Municipal Reform Act, the, 
924-925 

Munster, 112 

Miinster, the Bishop of, 542 

Murphy, Father John, 841 

Murray, Lord George, 711- 
7i4 

Murray, Brigadier James, 
735 

Murray, William, Lord 
Mansfield, 719, 761 

Music, in the seventeenth 
century, 612; in the 
eighteenth century, 803 ; 
in the Victorian Age, 1057 

Mustapha, 677 

Mutiny Act, the, origin of, 
621; opposed by Walpole, 
683; by Fox, 812 

"My son's Ministry," 808 

Mysore, establishment of, 
as British protectorate, 
966-967 ; revolt in, 845 

N 

"Nabobs" in Parliament, 
911 

Namur, 631, 634, 862 

Nana Sahib, 969, 971, 972 

Nankin, Treaty of, 948 

Nantes, the Edict of, 397 ; 
revoked, 570, 589 

Na pi er, Admiral, Sir 
Charles, 961 

Napier, General, Sir Charles, 
968 

Napier, John, 606 

Napier, Sir Robert, Abys- 
sinian expedition of, 988 

Naples, in Second Coalition 
against France, 845 ; re- 
volt of 1820 in, 884 

Napoleon, see Bonaparte 



Napoleon, Louis, later 
Napoleon III, Palmer- 
ston approves the coup 
d'etat of 1 85 1 of, 957; 
supports French protec- 
torate over Holy Places, 
959 ; ambition of, a 
cause of Crimean War, 
959, 960; anxiety of, to 
end Crimean War, 964, 
965 ; Orsini's attempt 
to assassinate, 974-975 ; 
Orsini's plot stimulates 
to intervention in Italy, 
975 ; negotiates a com- 
mercial treaty with Cob- 
den, 976 ; unfriendly atti- 
tude of, to United States 
during Civil War, 979-980 ; 
attitude and policy of, in 
Schleswig-Holstein ques- 
tion, 980; in the Franco- 
Prussian War, 1000 

Naseby, battle of, 497, 498 

Nash, Richard (Beau Nash), 
602 

Nash, Thomas, 420 

Natal, 1030, 1 03 1 ; in the 
Boer War, 1033, 1034, 
1035 

Nation, the Irish nationalist 
journal, 944 

National Assembly, French, 
aggressive decrees of, 
829, 830 

National Constituent As- 
sembly, the French, 824 

National Debt, the, 550; 
beginning of the, 637 ; 
Scotch share in, 662 ; 
after Napoleonic wars, 
831 ; in 1796-1797, 836; 
after the Union, 843 ; 
amount of, at end of 
Napoleonic wars, 868 ; 
see South Sea Company 

National Insurance Bill, the, 
1086 

National Land Leagues, 1010 

National League, the Irish, 
ion, 1020 

National Society, the, foun- 
dation of, 995-996 

National Transport Federa- 
tion, 1085 

Nationalist party, the, split 
in the ranks of, 1021, 
1022; reunion of, 1025; 
the Independent, ib. ; com- 



bination with Liberals, 
1062 ; opposes the Civil 
List, 1072; the agreement 
with, 1078; see Home 
Rule and Parnell 

Nationality in Revolutions 
of 1848, 951 

Naturalization Bill, the Im- 
perial, 1088 

Navarino, 887 

Navigation Acts, the, in 

. the fifteenth century, 288, 
289; of 1651, 514, 519; 
of 1660, 534, 535, 539; 
their effect on trade, 590, 
591 ; scope of, and effect 
of, on the American 
Revolution, 747, 748, 750, 
75_i 

Navigation Law, the, 213; 
of Elizabeth, 412; op- 
position of Burghley to, 
413 ; repeal of, 875 ; tem- 
porary suspension of, in 
1 846-1 847, 950 

Navy, beginning of English, 
172, 213; under Henry 
VII and Henry VIII, 
343 ; growth of, under 
Elizabeth, 390, 391 ; in 
the Civil War, 488 ; under 
the Commonwealth, 514; 
condition of, under 

Charles II, 541 ; abuses 
in treasurerships of, in 
late eighteenth century, 
816; superiority of, in 
x 793, 831; mutiny in, in 
!797. 836, 837; reforms 
in, in 1870, ' 997-998; 
in the Victorian period, 
1053, 1054 

Near East, see Russo-Turk- 
ish War 

Necker, French Minister, 
824 

Neerwinden, battle of, 631 

Nelson, Admiral, at battle 
of St. Vincent, 836; de- 
feats Napoleon at Aboukir 
Bay, 844, 845 ; in com- 
mand before Copenhagen, 
847 ; victory off Tra- 
falgar, 850 

Nemours, Due de, Belgian 
crown offered to, 890 

Neolithic man, in Britain, 
12-13 

Netherlands, commercial 



1 140 



INDEX 



treaty with (the Great 
Intercourse), 289; revolt 
of, against Philip II, 380, 
381, 385 ; Elizabeth's in- 
tervention in the, 3go, 
3qi ; French aggressions 
in, 828 ; French driven 
from, 832; defeat of 
allies of First Coalition 
in, 834 ; the kingdom of, 
889-800; see also Flan- 
ders, Holland, Belgium 
and Batavian Republic 

Neutral goods in "Declara- 
tion of Paris," 964 

Neutrals, regulations regard- 
ing, under Continental 
system, 852, 853 

Neville (nev'il), Richard, 
Earl of Warwick, the king- 
maker, 261—264 passim, 
266, 267, 268, 269 passim 

Neville's Cross, 196 

New'ark, Scotch camp at, 
499 

Newberrie, John, 410, 411 

New Brunswick, Province 
of, 932 

Newbury, first battle of, 
492 ; second battle of, 496 

Newcastle, 5 

Newcastle, Dukes of, see Pel- 
ham-Holles and Clinton 

Newcastle, the Earl of, 491, 
53i 

Newcastle Program, the, 
1023, 1024 

Newcastle, the Propositions 
of, 501 

Newcomen, his steam 
engine, 787 

Newfoundland, 290, 412, 
670,671,932; fisheries of , 
French rights in, defined, 
781 

New Harmony, U.S.A., 
Owen's colony at, 938 

New Learning, the, 298, 302, 
303 ; in England, 303- 
307 

Newman, John Henry, in 
the Oxford Movement, 
1040, 1041 ; his writings, 
1044— 1046 

"New Model" army, the, 
343, 489, 490, 496, 497; 
breach with Parliament, 
499 ; conflicts with Parlia- 
ment, 500-504 ; rise of 



democratic opinion in, 
503, 504; disbanded, 533 
New Netherland, 541, 543 
Newnham College, 1059 
New Orleans, battle of, 861 
"New Poor Law," the, 921- 

922 
Newport, R.I., French fleet 

blockaded at, 774 
Newsletters, 601 
New South Wales, 958, 959, 

1066, 1067 
Newspapers, 601 
New Testament, the, edition 
of Erasmus, 305 ; Luther's 
translation of, 307 ; Tyn- 
dale's translation of, 330 
Newton, Sir Isaac, 577 ; his 
discoveries, 606 ; share 
in the restoration of the 
coinage, 635 
Newton Butler, battle of, 

625 
New World, discovery of, 6 
New York, 553, 769, 992 
New Zealand, origin and 
growth of, 1065, 1068; 
contributes a battleship, 
1082 
Ney, Marshal, 862-864 
Nice, 975-976 
Nicholas I, Tsar of Russia, 

886, 959, 960, 963 
Nicholas of Hereford, 228 
Nicholas of Lynn, 213 
Nicholson, General, 972 
Nicolls, Colonel Richard, 541 
Niemen, the interview of 
Napoleon and Alexander 
on, 852 
Niepce, 1052 

Niger Company, the, 1029 
Nightingale, Florence, in 

the Crimea, 962 
Nile, battle of the, 844, 845 
Nineteen Propositions, the, 

484 
Niths'dale, Lord, 681 
Noailles, Marshall de, 707, 

708 
Nobility, weakness of, under 
the Tudors, 278; con- 
dition of, in the fifteenth 
century, 285, 286; in the 
seventeenth century, 595 
Nominalists, the, 160 
Nominated Parliament, the, 

516, 524 
Nomination boroughs, 916 



Nonconformists, their rise, 
388; effect of the Act of 
Uniformity upon, 537 ; 
decline of, in eighteenth 
century, 793 ; Education 
Bill of 1870 unpopular 
with, 996 ; barred from 
the universities, 997 ; op- 
pose the Education Bill 
of 1902, 1074 ; failure of 
Education Bills favoring, 
1077 ! see Dissenters 
Non-intercourse Act, the 

American, 860 
Non-jurors, the, 622 
Non-residence, of clergy- 
men, 316, 1040; Ecclesi- 
astical Commission cor- 
rects, 925 
Non-resistance, Tory, High 

Church theory of, 563 
Nootka Sound, 827 
Nore, mutiny at, 837 
Norfolk, Dukes of, see 

Howard and Mowbray 
Norham, Award of, 170 
Norman architecture, 72 
Norman barons, risings of, 

91, 93, 94, 95 
Norman Conquest, results 

of, 84 ff. 
Norman earls, rising of, 78 
Normandy, Duchy of, 
founded by Rollo, 41 ; 
conquered by Geoffrey of 
Anjou, 103 ; loss of, by 
John, 135 
North, Lord, enters the 
Grafton Ministry, 757 ; 
becomes Prime Minister, 
759 ; his character and 
policy, 759, 760; breaks 
Whig power, 760; char- 
acterization of Adminis- 
tration of, 760, 761 ; 
favors conciliation with 
American Colonies, 765 ; 
failure of policy of, to 
conciliate American Col- 
onies, 766 ; Continental 
Congress rejects concilia- 
tion schemes of, 768; 
efforts to conciliate Ameri- 
can Colonies in 1778, 
771 ; Administration of, 
loses strength, 773 ; resig- 
nation of, 776; Irish re- 
forms of, 777 ; unites 
with Fox to attack Shel- 



INDEX 



1141 



burne, 808; Secretary of 
State, ib. ; Regulating 
Act of, 809, 810 

North, Thomas, 418 

Northallerton, battle of, see 
Standards 

North America, voyage of 
Cabots to, 290; the 
English colonies in, 436, 
437 ; struggle of the 
French and English in, 
722 

North Briton Review, No. 45, 
744, 74S 

North Downs, 4 

North German Confedera- 
tion, organization of the, 
987-988 

Northern earls, rising of 
the, 377, 378 

Northern Rising, the, see 
Pilgrimage of Grace 

Northern Star, the, Chart- 
ist organ, 939 

Northampton, Assize of, 117 

North Island, 1068 

Northmen, their home, 41 ; 
their conquests, ib. ; first 
invasion of England and 
Ireland, 42 ; their king- 
doms, and the West 
Saxon reconquest, 46, 47 ; 
second coming of, 51, 52; 
gain a foothold in Eng- 
land, S3 ; establish a 
dynasty under Cnut, 53 

North Pole, 213 

Northumberland, Duke of, 
see Dudley, John 

Northumbrians, 30 ; their 
supremacy, 33 ; end of su- 
premacy, 38 

Norton, Thomas, 422, 423 

Norwich, strike at, 784; 
case of the Archdeacon of, 
134; Bishop of, crusade 
to Flanders, 235 

Nottingham, Earl of, see 
Howard, Charles, and 
Finch, Daniel 

Nova Scotia, 670, 671, 932 

Novel, the, rise of, 798, 799; 
development of, in the 
late eighteenth and early 
nineteenth century, 899 ; 
in the Victorian period, 
1046-1049 

Noy, William, suggests ship 
money to Charles I, 466 



Nun of Kent, the, 319 
Nymwegen, the Peace of, 
556 

O 

Oates, Titus, 556, 557, 558, 
562, 567 

Oath helpers, 66 ; see Com- 
purgators 

Oaths, see Supremacy and 
Allegiance 

Obdam, Admiral, 542 

O'Brien, William Smith, 952 

Observants, the friars, 320 

Occasional Conformity Act, 
668, 669 ; repealed, 684 

Oceana, see Commonwealth, 
604, 605 

O'Connell, Daniel, cham- 
pions cause of Catholics, 
880-882; fights duel, go2 ; 
secures franchise reform in 
Ireland, 913 ; attitude of, 
toward English remedial 
legislation for Ireland, 
919, 920; supports Whig 
Ministry, 932-933 ; names 
" Chartist " agitation, 939 ; 
violent agitation of, in 
1843, 943-944; death of, 
944 

O'Connor, Feargus, Chartist 
leader, 939, 952 

Octavius, Roman Emperor, 
18 

Odo of Bayeux, 91, 93 

O'Donnell, Frank Hugh, 
1021 

Offa, King of Mercia, 38, 
39; his Dyke, 38; his 
laws, 39, 44; letter from 
Charlemagne to, 74 

Ogle, Captain, 789 

Oglethorpe, James, 804, 805 

Ohm, 1052 

Ohthere, the Northman, 45 

Old Age Pensions Act, 1060, 
1077 

Oldcastle, Sir John, 249 

Old Sarum, borough of, 702, 
910 

"Oliver the Spy," govern- 
ment agent, 870 

Oliver Twist, contemporary 
life reflected in, 938 

Omagh (oma'), 1086 

Omdurman, 1015 

O'Neill (nel), Hugh, Earl 
of Tyrone', 398 



Onslow, Colonel, 762 

Ontario, province of, 932 

Oollt'ic range, 4 

Opium traffic, measures for 
the suppression of, 1080 

Opium War, the, 947-948. 

Orange, see William 

Orange Free State, 1030, 
1034, 1035 

"Orange Lodges," formation 
of, in Ireland, 839 

Orange River Colony, 1035 

"Orator" Hunt, 869, 871, 
907, 918 

Ordeals, 66, 81, 117 

Order of the Indian Empire, 
the, 1006 

Orderi'cus Vita 'lis, 89 

"Orders in Council," the, 
852, 853, 860 

Ordinances, the, of 13 n, 
183; royal, 210; of the 
Tory Parliament, 489 

Oregon boundary question, 
the, 948, 949 

Orford, Earl of, see Russell, 
Edward, and Walpole, 
Robert and Horace 

Origen (or'ijen), 22 

Orleans, siege of, 255 

Orleans, see Charles, Duke 
of 

Orleans, Philip II, Duke of, 
Regent of France, 679, 
682, 685, 691 

Ormonde, Duke of, see 
Butler, James 

Ormonde, Marquis of, see 
Butler, James 

Orosius, Alfred's translation 
of, 45 

Orsini, conspirator, 974-975 

Orsted, 1052 

Osborne, Sir Thomas, suc- 
cessively Earl of Danby, 
Marquis of Carmarthen, 
and Duke of Leeds, be- 
comes Lord Treasurer, 
553 ; his use of bribery, 
55.S, 554; his religious 
policy, 554; his bill for a 
Protestant successor, 555 ; 
attitude toward the Pop- 
ish Plot, 557, 558; fall 
of, 560, 561 ; signs the 
invitation to William of 
Orange, 581 ; his plan for 
regulating the succession, 
585; his dismissal, 615; 



1142 



INDEX 



becomes head of the 
Ministry under Wil- 
liam III, 622; forced 
to retire, 641 
Osborne Judgment, the, 1062 
O'Shea, Captain, 1021 
Ostend Company, the, 692 
Oswald, Northumbrian King, 

34. 35 
Oswy, Northumbrian King, 

35 

Otho, papal legate, 150 

Otis, James, 749 

Otto I, King of Greece, 888 

Otto IV, German Emperor, 
138, 141 

Ottoman Empire, see Turkey 

Oudenarde, battle of, 664, 
696 

Oudh, the Begums of, 810; 
Wazir of, 810; land 
cessions secured by British 
from, 967 ; British an- 
nexation of, 968—969 ; in 
Indian Mutiny, 971 

"Outdoor Relief," for 
British paupers, 921, 922 

Outram (oot'ram), Sir 
James, in India, 972 

Owen, Robert, 938, 1061, 
1062 

Oxford, barons present de- 
mands to John at, 141 ; 
Provisions of, 153, 154; 
knights of the shire sum- 
moned ' to, 173; head- 
quarters of Charles I, 
487, 491 ; Treaty of, 491 ; 
royal Parliament at, 494; 
the last Parliament of 
Charles II at, 562, 563 ; 
borough of, practice of 
bribery in parliamentary 
election by, 911 

Oxford, Earl of, see Vere, 
Aubrey de and Harley, 
Robert 

Oxford Gazette, the, 640 

Oxford Movement, the, 953, 
1040, 1041, 1042 

" Oxford Reformers," the, 
283, 291, 304-307 

Oxford, University of, not 
founded by Alfred the 
Great, 46; origin of, 128; 
quarrel with papal legate, 
150; friars at, 158; col- 
leges at, 160; Magdalen 
Tower at, 222; in the 



fourteenth century, 222, 
223 ; New College founded 
at, 223; in the time of 
Henry VIII, 324. 345; 
James II's attack on the, 
577; the Test Act of 1871, 
997 



Pacification of Berwick, the, 
470 

Page, 1 054 

Pageants, 224 

Paine, Thomas, 768, 825, 828 

Painter, William, 418 

Painting, in the seventeenth 
century, 611; in the 
eighteenth and early nine- 
teenth centuries, 900-901 ; 
in the Victorian Age, 1057 

Palatinate, of the Rhine, 
the, 442, 443, 447 ; see 
Frederick V 

Palatinates, 78, 79 

Pale, the Irish, 237, 281 

Paleolithic men, of the 
river drift, n; of the 
caves, 12 

Palestine, quarrel over Holy 
Places in, precipitates 
Crimean War, gsg 

Paley, William, 895 

Palladio, 611 

Pallium, 92 

Palmers, 219 

Palmerston, Lord, in Can- 
ning's Cabinet, 878; re- 
signs from Wellington's 
Cabinet, 881 ; Foreign 
Secretary, 888; in Grey's 
Ministry, 909 ; foreign 
policy of, 947, 948, 955- 
957 ; favors Italians in 
Revolution of 1848, 952; 
in Coalition Ministry, 
958; would force Rus- 
sian concessions before 
Crimean War, 960 ; in- 
tervenes in China in 
affair of the Arrow, 966 
note ; frames an India 
Bill, 973 ; carries the 
Divorce Bill of 1857, 974; 
fall of, 974-975 ; begin- 
ning of second Ministry 
of, 976—977 ; in sympathy 
with South in American 
Ciyil War, 977 ; in Trent 



affair, 978; imports cot- 
ton from India and Egypt 
during English famine, 
979 ; attitude of, in 
question of the Duchies, 
980-981 ; characterization 
and death of, 981, 982; 
policy of, isolates Eng- 
land in 1866, 988; op- 
poses the Suez Canal proj- 
ect, 1002 

Panama, Paterson's attempt 
to establish a colony in, 
660, 661 ; exposition, the, 
1084; tolls, ib. 

Pandulph, papal legate, 139, 
148 

Pantheon, the, closing of, 002 

"Papal Aggression," the, 
953-954 

Papal States, the, incor- 
porated in kingdom of 
Italy, 976 

Papelotte, 864 

Paper Duty Repeal Bill, the, 
977 

Paper money, depreciation 
of American, 774; issue 
by Bank of England to be 
covered by bullion, 942 

Papineau, Louis Joseph, 
930-93I 

Paradise Lost and Paradise 
Regained, 609 

Pardoners, 219 

Pardoning power, the, 1036 

Paris, siege of, 1000 

Paris, Treaties of (1763), 
742, 743; (1783), 781; 
(1814), 861, 862; (1815), 
865 ; (1856), 964, 965 

Paris, University of, 128 

Paris, see Matthew 

Parish, the origin of, 64; 
in Tudor times, 407 ; 
care of roads by, 593 

Parish priest, the, in the 
thirteenth century, 159 

Parish registers, 327 

Parker, Sir Hyde, 847 

Parker, Matthew, Arch- 
bishop of Canterbury, 
374. 389. 420 

Parker, Samuel, Bishop of 
Oxford, 57*2 

Parliament, origin of, 133 ; 
Simon de Montfort's, 155, 
168, 173; the Model, 170, 
173. !74; origin and 



INDEX 



1 143 



growth of, to 1295, 172- 
174; payment of mem- 
bers, 174; the unlearned, 
ib. ; declaration of, 1322, 
1 85; deposes Edward II 
and sets up Edward III, 
186; gains of, in 1341, 
103, l 94> the Good, 206, 
207 ; beginning of im- 
peachments in, ib. ; sep- 
aration into Lords and 
Commons, 174, 210; gains 
in the fourteenth century, 
210, 211; the Merciless, 
236 ; the Great, of Shrews- 
bury, 238; deposes 
Richard II and sets up 
Henry of Lancaster, 240, 
241 ; gains of, under 
Henry IV, 246; attacks 
wealth of Church, 247; 
causes of weakness under 
the later Lancastrians, 
the Yorkists, and the 
Tudors, 279; resists Sub- 
sidy of 1523. 3°°; tne 
Reformation, " 315-320, 
324; acts of, relating to 
the monasteries, 323, 324, 
328, 336 ; Henry VIII re- 
proves, 336 ; Henry's 
management of, 338-34°; 
control of, by Elizabeth, 
403 ; privileges of, 403, 
404; conflicts of, with 
James I, 433. 434. 437, 
443, 444, 445-449; the 
"Addled," 437; conflicts 
of, with Charles I, 453- 
455, 457-46o; taxing 
power of, 467, 468; the 
Short, 471, 472; the 
Long, first session of, 474- 
481 ; struggle with Charles 
I for control of the king- 
dom, 484 ; its organization 
during the Civil War, 486- 
490 ; breach with the army, 
499 ; intolerance of, 500 ; 
conflicts with the army, 
500-504, 506 ; Pride's 
Purge of, 506; see the 
Rump; see also the 
Nominated ; quarrels of 
Cromwell with, 521-523; 
final dissolution of the 
Long, 526; the Conven- 
tion, 527, 529, 53 2 -535; 
gains of, under Charles II, 



529; see the Cavalier; 
gains of, under Charles II, 
545, 546; origin of cor- 
ruption in, 553 ; new 
tests excluding Roman 
Catholics from (1678), 
559; breach of James II 
with, 571 ; the Conven- 
tion, of William, 584-586 ; 
rights of, in the Declara- 
tion of Rights, 586; 
Scotch members admitted 
to, 662 ; corruption in, in 
the time of Walpole, 690 ; 
Act of, necessary for 
divorces to 1857, 719; 
question of its supremacy 
over the Colonies, 749, 
750; struggle over re- 
porting of debates in, 761, 
762 ; Adam Smith favors 
Colonial representation in, 
766; annual, urged by 
Duke of Richmond, 773 ; 
Pitt's attempts at reform 
of, 818; Catholic priests 
excluded from, 882 ; 
drunken men in, 902 ; 
causes of reform of, in 
nineteenth century, 905- 
906 ; Bentham's influence 
upon reform of, 906-907 ; 
abuses in, needing reform, 
909-914; question of priv- 
ileges of members of, 
in Stockdale vs. Hansard, 
936 ; annual, Working- 
man's Association wants, 
939 ; property qualifica- 
tion for election to, abol- 
ished, 975 ; restoration of 
payment of members of, 
ib. ; abolition of disabil- 
ities of Jews to sit in, ib. ; 
open to atheists, 975, 
1009; bills to reform, 
between 183 2-1 866, 984; 
opened in person by Ed- 
ward VII, 1072; powers 
of the Lords reduced in, 
1078-1080; term of , short- 
ened to five years, 1080; 
see Reform Bills of 1832, 
1867, 1884, and 1885; 
see also House of Com- 
mons and House of 
Lords 
Parliament Bill, the, 1078, 
1079, 1080 



Parnell, Charles Stewart, 
character of, 1010; his 
visit to the United States, 
ib. ; his arrest and re- 
lease by the Kilmainham 
Treaty, 1011; breaks off 
his connection with the 
Clan-na-Gael, 1012; Salis- 
bury's negotiations with, 
1017; accepts the first 
Home Rule Bill, 1019; 
his suit against the Times, 
1020, 1021; his disgrace 
and death, 1021, 1022 
" Parnellism and Crime," 

1020 
Parsons, Robert, 387 
Parson's Cause, the, 750 
Parthenon Sculptures, the, 

1050 
Parties, political, rivalry of, 
checks political evils in 
eighteenth century, 914; 
see Cavalier, Roundhead, 
Court, Country, Tory, 
Whig, Conservative, 

Liberal, Radical, Young 
Ireland, Nationalist, 

Labor 
Partition Treaties, the, 645, 

646 
Party system, the, beginning 
of, 554; rise of, 614-617 
Pasha, Ibrahim, in Greek 

Revolution, 886, 887 
Paterson, William, 638, 660- 

661 
Patriarcha, the, 604 
"Patriots," the, 698, 700, 701 
Patronage, see Lay Patron- 
age 
Paul III, Pope, 321, 348 
Paul IV, Pope, 364, 379 
Paul, Tsar of Russia, 835, 

845-847 
Paul's Walk, 600, 601 
Paulet, Sir Amyas, 393 
Pauncefote (pounce'foot) 

Sir Julian, 1029 
Pauperism, in late seven- 
teenth and in eighteenth 
centuries, 804, 921, 922 
Pavia, siege and battle of, 

301 
Paxton, Sir Joseph, 955 
Payment of members, 1062 
Peace, see Justices 
Peace Preservation Acts for 
Ireland, 919, 995, IOI ° 



1 144 



INDEX 



Peacham's case, 439 

Peasant Revolt, the, 225, 
228, 230-234 

Pecquigny, Treaty of, 270 

Pedro, King of Castile, 204 

Pedro, Emperor of Brazil, 
885, 888, 88g 

Peel, Sir Robert, the Elder, 
interest in factory legis- 
lation of, 920-921 

Peel, Sir Robert, made 
Home Secretary, 874 ; 
law reforms of, 875 ; re- 
fuses service in Canning's 
Cabinet, 878 ; supports 
Wellington Ministry, 881 ; 
reforms criminal code, 
go3 and note, 904 ; in- 
fluenced by Bentham, go7 ; 
First Ministry of, 923- 
924 ; supports Municipal 
Reform Bill of 1835, 9 2 5 '• 
deplores accession of Vic- 
toria, 928 ; precipitates 
Bedchamber crisis, 934- 
935 ; second Ministry of, 
begins, 941 ; the Bank 
Charter Act of, 941-942 ; 
furthers development of 
free trade, 942 ; views 
of, on Ashley's labor legis- 
lation of 1843— 1844, 943; 
conciliatory measures for 
Ireland of, 944 ; conver- 
sion of, to free trade, 
944-946 ; secures Corn 
Law repeal, 945, 946 ; 
death, and estimate of 
work of, 946-947 ; failure 
of, to relieve Irish troubles, 
950; Disraeli's attacks on, 
during Corn Law agita- 
tion, 942, 989; Derby 
splits with, on Corn Law 
repeal, 989 

Peele, George, 423 

"Peelites," the, 947; Con- 
servatives among, in 1846, 
950 ; refusal of, to support 
first Derby Ministry, 957 ; 
in Coalition Ministry, 
958; Gladstone secedes 
with the, 990 

"Peep of Day Boys," the, 
838, 839 

Peerage Bill, the, 686 

Peers, judgment by, 144; 
Pitt and creation of, 815 ; 
wide control over Com- 



mons by, before first Re- 
form Bill, 910; fight first 
Reform Bill, 914-915; 
defeat second Reform Bill, 
915; Tory, oppose munic- 
ipal Reform Bill of 1835, 
925 ; see Lords, House of, 
and Parliament Bill 

Peine forte et dure, 117, 217 

Peking, the Treaty of, 966 

Pelham, Henry, 708, 709, 
716, 718, 719 

Pelham - Holies, Thomas, 
Duke of Newcastle, char- 
acter of, 698; makes his 
brother Prime Minister, 
708; brings Pitt into the 
Ministry, 716; opposes 
the reform of the calen- 
dar, 718; becomes Prime 
Minister, 719; his quan- 
dary, 722, 723; dismisses 
Pitt, 723; makes Byng a 
scapegoat, 724; resigns, 
725 ; anticipates Pitt as a 
strategist, 727 ; forms his 
second Ministry with Pitt 
in control of foreign af- 
fairs, 728, 730; end of his 
Ministry, 742 

Pelissier, General, 963 

Pembroke Castle, 505 

Penal laws, under Eliza-' 
beth, 373, 387, 388 ; under 
James I, 432, 442, 445; 
under Charles I, 451, 455 ; 
operation of, suspended 
for Protestant Dissenters, 
621 ; done away with, 773 

Penal servitude, regulation 
regarding, as established 
for transportation, 958- 
059 

Penda, King of Mercia, 34, 
35- 

Peninsular War, the, 853-858 

Penn, Admiral, 520 

Penn, William, 576 

Pennine Mountains, the, 
importance of, 293 

Pennington, Admiral, 455 

Penny postage, in London, 
602 ; introduced in Eng- 
land, 936-937 ; Imperial, 
1028, 1081, 1082 

Penrud'dock's rising, 522 

Penry, John, 390 
• Pensionary Parliament, the, 
see Cavalier Parliament 



Pensions, Victoria's allow- 
ance for, 929 ; see Old 
Age Pensions 

Pentland rising, the, 573 

Pepperell, William, 710 

Pepys (peeps), Samuel, 538, 
540. 54i 

Perceval, Spencer, 852, 855, 
856 

Percival, Dr., 920 

Percy, Henry, Earl Mar- 
shal, 208 

Percy, Henry, Earl of Nor- 
thumberland, 244, 245 

Percy, Sir Henry (Hotspur), 
244, 245 

Percy, Thomas, Bishop of 
Dromore, 802 

Periodical literature, British, 
in early nineteenth cen- 
tury, 900 

Per'rers, Alice, 205, 206, 
207, 208 

Perry, Commodore, victory 
on Lake Erie of, in 1813, 
861 

Persia, 591," 966, 968, 969 

Perth, West Australia, 1066 

Peruzzi, the, 194 

Peter, St., 22 

Peter (the Great), Tsar of 
Russia, 682 

Peter of Amiens, 93 

Peter des Roches, Bishop of 
Winchester, 147, 148, 149, 
150 

Peter of Wakefield, 138, 139 

Peterborough, Earl of, see 
Mordaunt, Charles 

Peter's Pence, origin of, 39 ; 
abolished, 318 

Petition of Right, the, 457, 
458 

Petitioners, the, 562 

Petitions and the origin of 
legislation, 210, 211 

Petrarch, 225 

Petre (pe'ter), Father, 571, 
572 

Pet'ty, Sir William, 605, 606 

Petty, William, Earl of 
Shelburne and Marquis 
of Lansdowne, 776, 778- 
780, 808, 825 

Pev'ensey, 29, 59 

Philadelphia, 765, 769, 772 

Philip II (Augustus), King 
of France, 114, 121, 122, 
123. 135. 136.138, i4 I » I 49 



INDEX 



"45 



Philip IV, King of France, 
171, 176 

Philip V, King of France, 
185, 186 

Philip VI, King of France, 
191-197 passim, 202 

Philip II, King of Spain, 
359-362, 364, 365, 372, 
375. 380, 381 ; rejoices 
at the massacre of St. 
Bartholomew, 385 ; re- 
calls Alva, ib. ; his share 
in the Catholic League, 
390, 391 ; leader of 
the Counter-Reformation, 
392 ; plans expedition 
against England, 393 ; 
claim to the English 
throne, 394 ; sends the 
Armada against England, 
394 ; views of, on the 
destruction of the Ar- 
mada, 396 ; final struggle 
with Elizabeth and death, 
397, 398 

Philip III, King of Spain, 
441, 442 

Philip IV, King of Spain, 
520, 542, 549, 645, 646 

Philip of Anjou, later 
Philip V of Spain, 646, 
647, 664, 668, 670, 671, 
679, 682, 685, 691, 692, 716 

Philip (the Good), Duke of 
Burgundy, 251, 254, 282, 
289 

Philip (the Fair), Duke of 
Burgundy, 299 

Philiphaugh, battle of, 498 

Philippa, of Hainault, Queen 
of Edward III, 189, 197, 
205, 220, 223 

Philippa, wife of Lionel, 
Duke of Clarence, 240 

Phillip, Commodore, 1065 

Philosophical Radicals, the, 
aims of, in 1838-1839, 933 
note 

Philosophy, in the seven- 
teenth century, 604 ; in 
the eighteenth century, 
793, 794; in the late 
eighteenth and early nine- 
teenth centuries, 895 ; in 
the Victorian Age, 1049, 
1050 

Phoenicians, 14 

Phcenix Clubs, organization 
of, in Dublin, 991, 992 



Phcenix Park murders, the, 

ion 
Photography, 1052 
Physicians, College of, 304; 

see Medicine 
Picts, the, 15, 20, 30 
Piedmont, revolt suppressed 
in, 884 ; joins Franco- 
British Alliance, 963 
Pie Powder Court, 163 
Piers the Plowman, 225, 226 
Pigott forgeries, the, 1021 
Pilgrimage of Grace, the, 

326-328 
Pilgrims and pilgrimages, 

219, 220, 326 
Pilgrim's Progress, the, 607 
Pillory, the, 805, 903 
Pinkie Cleugh, battle of, 352 
Piracy, in eighteenth cen- 
tury, 789 
Piraeus, British siege of 

Greek ships at the, 956 
"Pitch-cap," the, 841 
Pitt, Fort (Pittsburgh), 729 
Pitt, William (later Earl of 
Chatham), the beginning 
of the political career of, 
702, 703 ; denounces sub- 
sidies, 707 ; and Carteret, 
709 ; he enlists High- 
landers, 715, 727; ad- 
mitted to the Pelham 
Ministry, 716; opposition 
of, to his Chief New- 
castle, 719, 720; dis- 
missal of, 723; made 
Secretary of State, 725; 
estimate of, 725, 726; 
his "system," 717, 727; 
vainly tries to save Byng, 
727; his dismissal and 
recall as Secretary in the 
second Newcastle Minis- 
try, 728; his conduct of 
the campaigns of 1757— 
1760, 728-734, 736; wins 
the confidence of 

George II, 734, 737 ; 
anti-party attitude of, 
738; his resignation, 741, 
742 ; distinction of, be- 
tween taxation and regu- 
lation of trade, 749 ; re- 
fuses to tax the Colonies, 
751 ; refuses to form a 
Ministry, 753 ; his op- 
position to the Stamp 
Act, 755 ; forms the 



Grafton-Pitt Ministry, 
756 ; becomes Earl of 
Chatham, 756; his ill- 
ness and retirement, ib.; 
attacks the Grafton Min- 
istry, 759 ; opposes British 
Colonial policy, 765, 766; 
views of, regarding Ameri- 
can Colonies in 1778, 771 ; 
death of, 772; advocates 
parliamentary reform, 907 
Pitt, William, the Younger, 
struggle of, with the 
Coalition, 812, 813 ; Tory- 
ism of, 813 ; sketch of 
career of, 813-814; posi- 
tion of, in 1784, 814, 815 ; 
India Bill of, 815; estab- 
lishes commercial union 
between England and 
France, 817; estimate 
of his political strength 
and achievements, 819 ; 
attitude of, in Hastings's 
impeachment, 820 ; recon- 
ciles George III and 
Prince of Wales, 820, 821 ; 
thwarts Fox on Regency 
question, 821, 822; atti- 
tude towards French Rev- 
olution, 824, 825 ; for- 
eign policy of, 826-830; 
Burke denounces foreign 
policy of, 828 ; dismisses 
Chauvelin from England, 
830; on the war with 
France, ib.; hostility to- 
ward in 1795, 834; sub- 
sidizes Austria in war 
with France, 834; fails 
to make peace with France 
in 1796, 835; France 
seeks overthrow of, ib.; 
efforts of, to secure peace 
with France in 1797, 837 ; 
instructs Fitzwilliam re- 
garding Ireland, 840; re- 
calls Fitzwilliam from Ire- 
land, ib.; decides upon 
Irish Union, 842-844 ; 
resignation of, 843, 844 ; 
organizes Second Coalition 
against France, 845 ; sup- 
ports Addington Ministry, 
847, 848 ; second Minis- 
try of, 850, 851 ; death 
of, 851 ; duel with Tier- 
ney, 902 ; advocates par- 
liamentary reform, 907; 



1146 



INDEX 



Quebec Government Bill 
of, 930 

Pius V, Pope, 382 

Pius VII, 847 

Place, Francis, 907 

Place Bills, 639, 646, 913, 
1089 

Plague, the, 221, 341, 543, 
see also Black Death 

Plantagenet (plantaj'enet) 
dynasty, the, beginning 
of, 107 ; end of, 240, 241 

Planters, British colonial, 
oppose abolition of 
slavery, 920; labor 
troubles of, in Jamaica, 

933-934 
Plassey, the battle of, 735 
Platonic Academy, 304 
Platonists, the Cambridge, 

603, 604 
Plautius, Aulus, 18 
Plautus, 422 
Play House Bill, passage of, 

802 
Plim'soll, Samuel, 1002 
Plombieres, the meeting of 
Cavour and Napoleon III 
at, 975-976 
Plun'ket, William, Baron 
Plunket, champions Cath- 
olics, 870-880 
Plun'kett, Sir Horace, 9, 

1025 
Plural holdings, ecclesias- 
tical commission corrects, 
925 
Plural voting, 986, 1012, 

1023, 1086, 1087 
Plural Voting Bill, the, 1088 
Pluralities, 316, 431, 1040 
Plymouth, colony of, 431, 

436 
Pocket boroughs, 910 
Poet laureate, 897, 1045 
Poetry, Anglo-Saxon, 70, 
71 ; Anglo-Norman, 88, 
89; in the Middle Ages, 
223, 226, 290; Eliza- 
' bethan, 421; in the seven- 
teenth century, 607, 610; 
in the eighteenth century, 
801,802; Romantic, 896- 
8gg; Victorian, 1045, 
1046 
Poitiers, 218 

Poitou, oppression of the 
nobles of, by John, 136; 
John's expedition to, 139, 



141 ; Henry Ill's expedi- 
tions to, 149, 151 ; in- 
corporated into French 
dominions, 151 

Poland, 827, 834, 890, 981 

Pole, Reginald, later Arch- 
bishop of Canterbury, 
325, 326, 332, 359, 361, 
362, 365 

Pole, Michael de la, created 
Earl of Suffolk, 234, 235, 
236 

Pole, William de la, Duke of 
Suffolk, 257, 258 

Poles, execution of, 332 

Polish succession, war of 
the, 700 

Political Register, the, Cob- 
bett's Radical organ, 900 

Poll taxes, 207, 230, 231 

Pol'lock, Sir George, 968 

Polo, Marco, 1065 

Pompadour, Madame de, 
724 

Pondicherry, 721, 736 

Pontiac, the conspiracy of, 
749 

Poonah, the Peshwa of, 809, 
967 

Poor Laws, the, of Hen- 
ry VIII, 342, 343; of 
Elizabeth, 343, 415; the 
New (1834), 921, 938, 
loss ; the Irish, 932, 933, 
939,9Si 

Poor preachers, the, 228 

Poor relief, in the Middle 
Ages, 342 ; in the seven- 
teenth and eighteenth 
centuries, 804 

Pope, Alexander, poetry of, 
801, 896 

Popish Plot, the, 543, 556- 
560 

Population, of England, in 
the Anglo-Norman period, 
88 ; in the fourteenth cen- 
tury, 216; in the fifteenth 
century, 286, 287 ; in- 
crease of, under Henry VII 
and Henry VIII, 341 ; in 
the Restoration period, 
596; growth of, in the 
eighteenth century, 804 ; 
of Scotland under James 
VI, 428; decrease of, in 
Ireland, 1025 ; increase of, 
in the United Kingdom, 
and in England and Wales 



in the nineteenth century, 
1058 ; of the British Em- 
pire, 1063 ; of New Zea- 
land, 1068 

Porson, Richard, 1050 

Port Arthur, 1029, 1076 

Port Jackson, 1065 

Porte, the Sublime, origin 
of name, 886 and note; 
treaty of 1740 with, 959; 
see Turkey 

Portland, Earl of, see Ben- 
tinck, William 

Portland, Duke of, see Ben- 
tinck, William Henry 

Porto Bello, 703, 704 

Portsmouth, Duchess of, see 
Keroualle, Louise de 

Portsmouth, the Peace of, 
1076 

Portugal, marriage alliance 
of Charles II with, 540; 
as a maritime power, 618, 
619; joins the Grand 
Alliance, 655 ; Methuen 
Treaty with, ib. ; in 
Second Coalition against 
France, 845 ; seized by 
Napoleon, 853-854; loses 
Brazil, 876 ; result of 
1820 in, 884; revolution 
in, 888-889 

Portuguese, the, in India, 
720, 721 

Portuguese West Africa, 
1032 

Posidonius, 14 

Positivism, 1049 

Post, the, in the seventeenth 
century and the Restora- 
tion period, 601, 602 ; see 
Penny postage 

Post nati, the, 435 

Potato famine, the, 944, 1056 

Potosi, mines of, 340 

Pottery, development of 
English manufacture of, 
786 

Poundage, see Tonnage 

Poverty, suffering from, in 
England, during Victoria's 
early reign, 937 

Poynings, Sir Edward, 281 

Poynings' Law, 281, 842 

Praecipe (pre'cipe), writ of, 
142, 144 

Praemunire (pre'mu nl're). 
Statute of, 200, 237 ; em- 
ployed against Wolsey, 



INDEX 



1147 



311 ; invoked by Henry 
VIII against the clergy, 
3i7 

Pragmatic Sanction, the, 
692, 704, 708, 709, 717 

Prague, the Defenestration 
of, 442 

Prague, Peace of, 987- 
988 

Praise of Folly, see Erasmus 

Pratt, Charles, Lord Cam- 
den, 745, 759 

Prayer Book, see Common 
Prayer 

Preferential trade, 1072, 
1081, 1082 

Premonstratensians, 99 

Preraphaelites, the, 1046, 
1057 

Prerogative, the royal, mag- 
nified by the High Church 
party, 451, 45 2 

Presbyterians, organization 
of, 366 ; aims of, under 
Elizabeth, 388, 389; re- 
ligious and political theo- 
ries of, 431 ; relations of, 
with James I, 435 ; effort 
of, to capture the Estab- 
lished Church of England, 
480, 481 ; see Solemn 
League and Covenant, and 
Westminster Assembly ; 
breach of, with the Inde- 
pendents, 495 ; Charles 
IPs views of, 530; block 
the efforts of Charles II 
to secure toleration, 535, 
538; lose ground in Eng- 
land, 539 ; oppose the 
union with England, 660; 
establishment of, guaran- 
teed in the union, 661 ; 
Irish, Gladstone's treat- 
ment of, in 1869, 993; see 
United and Free Church 

Presbyteries, 366 

Presentment jury, 116, 117 

Press, the censorship of the, 
464 ; end of the censor- 
ship of, 640; becomes a 
factor in party govern- 
ment, 641 ; progress of, 
as a political factor, under 
George III, 762 ; in 
struggle over reporting 
debates, 762 ; the London, 
on defeat of second Re- 
form Bill, 915 



Pressburg, Peace of, 850-851 

Pressing to death, 805 ; see 
also Peine forte el dure 

Prester, John, 988 

Preston, battle of, 506; 
Jacobite surrender at, 680 

Prestonpans, the battle of, 
711 

Pretenders, see James Fran- 
cis Edward ; Charles 
Edward, Simnel, and War- 
beck 

Pretoria, 1035 

Prevention of Crimes Bill, 
the, ion 

Price, Dr. Richard, 794, 
818, 825 

Pride's Purge, 506 

Priest, the parish, in thir- 
teenth century, 159 

Priestley, Joseph, 792, 825 

Prime Minister, the, rise 
of, 615, 616; the first 
use of the name, 698, 
705 ; the office of, 1076 

Primer, the King's, 331 

Primogeniture, 85 

Prince, the, of Machiavelli, 
314 

Prince Edward Island, 932 

Printing, introduction into 
England, 290, 291 

Priories, alien, 323 

Prisons, in the Middle Ages, 
216, 217; efforts of Ogle- 
thorpe and Howard to 
reform, 804, 805 ; im- 
provement of, in the 
nineteenth century, 1059 

Privateering, abolition of, in 
"Declaration of Paris," 
964, 965 

Privateers, American, during 
Revolution, 772; British, 
in American Civil War, 
978-979 

Privilege, see Parliament 

Privy Council, the, under 
the Tudors, 404 ; as a 
court of appeal, 406; 
its constitution under 
Charles II, 532; com- 
mittee of, for Trade, 591 ; 
powers of the, 646 ; crea- 
tion of educational com- 
mittee of, 996 ; Judicial 
Committee of the, 318, 
402, 918; judgment in 
the Gorham, Essays and 



Reviews, and Colenso 
cases, 1042 
Probate, Court of, under 

the reform of 1873, 999 
Probate of wills, 316 
Proclamations, royal, 349, 

439 
Procopius, Roman historian, 

25 
Proctors, tithe, abuse of, 

by Irish peasantry, 919 
Progresses, royal, 415 
Prohibitions, 438, 439 
Property Qualification Act, 

668 
Prophesyings or exercises, 

389 
Prose writers, see Literature 
Protection, Disraeli supports 
policy of, in Commons, 
942 ; abandonment of, in 
England, 946-947 ; Dis- 
raeli abandons, 958; see 
Chamberlain, Joseph, Corn 
Laws, Gladstone, Huskis- 
son, Mercantilism, Peel, 
and Adam Smith 
Protectorate, the, 517, 527 
Protectorates, British, 1064 
Protestant extremists, under 
Edward VI, 348-356; 
under Elizabeth, 388-390 ; 
see Baptists, Brownists, 
Congregationalists, Fifth 
Monarchy Men, Indepen- 
dents, Presbyterians, Puri- 
tans, Quakers, Dissenters, 
Nonconformists 
Protestant Association, the 
Elizabethan, 563 ; Lord 
George Gordon's, 773 
Protestant flail, the, 559 
Protestant Union, the, 442 
Protestation, the, of the 

Commons, 446 
Provisions of Oxford, the 

153- 154 
Provisions of Westminster, 

the, 154, 156 
Provisors, Statute of, 200, 

237 
Prussia, becomes a power 
of the first rank, 717; 
joins Triple Alliance of 
1781, 826, 827; in war 
of First Coalition, 834; 
joins armed neutrality 
of 1800, 846; Great Brit- 
ain lays embargo on 



1 148 



INDEX 



vessels of, 852; joins 
Russia, Austria, and 
Sweden in War of Libera- 
tion, 859; signs first 
Treaty of Paris, 861-862 ; 
signs Quadruple Alliance, 
865 ; attitude of, toward 
revolution in Belgium, 
890; signs Treaty of 
Paris after Crimean War, 
964 ; Napoleon III counts 
on neutrality of, in war 
of Italian Unity, 976; 
Victoria favors, in Schles- 
wig-Holstein affair, 980, 
981 ; defeats Austria in 
war of 1866, 987-988; 
see Frederick II (the 
Great), King of; see 
Franco-Prussian War, 
1000 

Prynne, William, 464, 466, 
477 

Public Debt, the, in Pitt's 
Ministry, 815, 816; see 
National Debt and Sink- 
ing Fund 

Public works, Russell's sys- 
tem of, for Ireland, 950- 

Public Worship Regulation 
Act, the, 1042 

Pularoon, 541, 543 

Pulteney, Sir William (later 
Earl of Bath), 608, 705 
706, 708, 716 

Punishments, 216, 217, 805 

903, 904 
■ Punjab, the annexation of 
968 

Purcell, Henry, 612 

Puritans, the origin of, 388 
demands of, at the ac- 
cession of James I, 430 
431 ; their views and aims 
in the time of Charles I 
451, 452; their moral 
and religious discontent 
463-466 ; moral influence 
of, 525; hostility of, to 
the stage, 610 

Puritan revolution, the, 228 ; 
its principles, 366 ; com- 
plex and peculiar character 
of the, 402 ; the results 
of, 508, 527 

Purvey, John, 228 

Purveyance, 201, 218, 433; 
abolished, 534 



Pusey, Dr., 1041 

Puttenham, Richard, 346, 
420 

Pym, John, 471, 472, 475- 
477> 479> 481 ; his part 
in the Grand Remon- 
strance, 482, 483 ; ar- 
ranges the Solemn League 
and Covenant, 493 ; his 
death, ib. 

Pyramids, the, at Giza, 1002 

Pyramids, battle of the, 844 

Pyrenees, the Peace of the, 
540 

Pytheas of Marseilles, 14, 16 



Quadrivium, 128 
Quadruple Alliances, the 

(1718), 684, 685; (1815), 

86 S ; (1834), 889 
Quakers, the, 538, 567, 621, 

719 
Quarter-days, 718 
Quarter Sessions, 406 
Quartering Acts, 749 
Quarterly Review, the, 900 
Quatre Bras, battle of, 862, 

863 
Quebec, the siege and cap- 
ture of, 730-733 ; the 

Province of, 932 
Quebec Act, the, 764 
Quebec Government Bill, 

the, 930 
Quebec Ordinances, the, 

931-932 
Queen Anne's Bounty, 651 
Queen's Bench, Court of, 

under reform of 1873, 999 
Queen's Colleges, in Ireland, 

944 

Queensland, 1066, 1067 

Quia Emptores, 181 

Quiberon Bay, naval battle 
at, 733 ; the landing at, 
884 

Quiros, De, 1065 

Quo warranto, inquiries, 
under Edward I, 178; 
writs of, brought by 
Charles II against Lon- 
don and other municipal 
corporations, 563, 564 

R 

Races in Britain, Eskimos, 
12 ; Iberians, 13 ; Celts, 13 



Rack-renting, Irish, 880 

Radcot Bridge, 236 

Radical party, the, oppose 
the Civil List, 1072 

Radicals, the, in the Whig 
party, 868 ; agitations of, 
869-870, 872 ; the Press 
organ of, 900 ; school of 
philosophic, 907 ; Mac- 
aulay combats views of, 
908; oppose New Poor 
Law of 1834, 922; claims 
of, under Melbourne's 
second Ministry, 925-926; 
policy of, in 1 838-1 839, 
933 ; Chartism embodies 
aims of British, 939; 
denounce Ecclesiastical 
Titles Bill, 954 

Raeburn (ra'bun), Sir Henry, 
900 

Raedwald, King of the East 
Anglians, 3s, 34 

Raglan, Lord, 962, 963 

Raglan Castle, 499 

Railroads, development of, 
894; in the Victorian 
Age, 1052, 1053 ; gov- 
ernment ownership of, in 
Australia, 1067 ; in New 
Zealand, 1068; see Steam 
engine 

Railway strike, the, 1085 

Rainsborough, Colonel, 504 

Rakoczy, Prince, 655 

Raleigh, Sir Walter, 370, 
397,412,421, 438,441,606 

Ralph, Earl of Norfolk, 78 

Ralph Roister Doister, 422 

Ramillies, the battle of, 659, 
662 

Ranelagh, 806, 902 

Rani of Jhanai, the, 973 

Ranulf Flambard, 91, 94, 95 

Rastadt, preliminaries at, 
670 

Rates, compulsory church, 
abolition of, 925 

Rates, the poor, burden of, 
before New Poor Law, 
921-922 

Rating franchise, 1012 

Raw'don, Francis, Lord 
Moira and Earl of Hast- 
ings, Governor-General of 
India, 967 

Ray, John, 792 

Raymond VI, of Toulouse, 
138 



INDEX 



1 149 



Raymond, John, 411 

Reade, Charles, 1048 

Real Presence, the, 325, 354 ; 
see also Transubstantiation 

Realists, the, 160 

Recognition, Act of, 430 

Recognition juries, 117 

Recreation in the twelfth 
century, gg ; in the four- 
teenth century, 217 

Recusants, measures against, 
387, 388; under James I, 
432, 443, 447; see Penal 
Laws 

Redan, the, g63 

Redistribution Act, the, of 
1885, 1013 

Redmond, John, succeeds 
to Parnell's leadership, 
1022; becomes leader of 
the reunited Nationalists, 
1025 ; and the Home Rule 
Bill of igi4, io8g 

Reeve, the Anglo-Saxon, 
63,65 

Reflections on the French 
Revolution, Burke's, 825 

Reform Bill, the first, de- 
feated, gi4~gi5; defeat 
of second, gis; passage, 
terms, and results of 
third, gis-gi7; results 
of first, gi7; the first, of 
1832, disappointment of 
working classes in, g37- 
g38 ; Russell and, g8s 
note ; its effect on the 
Church, 1040; of 1866, 
g84-g8s; of 1867, g86- 
g87; of 1884-1885, 1012, 
1013 

Reform of the Calendar, see 
Calendar 

Reformation, the, in Eng- 
land, causes for, 301, 302 ; 
condition of the Church 
on the eve of the, 307, 308 ; 
causes of, 308 ; some 
results of, 316; effect of, 
on poor relief, 342 ; prin- 
ciples of, in England, Ger- 
many, and Scotland con- 
trasted, 366 

Reformation of Manners, 
Society for, Wilberforce 
founds, go2 

Reformation Parliament, 
the, 315-320, 324 

Reforms, legal, of 1833, gi8 



Refugees, foreign, in Eng- 
land, s8g 

Regency Bills, the (1705, 
1706), 658; (1765), 753; 
(1788, i78g), 821, 822 

Regicides, the, 533 

Reginald, sub-prior of Christ 
Church, Canterbury, 137 

Regium Donum, gg3 

"Reign of Terror," the, 833 

Relief, feudal incident of, 85 

Relief Bill, Savile's, 773 

Religion, of the Celts, 14; 
in thirteenth century, 150, 
160; in the eighteenth 
century, 7g3 ; in the 
nineteenth century, i03g- 
1042 

Renascence, the, 225, 2gi ; 
302, 303 ; in England, 
303-307 ; influence of, on 
English literature, 418 

Rent, Ricardo's theory of, 
8g6 

"Repealers," g24 

Representation, inequalities 
in, in House of Commons, 
gog-gio ; after Reform 
Bill of 1832, g84; see 
American Revolution and 
Virtual representation 

Requests, Court of, 350 

Resolutions, the Eliot, 45g 

Responsibility of ministers, 
615, 646 

Restoration, causes and 
nature of, 527, 528; 
colonial and trade ex- 
pansion during, 5go, sgi 

Restoration of the coinage, 
see Coinage 

Revenues, Anglo-Saxon, 68 ; 
Anglo-Norman, 86 ; under 
Henry II, 118; under 
Henry VIII, 340; under 
the Tudors, 404, 405 ; of 
the royalist and parlia- 
mentary parties in the 
Civil War, 488; settle- 
ment of, at the Restora- 
tion, 533, 534; the, of 
James II, 567, 568; set- 
tlement of, under Wil- 
liam III, 623 ; from the 
American Colonies, 751 ; 
of the British Empire, 
1063 ; see Civil List 

Revenue officers, deprived 
of right to vote, 776, 777 



Revised version, the, 331 
Revolution, of 1688, the 

nature and results of, 6g7 ; 

see American Revolution 
Revolution, Belgian, of 1830, 



Revolution, the French, ef- 
fects of, on England, 822, 
823 ; causes of, 823, 824 ; 
outbreak of, 824 ; govern- 
ments of, 824 and note; 
reception of, in England, 
824, 825 ; English propa- 
ganda checked, 828 ; Eng- 
lish societies to spread 
doctrines of, ib. ; emis- 
saries of, in England, 82g 
Reign of Terror of, 833 
effect in Ireland of, 88g 
attitude of English poets 
toward, 898 ; social effects 
of, goi-go2 ; Bentham's 
fear of, 906 ; of 1830, 8gg ; 
spread of movement of 
1830, 8go; stimulates 
reform in England, 908; 

Revolution, Spanish, of 
1820, 884, 885 

Revolution in Portugal and 
Spain, 888-88g 

Revolution, European, of 
1848, gsi-gsa 

Revolution Society, the Eng- 
lish, 825 

Reynolds, Sir Joshua, 803- 
804 

Rhe, the expedition to, 455, 
456 

Rheims, college at, 387 

Rhodes, Cecil, 1031, 1032, 
1033 

Rhodesia, 1032 

Rhuddlan, Statute of, 169 

Ricardo, David, 8g6 

Rich, Robert, Earl of War- 
wick, 477 

Richard I (Cceur de Lion), 
King of England, made 
Duke of Aquitaine, 113; 
revolt against Henry II, 
114; accession and char- 
acter, 120; exactions, 
121 ; participation in the 
Third Crusade, 121, 122; 
return and imprisonment 
in the German Empire, 
122, 123; his ransom and 
visit to England, 123; 
departure for France and 



1150 



INDEX 



death, 123, 124; growth 
of boroughs under, 129; 
grants a guild hall to the 
merchants of Cologne, 131 

Richard II, King of England, 
festivities for, as Prince 
of Wales, 207, 208; navi- 
gation laws under, 213, 
225; accession, 230; atti- 
tude toward the Peasant 
Revolt, 232-234; marries 
Anne of Bohemia, 234 ; 
manifestations of despot- 
ism of, 235 ; temporarily 
yields to the opposition, 
236 ; recovers power 
and rules well for eight 
years, 236, 237 ; goes to 
Ireland, 237 ; attempts to 
resume absolute power, 
2 37 _2 39 ; second mar- 
riage, 238 ; second visit 
to Ireland, 239 ; deposi- 
tion of, 240; death and 
final estimate of, 241, 243 

Richard, Duke of Gloucester 
265 ; suspected of murder 
of Henry VI, 269; leads 
an expedition against 
Scotland, 272; makes 
himself Protector, 272; 
character and policy, 272, 
273 ; proclaimed King, 
273 ; see Richard III 

Richard III, King of Eng- 
land, crimes and vain 
efforts to secure popu- 
larity, 273, 274; defeat 
and death at Bosworth, 
274, 275 ; estimate of, 275 

Richard, Duke of York, 257 ; 
claim to the throne, 258 ; 
visit to Ireland and return, 
259; Protector, 260,261; 
opens War of the Roses, 
261 ; in exile, 261, 262 ; 
claims the throne, defeat 
and death at Wakefield, 
262 

Richard, Duke of York, son 
of Edward IV, 272, 273, 
280 

Richard de Clare ("Strong- 
bow"), Earl of Pembroke, 
112 

Richard de Clare, Earl of 
Gloucester, 153 

Richard of Cornwall, 150, 
152, 173 



Richard Fitzneal, 127, 150, 

1S6 

Richardson, Chief Justice, 
464 

Richardson,' General Sir 
George, 1087, 1088 

Richardson, Samuel, 799 

Richelieu, Cardinal, 447, 
455, 488 

Richmond, Duke of, urges 
annual parliaments, 773 

Ridley, Nicholas, Bishop of 
London, 363 

Ridolfi plot, the, 381, 382 

Rights, Bill of, see Bill 

Rights, the Declaration of, 
586 ; see Bill of Rights 

Rights of Man, Paine's pam- 
phlet, 825 

Riot Act, the, 678 

Riots, in connection with 
parliamentary reform, 
915, 986 

Ripon, negotiations with the 
Scots at, 473 

Rising of 1715, the, 679- 
681; of 1745, 710-714 

Ritualism, 1041, 1042 

River systems, 47s 

Rivers, economic impor- 
tance of, 4 

Rivers, Lord, 272, 273, 304 

Rizzio, David, 376 

Roads, Roman, 21 ; in the 
fourteenth century, 218; 
in the fifteenth century, 
285 ; in the seventeenth 
century, 593 ; in the early 
nineteenth century, 893 ; 
in Scotland, 715 

Robert (Curthose), Duke of 
Normandy, 78 ; rising of, 
91 ; goes on the first Cru- 
sade, 93 ; mortgages his 
duchy to William Rufus, 
ib. ; forestalled as King 
of England, 94; return 
from the Holy Land, ib. ; 
leads a rising against 
Henry I, 95 ; treaty with 
Robert, ib. ; defeat at 
Tinchebrai, ib. ; dies a 
prisoner, ib. 

Robert, Earl of Gloucester, 
100, 101, 102, 103 

Robert of Artois, 192 

Robert of Bellame, 95 

Robert of Crickland, 125 

Robert of Jumieges, 56, 57 



Robert of Mowbray, 93 

Robert Fitzwalter, 142 

Robert Grosseteste, Bishop 
of Lincoln, 131, 151, 152, 
164, 181, 304 

Roberts, General, Earl Rob- 
erts, in the Afghan War, 
1007 ; in the Boer War, 
1034-1036; honors ac- 
corded to, 1035, 1036; 
opposes Home Rule Bill, 
1088 

Robespierre, 833 

Robethon, 677 

Robin of Redesdale, 267 

Robin Hood, 224 

Robinson, Frederick, Vis- 
count Goderich, 874, 879 

Robinson, Sir Hercules, 1032 

Robinson, Sir Thomas, 719, 
720 

Rochambeau, Count, 774- 
776 

Rochdale, 1061 

Rochester, Earls of, see 
Wilmot, John, and Hyde, 
Lawrence 

Rochester, Viscount, see 
Carr, Robert 

"Rocket," the, Stephenson's 
locomotive, 894 

Rockingham, Council of, 92 

Rockingham, the Marquis 
of, first Ministry of, 754- 
756 ; second Ministry of, 
776-778; death of, 780 

Rockingham Act, the, 
checks abuses in Parlia- 
ment, 913 

Rodney, Admiral, 730, 775, 
778 

Roe, Thomas, 591 

Roebuck, John, 786 

Roger, of Hereford, 78 

Roger of Hoveden, 127 

Roger of Salisbury, 97, 101 

Rogers, John, 330, 363 

Roi Pacificateur, Le, 1075 

Rollo, 41, 56 

Roman Catholicism, con- 
trasted with Calvinism, 
366 ; Puritan fears of, 
464, 465 

Roman Catholics, excluded 
from the House of Com- 
mons, 373 ; treatment of, 
by James I, 431-433 ; the 
party of, fostered by Hen- 
rietta Maria, 465 ; mostly 



INDEX 



1151 



on the side of Charles I, 
487 ; Charles I's intrigues 
with, in Ireland, 488, 498 ; 
the condition of, under 
Cromwell, 517, 518; 
Charles II's attempts to 
reintroduce, 534, 549— 
552; the Test Act against, 
551 ; see the Popish Plot ; 
excluded from Parlia- 
ment (1678), 559; ad- 
mitted to office by 
James II, 571, 572 ; prog- 
ress of, in Scotland, 574; 
indulgence granted to, 
575, 57°, 578, 579; fanati- 
cism against, in England, 
773i 774; Grenville Min- 
istry fails to secure com- 
missions in army and 
navy for, 852 ; disabilities 
of, before the Relief 
Acts, 879 ; emancipation 
of, 879-882 ; status of, 
at Victoria's accession, 
927 ; Russell's legislation 
against, 954 ; see Acces- 
sion Declaration Act 

Roman Catholics, Irish, 
penal laws against the, 
627; condition of, 1782, 
838; concessions to, 839; 
failure of, to secure con- 
cessions after the Union, 
843, 844 ; denounce 
founding of nonsectarian 
schools in Ireland, 944 ; 
proportion of, in Ulster, 
1087 

Roman de Ron, 88 

Roman Empire, the, 17 

Roman fortifications in Brit- 
ain, 19 

Roman Law, revival of, 
115, 116; Henry II keeps 
it out of England, 116 

Roman roads, 21 

Romans, their invasion of 
Gaul, 17; invasions of 
Britain, 17, 18; conquest 
of Britain, 18; occupation 
of Britain, 18 ff . ; forti- 
fications in Britain, 19, 20; 
end of the occupation, 20, 
21 ; advantages and dis- 
advantages of rule, 21 ff. ; 
taxation, 23 ; slightness 
of influence on Anglo- 
Saxons, 30 



Romantic movement, the, 
in literature, 801, 802, 
896-899 

Rome, sack of, 301 ; Eng- 
lish college at, 387 ; French 
occupation of, 951 

Romilly, Sir Samuel, 903- 
904, 912 

Romney, George, 804 

Rood of Boxley, the, 328, 
329 

Rooke, Sir George, 656, 657 

Root and Branch party, the, 
481 

Rosebery, Lord, 1003 ; his 
Ministry, 1026, 1027 ; his 
scheme for reforming the 
Lords, 1079 

Roses, see War of the 

Rossa, O' Donovan, 992, 
1012 

Ro6sbach, the battle of, 729 

Rossetti, Dante Gabriel, 
1046, 1 05 7 

Rothschild, Baron, 975 

Rotten boroughs, 910, 916 

Rouen, siege of, 251 

"Round tables," 194, 198, 
218 

Roundheads, the, 483, 616 

Roundway Down, battle of, 
492 

Rouse's Point, 948 

Rousseau, Jean Jacques, 604, 
823 

Rowlandson, Thomas, car- 
icaturist, 901 

Royal African Company, 
the, 541, 591 

Royal Agricultural College, 

1055 
Royal Agricultural Society, 

the, 1055 
Royal Exchange, the, 413 
Royal Marriage Act, 762 
Royal Society, the, 603, 

606 
Royal title, the, changes in, 

662, 843, 1003, 1072 
Royal Titles Bills (1876), 

1003 ; (1901), 1072 
Rozhvestvensky, Admiral, 

1076 
Rubens, 611 
Rumelia, 1006, 1083 
Rump Parliament, the, 506; 

abolishes the kingship and 

the House of Lords, 509 ; 

unpopularity of, ib. ; re- 



fuses to dissolve, 509, 510; 
dissolved by Cromwell, 
5i5,5i6 

Rump, the, recalled and 
finally dissolved, 526 

Runnymede, 142 

Rupert, Prince, 489, 492, 
495, 497, 499, 542, 552 

Ruskin, John, 1044, 1045, 
1057 

Russell, origin of the family 
of, 329 

Russell, Edward (later Earl 
of Orford), 581, 630, 631, 
632, 634, 641, 643, 646 

Russell, John, Lord, carries 
repeal of Test and Cor- 
poration Acts, 880-881 ; 
identifies parliamentary 
reform with Whigs, 907, 
908 ; in Grey's Ministry, 
909 ; introduces Reform 
Bill, 915; resigns from 
Grey's Cabinet, 922 ; 
speaker of House of Com- 
mons, 924 ; introduces 
Municipal Reform Act of 
1835, 925; attitude to- 
ward Victoria upon her 
accession, 929; sends 
Durham to Canada, 931 ; 
becomes an advocate of 
free trade, 944-945 ; 
first Ministry of, 950; 
religious problems of first 
Ministry of, 953-954 ; 
criticizes Palmerston's in- 
dependent tendencies, 
956 ; in Coalition Minis- 
try, 958 ; dismisses Pal- 
merston, 957 ; fall of first 
Ministry of, ib. ; would 
force Russian concessions 
before Crimean War, 960 ; 
presents bill to abolish 
Jewish disabling oath, 
975 ; in sympathy with 
South in American Civil 
War, 977 ; hasty policy 
of, in Trent affair, 978; 
refuses to intervene in 
American Civil War, 979 : 
attitude of, on question of 
the Duchies, 980-981 ; 
second Ministry of, 983 ; 
Reform Bills of, 984, 985 ; 
fall of second Ministry, 
and death of, 985, and 
note ; see Alabama Claims 



1152 



INDEX 



Russell, William, Lord, 558, 
562, 564 

Russell, Sir William How- 
ard, correspondent of 
Times during Crimean 
War, 962 

Russia, opening up of, in 
the sixteenth century, 
410; joins the armed 
neutrality of 1778, 774; 
Pitt's failure to check the 
expansion of, 827, 828 ; 
in war of First Coalition, 
834; Tsar Paul of, 835 ; in 
Second Coalition against 
France, 845 ; armed neu- 
trality of 1800, organized 
by Tsar of, 846, 847 ; 
Alexander I becomes Tsar 
of, 847 ; boundary dis- 
pute between United 
States, England, and, ad- 
justed, 949; joins Third 
Coalition against France, 
850, 851 ; meets Napoleon 
at Eylau and Friedland, 
852 ; Napoleon's cam- 
paign in, 858; combines 
with Prussia, Austria, and 
Sweden, against Napoleon, 
859 ; signs first treaty of 
Paris, 861-862 ; signs 
Quadruple Alliance, 865 ; 
Nicholas I, Tsar of, 886; 
attitude of, towards Greek 
struggle for independence, 
886, 887; attitude of, 
towards Belgian Revolu- 
tion, 890; in the Crimean 
War, 959-965 ; accession 
of Nicholas II, 963 ; 
supposed plot against 
India of, 966 ; seeks ex- 
tension of her power in 
Afghanistan, 968; Napo- 
leon III counts on assist- 
ance from, in struggle 
for unity in Italy, 976; 
Napoleon III proposes 
mediation in American 
Civil War by England, 
France, and, 979; Eng- 
land isolated by Palmer- 
ston from, 998 ; brings her 
ships again into the Black 
Sea, 1000, 1001 ; in China, 
1029 ; occupies Man- 
churia, 1036; see Afghan, 
War of 1878; Russo- 



Turkish and Russo-Japa- 
nese War 
Russia Company, the, 413 
Russo-Japanese War, 1075, 

1076 
Russo-Turkish War, 1003- 

1006 
Ruthven (riv'en) raid, the, 

387, 428 
Ruvigny, Henri de, Earl of 

Galway, 663 
Ruyter, Admiral de, 542, 552 
Ryehouse plot, the, 564 
Ryswick, the Peace of, 635, 

636 



Sabbath, association for 

better observance of, 902 
Sac and Soc, 64 
Sacheverell, Dr. Henry, 666, 

667 
Sackville, Lord George, 733 
Sackville, Thomas, Lord 

Buckhurst, 423 
Sacraments, definition of, 

325 
Sadler, Michael, 921 
Sadowa, battle of, see Konig- 

gratz 
Saint Alban, shrine of, 180, 

329 
St. Albans, Council at, 140 ; 

residence of Henry III, 

161 ; reeve and four men 

summoned to, 173 ; battle 

of, 261 ; second battle of, 

263 
St. Albans, Viscount, see 

Bacon, Sir Francis 
St. Aldhelm, see Ealdhelm 
St. Anthony's fire, 88 
St. Bartholomew, massacre 

of, 384, 385 
St. Benedict, 36, 37 
St. Brice's Day, massacre of, 

52 
St. Dominic, 157-159 
St. Edmund, martyrdom of, 

42 , 
Saint-Evremond, 611 
St. Francis, see Francis 
St. Gilbert of Sempringham, 

99 
St. Giles' Cathedral, the riot 

in, 469 
St. Helena, Napoleon at, 

864-865 



St. John (sTn jin), Henry, 
later Viscount Boling- 
broke, character of, 667 ; 
his peace negotiations with 
France, 668-670 ; rivalry 
with Oxford, 672, 673 ; 
failure of his succession 
schemes, 674 ; dismissal, 
676; his flight from Eng- 
land, 678 ; enters the 
service of the Pretender, 
ib. ; aims to stop the 
rising of 1715, 679; dis- 
missed by the Old Pre- 
tender, 680; return to 
England, 691 ; his activity 
in opposition, 698 ; end 
of his political career, 701 ; 
his Idea of a Patriot King, 
740 
St. John, Oliver, 467, 476, 

477 
St. Leger, Sir Anthony, 335 
St. Lucia, island of, 865 
St. Omers, 556 
St. Paul, 22 

St. Paul's Cathedral, 416, 
462,612; see Paul's Walk 
St. Paul's, Council at, 140 
St. Peter's Fields, 870 
St. Pierre, Island of, 781, 

833 
St. Stephen, chapel of, 483 
St. Thomas, see Becket 
Sal'adin, 118, 121, 122 
Salian Franks, law of, 191 
Salisbury, Countess of, 332 
Salisbury, Earl of, 261, 262, 

263 
Salisbury, Marquis of, see 

Cecil 
Salisbury oath, the, 82 
Salomans, Alderman, 975 
Saloni'ka, massacre at, 1003 
Sancroft, William, Arch- 
bishop of Canterbury, 
572, 578, 583, S85 
Sanctuary of the Nativity, 

the, 959 note 
San Domingo, revolt in, 849 
Sandwich, Earl of, see Mon- 
tagu 
Sanitation, 220, 221 ; in the 
time of Henry VIII, 341, 
342 
San Jacinto, the, 978 
San Stefano, the Treaty of, 

1005 
Santa Cruz, 394 



INDEX 



"S3 



Saratoga, surrender of Bur- 
goyne at, 770 

Sardinia, 671, 685, 075, 976 

Sarmiento, Don Diego, 
Count Gondomar, see 
Gondomar 

Sarum Use, the, 350 

Saskatchewan, Province of, 
created, 932 note 

Saucy Castle, see Chateau 
Gaillard 

Saunders (san'ders), Admi- 
ral, 731. 732, 733 

Savannah, capture of, by 
British, 772 

Savery, Thomas, 787 

Savile (sav'il), George, Mar- 
quis of Halifax, 562, 563, 
567, 583. 585. 616, 620 

Savile, Sir George, Bill of, 
on behalf of Catholics in 
England, 773 

Savile, Sir Henry, 606 

Savonarola, 303 

Savoy, 976 

Savoy, Duke of, 657 

Savoy Conference, the, 535 

Savoy palace, 232, 356 

Sawtre, William, 247 

Saxe, Marshal, 664, 709, 756 

Saxons, piratical invasions 
of Britain, 20 

Scheldt, French open to 
navigation, 829, 830 

Schism Act, 673 ; repealed, 
684 

Schleswig-Holstein ques- 
tion, the, 980, 981, 985, 
988, 1075 

Scholasticism, 160, 291 

Scholemaster, The, 344 

Schomberg, Count, 581, 625, 
626 

Schoolmen, 345 

Schools, 126, 223, 344, 995, 
996; see Chantry and 
Grammar 

Schulenburg, Countess von, 
677, 691 

Science, in the seventeenth 
century, 125, 126; in the 
Elizabethan Age, 417; 
progress of, in the seven- 
teenth century, 606 ; in 
the eighteenth century, 
791, 792 ; in the early 
nineteenth century, 895 ; 
in the Victorian Age, 1050- 
1052 



Scone (scoon), coronation 
stone of, 171; coronations 
at, 513, 680 

Scotch-Irish Church, the, 
22 

Scotch Small Landholder's 
Bill, 1077 

Scotland, physical features, 
8; wars with Edward I, 
169-172; alliance with 
France, 1 70 ; disputed 
succession in, 170; ris- 
ing of Wallace, 175 ; ris- 
ing of Bruce and last cam- 
paign of Edward I 
against, 177; repulse of 
Edward II at Bannock- 
burn by, 184; "Shameful 
Peace" with, i8g; dis- 
puted succession in, 190; 
expedition against, by 
Edward III, 191 ; repulse 
of invasion from, at 
Neville's Cross, 197 ; rela- 
tions of Edward IV with, 
271, 272; supports War- 
beck, 280; James IV, 
King of, marries Margaret 
of England, 282 ; invasion 
from, repulsed at Flodden, 
296 ; designs of Hen- 
ry VIII on, 333, 334; 
impolicy of Seymour 
toward, 351, 352; the 
Reformation in, 367, 368; 
374. 375 ; conflicts be- 
tween Mary and the 
Protestant lords, 375- 
377; attempted Catholic 
revival in, 386, 387 ; con- 
dition of, at the accession 
of the Stuarts, 428, 429; 
relations with, under 
James I, 435 ; projects 
of union with, 433, 435 ; 
Episcopacy vs. Presby- 
terianism, 435 ; outbreak 
against the policy of 
Charles and Laud, and 
the first Bishops' War, 
468-470 ; the second 
Bishops' War, 473 ; Mon- 
trose in, 488 ; the Solemn 
League and Covenant 
arranged with, 493 ; 
troops from, on the side 
of Parliament, 499 ; Ham- 
ilton invades England 
from, 505, 506; conquest 



of, by Cromwell, 512, 513 ; 
defeat of invaders from, 
at Worcester, 513; repre- 
sented in the English 
Parliament, 516 ; the Res- 
toration in, 535 ; landing 
of Argyle in, 568 ; the situ- 
ation in, under Charles II 
and James II, 573-575 ;the 
Revolution in, 627 ; the 
rising of, under Dundee, 
and its collapse, 628, 629 ; 
Presbyterianism reestab- 
lished in, 628 ; the mas- 
sacre of Glencoe in, 629 ; 
union of, with England, 
8, 660-672; development 
of, after the union, 662 ; 
attempted descent upon, 
in 1708, 663, 664; rising 
of 1 71 5 in, 679-681; 
Jacobite force lands in, 
685 ; French invasion 
against, 709 ; the rising 
of '45 in, 710-714; the 
transformation of, in the 
eighteenth century, 714- 
716; parliamentary fran- 
chise in, before first Re- 
form Bill, 912, 913; 
under bill of 1832, 916- 
gi7; representation of, 
under Act of 1867, 987; 
visits of Victoria to, 1037 ; 
secessions from the 
Church of, 1042, 1043 

Scots, homages, 47, 113, 121, 
171 ; invasion of Britain, 
20 ; union of, and Picts, 
30; alleged submission to 
Edward the Elder, 47 

Scott, James, Duke of Mon- 
mouth, 558, 559, 562, 564, 
568-570, 574 

Scott, Major, 820 , 

Scott, Sir Walter, 415, 710, 
897, 898, 900, 1040, 1043, 
1045 ; his literary work, 
897, 899 

Scroggs, William, Chief Jus- 
tice, 560 

Scrope, Richard, Archbishop 
of York, 245 

Scutage, 118 

Scutari, hospitals at, during 
Crimean War, 962 

Sea coal, 5 

Seamen, Elizabethan, their 
achievements, 409-411 



"54 



INDEX 



Sea power, rise of the Eliz- 
abethan, 301-393 

Search, the right of, as a 
cause of the War of Jen- 
kins' Ear, 701, 702; of 
the War of 1812,853, 860; 
given up, by Great Brit- 
ain, 861 

Sebastopol, siege of, 962, 963 

Secession, question of, in 
American Civil War, 977 

Secretary of State, the, 404 

Secretary of State for India, 
the institution of, 974 

Secretary for War, abolition 
of office of, 963 ; reor- 
ganization of duties of, 
963, and note 

Sectaries, Act against, 390 

Security, Act of, 661 

Sedan, the battle of, 1000 

Sedgemoor, battle of, 568, 
S69 

Seditious writings, royal 
proclamation against, 828 

Seditious Meetings Bill, the, 
835 ; passage of a new, 870 

Seely, Colonel, 1089 

Self-denying ordinance, the, 
496, 497, 500 

Selkirk, Alexander, 789 

Selling, William, 304 

Seminary priests, 387, 388 

Seneca, 422 

Senegal, 729 

Senlac, battle of, 59, 60, 88 

Separatists, 388, 389 

Sepoys, 721 ; in Indian 
Mutiny, 969, 971 

Septennial Act, the, 617, 
681, 926 

Sepulchre, Holy, 93, 959 

Sequestration, 500 

Serf, the Anglo-Saxon, 64 

Serjeanty, grand, 533 

Servia, 964, 1003, 1005 

"Service" franchise, the, 
1012 

Settlement, the Act of, 643- 
644; the law of, 921, 922 

Seven Bishops, the Case of 
the, 578-580 

Seven United Provinces, the, 
385 

Seven Years' War, the, issues 
in, 720; chief events in, 
722-736, 741-743; the 
peace negotiations, 741- 
743 ; effect of, in • pre- 



cipitating the American 
Revolution, 748, 749 

Severn River, 5 

Severus, Septimius, Roman 
Emperor, 20 

Seville, the Treaty of, 701 

Seymour, Charles, Duke of 
Somerset, 577 

Seymour, Edward, Earl of 
Hertford, invades Scot- 
land, 334 ; becomes Pro- 
tector and Duke of Som- 
erset, 348 ; character of, 
348, 349 ; remedial legis- 
lation of, 349 ; Protestant 
excesses under, 349, 350; 
growing unpopularity of, 
350; risings against, 350, 
351; failure of his foreign 
policy, 351, 352; his fall, 
352, 353; execution of, 
354; Edward VI's opin- 
ion of, 355 

Seymour, Jane, Queen of 
Henry VIII, 325, 331, 332 

Seymour, Thomas, Lord 
High Admiral, 352, 370 

Shaftesbury, Earls of, see 
Cooper 

Shakespeare, William, 142, 
143, 279, 415, 420, 421; 
his writings, 423, 424 

Shameful Peace, the, 189 

Shanghai, opened to British 
trade, 948 

Sharp, James, Archbishop 
of St. Andrew's, 573, 574 

Sheep raising, 234, 284, 409; 
in Australia, 1066 

Sheffield, 3 

Sheldon, Gilbert, Arch- 
bishop of Canterbury, 545 

Shelley, Percy Bysshe, liter- 
ary work of, 898 

Sheppard, Jack, 806 

Sher Ali, 1007 

Sherfield, Henry, case, of 
462, 463 

Sheridan, Richard Brinsley, 
820, 848 ; plays of, 803 

Sheriff, the, or shire-reeve, 
44; Anglo-Saxon, 67; in 
Anglo-Norman times, 87 ; 
at the Exchequer, 98; 
decline of, under the 
Tudors, 407 

Sheriff Muir, the battle of, 
680 

Sheriff's "aid," the, 109 



Sheriffs, Inquisition of, 118; 
attempts of James II to 
control the, 578 

Ship money, 466-468; de- 
clared illegal, 480 

Shipping, laws relating to, 
213; in the fifteenth 
century, 288, 289; in- 
crease of, under Hus- 
kisson's reforms, 876 ; 
status in 1830, 892-893; 
extent of, in 1910, 1053 

Shires, origin of, 44, 46; 
Anglo-Saxon, 62 ; varied 
origin, courts and proce- 
dure, 67 ; see County 

Shirley, James, 610 

Shirley, Sir Thomas, case of, 
433 

Shirley, William, Governor 
of Massachusetts, 710 

Shirley vs. Fagg, case of, 554 

Shooting Niagara, Carlyle's 
pamphlet, 987 

Shorthouse, Joseph Henry, 
1049 

Short Parliament, the, 471, 
472, 752 

Shovel, Sir Cloudsley, 656 

Shrewsbury, Peace of, 168; 
the Great Parliament of, 
239; battle of, 245 

Shrewsbury, Earl of, see 
Talbot, Charles 

Shrines, 180, 219; destruc- 
tion of, 329 

Sicily ceded to Savoy, 671 ; 
acquired by Austria, 685 ; 
revolt of 1820, in, 884 

Sickness, insurance against, 
1060, 1061 

Siddons, Mrs., 802, 803 

Sidmouth, Lord, see Adding- 
ton 

Sidney, Algernon, 564 

Sidney, Henry, 581 

Sidney, Sir Philip, 391, 419, 
420 

Sigismund, Emperor, 251 

Sikh Wars, the, 968-969 

Silesian Wars, the first and 
second, 705, 707, 710; the 
third, 725, 729, 730, 733, 
736 

Silk manufacture, the, in 
the seventeenth century, 
589 

"Silken Thomas," 335 

Simnel, Lambert, 279, 280 



INDEX 



"55 



Simon de Montfort, 152- 
156; 160, 168, 181; 
character and work, 155, 
156; Parliament of, 155, 
168, 173 

Simpson, General, succeeds 
Raglan in Crimea, 963 

Simpson, Sir James, dis- 
coverer of chloroform, 
1051 

Sinclair, Oliver, 333 

Sind, annexation of, 968 

"Singeing the King of 
Spain's beard," 394 

Sinking Fund, the begin- 
ning of the, 683 ; of 1 71 7, 
699; Pitt's, 817, 818; 
end of the, 875 

Sinope, Russians attack 
Turkish fleet at, 960 

Siward, Earl of Northum- 
bria, 56, 57 

Six Articles, the, 336; re- 
pealed, 349 

Skeffington, Lord Deputy, 
335 

Skelton, John, 345 

Slave trade, Anglo-Saxon, 
74, 79; abolition of 
African, 818, 819, 851 

Slavery, 86, 87 ; abolition 
of, in the British colonies, 
918, 920, 989; promise of 
regulation by Congress 
of Vienna, 865 ; question 
of extension of, as a cause 
of the American Civil 
War, 977 

Slidell, Confederate com- 
missioner to England and 
France, 978 

Sluys (slois), naval battle 
of, 193 

Small Holdings Acts, 1056, 
1097 

Smith, Adam, 606, 766, 795, 
796, 895, 896, 1049 

Smith, Siiney, 900, 914, 917, 

937 
Smith, William Henry, 
leader of the House of 
Commons, 1020, 1023 
Smithfield, 233 
Smollett, Tobias, 704, 800 
Smuggling, 699, 701, 702, 
805, 815, 816; in postal 
service before penny post- 
age, 937 ; English traders 
promote, with China, 948 



Soap Company, the, 461 

Socage, 534 

Social classes, in the seven- 
teenth century, 594; in 
the Victorian period, 1058 

Social Compact, the, 604 

Social Democratic Federa- 
tion, the, 1063 

Social Democratic party, 
the, 1063 

Social Levelers, or Diggers, 
504 

Socialism, 938, 1062, 1063 ; 
Christian, 1048, 1062 

Socialists, agitations of, at 
end of Napoleonic wars, 
869 

Society, British and Foreign 
Bible, 902 

Society, English Revolu- 
tionary, 825, 828 

Society, the British and 
Foreign School, 995 

Society, the National, 995- 
996 

Society, Royal, for Preven- 
tion of Cruelty to Ani- 
mals, 903 ; see also Royal 
Society 

Society for the Improvement 
of Prison Discipline, the, 
1059 

Society of Arts, the, 803 

Society of Friends of the 
People, the, 907 

Society of Jesus, see Jesuits 

Socinians, 622 

Sociology, 1049 

Solebay, see Lowestoft and 
Southwold Bay 

Solemn League and Cove- 
nant, see Covenant 

Solferino, battle of, 976 

Solway Moss, battle of, 333 

Somers, John (later Lord), 
in the Seven Bishops' case, 
580; his share in the 
Restoration of the coin- 
age, 635 ; character of, 
641 ; his Balancing Letter, 
642 ; deprived of the 
Great Seal, 643 ; impeach- 
ment of, 646 
Somerset, Dukes of, see 

Seymour 
Somerset, Earl of, see Carr, 

Robert 
Somerset, Henry, Duke of 
Beaufort, 595 



Sophia, Electress of Han- 
over, 643, 658, 676 

Sophia Dorothea, Queen of 
Frederick William I of 
Prussia, 676 

Sophia Dorothea, Queen of 
George I, 676, 692 

South Africa, the British in, 
1030-1036 ; the union of, 
1067, 1068, 1077, 1081 ; 
government in, 1067, 
1068 ; Indian laborers in, 
1080; labor problems in, 
1081 

South African Republic, see 
also the Transvaal, 1033 

South American Republics, 
the, Canning and the 
recognition of, 885-886 

South Australia, 1066, 1067 

South Downs, the, 4 

Southey, Robert, 898 ; writ- 
ings of, 897 

South Island, 1068 

South Kensington Museum, 
the, 955 

South, Marshal, 854, 857, 
858 

South Saxons, the, invasion 
of Britain, 29 

South Sea Bubble, the, see 
South Sea Company 

South Sea Company, the, 
671, 686-688, 703 

Southwark Fair, the, 806 

Southwold Bay, the battle 
of, 552 

Spa Fields, 869, 870 

Spain, war of England with, 
204 ; matrimonial alli- 
ance with Henry VII, 282 ; 
aggressions of Elizabethan 
seamen against, 392-394, 
396-398; marriage nego- 
tiations with, 441 ; journey 
of Charles to, 446 ; mar- 
riage negotiations with, 
broken off, 447 ; peace 
of Madrid with, 460; 
refuses to aid Charles I, 
488 ; Cromwell's war 
with, 520; in the War of 
the Spanish Succession, 
657, 663, 665, 671 ; see 
Utrecht, Peace of; helps 
to defeat the Darien proj- 
ect, 661 ; reforms and 
projects of Alberoni in, 
684-686 ; see Vienna, 



1156 



INDEX 



Treaty of ; see Jenkins' 
Ear, the War of, 701-704 ; 
see Aix-la-Chapelle, the 
Peace of (1748); joins 
France in the Seven Years' 
War, 741-743 ; see Paris, 
the Peace of, 743 ; joins 
France against England, 
772; joins the armed 
neutrality of 1778, 774; 
concludes peace with Eng- 
land, 781 ; antagonism 
between England and, in 
1780-1700, 827; joins 
First Coalition against 
France, 1793, 832; Jervis 
defeats squadron from, 
836 ; cedes Louisiana to 
France, 847 ; signs Peace 
of Amiens, 848; fleet 
from, at Trafalgar, 850; 
national uprising against 
Napoleon begins in, 853- 
855 ; Peninsular War in, 
closes, 856-858 ; Spanish- 
American colonies of, de- 
clare independence, 876 ; 
Revolution of 1820 in, 
884, 885 ; Revolution in, 
888-889; Louis Philippe 
anxious to exercise con- 
trol over, 949; Palmer- 
ston's mandate to gov- 
ernment of, in 1848, 955; 
sends expedition to 
Mexico in i860, 979 

" Spanish Fury," the, 385 

Spanish marriages, the, 949 

Spanish Succession, War of 
the, 618; opening of the, 
644-646, 652-659, 662- 
666, 668-670 passim 

Speakers, of the House of 
Commons, 206, 339 ; to 
decide on Money Bills, 
1078 

Special lecturers, 462 

Spectator, the, 796 

Speculation, frenzy for, in 
1825, 877 

Speech, freedom of, 586 

Speech from the throne, the, 
read by Edward VII in 
person, 1072 

Spencer, Charles, Earl of 
Sunderland, 659 ; made 
a Secretary of State, 659, 
660 ; removed, 667 ; as- 
sists in the overthrow of 



Townshend, 682 ; final 
dismissal from office, 688 

Spencer, Herbert, 983, 1049, 
1050, 105 1 

Spencer, John Charles, 
leader of Whigs, 883 ; see 
Althorp, Lord 

Spencer, Robert, Earl of 
Sunderland, 562 ; chief 
adviser of James II, 567, 
571 ; testimony of, in the 
Seven Bishops' case, 579; 
dismissed by James II, 
582 ; advises William III 
to select a party ministry, 
616 

Spenser, Edmund, 421, 422 

Spinning jenny, the, inven- 
tion of, 785 

Spinning mule, the, 785 

Spithead, mutiny at, 836, 
837 

Sports, the Declaration of, 
463, 464; see Recreation 

Spottiswood, Archbishop, 
469 

Spurs, battle of the, 296 

Stafford, Edward, Duke of 
Buckingham, execution of, 
29s 

Stafford, Henry, Duke of 
Buckingham, 273, 274 

Stafford, Thomas, 364 

Stafford, Lord William, vic- 
tim of the Popish Plot, 
560 

Stage coaches, number of, 
in 1825, 893 

Stair, Earl of, see Dalrymple, 
John 

Stair, the Master of, see 
Dalrymple 

Stamford Bridge, battle of, 
59 

Stamp Act, the, 749, 751- 
753 ; repeal of, 755, 756 

Stamp Act Congress, the, 
752 

Standards, battle of the, 101 

Standing army, nucleus of 
the, 533 ; increased by 
James II, 572, 573; illegal 
without consent of Parlia- 
ment, 586; reduction of, 
642 

Stanfield, Clarkson, 1057 

Stanhope, James, first Earl 
Stanhope, 682, 683, 684, 
685, 688 



Stanhope, Philip Dormer, 
Earl of Chesterfield, 700, 
718, 728, 754; Letters to 
his Son, 801 

Stanislaus, deposed King of 
Poland, 692 ; becomes 
Duke of Lorraine, 700 

Stanley, Arthur Penrhyn, 
1041 

Stanley, Edward George, 
Lord Stanley and four- 
teenth Earl of Derby ; in 
Grey's Ministry, 909; 
Irish Secretary, 919 ; 
Colonial Secretary, 920; 
refuses portfolio under 
Peel, 923 ; leads oppo- 
sition in Don Pacifico 
trouble, 956; first Min- 
istry of, 957-958; com- 
ment of, on Peace of 
Paris, 965 ; second Min- 
istry of, 975, 976; third 
Ministry of, 985-986 ; 
comment of, on Reform 
of 1867, 987; resignation 
and death of, 988-989 

Stanley, Edward Henry, 
fifteenth Earl of Derby, 
1005 

Stanley, Lord, 275 

Staples, Merchants of the, 
289 

Staple towns, 212 

Star Chamber, Court of, 
281, 404, 480, 561 

Steamboats, 893-894, 1053 

Steam engine, the, 787, 788, 
894 

Steam railways and naviga- 
tion in the Victorian Age, 
1052, 1053 

Steele, Sir Richard, 680, 
796, 797 

Steelyard, the, 131 

Steenkirke, battle of, 631 

Stephen, King of England, 
100 ; his charter, ib. ; 
character and problems, 
100, 101 ; attack on the 
Salisburys, 101 ; in- 
volved in Civil War, 101- 
103 ; agrees to Treaty of 
Wallingford, 103, 104; 
results of his rule, 104- 
105 ; extension of Church 
courts under, 109 

Stephens, James, 992 

Stephenson, George, devel- 



INDEX 



"57 



ops steam transportation, 

894 

Sterne, Laurence, 800 

Steuben, Baron, 770 

Stevenson, Robert Louis, 
1049 

Stewart, Dugald, 895 

Stewart, Esme, 386, 387 

Stewart, Henry, Lord Darn- 
ley, 375, 376, 377 

Stewart, Lord James, later 
Earl of Moray, 367, 376, 
■382 

Stlg'and, Archbishop of 
Canterbury, 57 

Stillingfleet, Benjamin, 806 

Stillingfleet, Edward, Bishop 
of Worcester, 604 

Stirling Bridge, battle of, 175 

"Stockdale and Darling- 
ton " railroad, opening of 
the, 894 

Stockdale vs. Hansard, 936 

Stockmar, Baron, 929 

Stoke, battle of, 280 

Stolberg, Louise von, Coun- 
tess of Albany, 714 

Stonehenge, 15 

Stop of the Exchequer, the, 
550 

Stourbridge Fair, 163 

Stow, John, 421 

Strachan (strawn), Sir Rich- 
ard, British Admiral, 855 

Strafford, Earl of, see Went- 
worth, Sir Thomas 

Stratford, John, Archbishop 
of Canterbury, 193 

Stratford de Redcliffe, Lord, 
960, 961 

Strathclyde, 30, 170 

Strikes, at Norwich, in 1754, 
784; use of, by British 
trades unions, 938 ; in 
1911-1912, 1085, 1086 

Strode, William, 460 

"Strongbow," see Richard 
de Clare 

Stuart, John, Earl of Bute, 
740, 741, 742, 743, 744 

Stuart, Robert, King of 
Scotland, first of the line, 
i97_ 

Submission of the clergy, 
3i7, 318 

Subsidies, 201, 405 

Subsidy of 1523, 300 

Succession, acts of, provid- 
ing for the heirs of 



Henry VIII and Anne, 
318; relating to heirs of 
Henry VIII and Jane 
Seymour, 325; of 1544, 
355 5 plans for regulating 
the, 584, S85 

Suckling, John, 607 

Sudan, the, 1014-1016 

Sudbury, Simon, Archbishop 
of Canterbury, 233 

Suez Canal, the, 967, 990, 
1002, 1053 

Suffolk, Duke of, father of 
Lady Jane Grey, 358, 360 

Suffolk, Earl of, execution 
of, 295 

"Suffolk Resolves," the, 765 

Suffrage, manhood, urged 
by Duke of Richmond, 
773 ; aim of the Work- 
ingman's Association, 

939; in Franchise Bill of 
1912, 1088 

Suffrage, women's, in 
Australia, 1067 ; in New 
Zealand, 1068 

Suffragists, the militant, 
1060, 1088 

Sugar Acts, the, 748, 751 

Sully, epigram on James I, 
429 

Sumptuary laws, 201, 214 

Sunday schools, develop- 
ment of, 79s 

Sunderland, Earl of, see 
Spencer, Robert and 
Charles 

Superstition, 160, 417, 597 

Supremacy, Act of, passed 
in the first parliament of 
Elizabeth, 373 ; provi- 
sions of, relating to eccle- 
siastical jurisdiction, 402 

Supremacy, oaths of, 373, 
559, 621, 880 

Supreme Court of Judication 
Act, the, 999 

Supreme Head of the Church 
of England, title assumed 
by Henry VIII, 320 

Surgery, in the fourteenth 
century, 221 ; in the 
nineteenth century, 1052 

Surinam, 543 

Surrey, Earls of, see Howard, 
Henry and Thomas 

Susa, peace of, 460 

Suspending, royal preroga- 
tive of, 586 



Suttee, Bentinck abolishes 
Hindu practice of, 967 

Suvorov, Russian com- 
mander, 845 

Swansea, 7 

Sweating sickness, the, 284, 
415 

"Sweet William," the, 713 

Swein, Danish invader, 51 ; 
King of Norway, renewed 
attacks on England, 52; 
dominant in England, 
death, 53 

Swift, Jonathan, his Conduct 
of the Allies, 669 ; his 
Drapier Letters, 691 ; his 
other writings, 797, 798 

Swinburne, Algernon 

Charles, 1046 

Switzerland, revolts against 
France in 1813, 859; 
revolution of 1830 in, 890 

Swynford (swln'ford), Cath- 
erine, 246, 279 

Sydney, Australia, 1065 

Syndicalism, 1063, 1086 

Synods, 366 



Tacitus, Roman historian, 

18, 19 
Tacitus' description of the 

ancient Germans, 27, 62 
Tacking, 643, 659 
Taff Vale case, the, 1062 
Talavera, battle of, 855 
Talbot, Charles, Earl, and 
later, Duke of Shrews- 
bury, 581, 616, 620, 621, 
634, 641, 674, 676, 677 
Talbot, John, Earl of 

Shrewsbury, 257, 260 
Talbot, Richard, Earl of 
Tyrconnel, 571, 575, 623, 
624 
Talbot, William, 1052 
Tallages, 86, 176 
Tallard, Marshal, 655, 656 
Talleyrand, 862 
Talmash, General, 632 
"Tamworth Manifesto," 

the, 923-924 
Tangier, 540, 591, 1076 
Tarbes, Bishop of, 309 
Tard Venus, 204 
Tariff, Huskisson's reform 
of the, 875-876 ; reduc- 
tion of, in 1842, 941; 



n 5 8 



INDEX 



Gladstone reduces articles 
on, in i860, 977; Disraeli 
advocates an imperialistic 
protective, 999 

Tariffs, preferential, 1081, 
1082 

Tariff reform, 1073, 1074 

Tariff Reform League, the, 
1074 

Tasman, Abel, 1065 

Tasmania, 1065, 1066, 1067 

Taxation, under the Tudors, 
1.04, 405 ; the arbitrary, 
of Charles I, 461, 472; 
curtailed, 480; of the 
American Colonies, 740- 
753, 756, 757 ; Huskis- 
son's reform of, 875-876 

Taylor, Jeremy, 603 

Taylor, Rowland (ro'land), 

303 
Tea, the tax on, 757 
Tea Room Party, the, 987 
Teghler, Wat, 232, 233, 234 
Telegraph, the, 1054 
Tel-el-Kebir, battle of, 1014 
Telephone, the, 1054, 1055 
Telford, Thomas, 893 
Temperance revival, the, 

1059 
Temple, Richard, Lord 
Temple, 725, 728, 731, 
742, 755 
Temple, Lord, his son, 811 
Temple, Sir William, 549, 

562, 797 
Tenant farmers, the, in 
the seventeenth century, 
596 
Tennyson, Alfred, 1045, 1046 
Tenths and fifteenths, 405 
Tenures, see Military 
Tertullian, 22 

Test Act, the, passed, 551 ; 
James II seeks to repeal, 
568, 571 ; repeal of, 880- 
881 
Testament, see New Testa- 
ment 
Test and Corporation Acts, 
beginning of annual in- 
demnity from, 684; the 
repeal of the, 880, 881, 
1040 
Teutonic, see Germanic 
Tewfik Pasha, Khedive of 
Egypt, 1003, 1013, 1014, 
1016 
Tewkesbury, battle of, 268 



Thackeray, William Make- 
peace, 1047 

Thagi, or thugs, suppres- 
sion of the, 967 

Thanet, 25 

Theaters, Shakespearean, 
424; the decline of, 425; 
ordinance closing, ib., 610 

Theobald, Archbishop of 
Canterbury, 108, 116, 126 

Theobald of Blois, 100 

Theodore of Tarsus, Arch- 
bishop of Canterbury, 36 

Theodore, King of Abys- 
sinia, 988 

Theology in eighteenth cen- 
tury England, 793 

The United Irishmen, Mitch- 
ell, editor of, 952 

Theyns, 69 

Thirlwall, Bishop, 1050 

Thirty-nine Articles, the, 
379, 621, 997, 1041 

Thirty Years' War, the, 437, 
442, 443, 445, 519 

Thistlewood, plans con- 
spiracy to destroy Liver- 
pool's Cabinet, 872 

Thomas of Lancaster, 183- 
185 

Thomas of Woodstock, Duke 
of Gloucester, 235-238 

Thomas Aquinas, isg 

Thomson, James, 802 

Thomson, William, Lord 
Kelvin, 1052, 1054 

" Thorough " Wentworth and 
Laud's policy of, 453, 471 

Thrale, Mrs., 806 

Three-field system, the, 63 

Throgmorton's plot, 387, 388 

Thurlow, Lord, 776, 811 

Thurot, Admiral, 730, 733 

Ticonderoga, 729, 731 

Tierney, Pitt's duel with, 902 

Tilbury, 395 

Tillotson, John, Archbishop 
of Canterbury, 604 

Tilsit, Treaty of, 852, 853 

Times, the London, founded, 
900 ; Russell special cor- 
respondent of, during 
Crimean War, 962 ; on 
defeat of second reform 
bill, 915 ; on Tory policy, 
in the Reform of 1867, 
987 ; suit of Parnell 
against, 1020, 102 1 

Tin, Celtic trade in, 16 



Tin mines in Britain, 14 
Tinchebrai, battle of, 78, 95 
Tippermuir, battle of, 498 
Tiptoft, John, Earl of 
Worcester, 268, 303, 304 
Tipu, Ruler of Mysore, 845 
Tirel, Walter, 93 
Tithe Commutation Act, 

the, 1055 
Tithe, Saladin, 118 
Tithes, English, 924, 925 
Tithes, Irish, 910-920, 933 
Tobacco, 416 
Toland, John, English Deist, 

793 
Toleration, religious, in 
Utopia, 306 ; absence of, 
in the sixteenth century, 
362 ; failure of Charles II 
to secure, 534; and of 
James II, 575, 576, 578, 
579 ; extended to Epis- 
copalians in Scotland, 715 
Toleration Act, the, 621, 622 
Tone, Wolfe, 839-841 
Tonge, Dr. Israel, 556 
Tonnage and poundage, 210, 

404, 454, 458 
Tooke, Home, 833 
Torbay, William's landing 

at, 582 
Torgau, the battle of, 736 
Tories, the High Church, 
approach the Dissenters, 
576; changed attitude of, 
toward lawfulness of re- 
sistance, 580; see High 
Church 
"Torrens System" of land 

registration, 1067 
Torres Vedras, lines of, 856, 

857 
Tory party, the, origin of, 
562 ; doctrines of non- 
resistance, 563 ; reaction 
of, against William III, 
620 ; refuse to vote for 
admission of Nonconform- 
ists to office, 622 ; attacks 
the Bank, 638; favors a 
Place Bill, 639 ; its rela- 
tions to William III, 641 ; 
make up and aims of, 651, 
652 ; the eclipse of, under 
the first two Georges, 689, 
693 ; return of, to power 
under George IH, 738 ; 
French Revolution and 
the, 822; reforms of the 



INDEX 



"59 



Liberal, 875 ff. ; opposes 
parliamentary reform, 
908 ; attempts of, to 
defeat parliamentary re- 
form, 915, 916; attitude 
of, towards factory legis- 
lation, Q21 ; liberalism of, 
in Reform of 1867, 987 

Tostig, Earl of Northum- 
bria, 57-59 

Tottel's Miscellany, 346, 421 

Toulon, 832 

Touraine, secured by 
Philip II, 136 

Tourbin, Admiral, 663, 664 

Tourville, Admiral, 625, 626, 
631, 632 

Tower of London, 76, 489 

Towns, the, in the seven- 
teenth century, 598, 599 ; 
see Borough 

Townshend, Charles, Vis- 
count, 676, 682, 683, 688, 
699, 790 

Townshend, Charles, 756, 
757 

Townshend Acts, the, 756, 
757 

Townships, Anglo-Saxon, 
62, 63 

Towton, battle of, 265 

Tract XC, 1041 

Tractarian movement, see 
Oxford movement 

Tracts for the Times, the, 
1040 

Trade, Anglo-Saxon, 73, 74; 
in the twelfth century, 
131 ; in the thirteenth 
century, 162, 163 ; under 
Edward I, II, III, 211- 
213; in the fifteenth cen- 
tury, 288, 289; under 
Henry VIII, 343 ; regu- 
lation of, under Eliza- 
beth, 412; regulation of, 
by James I and Charles I, 
589 ; during the Restora- 
tion, 590, 591 ; increase 
of, in 1824, 876; condi- 
tion of, in 1830, 892, 
803 

Trade Unionism, 938, 1061, 
1062 

Trading classes, favored by 
the Tudors, 401 

Trading companies, under 
Elizabeth, 413 ; justifi- 
cation for, 588, 589 



Trades Disputes Act, the, 
1062, 1077 

Trades Unions, General Fed- 
eration of, 1062 

Trades Unions Acts, 1061, 
1062 

Trafalgar, battle of, 850 

Traitc de Madame, le, 550 

Traitorous Correspondence 
Bill, the, 833 

Trans-Humbrians, the, 145 

Transportation, improve- 
ment in British, by 1830, 
893-894 ; see Canals, 
Steamboats, and Steam 
railways 

Transportation of criminals, 
958, 959, 1067 

Transubstantiation, 227, 
331 ; the declaration 
against, 621, 880; see also 
Real Presence 

Transvaal, the, 1030; re- 
volt in, 1030, 103 1 ; dis- 
covery of gold in, 103 1, 
1032; war in, 1034— 1036; 
self-government granted 
in, 1077 ; see also Boer 
War 

Travel, in Anglo-Saxon 
times, 73 ; in fourteenth 
century, 218-220; in the 
seventeenth century, 593 

Treasons, Statute of, 200; 
punishment for, 217; Acts 
of, of Henry VIII, 320; 
Acts of, under Warwick, 
353 ; Acts of, under Ed- 
ward VI, 349 ; Acts of, 
under Edward VI, 354; 
Acts of, under Elizabeth, 
387 ; new theory of, 478 ; 
new theory of, in the 
trial of Charles I, 506, 
507 

Treason, Act regulating 
trials for, 639, 640 

Treasonable Practices Bill, 
the, 834 

Treasurer, 97 

Treaty of 1856, the, viola- 
tion of, 1003 

Trelawney, Sir Jonathan, 
Bishop of Bristol, 579 

Trent, the Council of, 380 

Trent affair, the, 978 

Trial by battle, 117 

Trial by jury, introduced 
into England by William I, 



116; brought into general 
use by Henry II, 116, 117 

Tribe, the, among the an- 
cient Germans, among 
the West Saxons, 44 

Triennial Acts, the, of 1641, 
479; of 1694, 639 

Triers, the, 518 

Trinidad, 848, 865 

Trinity College, Cambridge, 
345 

Trinoda necessitas, 68 

Trinovantes, 18 

Triple Alliances (1668), 549, 
550; (1716), 682, 683; 
(1788), 826, 827; of 
Germany, Austria, and 
Italy, 1075, 1083 

Tripoli, annexed by Italy, 
1082 

"Triumvirate," the, 562 

Trivium, 128 

Trollope, Anthony, 1048 

Tucker, Josiah, views of, 
concerning the American 
Colonies, 766 

Tudor, Henry, Duke of 
Richmond, see Henry 

Tudor, House of, basis of 
the new absolutism of, 
278, 279 

Tudor monarchy, strength 
and weakness of, 401, 402 

Tull, Jethro, 790 

Tun-moat, 63 

Tunscipe, see township 

Turco-Italian War, the, 1082 

Turenne, Marshal, 520, 566 

Turkey, Russia at war with, 
827, 828; in Second 
Coalition against France, 
845 ; Sultan of, signs 
peace of Amiens, 848 ; 
Greece revolts from, 886- 
808; Russian desire re- 
garding Greek Christians 
in, 959; troops of, begin 
Crimean War, 960; signs 
Treaty of Paris, after 
Crimean War, 964-965 ; 
Crimean War checks de- 
signs of Russia on, 965 ; 
relations with Great Brit- 
ain in the last years of 
Victoria, 1028, 1029; war 
with Greece, io2g ; see 
Russo-Turkish War 

Turner, Joseph Mallard, 901, 
1044 



n6o 

Turnips, the cultivation of, 

592. 790 
Turpin, Dick, 806 
Tuscans, money lenders, 

164 
Tuscany, under Peace of 

Zurich, 976 
Tusser, Thomas, 409 
Tweed River, 4 
Two-bottle orthodox, the, 

1039-1041 
"Two-penny Trash," Cob- 

bett's Register, 871 and 

note 
Two-power standard, the, 

1078 
Tyler, sec Techier 
Tyndale, William, 330, 363 
Tyndall, John, 1051 
Tyne River, 4 
Tyrconnel (tercon'nel), the 

Earl of, sec Talbot, 

Richard, 571 
Tyrell, Sir James, 273 
Tyrone', Earl of, 436 

U 

U'dall, Nicholas, 422 

Uganda, 1032 

Uitlanders, the, 1032, 1033 

Ulster, 112; the plantation 
of, 436; the rebellion in, 
of 1641, 480, 481 ; re- 
bellion of 1798 in, sup- 
pressed, 840, 841 ; Tenant 
Right, 994 ; beginning 
of opposition to Home 
Rule in, 1018; growth 
of the opposition, 1086- 
1089 ; the, Covenant, 
1087 ; balance of Catholics 
and Protestants in, 1087 ; 
the army crisis in, 1089 

Undertakers, the, 437 ; in 
Ireland, 436, 777 

Unemployment, insurance 
against, 1060, 1061 

Uniformity, first Act of, 
35°. 35i ; second Act of, 
354. 355; the Act of 
Elizabeth, 372; the Act 
of 1662, 537, 538 

Union, the, of England and 
Ireland, 9, 842, 843 

Union of England and 
Scotland, projects for, 
433, 435 ! brought about 
in 1707, 8, 660-663 



INDEX 

Union <5f South Africa, 1067, 
1068, 1077 

Unionist Free Trade Club, 
the, 1074 

Unitarians, 622 

United Irishmen, Wolf Tone 
and the, 839 ; defenders 
unite with, 840 

United Kingdom, increase 
of population and wealth 
in, 1058 

United Presbyterians, 1042 

United States, the, indepen- 
dence of, acknowledged 
by England, 780, 781 ; 
trade war between Great 
Britain and, 856 ; war 
of Great Britain with, 
859-861 ; commercial re- 
lations of, with Great 
Britain, improve after 
war of 181 2, 876; thwarts 
European intervention in 
South American Repub- 
lics, 885 and note, 886; 
panic of 1836 in, 941 ; 
boundary disputes ad- 
justed with, 948-949; re- 
fuses to agree to "Declara- 
tion of Paris," 964, 965 ; 
Civil War in, 977 ; Trent 
affair nearly starts war 
between England and the, 
978; resent British atti- 
tude toward privateering 
and blockade running dur- 
ing Civil War, 978-979 ; 
Mexican policy of Napo- 
leon III causes trouble 
to the, 979-980 ; England 
estranged by Palmerston 
from, 988; Fenian move- 
ment in, 992 ; British 
immigration to, 1065 ; 
attempted reciprocity of, 
with Canada, 1082 ; re- 
lations with, under Ed- 
ward VII and George V, 
1084; sec American Civil 
War and Venezuela 

Universities, the, rise of, 1 28 ; 
in the thirteenth century, 
160; in the fourteenth 
century, 222, 223; in the 
fifteenth century, 291 ; 
the divorce of Henry VIII 
referred to, 316; in the 
time of Henry VIII, 345 ; 
in the seventeenth cen- 






tury, 594 ; attack oi 

James II upon, 577 ; in 

the Restoration period, 

603 
"University Group," the, of 

Elizabethan dramatists, 

423 
University Test Act, the, 997 
Urban II, Pope, 92, 93 
Urban VI, Pope, 227, 235 
Uses, Statutes of, 326, 327 
Usury, legislature against, 

215, 288 
Utilitarians, the English, 

604, 895 
Utopia, the, 305, 306 
Utrecht, the Peace of, 637, 

670, 672 
Utrecht, the Union of, 385 
Uxbridge, Treaty of, 496 



Vacarius, 116, 126 
Valentine, Benjamin, 459, 

460 
Valhalla, 26 
Valla, Lorenzo, 303 
Valladolid, 556 
Valley Forge, Continental 

Army at, 770 
Vanbrugh, Sir John, 610, 61 2 
Vancouver, Province of, 932 
Vancouver Island, 949 
Vancouver Sound, 949 
Van Dieman's Land, 1065, 

1066 
Vandyke, 611 
Vane, Sir Henry, 478 
Vane, Sir Henry, the 

Younger, 476, 479, 493, 

515. 533 
Vauban, 630 

Vaudreuil, Governor-Gen- 
eral of Canada, 736 
Vauxhall, 148 note, 602, 806 
Venables, General, 520 
Vendome, the Duke of, 659, 

663, 664 
Venezuela boundary, the, 

1028 
Venner, Thomas, 535 
Vera Cruz, 1085 
Vere, Aubrey de, Earl of 

Oxford, 581 
Vere, Robert de, Earl of 

Oxford, 234, 235, 236 
Vergennes, French minister, 

749, 774 



INDEX 



1161 



Vergil, Polydore, 34s 

Vernon, Admiral Edward, 
703, 704, 705 

Verona, European congress 
at, 884 

Versailles, Treaty of, 781 

Veru'lam, Baron, see Bacon, 
Sir Francis 

Verulamium, destruction of, 
19 

Vestiarian controversy, the, 
388, 389 

Veto Act, the, of the Scotch 
General Assembly, 1042 

Veto, the royal, 339, 615, 750 

Vicegerent, the, 315, 322 

Vice President of the Com- 
mittee on Education, 
creation of office of the, 996 

Viceroy, institution of title 
of, for Crown's represent- 
ative in India, 974 

Victor Emmanuel, crowned 
King of Italy, 976; Aus- 
tria cedes Venice to, 988 

Victoria, Australia, 1066, 
1067 

Victoria, Empress of Fred- 
erick II of Germany, 1075 

Victoria, Queen of Great 
Britain and Ireland and 
Empress of India, early 
life and accession of, 928; 
Civil List of, 929; char- 
acter of, at her accession, 
934 ; conduct of, in Bed- 
chamber crisis, 934-935 ; 
marriage of, 935-940 ; 
anxious to conciliate 
France in 1846, 949; 
comment of, on the Great 
Exhibition, 955 ; opposed 
to National Liberal move- 
ment in Europe, 955 ; 
memorandum to Palmer- 
ston from, 956-957 ; es- 
timate of Wellington, 958 ; 
tries to intervene on 
Austria's behalf in war 
of Italian Unification, 976 ; 
adopts conciliatory policy 
in Trent affair, 978; 
interest and pelicy of, in 
Schleswig-Holstein ques- 
tion, 980, 981 ; Bismarck 
repulses mediation offer 
of, 988; Disraeli's policy 
toward, 990 ; attitude 
towards Gladstone of, 



990-991 ; aids passage 
of Gladstone's disestab- 
lishment bill, 993 ; abol- 
ishes purchase of army 
commission by royal war- 
rant, 998; her attitude 
toward the Franco-Prus- 
sian War, 1000; declared 
Empress of India, 1003 ; 
her mediation in the ex- 
tension of the franchise, 
1013 ; her opposition to 
Home Rule, 1018; her 
Jubilees of 1887 and 1897, 
1022, 1065, 1069, 1027, 
1028 ; her relations with 
Gladstone, 1026; death 
and estimate of, 1036, 
1037 ; problems of her 
reign, 1037, 1038; ex- 
cludes Prince Albert from 
political activities, 1071 ; 
Empire Day as a memo- 
rial to, 1073 

Victorian art, 1056, 1057 

Victorian historians, 1043, 
1050 

Victorian literature, 1043 

Victorian philosophers, 1049, 
1050 

Victorian poets, 1045, 1046 

Victorian prose writers, 
1043— 1045, 1046-1049 

Victorian science, 1050-105 2 

Vienna, Congress of, the, 
861-862 

Vienna, Treaties of, 691, 
692, 700, 704 

Vigo Bay, capture of Spanish 
fleet in, 654 ; captured in 
1719,685 

Villafranca, Truce of, 976 

Villars, Marshal, 663, 665, 
668, 670 

Villa Viciosa, the battle of, 
665 

Villeins, 231 ; in the twelfth 
century, 131 ; proportion 
of, in reign of John, 142 

Villenage, causes for aboli- 
tion of, 234 

Villeneuve, Admiral, Nelson 
defeats off Trafalgar, 850 
and note 

Villeroy, Marshal, 634, 655, 
656, 658, 659 

Villiers, Charles, fights for 
Corn Law repeal, 940 

Villiers, George (later Duke 



of Buckingham), 440, 441 ; 
journey to Spain, 446 ; 
adopts an anti-Spanish 
policy, 446 ; his alliances, 
447, 448; character of, 
453 ; impeachment of, 
454, 455 ; his expedition 
to Rhe, 455, 456; his 
murder, 458; as a col- 
lector, 611 

Villiers, George, second 
Duke of Buckingham, 544, 
548, 550, 55i. 566 

Villiers, George, Earl of 
Clarendon, 964, 997, iqoo 

Vimeiro, battle of, 854 

Virgate, 64 

Virginia, origin of the name, 
412 

Virginia Resolves, the, 752, 
757 _ 

Visitations, under Somerset, 
350; see also Metropolit- 
ical and Sheriffs 

Vittoria, battle of, 857 

Vives, Ludovico, 344 

Volta, Alessandro, 1052 

Voltaire, 823 

Volunteers, the Ulster, 1087, 
1088 

Vortigern, 25 

Votes for women, 987, 1088 

Vulgate, the, 330 

W 

Wace, of Jersey, 88 
Wade, General George, 712, 

7i5 
Wagram, battle of, 855 
Wakefield, battle of, 262 
Wakefield, Edward Gibbon, 

1065, 1066, 1068 
Wakeman, George, 560 
Wakes, the Somerset, 464 
Walcheren, battle of, 855 
Waldersee, Count von, 1036 
Wales, physical features and 
resources, 7, 8 ; relations 
with John, 138; unsuc- 
cessful expedition of 
Henry III against, 140; 
rising against Edward I, 
171 ; conquest of, by 
Edward I, 168; Statute 
of, or Rhuddlan, 169; 
revolt of, against Henry 
IV, 243, 244; represen- 
tation granted to, 339 



Il62 



INDEX 



Wales, Prince of, 77 ; origin 
of title, 169 

Wales and the Marches, 
Council of, set up, 406 ; 
abolished, 480 

Walewski, Count, 957, 974, 
975 

Walker, Obadiah, 572 

Walker, Robert, 611 

Wallace, Alfred Russell, 
105 1 

Wallace, Sir William, 175, 
177 

Wallachia, 887, 964 

Waller, Sir William, 492 

Wallingford, treaty of, 103, 
104 

Walpole, Horace, later Earl 
of Orford, 417, 707, 718, 
730, 733, 759. 901 ; writ- 
ings of, 801 

Walpole (wol'pole), Sir 
Robert, later Earl of 
Orford, 617, 676; his 
denunciation of the Peace 
of Utrecht, 678; in op- 
position, 683, 684; settles 
the affair of the South 
Sea Company, 688 ; be- 
ginning of his twenty 
years' ascendency, ib. ; 
his character and policy, 
688-690 ; proves indis- 
pensable to George II, 
6g6, 697 ; becomes Prime 
and sole Minister, 698, 
699 ; his excise, 699, 700 ; 
his pacific policy, 700; 
his attitude toward the 
War of Jenkins' Ear, 701- 
703 ; forced out of office, 
705 ; created Earl of 
Orford, ib. ; influence of, 
after his retirement, 706- 
708; refuses to tax the 
Colonies, 751 ; use of 
bribery in Parliament, 913 

Walsingham, Our Lady of, 
219 

Walsingham (wol'singham), 
Sir Francis, Secretary of 
State, 371, 398 

Walter of Coutances, 123 

Walter of Coventry, 
chronicler, 139 

Walter of Henley, 164 

Walter, John, 900 

Walter Map, 127 

Walters, Lucy, 562 



Waltheof, Son of Siward, 
57, 76-78 

Walton, Izaak, 607 

Wandewash, the battle at, 
735 

War of 1812, the, 860-861 

War of Liberation, the, 858- 
859 

War of the Roses, the, open- 
ing of, 259, 260, 261 ; 
battle of St. Albans in, 
260; of Blore Heath in, 
261 ; battle of Wakefield 
in, 262 ; second battle of 
St. Albans in, 263 ; occu- 
pation of London in, 264 ; 

« battle of Towton in, 265 ; 
Edward's imprisonment 
and exile in, 267-268 ; 
victories at Tewkesbury 
and Barnet in, 268, 269 ; 
effect on the nobility of, 
278; effect of, on educa- 
tion, 291 

Warbeck, Perkin, 280, 282 

Ward, Sir Joseph, 1081 

Ward, William George, 1041 

Wards and Liveries, Court 
of, 406, 533 

Wardship, feudal incident 
of, 85 

Warfare, art of, in the four- 
teenth century, 218; in 
the sixteenth century, 343, 
344 

Warham (wor'ham), Wil- 
liam, Archbishop of Can- 
terbury, 306, 317 

Warwick, Earl of, guardian 
of Richard II, 230 

Warwick, Earl of, see Ed- 
ward, Neville, Dudley, 
Rich 

Wash, the, 51 

Washington, capital of 
United States, destruction 
of, by British troops, 861 

Washington, George, 704, 
722 ; Commander-in-Chief 
of Continental Army, 768 ; 
in campaign of 1776, 769; 
at Valley Forge, 770; 
hardships of army of, 774 ; 
receives surrender of Corn- 
wallis, 775, 776 

Washington, Lawrence, 704 

Washington , the Treaty of, 
1001 

Waterford, 9 



Water frame, the, invention 
of, 785 

Waterloo, campaign of, 862- 
865 

Watling Street, 22 

Watt, James, development 
of steam engine, 787, 788 

Watts, George Frederick, 
1057 

Waverley Novels, the, 899 

Wavre, 862, 863 

Wealth, increase of, in the 
nineteenth century, 1058 

Wealth of Nations, the, 795, 
796, 1064 

Wedderburn, Alexander, 
later Lord Loughborough, 
763, 844 

Wedgwood, Josiah, 786 

Wedmore, Peace of, 43 

Weekly Political Register, 
Cobbett's paper, 869 

Wei-hai-Wei, 1029 

Wellesley (weTsley), Sir 
Arthur, Duke of Welling- 
ton, in India, 845 ; in 
the Peninsular Campaign, 
853,854,856-858; repre- 
sents Great Britain at 
Congress of Vienna, 862 ; 
Waterloo campaign of, 
862-865 ; refuses service 
in Canning's Cabinet, 878 ; 
blocks Corn Law in Lords, 
878-879 ; becomes Prime 
Minister, 879 ; Catholic 
Emancipation passed 

under Ministry of, 881- 
882 ; end of Ministry of, 
883 ; at Congress of 
Verona, 884-885 ; atti- 
tude and policy of, in 
Greek revolt, 887 ; policy 
of, in Portuguese Revolu- 
tion, 888 ; recognizes 
Louis Philippe, 889 ; chal- 
lenges Winchelsea to duel, 
go2 ; resignation of Min- 
istry of, 908-909 ; at- 
tempts to form Ministry 
during Reform Bill agi- 
tation, 916; in Peel's 
Cabinet, 923 ; refuses to 
form Ministry upon Mel- 
bourne's resignation, 934 ; 
furthers Corn Law repeal, 
946 ; measures of, against 
Chartist agitation, 952; 
death of, 958 



INDEX 



1 163 



Wellesley, Richard, succes- 
sively Lord Mornington, 
Marquis Wellesley, 845, 
966, 967 

Wellington, capital of New 
Zealand, 1068 

Welsh, the tribes of, 30 

Welsh Church, disestablish- 
ment of, suggested, 1023 ; 
the disestablishment of, 
1086, 1088 

Wentworth, Sir Thomas 
(later Earl of Strafford), 
enters Parliament, 437 ; 
character of, 453 ; resists 
forced loan, 455 ; his bill 
for security of the sub- 
ject, 457 ; his "apostasy," 
458; his rule in Ireland, 
471 ; advises Charles to 
summon an English Par- 
liament, ib. ; created Earl 
of Strafford, ib. ; advises 
arbitrary methods, 472; 
impeachment and execu- 
tion of, 477-479 

Wergeld, 16 

Wesley, Charles, 794 

Wesley, John, 794, 795 

Wesley, Samuel, 579 

Wesleyan revival, 1039 

West Australia, 1066, 1067 

West Florida, 781 

West Indies, French suc- 
cessors in, during 1778- 
I77Q, 772; Rodney in, 
775 ; British successes 
in 1793, 833; Villeneuve 
and Nelson at, 850; 
crisis in, in 1839, 933~934 

Westminster, Council at, 
109, no; Provisions of, 
154, 156; statutes of, 
178, 179, 181 ; Peace of, 
553. 554; see London, 
Treaty of 

Westminster Abbey, 58, 156, 
162, 171, 222, 329 

Westminster Assembly, the, 
493. 494. 500 

Westminster Hall, 222, 601 

"Westminster Scrutiny," 
the, 813 

Weston, Sir Richard, 592 

Westphalia, creation of king- 
dom of, 852 

Westphalia, the Peace of, 519 

West Point, Arnold attempts 
to betray, 775 



West Saxons, invasion of 
Britain, 29 ; temporary 
eclipse of, 40; causes of 
ultimate supremacy, 40, 
41 ; reconquest of the 
Danelagh by, 46-51 pas- 
sim 
Wexford, massacre of, 511 
Wharton, Thomas, later 
Marquis of, 581, 641, 669 
Wheeler, General, 971 
Whig party, the, origin of, 
562 ; reverse of the, at 
the close of the exclusion 
struggle, 563 ; rise of, 
615, 616; relations of, 
to William III, 620, 637, 
641 ; make up and aims 
of, 652; driven out by 
Anne, 667 ; advantages of, 
in the struggle over the 
Hanoverian succession, 
673; factions of, under 
George II and George III, 
738, 740; North breaks 
power of, 760; Pitt 
routs, 812, 813; French 
Revolution and the, 823 ; 
split in the, 1791, 825, 
826; united in 1804, 
850; views of, in 1816- 
1817, 868; rally to cause 
of Queen Caroline, 873 ; 
in Canning's Cabinet, 878 ; 
colors of the, 901-902 ; 
identified with movement 
for parliamentary re- 
form, 907 ; victory of, in 
general election of 1830, 
908 ; support reform 
movement in England, 
914; Ministry of, under 
Grey, favors Parliamen- 
tary Reform Bill, 914- 
917 ; in first reformed Par- 
liament, 918; advocates 
laissez-faire in industry, 
921; attitude of, toward 
Victoria upon her acces- 
sion, 929 ; leaders of the, 
advocate free trade, 944- 
945 ; in Coalition Minis- 
try, 958; Disraeli op- 
posed to commercial aris- 
tocracy of, g&g; see also 
Liberal party 
Whip with six strings, the, 
331 ; see also Articles of 
Faith 



Whistler, James McNeill, 
1057 

Whitby, Synod of, triumph 
of the Church of Rome at, 
35, 36 

White, General Sir George, 
1034 

White, John, 412 

Whiteboys, the, 777, 838 

Whitefield, George, 794, 795 

Whitefriars, 600 

Whitehall, 507, 601 

White Ship, the, 96 

Whitgift, John, Archbishop 
of Canterbury, 389 

Wiclif, John, writes The 
Last Age of the Church, 
199 ; career and activities 
of, 208 ; development of 
his views, 226, 227; his 
death, 227; influence on 
English language, 228; 
attitude toward Peasant 
Revolt, 231 ; Bible of, sup- 
pressed, 247 ; a forerunner 
of reform, 308; Bible of, 
330 

"Widow McCormack's po- 
tato patch," the, 952 

Wigs, discarded in England, 
901 

Wilberforce, William, 819, 
902, 920 

Wilfrid, leader of Roman 
party at Whitby, 35 

Wilhelmina, sister of Fred- 
erick the Great, 677 

Wilkes, Captain, in Trent 
affair, 978 

Wilkes, John, 726, 744-746, 
757, 758, 762, 907 

Wilkie, Sir David, art of, 900 

William, Fort, in the High- 
lands, 629 ; see also Cal- 
cutta 

William I (the Conqueror), 
Duke of the Normans, 
visits England, 56 ; de- 
clared heir of Edward the 
Confessor, 57; claims 
the crown from Harold, 
58; his other claims, 
59; victory at Senlac, 
59, 6o, 74 ; captures 
London and crowned 
King, 76; disposal of 
lands of conquered, puts 
down risings and wastes 
vale of York, 77 ; quells 



1 164 

a rising of the Earls, 78; 
method of keeping down 
different classes of his 
subjects, 78-79 ; rela- 
tions with the Church, 

79, 80 ; relations with 
the Papacy, 80 ; his laws, 

80, 81 ; revives the Dane- 
geld, orders Domesday 
Survey, 81, 82; exacts 
Salisbury oath, last years 
and death, 82, 83 ; char- 
acter and rule, 83 ; in- 
troduces feudal tenures 
into England, 84-86 ; sep- 
aration of lay and ec- 
clesiastical jurisdiction, 
109; under Henry II, 
no; brings jury system 
to England, 116; charter 
to London, 129 

William II (Rufus), 80; 
character and policy, 90; 
puts down the Norman 
barons, 91 ; treaty with 
Robert, ib. ; conflict with 
Anselm, 92, 93 ; puts down 
rising of William of Mow- 
bray, 93 ; last years and 
death, 93, 94 

William of Orange, Stad- 
holder of the Dutch, later 
William III of England, 

. his birth, 514; becomes 
Stadholder, 553 ; marries 
Mary, 555 ; the English 
begin to look to, 570; 
refuses to indorse the 
Declaration of Indulgence, 
577 ; his character and 
policy, 577; sends Dyke- 
velt to England, 577, 
578; invited to England, 
580, 581 ; issues a Decla- 
ration and sails for Eng- 
land, 581, 582; lands at 
Torbay, 582 ; arrives in 
London, 584 ; calls a 
convention which chooses 
him and Mary as joint 
sovereigns, 584-586; pro- 
claimed, ib. ; selects a 
Whig cabinet, 616; sig- 
nificance of his reign, 
619,620; reaction against, 
620; turns the Conven- 
tion into a parliament, 
621 ; works for tolera- 
tion, 621, 622; opposed 



INDEX 

to bribery, 622; dissatis- 
fied with the revenue 
settlement, ib. ; victor 
at the Boyne, 626; op- 
position of the Cove- 
nanters to, 627 ; sanctions 
the massacre of Glencoe, 
629 ; forms an alliance 
against France, 629, 630; 
his succession of defeats, 
630-632; founds Green- 
wich hospital, 633 ; plot 
to assassinate, 634, 635 ; 
arranges the Peace of 
Ryswick, 635, 636; turns 
toward the Whigs, 641 ; 
quarrels with Parlia- 
ment, 642, 643 ; arranges 
the Partition Treaties, 
645, 646; forms the 
Grand Alliance, 647 ; 
death and character of, 
648 ; urges the . union 
with Scotland, 661 ; mili- 
tary system of, outworn, 
717; uses bribery in 
Parliament, gi3 

William IV, King of Great 
Britain and Ireland, early 
history and personal traits 
of, 905 ; attitude toward 
parliamentary reform, 
914-916; accepts resig- 
nation of Prince Mel- 
bourne, 923 ; death of, 
926 

William the Lion, King of 
Scotland, 113, 121, 138 

William I, German Emperor, 
1000 

William II, German Em- 
peror, 1075, 1076 

William I, King of Nether- 
lands, 889, 890 

William (the Silent), of 
Orange, 381, 384, 385, 
388 

William, Stadholder of Hol- 
land, 716, 717 

William, Prince, son of 
Henry I, 96 

William Augustus, Duke of 
Cumberland, 707, 708, 
709; his victory at Cul- 
loden and the cruelties 
which followed, 713, 714; 
in the Seven Years' War, 
728, 729 

William of Aumale, 148 






William FitzOsbert (Long- 
beard), 124 

William, Lord Latimer, 206, 
207 

William Longchamp, 121, 
122 

William Marshall, Earl of 
Pembroke, Regent of Eng- 
land, 136, 147, 148 

William of Malmesbury, 89 

William of Newburgh, 127 

William of Ockham, 159 

William of Wykeham, 
Bishop of Winchester, 222, 
223 

Willis, Dr., King's physician, 
822 

Willoughby, Sir Hugh, 410 

Wills, see Probate 

Wills, General Sir Charles, 
680 

Wilmington, Earl of, see 
Compton, Sir Spencer 

Wilmot, John, Earl of 
Rochester, 530 

Wilson, President, 1084, 
1085 

Wilson, Richard, 804 

Wilson, Thomas,>4i8 

Winchelsea, Lord, Welling- 
ton's challenges to duel, 
902 . 

Winchelsea, Robert, Arch- 
bishop of Canterbury, 

174, 175 
Winchester, court school at, 

45 
Winchester, Statute of, 163, 

179, 180 
Winchester Fair, 163 
Winslow, Captain, sinks 

Alabama, 978 
Winstanley, Gerard, 504 
"Winter King," the, 442 
Winward Field, battle of, 35 
Wireless telegraphy, 1054 
Wiseman, Cardinal, 953 
Wishart (wish'art), George, 

367 
Witchcraft, 160, 417, 597 
Wite, 65 
Witenagemot, origin and 

functions, 67 
Woden, 26 
Wolfe, General James, 729, 

73i, 732, 733 
Wolseley, General Garnet, 

Lord Wolseley, his failure 

to relieve Gordon, 1015; 



INDEX 



1165 



in the Boer War, 1033, 
1034 ; succeeded by 
Roberts as Commander- 
in-Chief, 1035 
\Volsey, Thomas, Cardinal, 
and Archbishop of York, 
rise of, 296, 297 ; his 
pomp and influence, 297, 
298 ; concludes the Treaty 
of Universal Peace, 298; 
vain attempts to secure 
the Papacy, 299-301 ; his 
policy of alliance with 
the Emperor, 300, 301 ; 
unpopularity of his sub- 
sidy and of his amicable 
loan, 300, 301 ; attitude 
toward the New Learning, 
306; his share in the 
divorce of Henry VIII 
and Catharine, 300-311; 
fall and death of, 311, 
312, 314, 317; dissolves 
some smaller monasteries, 
323; preference for di- 
plomacy over war, 343 ; 
his school at Ipswich, 

344 
Women, legislation regulat- 
ing of employment of, 
943 ; enfranchisement of, 
1049 ; condition of, in 
the nineteenth century, 
1059; votes for, 1059, 
1070 
Wood's Halfpence, 691 
Woodstock, Council of, 109 
Woodville, Elizabeth, Queen 

of Edward IV, 266, 272 
Woodward, John, 792 



Wool, act for burying in, 
590 ; trade in, 212; origin 
of duty on, 211; free of 
duty in 1843, 941 

Woolsack, the, 412 

Worcester (woos'ter), battle 
of, 513 

Worcester, the Marquis of, 
487 

Wordsworth, William, 896- 
898, 1043 

Working classes, the, dis- 
content of, in Victoria's 
early years, 937-941 

Workingman's Association, 
the, foundation and pur- 
pose of, 938-939 

Workmen, Act of Parliament 
against combinations of, 
784; effect of industrial 
revolution upon, 788 

Workmen's Compensation 
Acts, 1060, 1077 

Wotton, Sir Henry, 372 

Wren, Christopher, 611, 612 

Writs, legal, 116 

Writs of Assistance, 749 

Wulfstan, the Dane, 45 

Wulfstan of Worcester, 79 

Wyatt, Sir Thomas, the 
poet, 346 

Wyatt's Rebellion, 360 

Wycherley, William, 610 

Wyndham, George, 1074 



Yakub Khan, 1007 
Year of legal memory, the, 
178 



Yeomen, in the fifteenth 
century, 285 ; in the 
seventeenth century, 595, 
596 ; in the eighteenth 
century, 791 

York, 22; vale of, wasted 
by William I, 77 

York, Dukes of, see Edward, 
Frederick Augustus, 

George, James, Richard 

York, House of, causes of 
triumph of, 265 ; causes 
of fall of, 275, 276 

Yorke, Philip, Earl of Hard- 
wicke and Lord Chancel- 
lor, 706, 719 

Yorkshire, domestic system 
in, 784 

Yorktown, surrender of Lord 
Cornwallis at, 775, 776 

Young, Arthur, 790, 824, 

894 
Young, Edward, 802 
Young England Party, the, 

942, 989 

Young Ireland Party, the, 

943. 952 

Yuan Shih-Kai, 1080 



Zamindars, 970 

Zanzibar, 1032 

Zimri, 548 

Zulu War, the, 1007, 1030 

Zurich, battle of, 845 ; the 

Peace of, 976 
Zutphen, battle of, 391 
Zwingli, Ulrich, 307, 349, 

365 



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